# If someone's head or legs were cut off in a bus crash or similar, sewn on again before burial? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someones-head-or-legs-were-cut-off-in-a-bus-crash-or-similar-sewn-on-again-before-burial/752395 "2016-04-16T19:35:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunmurry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dunmurry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunmurry)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someones-head-or-legs-were-cut-off-in-a-bus-crash-or-similar-sewn-on-again-before-burial/752395/1 "2016-04-16T19:35:44Z")
I was just wondering if someone was killed in a horror bus crash or a car accident and their head or legs were cut off in the accident if it would be common for them to be sewn on again before burial then or before viewing by relatives or what might be done by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortician](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortician) some morticians or before [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setting\_the\_Features](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setting_the_Features) doing the things like preparation for viewing by relatives and setting the features and suchlike. I appreciate this may be a bit like something out of Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory or the Saw films dare I say but I was just wondering what the common practices among morticians are. Someone help me with any information about this? But anyone know anything about this in Ireland or America or Canada then? ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someones-head-or-legs-were-cut-off-in-a-bus-crash-or-similar-sewn-on-again-before-burial/752395/2 "2016-04-16T20:34:39Z")
Practices may vary, but “closed casket” funerals exist for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someones-head-or-legs-were-cut-off-in-a-bus-crash-or-similar-sewn-on-again-before-burial/752395/3 "2016-04-16T20:47:10Z")
When I worked at a mortuary, we had a funeral for a kid who was killed in a car accident. He wasn’t dismembered, but he was torn up pretty badly. The family still wanted an open casket viewing, so we had one. The embalmers worked him over so he was recognizable and the boss spent a lot of time worrying about him “leaking.” For someone actually in pieces, the parts would have to be individually embalmed and the leakage issue handled somehow. Far more likely the detached limbs would just be wet packed and a closed casket funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someones-head-or-legs-were-cut-off-in-a-bus-crash-or-similar-sewn-on-again-before-burial/752395/4 "2016-04-16T20:59:16Z")
I don’t want to be too graphic, but it’s unlikely that an accident bad enough to sever body parts like the OP says would sever them cleanly. We aren’t talking Frankenstein-type reconstruction here, but more like trying to put a roast chicken back together after ripping the legs and wings off it. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someones-head-or-legs-were-cut-off-in-a-bus-crash-or-similar-sewn-on-again-before-burial/752395/5 "2016-04-16T22:07:55Z")
I have exactly zero expertise in this subject, but: How much are you willing to spend? If someone wants to spent a few million dollars, I suspect the thing in the box will look like an intact person sleeping. But, for any service at a reasonable price? Close the box and put a nice photo of the deceased on an easel beside the box. ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someones-head-or-legs-were-cut-off-in-a-bus-crash-or-similar-sewn-on-again-before-burial/752395/6 "2016-04-17T00:03:23Z")
Not a mortuary worker, but grew up with grandparents who went to every funeral of every person they ever met. An option I’ve seen employed (rarely) is a combination of low lighting and a veil draped over the open casket to blur some details. (And hoping everyone isn’t automatically leaning in trying to see better.)