# If you were a ghost, would you attend your own funeral? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297 "2012-09-20T18:10:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/1 "2012-09-20T18:10:20Z")
Say there is life after death, you have died and turned into a ghost…would you attend your funeral? I’d say hell no. There’s no way I would want to view my dead body and my casket. I would however have to strongly resist the temptation to see who came to my funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/2 "2012-09-20T18:13:18Z")
No. If people were crying and sad, then I’d be sad. If they weren’t then I’d be pissed off. It’s a lose-lose. I’d skip the funeral and start my new life of spying on people. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/3 "2012-09-20T18:35:38Z")
Why am I hearing this thread title in the voice of Will-Ferrell-as-Harry-Caray? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/4 "2012-09-20T18:39:41Z")
I’m kind of hoping the next world, whatever form it takes, will be sufficiently enchanting so as to entirely distract me from sadness behind me. I gotta believe a new dimension could take some getting used to! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/5 "2012-09-20T19:35:22Z")
If I’m still hanging around Earth, sure why not. It only happens once. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/6 "2012-09-20T19:40:42Z")
I’d be late to it. ---
**Author:** ![core\_dump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@core\_dump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/core_dump)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/7 "2012-09-20T20:17:52Z")
Funeral, no. But I might sneak in to see the embalming and body preparation. And in my best ghostly voice, “ooOooOoo… Don’t touch my junk!!” ---
**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:** [September 20, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/8 "2012-09-20T20:50:01Z")
Actually, yes. I’ve left behind some very specific instructions about what should be done with my body in the case of my demise, timely or otherwise, and I’ve made it clear to my so-called loved ones that if they don’t follow through on my wishes, I’m going to haunt the fuckers. I intend to stand by that. Of course, there is a chance that when the time actually comes, I’ll say fuck that, and spirit myself off to Rio. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/9 "2012-09-20T20:55:08Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Why am I hearing this thread title in the voice of Will-Ferrell-as-Harry-Caray? Brilliant! No, I wouldn’t attend. I’d move on to whatever comes next. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/10 "2012-09-20T21:04:42Z")
I’m going to be cremated, so there wouldn’t be much to see. I guess I could make sure they listened to my wishes and actually cremated me… but honestly, unless I could interact with somebody and change what’s happening, I wouldn’t want to know. Worldly concerns are for the living. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/11 "2012-09-20T21:43:15Z")
I’d want to see if my funeral was conducted as I’ve instructed. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/12 "2012-09-20T21:43:57Z")
My funeral? Why waste time that could be better spent in the girl’s locker room? ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/13 "2012-09-20T22:21:17Z")
Maybe if I died old, because then everyone could be all, “She lived a good, long life” and share happy memories of me. But if I died now the last thing I’d want to see is my mom and daughter and other loved ones falling apart. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/14 "2012-09-20T22:23:33Z")
Only if I can “haunt” it. Make scary noises come from the casket, make rust-marks look like runes in the bathrooms, appear hazily to people, etc. If all I can do is watch, then no. I’m sure I can find something far more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/15 "2012-09-20T23:13:17Z")
Damn right I would. I’ve left specific instructions that there be no funeral, so the person who arranged it would receive one hellatious haunting. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/16 "2012-09-20T23:58:41Z")
I don’t think there’d be a funeral. My hopes are that my survivors would play some cheerful Dixieland and drink champagne or similarly festive beverage of their choice. But I hope that I’ll already be off to more interesting adventures, and meeting predeceased friends at some celestial equivalent of a watering hole, to swap stories and have a few laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Che\_G.Anonymous\_Capitalist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Che\_G.Anonymous\_Capitalist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Che_G.Anonymous_Capitalist)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/17 "2012-09-21T00:19:28Z")
I would be too busy in some high school locker room. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/18 "2012-09-21T01:28:43Z")
I hate attending funerals. My own is one exception I was planning to make. The OP is sucking the only comfort I might have in all the funerals I will ever have to attend right out of it. Only madness lies this way. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/19 "2012-09-21T01:36:49Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > I’d say hell no. There’s no way I would want to view my dead body and my casket. before you make a rash decision based on just this, I’d like to point out that you could go to your funeral and not look at your body. Just hang out at the back or in the lobby. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297/20 "2012-09-21T13:19:43Z")
Oh, hell yes! I’m enough of an egotist that I’d want to know who came, what they said, how many girls wept that they never dated me. I hope that Mom was at her service this past July. It went off exactly as she planned with the music, the preaching, the open mike- she’d have loved it! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-ghost-would-you-attend-your-own-funeral/635297.md?page=2)