# Death wishes. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700 "2009-11-23T22:00:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/1 "2009-11-23T22:00:11Z")
When you’re done with the whole life thing, what do you wish for your physical remains? Buried, cremated, taken off into space and dumped in some remote corner of the cosmos? Me? I want the quick hellfire-burning in the cheapest possible casket, then my ashes used as a mulch for a nice fruit tree. Or maybe scattered into the compost heap. Your death wish? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/2 "2009-11-23T22:07:26Z")
I actually have it written into a statement of last wishes that my carcass is to be disposed of in the least expensive legal way. I will be dead. I don’t care. Just spend the least that the law will allow. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/3 "2009-11-23T22:08:17Z")
My parents both donated their remains for medical research, after which they’ll be cremated. I’m not sure I’ll go that route myself, but it’s about as frugal as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/4 "2009-11-23T22:18:26Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > My parents both donated their remains for medical research, after which they’ll be cremated. I’m not sure I’ll go that route myself, but it’s about as frugal as it gets. My SO has expressed the same. The thought of him being hacked in an Anatomy 101 class though doesn’t quite appeal really. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/5 "2009-11-23T22:21:47Z")
Use the parts that are usable. Cremate the rest. Scatter me somewhere nice. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/6 "2009-11-23T22:22:59Z")
I kinda like the notion of being blasted into deep space, preferably in a casket with a window in the lid, so I can look out in a metaphysical sense. Failing that, I will be buried in the family plot near my ancestral home, overlooking a bayou. It’s nice there. Quiet. Way out in the country. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/7 "2009-11-23T22:25:26Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > My parents both donated their remains for medical research, after which they’ll be cremated. I’m not sure I’ll go that route myself, but it’s about as frugal as it gets. This is what I want. Donate any useable organs, then the rest can go to research. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/8 "2009-11-23T22:33:52Z")
I’ve discussed this with my husband. I want them to harvest anything useful, use the rest for research (if anyone wants my carcass), and probably just have the rest cremated. It would be nice to have my ashes blasted into space, or made into a gem, but both of those cost a lot of money. I’d be happy just to be scattered in various places around Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/9 "2009-11-23T22:39:53Z")
There was a rather corny letter in “Ann Landers” or “Dear Abby” years ago but I like the basic idea - donate any of my parts that someone can use, cremate whatever’s left and use it to help fertilize a tree so that someday people can have a nice shady spot to relax in. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/10 "2009-11-23T22:58:55Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Use the parts that are usable. Cremate the rest. Scatter me somewhere nice. Or several places- that’s my plan. I want my cremains divided up and funneled into nice little embellished bottles or something similar (think a two-or-three-gram-vial-of-blow-type thing). People can take one at the service, then take it somewhere really cool at a later date, say something nice, and scatter me. I could end up in Fiji, atop Mount Everest, in a Hawaiian volcano, near an ancient redwood… awesome! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Kapowzler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Super\_Kapowzler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Kapowzler)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/11 "2009-11-24T01:01:00Z")
My Grandpa died in '89, with all intention of creamation. They still charged $5000 for casket; said they couldn’t display someone in a used casket, by law. We ended up with a coffe-can-like container to bury. Where did the casket go if someone can’t be displayed in a used casket by law? ---
**Author:** ![yams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/848f3c/32.png) [@yams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yams)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/12 "2009-11-24T01:56:30Z")
I want to be plasticized (like in “The Bodies” exhibits) into a functional gum-ball machine. The skin and muscle of my torso should be removed, so that when you insert a quarter into my mouth, you can watch your gumball travel down my esophagus, through the stomach and the small intestines, before it detours away from normal physiology and dispenses out of my bellybutton. ETA: All money will go towards fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. love yams!! ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/13 "2009-11-24T02:14:30Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > My Grandpa died in '89, with all intention of creamation. > They still charged $5000 for casket; said they couldn’t display someone in a used casket, by law. > We ended up with a coffe-can-like container to bury. > Where did the casket go if someone can’t be displayed in a used casket by law? For my mom’s viewing (this was in 1998), she was in a cardboard casket. It looked like wood, not like a corrugated box. Then, after the viewing, the casket and all went into the oven. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/14 "2009-11-24T02:14:58Z")
I want to donate whatever is useful, at least a few students can work on various parts. Cremate whatever is left and I really don’t care what happens to the ashes. mrAru wants to be cremated and dropped somewhere very deep in a [TDU can](http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/operating/aboard/leisure/) preferably in the north sea since he spent so much time there underwater it feels like home. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/15 "2009-11-24T02:22:53Z")
The wife has promised me that after they harvest any organs that still work after years of alcohol abuse, the rest will be cremated and ensconsed in an urn on the mantle, complete with Hawaiian shirt cozy. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/16 "2009-11-24T02:37:48Z")
Medical cadaver. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/17 "2009-11-24T03:52:43Z")
I will donate whatever anyone might need. I don’t care what they do with the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/18 "2009-11-24T05:50:27Z")
Buried. I have already chosen the grave site. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/19 "2009-11-24T05:54:19Z")
My long-term ambition is to one day be a controversial fossil. . ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700/20 "2009-11-24T05:57:05Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > I actually have it written into a statement of last wishes that my carcass is to be disposed of in the least expensive legal way. I will be dead. I don’t care. Just spend the least that the law will allow. Actually, that’s what I’ve done too. It’s in my will. Burial, ceremomial, whatever expenses are to be kept to a reasonable minimum. . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-wishes/518700.md?page=2)