Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Once you're put in the ground, it's better to just stay there.

I've only had to be present at a few disinterments. One was a guy who had been in the ground for a little over thirty years. Car accident at about 25 . The casket was metal, rubber gasketing, and encased in a nice high quality vault. He was mummified, with a mold on his lower face like a white beard. He looked not that worse for wear except he was somewhat out of style in his disco suit with the bell bottom pants. Another was a little boy about 6 years old. Death in the the early 60's. Mummified, just a little bit of mold. He was wearing a little cowboy suit, with 2 holstered plastic six shooters. I had the same get-up when I was a kid in the 50's. Made me sad. The worst was a couple who were being disinterred for cremation so they could be moved to another cemetery up north. One was buried in the early '80's, the other a few years later. Well, the ground must have shifted because the vault top was broken on the dad's plot and the casket top was badly compromised. There was water in the casket and the corpse looked worse than the guy on Tales of the Crypt. The smell was beyond description. Literally seconds after disinterment the area was invaded with thousands of flies. As the van drove to the crematory a huge black cloud of insects followed the whole way. The van stunk for 2 years.

Here are the disinterments of some famous folks.

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