Scthye and Wheat Sheaf Memorial, Albumen Carte de Visite, Circa 1880 by lisby1 on Flickr.

Scthye and Wheat Sheaf Memorial, Albumen Carte de Visite, Circa 1880 by lisby1 on Flickr.

Photograph by Andreas Larsen Dahl. De Forest, Wisconsin, ca. 1880. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society. Funeral wreath of Caroline Keyser Preus, the wife of Lutheran minister Herman Amberg Preus.

Photograph by Andreas Larsen Dahl. De Forest, Wisconsin, ca. 1880. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society.

Funeral wreath of Caroline Keyser Preus, the wife of Lutheran minister Herman Amberg Preus.

CNN Video: Dead man riding motorcycle at his funeral

From 2010: CNN’s Jeanne Moos reports.

Sort-of related: When I lived in New York, I worked a block away from Time Warner Center (the building she’s standing outside of). I used to go over there to grab lunch at Whole Foods and I’d often see her standing outside interviewing people. She never stopped me, though. Sigh.

(Image via Oddity Central.)

What Remains: Conversations with American Funeral Directors

Good article by Max Rivlin-Nadler on The Awl about a visit to the National Funeral Directors Conference in Chicago. It’s all about the changing nature of the funeral biz and the rise in cremations.

One (alarming) highlight:

In 2007, an EPA report found dangerously high levels of formaldehyde and phenol in drinking water in locations near funeral homes throughout New York state. The burial of a corpse in a metal coffin, with the embalmed body inside, deposits other chemicals in groundwater. The coffin’s metals leech into the ground, followed eventually by the chemicals used to preserve the corpses. Every graveyard may be lush and green, but when you look at its chemical makeup it starts to look like a mini-Brownfield. (Distressingly, higher rates of cancer have been found among embalmers who have to breathe in this stuff every day.)

Read the article.

Andreas Larsen Dahl, Funeral Party around Casket. Deerfield, Wisconsin, ca. 1874. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society. A funeral party is assembled around a casket in front of an upright-and-wing frame house. Two older men on the left, one identified as Lars D. Reque, stand with bibles while several women wearing Norwegian-style patterned shawls are standing close to the casket. This is another house insured by the Hekla Fire Insurance Co., which sold to many Norwegian-American households in south central Wisconsin.

Andreas Larsen Dahl, Funeral Party around Casket. Deerfield, Wisconsin, ca. 1874. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society.

A funeral party is assembled around a casket in front of an upright-and-wing frame house. Two older men on the left, one identified as Lars D. Reque, stand with bibles while several women wearing Norwegian-style patterned shawls are standing close to the casket. This is another house insured by the Hekla Fire Insurance Co., which sold to many Norwegian-American households in south central Wisconsin.

Source: sphenoid05 on Flickr.

Source: sphenoid05 on Flickr.

Arch at Twelfth St., Chicago, President Abraham Lincoln’s hearse and young ladies (LOC) by The Library of Congress on Flickr. Photograph shows many women dressed in white accompanying President Lincoln’s hearse as it passes beneath ornamental arch at 12th Street in Chicago, Illinois. Read more about Lincoln’s postmortem rail tour here.

Arch at Twelfth St., Chicago, President Abraham Lincoln’s hearse and young ladies (LOC) by The Library of Congress on Flickr.

Photograph shows many women dressed in white accompanying President Lincoln’s hearse as it passes beneath ornamental arch at 12th Street in Chicago, Illinois.

Read more about Lincoln’s postmortem rail tour here.

Syrian bishop’s remains (funeral). Corpse seated in church. Matson Photo Service, [1940-1946]. Source: Library of Congress.

Syrian bishop’s remains (funeral). Corpse seated in church. Matson Photo Service, [1940-1946]. Source: Library of Congress.

Syrian bishop’s remains (funeral). Corpse seated in church. Matson Photo Service, [between 1940 and 1946]. Source: Library of Congress.

Syrian bishop’s remains (funeral). Corpse seated in church. Matson Photo Service, [between 1940 and 1946]. Source: Library of Congress.

rhymeswithcoral: Bulgarian widower and his wife. Dated March 10th, 1920.

rhymeswithcoral:

Bulgarian widower and his wife.

Dated March 10th, 1920.

(Source: columba-livia, via thanatomanie)

Casket by Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane on Flickr. Paul Stang, ca. 1910. Casket decorated with flowers. The sprigs of spruce were traditionally thought to keep evil spirits away from the deceased.

Casket by Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane on Flickr. Paul Stang, ca. 1910.

Casket decorated with flowers. The sprigs of spruce were traditionally thought to keep evil spirits away from the deceased.

Kearny coffin on caisson (LOC) by The Library of Congress on Flickr. Bain News Service, publisher, 1912. Photo shows flag-draped coffin of Major General Philip Kearny (1815-1862) on Broadway in New York City. Kearny died in battle during the Civil War and was buried at Trinity Churchyard until 1912, when the body was moved to Arlington Cemetery. 

Kearny coffin on caisson (LOC) by The Library of Congress on Flickr. Bain News Service, publisher, 1912.

Photo shows flag-draped coffin of Major General Philip Kearny (1815-1862) on Broadway in New York City. Kearny died in battle during the Civil War and was buried at Trinity Churchyard until 1912, when the body was moved to Arlington Cemetery. 

From The Metropolitan Museum of Art (www.metmuseum.org): Artist: Aleksey Ivanovich Saveliev (Russian, 1883–1923) Title: Peasant Carts with Funeral Wreaths Title: [Funeral of Leo Tolstoy, Astapovo, Russia] Date: 1910 Medium: Gelatin silver print Dimensions: Image: 8.9 x 13.3 cm (3 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.) Credit Line: Gift of Pierre Apraxine, 2010 Accession Number: 2010.423.6 Classification: Photographs

From The Metropolitan Museum of Art (www.metmuseum.org):

Artist: Aleksey Ivanovich Saveliev (Russian, 1883–1923)

Title: Peasant Carts with Funeral Wreaths

Title: [Funeral of Leo Tolstoy, Astapovo, Russia]

Date: 1910

Medium: Gelatin silver print

Dimensions: Image: 8.9 x 13.3 cm (3 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.)

Credit Line: Gift of Pierre Apraxine, 2010

Accession Number: 2010.423.6

Classification: Photographs

Skeletons, mummies, bog bodies, exhumations. The dead, and what happens to them.



Categories:
Meet This Dead Person
Feats of Preservation
Skulls and Skeletons
Bog Bodies
Mummies
Ossuaries and Bone Architecture
Incorruptibles and Saintly Relics
Exhumations
When Famous People Die
When Dead People Turn to Soap
Skeletons in Clothes
Dead People Sitting, Standing, or
     Made to Look Alive
Postmortem Photography
Death in Art
Death Masks
Crime
Suicide
Disease
War
Hearses
Executions
Accidents and Disasters
Funerals
Morgues, Funeral Homes, and the
     Business of Death
Mourning Customs and Imagery
Handling, Disposing of, and Storing
     the Dead
Posthumous Travels and
     (mis)Adventures
Cemeteries and Graveyard Scenes
Personal Details and Opinions
Personal Favorites
Just Plain Weird or Uncategorizable

About This Site
Sites I Like
Ask or Say or Both
Archive

My Elsewheres:
Slight Perceptual Problem
Old-Timey Cats
Old & Welsh