Concert Cremains & Basement Golf | 4M #94

Welcome to the ninety-fourth edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #94, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!

This newsletter is powered by MemoryShare, a funeral livestreaming platform that you can set up in 30 seconds or less.

#SubTok

Last week we shared the viral story of the #DeathTok mortician whose TikTok traffic advice may have saved a life. This week, Lauren Eliza (@lovee.miss.lauren), has again gone viral on social media — this time for anticipating the condition of the bodies of the passengers of the Titan submarine implosion. In response to her fans’ questions about what the five individuals might have experienced in the tragic accident, Lauren Eliza assured them that death would have been instantaneous, with the victims feeling no pain. “When I tell you their deaths were instant, I really mean it. I’m dead serious,” she posted. “It happens so fast that their brains don’t even have time to register what’s happening or even sense pain.” Yes, it was a gruesome topic to discuss, but Lauren Eliza’s words most likely brought some comfort to those worried about the passengers’ final moments.

It sure wasn’t glitter

Throwing things at performers during live concerts has become a weird and quite dangerous trend lately. In June, both Kelsea Ballerini and Bebe Rexha temporarily halted their performances after being hit with objects; Rexha even needed stitches after being hit in the face with an iPhone. Last year, Harry Styles was hit in the eye with Skittles and in the groin with a water bottle. Perhaps the weirdest in-concert assault, though, happened last week during a Pink concert in London, when a fan tossed a “plastic baggie of gray powder” on stage. Pink immediately recognized the contents as human cremains. The fan identified them as the remains of his mother. “This is your mom?” she asked, horrified. “I don’t know how I feel about this.” Pink, a true professional, picked up the bag and placed it in a safe place on the stage, and finished her song. 

Closure?

Former Ehle-Barnett Funeral Home owner Brian M. Barnett has been sentenced by a New York judge to 2⅓ to 7 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree grand larceny. He was originally charged with that top count as well as “concealment of a human corpse and scheme to defraud, all felonies, plus three misdemeanor counts of improper burial of a body and operating a funeral home without a license or registration.” Barnett apologized to the dozens of family members of his victims who attended the sentencing hearing, blaming his behavior on “addictions to copious amounts of prescription drugs, financial and social pressures that go hand in hand with the business I eagerly and with great intentions took over, becoming a new father and several other factors.” Barnett also owes the families of his victims tens of thousands of dollars in restitution.

Fairway to heaven

If your funeral home has a basement, chances are it’s not your favorite spot in the building (think: spooky abandoned embalming rooms, creepy old caskets, flickering light bulbs, etc.). However, the basement of Ahlgrim Family Funeral Services outside Chicago might be a different story. In 1964, third-generation owner Roger Ahlgrim had a vision for his funeral home’s vast, windowless, empty bottom floor, and within a few years he had filled the space with a full-size shuffleboard court, a ping pong table, a bumper pool table, a foosball table, and a death-themed nine-hole mini-golf course he dubbed Ahlgrim Acres. The room became a community gathering place, especially with neighborhood kids. Today, the fifth generation owners still open the basement to the community’s enjoyment — except during funerals, of course.

Say goodbye to Facebook

If you’re using Facebook for live streaming, does this sound familiar?

• Copyrighted music is silenced (even with proper certifications!)
• Advertisements out of your control pop up during the livestream
• It’s difficult for families to access because it requires a Facebook account

This is why Carlton Stevens Jr., Operations Manager and Mortician at Stevens Funeral Home in North Carolina, said goodbye to Facebook and switched to MemoryShare—a live streaming platform built specifically for funeral professionals.

“Now, families don’t have to worry about Facebook accounts. It works, and it’s easy to use,” Carlton said. “It’s the best, I’m telling you. It’s liquid gold.”

After he started offering live streaming during the pandemic, Carlton saw Stevens Funeral Home call volume bump from 20 calls to 41 calls.

Today, Stevens Funeral Home live streams a service every other day.

And with MemoryShare, all they have to do is push a button.

“It’s a no brainer,” Carlton said.

Read how Carlton is using livestreaming to grow his business in our latest case study—click here to read it!