# How are you going to dispose of the body? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 7, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120 "2011-11-07T00:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [November 7, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/21 "2011-11-07T04:03:22Z")
Donation, then cremation. I don’t know where I want to be scattered yet. My Dad always said he wanted to be frozen, then have one end sharpened and be pounded into the ground. We cremated him when there was no one willing to freeze him. I suppose we could make his _ashes_ into a popsicle… ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/22 "2011-11-07T04:06:29Z")
> [@Ashes\_Ashes](#): > > I don’t know where I want to be scattered yet. Again, with the name / post combo… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/23 "2011-11-07T04:13:25Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Gotcha ya! > > StG ::Falls out of chair screaming with laughter:: ::Wipes tear:: Oh God. Good times, good times. I chose “I have a better idea” because I’ve both heard of getting your ashes pressed into vinyl records: [Your cremated ashes made into vinyl records - Boing Boing](http://boingboing.net/2010/08/30/your-cremated-ashes.html) And being made into diamonds: [http://www.dna2diamonds.com/?gclid=CJv-24zUo6wCFQxihwodeEriBw](http://www.dna2diamonds.com/?gclid=CJv-24zUo6wCFQxihwodeEriBw) I would be harvested first of course, but woe to whomever gets stuck with my liver. ETA: Wasn’t Hunter S. Thompson shot into space? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/24 "2011-11-07T05:10:15Z")
Hoboken NJ has a long, rich history of tossing dead bodies into the Hudson River. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/25 "2011-11-07T05:56:06Z")
Take whatever organs you need, wrap me in a shroud and dump me in the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/26 "2011-11-07T06:55:45Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Organ donation, followed by burial in the woods wrapped in biodegradable fabric. I want nature to take back from my body everything that I’ve been taking from it all these years. The idea of being put into a casket or burned up into ash just pisses me off. **This!** In a forest, as far remote as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/27 "2011-11-07T09:48:37Z")
Neighborhood trash is picked up on Tuesdays. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Obvious)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/28 "2011-11-07T09:55:18Z")
Like many others in this thread, take what they need for others and the rest can be tossed somewhere. Though if it were legal I wouldn’t mind my body being left to rot for a little while, followed by a liberal dosing in some kind of preservative, being stuffed with animatronics, and used in various zombie movies. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/29 "2011-11-07T10:40:46Z")
I’m donating my body to science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/30 "2011-11-07T12:05:35Z")
I want my leavin’s to be used - organ donation and study or whatever else may be of service. No need for me to take up real estate with a hole and a stone, so if there’s anything leftover once the useful stuff is taken, I don’t mind being composted. It’s not like I’ll be needing my carcass after I’m dead. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/31 "2011-11-07T12:48:48Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Burial. But not in one of those horrid metal hermetically sealed liquefaction caskets. > > Bury me in a simple wooden box, and plant a couple of trees over me. Right on top. In fact, plant a blackthorn at my head and a whitethorn at my feet, and maybe the fairies will let me join their song. . . The funeral homes have bought enough state legislators so that won’t happen. Here the law requires embalming before cremation. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/32 "2011-11-07T13:52:15Z")
Organ donation; what’s left can be cremated. ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/33 "2011-11-07T14:04:28Z")
I’m donating my body to Medical Science. Hopefully to help find a cure for Diabetics 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/34 "2011-11-07T14:14:47Z")
If I die before my buddy, my skull will become his drinking cup (and his will be mine if he dies first). We have a sort of tontine … ---
**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 7, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/35 "2011-11-07T14:31:43Z")
The organleggers get the first crack at removing whatever they can use, then it goes to medical research [hey, at least it would have amusement value] after that they can feed it to sharks or flush it - I have no further use for it. I suppose they cremate the leftovers and give it back to my estate from what I hear unless it goes to a body farm. I just do not understand why people are so attached to their leftovers - the spirit or whatever is _us_ is gone from the corpse. I think grave yards are a waste of good agricultural land. [but then again I have the same opinion of golf courses] ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/36 "2011-11-07T14:35:49Z")
As others have said, donate everything that can be donated, give the rest to medical research, anything left over just put it in a garbage bag and let it follow the same destiny that yesterday’s chicken leftovers. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/37 "2011-11-07T15:09:53Z")
With fire. This might seem morbid, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to die alone. Unless tragedy befalls my loved ones, my parents will go first, I’m the youngest of five children so my siblings will likely go before I do, my spouse will go before I do, and I don’t have any children. No sense in making a big fuss over my body since by the time I croak, everyone around me will be long gone. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/38 "2011-11-07T19:26:59Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > {snip}I think grave yards are a waste of good agricultural land. [but then again I have the same opinion of golf courses] [slight hijack] Many modern-day municipal golf courses are located in flood plains. All that open ground helps soak up water that otherwise would flood communities: [http://www.cybergolf.com/golf\_news/johnny\_pond\_asks\_why\_do\_new\_courses\_have\_more\_water\_than\_older\_designs](http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/johnny_pond_asks_why_do_new_courses_have_more_water_than_older_designs). [/s.h.] > [@MeanOldLady](#): > > {snip}I’m the youngest of five children so my siblings will likely go before I do…{snip} You never know! Of my paternal grandmother’s six children, the oldest was the last to go. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/39 "2011-11-07T19:49:23Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > I’m donating my body to science fiction. -Steven Wright Organ donation to the extent possible, and then the paths diverge depending on whether or not I outlive my wife. If I die first, she would strongly prefer burial, and it would be pretty crummy of me to set plans in motion, while I’m still alive, to deprive her of that comfort. If I outlive her, cremation, with the instruction that part of the ashes are to be buried with my wife, and my son is to scatter the rest along the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120/40 "2011-11-07T20:16:25Z")
Organ and tissue donation, whatever’s left can be used for study / training / research, and whatever’s left after \*that \*gets toasted and sprinkled. I wouldn’t mind just being put out for the vultures, foxes, and whatever else scavenges around here, but I believe that legal issues make that impractical here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-going-to-dispose-of-the-body/602120.md?page=3)