# cremation vrs burial **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224 "2006-04-18T23:24:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/1 "2006-04-18T23:24:20Z")
Let’s say I’m a 44 year old homeless man with no will and one day I die of a heart attck on the park bench that I’ve been sleeping on. Do I get cremated or buried? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/2 "2006-04-18T23:28:39Z")
Man: Um, well, um, which would you recommend? Undertaker: Well they’re both nasty. If we burn her, she gets stuffed in the flames, crackle, crackle, crackle, which is a bit of a shock if she’s not quite dead. But quick. And then you get a box of ashes, which you can pretend are hers. Man: (timidly) Oh. Undertaker: Or, if you don’t wanna fry her, you can bury her. And then she’ll get eaten up by maggots and weevils, nibble, nibble, nibble, which isn’t so hot if, as I said, she’s not quite dead. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/3 "2006-04-18T23:55:38Z")
Here in Queensland, homeless people (or anyone else, for that matter) who dies with no next of kin or anyone to pay funerary expenses are generally buried. The law states that the coffin must have clean sheeting/bedding, and they get a Minister to say a few words for the deceased and perform the necessary religious rites (so tough luck if you’re an Atheist or a Pagan!). And before anyone worries how I know this, there was a very interesting article in _The Courier-Mail_ (Brisbane’s newspaper) a year or so ago on this, which I read with interest as one of those “You know, I’ve always idly wondered what the story with that was…” things… ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/4 "2006-04-19T00:08:46Z")
most places have a “potter’s field” that is used to bury those that are not claimed. they tend to have been bought by a trust that someone has left for the purpose. in phila. there are quite a few people who left money for burials. i saw the list of donors on an auditing report for the city. some people left money into some very interesting trusts, some from the early 1700’s! trusts, not just for burials anymore! usually there is a group of (rotating) clerics that are called to preform services for the burials. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/5 "2006-04-19T01:17:08Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > Let’s say I’m a 44 year old homeless man with no will and one day I die of a heart attck on the park bench that I’ve been sleeping on. Do I get cremated or buried? Since the county usually pays for pauper burial/cremation they will take the cheapest way out. Most likely creamation. No embalming, no grave digging, no box, no stone. OTOH The NG shortage may run up the cost of creamation to compete with a traditional burial! ---
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/6 "2006-04-19T01:23:20Z")
Can I choose to be buried when I die without embalming fluid? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/7 "2006-04-19T01:30:00Z")
My husband is deputy warden in a prison. Indigent inmates who have no family willing or able to pay to have the inmate buried elsewhere are interred on site. They don’t cremate the remains or embalm them before burial. They bury them in a small prison grave yard, using Styrofoam coffins, and the graves are marked with a 4X4 stone with a number carved on it. ---
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/8 "2006-04-19T01:34:38Z")
Well, I was always told that if I were to be buried, by law I needed embalming fluid. If this not the case, what is the most envirementally friendly way of disposing of my body? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/9 "2006-04-19T01:44:28Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > Well, I was always told that if I were to be buried, by law I needed embalming fluid. If this not the case, what is the most envirementally friendly way of disposing of my body? No state in the US has laws which require embalming. Jessica Mitford in her book “The American Way of Death” posits the notion that spreading this lie this was a sleazy tactic used by some unscrupulous funeral parlor owners in order to pad up their bills. The most environmentally friendly way to be buried is to have the unembalmed corpse placed in a degradable casket. (They sell special ones just for that purpose now.) Thou art dust, and to dust thou shall return and all of that jazz. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/10 "2006-04-19T02:13:15Z")
> [@](#): > > According to Jewish tradition, embalming and the use of cosmetics on the deceased are not permitted. [http://www.uscj.org/Guide\_to\_Jewish\_Fune6211.html](http://www.uscj.org/Guide_to_Jewish_Fune6211.html) When my grandfather died, I witnessed a discussion between my mother and the funeral home representative. She wanted “the shot,” which is an injection given to the departed to make sure he is . . . well, departed. Modern embalming is not designed to preserve the body after burial. I serves three purposes: > [@](#): > > ``` > * The primary purpose of embalming is disinfection. While some pathogens die soon after the death of the host, it is also true that many dangerous organisms have the ability to survive for long periods of time in dead tissues. Persons coming in direct contact with the unembalmed body can become infected as well as there being the possibility of flies or other agents transferring pathogens to humans and infecting them. > * The second purpose of embalming is preservation. The prevention of putrefaction and decomposition allows the disposition of the remains by burial, cremation, or entombment to take place without the odors or other unpleasantness that would accompany an uncared for remains. > * The third purpose of embalming is restoration. Returning the body to a life-like appearance has received many critics, but the custom of viewing the body after death in a state of rest remains a practice of proven psychological worth. > > ``` [http://www.bartonfuneral.com/embalming.htm](http://www.bartonfuneral.com/embalming.htm) > [@](#): > > Under favorable conditions however, modern embalming has been shown to be able to keep a body intact for decades. - Id. \* According to Penny Colman, in [Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805050663/sr=8-2/qid=1145411944/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-7431524-0959111?%5Fencoding=UTF8), most potter’s fields are mass graves. “In Chicago, Illinois, they are buried in groups of about thirty-five in a memorial park. In New York City they are ferried to Hart Island for burial in a mass grave.” _And see_, [http://www.picturethehomeless.org/taxonomy/term/48](http://www.picturethehomeless.org/taxonomy/term/48) > [@copperwindow](#): > > Let’s say I’m a 44 year old homeless man with no will and one day I die of a heart attck on the park bench that I’ve been sleeping on. Do I get cremated or buried? Most jurisdictions will bury you. Apparently, Brevard County, Florida has a program that assists the indigent with cremation expenses, but you would have to request cremation before you died. [http://countygovt.brevard.fl.us/Human\_Services/burial.cfm](http://countygovt.brevard.fl.us/Human_Services/burial.cfm) > [@](#): > > If this not the case, what is the most envirementally friendly way of disposing of my body? [Green Burial](http://www.acfnewsource.org/environment/green_burial.html) is probably the moste environmentally friendly. Some complain that cremation uses a lot of fuel, and involves some toxic emissions. [http://www.promessa.se/kremering\_en.asp](http://www.promessa.se/kremering_en.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cremation-vrs-burial/353224/11 "2006-04-19T02:40:29Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > what is the most envirementally friendly way of disposing of my body? Susanne Wiigh-Masak of Sweden founded a company named Promessa that promotes organic composting. According to Mary Roach in _Stiff: The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers_ Wiigh-Masak has the support of King Carl Gustav and the Church of Sweden. The cadaver is (or will be) lowered into a vat of liquid nitrogen and frozen. Ultrasound waves or mechanical vibration shatters it into pieces about the size of ground chuck. The pieces are freeze-dried ‘and used as compost for a memorial tree or shrub, either in a churchyard memorial park or in the family’s yard.’ (According to the book, cremains make very poor fertilizer.) Kevin McCabe, of Mcabe Funeral Homes in Farmington Hills, Michigan, suggests ‘water reduction’. The process was invented by Gordon Kaye and Bruce Webber. > [@](#): > > In a few hours, Kaye and Weber’s equipment can dissolve the tissues of a corpse and reduce it to 2 or 3 percent of its body weight. What remains is a pile of decologenated bones that can be crumbled in one’s fingers. Everything else has been turned into [what is described as] a sterile “coffee-colored” liquid. Basically, the body is disintegrated with lye and water under pressure, which destroys pathogens (including, Roach notes, prions – which in cattle causes mad cow disease). It doesn’t pollute, and it’s ten times cheaper than cremation because no natural gas is used. (Equipment only costs about $100,000.) While the liquid simply goes down the drain, the bones could be dried and either pulverised for scattering or put in an ossuary.