# What is the purose of hermetically sealing a coffin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2007, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292 "2007-09-15T08:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zerc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/82dd89/32.png) [@Zerc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zerc)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/1 "2007-09-15T08:05:57Z")
Reading this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=436313) about casket warrantees there were a few statements made along the lines of hermetically sealing a coffin so that the body will not be affected by the elements. I realise the body will still decay although I suppose it may not it is has been embalmed. As far as I am concerned it that it’s a natural process of death that eventually you will decompose and return to to the earth. What I don’t understand is the reason for not wanting the body to decay. Can any body shed some insight in this? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/2 "2007-09-15T08:50:11Z")
Well, Snow White came back to life after all… After one kiss from Prince whatshisname. I don’t know. Some people are in such denial about death that preserving the flesh means eternal life? Beats me. As an atheist, all I know is that once you die the remaining carcass might as well be burned or jettisoned into space for all I care. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/3 "2007-09-15T09:38:05Z")
I would only care if my coffin was hermetically sealed if it was going to be above-ground and on permanent display. Isn’t Lenin’s tomb like that? When I was a little kid and my dad came back from Russia and talked about seeing Lenin’s preserved body, I thought he was talking about John Lennon. (I knew my Beatles even back then, and knew that Lennon was shot, and I figured he was important enough to have his body preserved forever.) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/4 "2007-09-15T09:44:27Z")
Lenin doesn’t decay because he is embalmed, and is in a climate-controlled glass box (as are Mao and Ho Chi Minh - I’ve scored the triumvirate of dead Commie dictators), though there was a rumour at one point in the 1980s that his head had caved in and had to be replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/5 "2007-09-15T12:13:32Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] Well, Snow White came back to life after all… After one kiss from Prince whatshisname. I don’t know. Some people are in such denial about death that preserving the flesh means eternal life? Beats me. As an atheist, all I know is that once you die the remaining carcass might as well be burned or jettisoned into space for all I care. [/QUOTE] Snow White. Hmmm. [ul] [li]Raven black hair.[/li][li]Ruby red lips[/li][li]Very pale skin, as white as snow. Abnormal, in a pre-industrial society.[/li][li]Lives with supernatural beings (dwarves), who are obsessively loyal to her, for no obvious reason.[/li][li]Possesses such extreme beauty that government employees (the Queen’s Huntsman) will disobey their orders & serve her.[/li][li]Her revenge against the Queen (in the non-Disney versions) is extraordinarily bloody.[/li][li]Slept in a glass coffin.[/li][li]Rose, after being “dead”.[/li][li]Ergo–Snow White is a vampire.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/6 "2007-09-15T12:32:24Z")
If they are not hermetically seals don’t bodies tend to liquify? My CSI memory is eluding me this early in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/7 "2007-09-15T12:50:10Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] If they are not hermetically seals don’t bodies tend to liquify? My CSI memory is eluding me this early in the morning. [/QUOTE] A hermetically sealed casket will not prevent a body from liquifying. Indeed, it will contain the noxious fluid, and [prevent it from draining into the soil or evaporating](http://mausoleumproblems.homestead.com/intro.html): > [@](#): > > When a corpse enters this liquifaction stage, the organs within the thorax, abdomen and skull will turn into viscous, foul- smelling liquid “goo”. The water locked in muscle and fat tissue will also be released. Any embalming fluid in the body’s veins and arteries will also leak out. When this happens, these liquids will be released into the casket, due to the decomposition of the epidermis (skin), which normally keeps the body’s liquids within the body during life. If one were to disinter a casket from a grave or mausoleum several months after burial or emtombment, it is possible that perhaps 10 to 25 gallons, or more, of liquids could be sloshing about in the casket. No casket for me. Fire purifies completely. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/8 "2007-09-15T13:55:58Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Lenin doesn’t decay because he is embalmed, and is in a climate-controlled glass box (as are Mao and Ho Chi Minh - I’ve scored the triumvirate of dead Commie dictators), though there was a rumour at one point in the 1980s that his head had caved in and had to be replaced. [/QUOTE] I heard that his ear fell off while some gawping tourist was paying respects ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/9 "2007-09-15T14:04:49Z")
Lend me your ear and I’ll sing you a song, And I’ll try not to sing out of key. Sorry wrong Lenin. Ringo actually… ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/10 "2007-09-15T14:07:38Z")
So, sealing a coffin has nothing to do with keeping zombies from getting out? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/11 "2007-09-15T18:58:48Z")
Doesn’t anybody read [The Perfect Master](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_092.html) anymore? > [@](#): > > Under the most favorable circumstances, a body after six months in the grave would simply be discolored and possibly covered with mold. If the body has had the misfortune to have been sealed in an airtight metal casket, though, anaerobic bacteria–that is, those that thrive in an airless environment–will have had a chance to get to work, and the body will have putrefied, meaning it will be partially liquefied. The smell in such cases is indescribable. Simple wooden caskets, believe it or not, often result in more gradual decomposition. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/12 "2007-09-15T19:23:51Z")
The _purpose_ of “hermetically sealing” a coffin is simply to con more money from a greiving family member. It works far too often. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sans\_Seraph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sans\_Seraph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sans_Seraph)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purose-of-hermetically-sealing-a-coffin/419292/13 "2007-09-15T20:05:19Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Snow White. Hmmm. [ul] [li]Raven black hair.[/li][li]Ruby red lips[/li][li]Very pale skin, as white as snow. Abnormal, in a pre-industrial society.[/li][li]Lives with supernatural beings (dwarves), who are obsessively loyal to her, for no obvious reason.[/li][li]Possesses such extreme beauty that government employees (the Queen’s Huntsman) will disobey their orders & serve her.[/li][li]Her revenge against the Queen (in the non-Disney versions) is extraordinarily bloody.[/li][li]Slept in a glass coffin.[/li][li]Rose, after being “dead”.[/li][li]Ergo–Snow White is a vampire.[/li][/ul] [/QUOTE] Has **Bosda** been reading [Neil Gaiman](http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/stories/snow.html), or is this just an obvious conclusion?