# Famous dead bodies - Isn't it a bit absurd to fly them around the country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447 "2007-01-02T18:59:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/1 "2007-01-02T18:59:33Z")
Two famous Americans died over the past couple of weeks: Gerald Ford and James Brown. In the news, I heard that public viewings of these bodies were taking place in various cities. So let me get this straight: you have a famous dead body. And instead of burying it or burning it in a reasonable time span, you’re going to pack it in ice and fly it around the country just so people can have a look? What does this accomplish? Can’t we have remembrance ceremonies without the body actually being present? Maybe it’s just me, but I find this unbelievably absurd. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/2 "2007-01-02T19:20:37Z")
Sending an ex-president to Washington DC for officals send-offs is okay with me… but flying JB to New York? That seems fairly arbitrary seeing that he was famous everywhere… ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/3 "2007-01-02T19:21:44Z")
Y’know, I was thinking along the same lines. Firstly, it’s macabre to be schlepping someone’s taxidermied corpse around like that. Secondly, it crossed my mind that in Ford’s case, what with the closed casket and security being what it is these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t in there at all, just maybe a couple of sacks of potatoes or something. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/4 "2007-01-02T19:22:25Z")
Yes, there’s more than a little ridiculousness here. Ford died in California on December 26, was flown to Michigan for ceremonies there, then to Washington to lay in state at the Capitol Rotunda and both houses of Congress before the funeral in the Washington National Cathedral. Now he’s being flown back to Grand Rapids for burial tomorrow - eight days after he died. Brown died in Georgia, then was taken to Harlem for viewing at the Apollo Theatre. For the last 20 blocks, he was drawn by a team of white horses and I’ve read that his coffin was 24-carat gold. The man made an exit, that’s for sure. Then there was a private service in Augusta, and a public one too, but I’m not sure if his body was taken to the latter public service. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/5 "2007-01-02T19:58:23Z")
Yes I agree. They also changed JB’s outfit three times. It seems more than a little weird, and I wouldn’t be comfortable with someone doing it to a member of my family. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/6 "2007-01-02T20:23:45Z")
I have no more problem with that than I do with bringing bodies “home” of folks who died elsewhere. People want some contact with the remains. You just don’t want endless peregrinations of a body shown for profit, like Elmer McCurdy: > **[Elmer McCurdy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_McCurdy)** > > Elmer J. McCurdy (January 1, 1880 – October 7, 1911) was an American bank and train robber who was killed in a shoot-out with police after robbing a Katy Train in Oklahoma in October 1911. Dubbed "The Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up", his mummified body was first put on display at an Oklahoma funeral home and then became a fixture on the traveling carnival and sideshow circuit during the 1920s through the 1960s. After changing ownership several times, McCurdy's remains eventually wound up at The Pi... (Although Elmer was final;ly laid to rest, after he was identified after 1977) ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/7 "2007-01-02T20:35:48Z")
Personally, I prefer the method of shoving a broomstick of their ass and tying them to the grill of your car and driving around the country. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/8 "2007-01-02T22:40:53Z")
What \*I \* want to know is: do they get Frequent Flyer miles? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/9 "2007-01-02T22:49:56Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I have no more problem with that than I do with bringing bodies “home” of folks who died elsewhere. People want some contact with the remains. [/quote] That’s rather different. What you’re describing is about convenience, so to speak: people want to bury their relatives “at home.” Ford and Brown were taken _away_ from the places they were going to be buried for days of display to strangers. I don’t think it’s wrong, but I think the showiness is rather bizarre. [QUOTE=Omega Glory] They also changed JB’s outfit three times. It seems more than a little weird, and I wouldn’t be comfortable with someone doing it to a member of my family. [/QUOTE] The people at the funeral home will do that anyway, though. They probably just did it more often. > [@Rodd Hill](#): > > What I want to know is: do they get Frequent Flyer miles? And do those miles… expire? ---
**Author:** ![Powder\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/858c86/32.png) [@Powder\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powder_Blue)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/10 "2007-01-03T00:13:55Z")
I opened up the Rolling Stone web site the other day and for some reason they felt the need to splash a large picture of JB’s emaciated corpse across the page. I’ve seen worse things, but I wasn’t exactly expecting that. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/11 "2007-01-03T01:44:48Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] The people at the funeral home will do that anyway, though. They probably just did it more often. [/QUOTE] Oh of course, but imo, changing a body several times just so you can say that it was wearing a different suit at each service is just weird. Unless you’re saying that it’s routine for a body to be dressed in one thing at a wake, then changed for the funeral for no particular reason. In which, case, I didn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/12 "2007-01-03T03:39:41Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’ve read that his coffin was 24-carat gold. [/QUOTE] Seems unlikely. 24-carat would be 100% gold. Gold is a rather soft metal, and 100% gold would likely be too soft for such a use. (It would tend to scrape off when the casket was loaded onto a hearse or plane, for example.) 22-carat gold (92%) is generally considered too soft for jewelery; most modern jewelers consider 18- or 20-carat the maximum. Why would they have used a more expensive and inappropriate 24-carat gold coffin, when a 16-carat gold plating would have worked better? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/13 "2007-01-03T19:52:03Z")
From the outside all burial/death customs and procedures seem absurd. Why not just ground them up into mulch? Anyone peckish for some Soylent Green? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/14 "2007-01-03T20:18:43Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] Oh of course, but imo, changing a body several times just so you can say that it was wearing a different suit at each service is just weird. Unless you’re saying that it’s routine for a body to be dressed in one thing at a wake, then changed for the funeral for no particular reason. In which, case, I didn’t know that. [/QUOTE] Seems weird enough to me. I don’t know what SOP at funeral homes is, but as I was writing I wondered if they might use different suits for the two events. [QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] Seems unlikely. 24-carat would be 100% gold. Gold is a rather soft metal, and 100% gold would likely be too soft for such a use. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that was what I thought when I read it in the Times. Gold-_plated_, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/15 "2007-01-03T23:44:56Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] Oh of course, but imo, changing a body several times just so you can say that it was wearing a different suit at each service is just weird. Unless you’re saying that it’s routine for a body to be dressed in one thing at a wake, then changed for the funeral for no particular reason. In which, case, I didn’t know that. [/QUOTE] My grandmother had her wedding ring and WWI Nurse’s badge-type thing on while in the casket at the wake & funeral. After that, just before we pallbearers took the casket away, these were removed and given to various relatives per her will. The funeral director indicated that this was pretty common. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/16 "2007-01-04T01:19:15Z")
james brown missed the flight out of georgia and was driven up to nyc. as for ford… it is a bit faster than the train. that would have taken a bit of time; ca to dc to mi. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/17 "2007-01-04T02:15:21Z")
[QUOTE=rocking chair] james brown missed the flight out of georgia and was driven up to nyc. … [/QUOTE] He missed his flight? So he was late? Re: Changing the clothes; The clothes are split up the back so it’s not really that big a deal. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/18 "2007-01-04T02:18:54Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] He missed his flight? So he was late? Re: Changing the clothes; The clothes are split up the back so it’s not really that big a deal. [/QUOTE] Also if only the top half of the casket is going to be open they only dress the torso. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/19 "2007-01-04T03:24:46Z")
[QUOTE=Jackknifed Juggernaut] Can’t we have remembrance ceremonies without the body actually being present? Maybe it’s just me, but I find this unbelievably absurd. [/QUOTE] By that sentiment why even have a ceremony? People can remember him anywhere and at anytime. It’s tough to have a viewing and a funeral without a body. You may not like the tradition but that’s what it is. You’re free to have your remains stuffed in a coke bottle and floated down the river Styx if it makes you happy. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447/20 "2007-01-04T03:53:50Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] He missed his flight? So he was late? [/QUOTE] The spiffy golden casket was late, IIRC. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-dead-bodies-isnt-it-a-bit-absurd-to-fly-them-around-the-country/386447.md?page=2)