johnart said:

My mom passed at home. The thing I remember most is when the coroner came in to take her away and he put her in a big black back. I remember that I was like "please don't zip it all the way up, she can't....." Then I caught myself. I was ready to say "breathe". Very surreal.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Surreal is a very good word for it.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Those are two very, very sad stories. My heart goes out to both you guys.

PDogz said:

Thank you, P.

PDogz said:

PDogz! What what!!!!

Thank you.

meow85 said:

I know you enjoy being contrary just for the hell of it but read what I wrote...I KNOW THAT, Sheesh!

In the second paragraph I explained in detail what I thought was wierd about it and if you happen not to agree that's fine but it pisses me off when you misrepresent what I wrote.

At the end of the day there's any number of burial practices that one person or another may find odd...so what? There's a difference in having an opinion and being opinionated...learn it.

You really do have a habit of getting hostile, argumentive and confrontational over the silliest things.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Same thing with my dad. He passed at my brother's home. When my brother called me at 3:00 am to tell me, I made him promise me he would not call the coroner to pick up Daddy's body until I got there. When that black bag appeared, I lost it. It just seemed so final and dismal...like seeing a body being removed from a crime scene or something.

Shyra said:

But...we get through it.

babynoz said:

I'm not being contrary, I'm presenting my opinion.

I think it's weird to display a dead body in any way. I find it interesting that you read my post as hostile or argumentative.

Here's the dude on the bike.

Dead people always have those deflated looking fingers.

minneapolisgenius said:

I wonder what causes that.

meow85 said:

They always look smaller than they did in life too, as if they shrunk (...so they look like a "doll version" of themselves). In spite of the fact their blood is replaced with chemicals, the "deflated looking fingers" and smaller body appearance probably has to do with the overall loss of water in the body - so they turn out like beef-jerky (sort of). Actually, that's exactly what beef-jerky is; dead flesh that's been treated with chemicals.

Vegetarian yet?

PDogz said:

Yeah, what he said.

minneapolisgenius said:

For some reason I want to put this in my signature.



Anyways, I've only ever been to one wake, and it was my uncle's.
My father when he passed away was kind enough to ask to be immeidately creamated (for those of you who like details, he requested this before and not after he died).

Anyways, it was mu uncle who died. He had slipped on the stairs and fell to his death. I looked in his coffin and honestly didn't think the person in the coffin looked anything like him. It seems once a person dies, they don't even appear to be themselves anymore physically. Like they 'morph' or something.


He looked better, actually. The scowl on his face was replaced by a calm reverence.

TheVoid said:

People in open caskets, after they've been all "prepared", never look like you remember them. Their whole body looks deflated and they look like wax figures. Like the empty shell of their physical selves, which is exactly what they are at that point. I always think of empty caterpillar cocoons.

Yeah, I used to want to be a mortician.

minneapolisgenius said:

You are sooooo nastay!!!

TheVoid said:

For the mortician part? I think it's fascinating.

minneapolisgenius said:

I'm not sure why but I've always thought that burials and such were morbid. The entire process of gathering around a dead person just creeps me out.

I really hope that when I pass, I'll be quickly cremated and my ashes dumped into the ocean. But I don't want a tombstone or anything like that.

The idea of being buried in the ground with tombstones just grosses me the hell out. Perfectly beautiful land dotted by morbid reminders of past lives.

TheVoid said:

It IS morbid and I guess that's why I've always been fascinated by it all, ever since I was a little kid. That said, I still don't know what I want done with my remains. Plastination maybe? Ah, just dump me in the garden as compost.

minneapolisgenius said:

OMG, another signature worthy statement.


You are sooooo nastay!

TheVoid said:

And you think I'm kidding too!

Although, that photo on this thread with that guy propped up in the living room actually disturbs me.

minneapolisgenius said:

You know what? I find that picture very, very disturbing also, to the point where I'm thinking about it even when I'm not online. Yet I keep coming back to look at it, for long periods of time, as if I'm trying to figure out what he's thinking, or if he knows he's in his Mom's house. Of course I realize he doesn't, but I can't deny that his picture has touched me on some level that I haven't quite figured out yet. Some deep level.

I bet it brought his family some level of closure that they had him there at home, so they could talk to him, touch him, kiss his cheek, and tell him goodbye, in a setting that was so much more personal than a funeral parlor. Sad that he was so young.

PDogz said:

No, but that explanation seems to make sense. Thanks. I'd often wondered about that.

TheVoid said:

Says the guy with the terrifying profile pic.

PDogz said:

I hear ya, it stuck in my mind for a little while too. I hope that "action pose" viewing doesn't catch on as a new trend.

It's interesting how different people process the experience. I was at a wake Friday night and the whole family kept going over to the casket to touch the deceased. The men were crying openly and holding each other, not trying to be stoic at all.

I remember my grandmother saying that it was customary in the old days to have a wake right there in the house...Ick!

babynoz said:

Yeah, especially in the South. I remember seeing pictures of my grandfather laid out in a casket in the family dining room! I was a little kid then and asked my dad how they got him in the house. He told me they had to have some windows removed to get the casket in the house.

PDogz said:

It is pretty disturbing. And mostly because he's standing. What is the point of that? It makes me think that the family was still in some sort of denial of his death, (which is understandable) because to put him in a pose as if he was still living in the house like that, well, it's a little bit kooky. You'd think though at one point, someone would have stepped up and pointed out that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Who knows though, maybe everyone involved was all for it.

I didn't read this thread thoroughly, so I'm not sure if those were the wishes of that guy after he died: to be propped up in the living room for the wake, or if it was all his family's idea. I'd be pissed and come back to haunt my family if they did that to me. Mostly because I know they'd do my eyebrows all wrong and put me in an outfit that I was totally over.

I'm not sure anyone's asked this yet, but what is the point in pointing out that they're Puerto Rican?

TheVoid said:

Perhaps to indicate where the funeral home was located?