# Cremation Or Burial? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333 "2004-05-21T07:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/41 "2004-05-24T05:29:25Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > No one has mentioned religious reasons for NOT being cremated…aren’t there some religions where that is forbidden, or am I mistaken? Any sort of mutilation of the body is forbidden in Judaism, though I believe there’ve been some changes when it comes to organ donation, so long as you do it through an organization that ensures your parts are actually used to help someone (rather than making somebody money). ---
**Author:** ![Spudo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/42 "2004-05-24T11:00:33Z")
Neither will be applicable for me if things go according to plan… Seriously though, organ donation and then cremation. Being buried seems so wasteful and wakes are creepy. I’d like my skull to be donated to a theater company for use in _Hamlet_ and other plays however. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/43 "2004-05-24T11:57:09Z")
I’ve consulted with a taxidermist! It probably won’t happen, though. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/44 "2004-05-24T13:58:37Z")
Use whatever parts they like for transplanting or research (except for my brain), then I’m being cremated. I don’t care what they do with the ashes afterward. I would rather not have them kept around, but it won’t matter to me where they are scattered or what happens to them. And I strongly agree with the consensus that coffins and embalming are a waste of time and money. Cremate me, and spend what you save on a party, or donate it to my church or something. Get some use out of the money - don’t waste it on me. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/45 "2004-05-24T15:51:15Z")
I want to be stuffed in a standing position and put at the entrance of a house to be used as a coat and/or hat rack 😛 ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/46 "2004-05-24T15:59:19Z")
Cremation without embalming for me. Throw the ashes away. Can’t see spending the resources on preserving a dead body – I won’t exist any more. ---
**Author:** ![jellytoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@jellytoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellytoes)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/47 "2004-05-24T19:16:44Z")
> [@DeVena](#): > > Donation - Cremation - Fertilizer > > or, as I like to think it… > > Re-Use, Reduce, Recycle. I like that! Mind if I steal it? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/48 "2004-05-24T21:41:31Z")
If I had lots of money: 1. Launched into space: a. towards Andromeda b. to orbit Saturn c. to land on Venus and wait for the crushing atmosphere to do its thing d. into the sun 2. Stuffed and converted into an animatronic display Otherwise it’s organ harvesting, medical research (that’s where I want my brain to go, anyway), and then cremation. Or, to entertain and amuse: put in a coffin full of gasoline and put in the ground on fire. That way I can be cremated and buried at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/49 "2004-05-24T23:42:04Z")
Guess! I like the idea of donating what organs ‘n’ stuff might be useful, then doing my part to help educate or further research. What I don’t like is that little weensy bits of me will be scattered everywhere, dribbled down drains, stuck to the shoe bottom of a fumble fingered med student, that sort of thing. Which makes no sense because when I’m cremated I would like to be scattered somewhere pretty and I’ll be blowin’ all over the place. What do you think of Prince Edward Island? That’s a lovely place to spend forever. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@Frankenbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenbear)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/50 "2004-05-25T00:10:07Z")
Cremation. After my organs have been harvested. Both my mother and my SO know what I want done. ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333/51 "2004-05-25T21:12:27Z")
My advice to the burial people: give it up. In 100-200 years some of that burial land is going to be so valuable that no matter what is burried there it will be moved or destroyed to make way for the new. It happens now in fact. Burials take up vast amounts of space which could be put to MUCH better use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-or-burial/246333.md?page=2)