Casket Selfies & Free Graves | 4M #151
Welcome to the hundred-and-fifty-first edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #151, 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!
Coffin-free
An Israel-based airline has introduced “coffin-free” flights on a trial basis in an effort to offer religious leaders the opportunity to travel without worrying about religious purity laws that forbid them from being in the presence of a dead body. As of last week, EL AL flights scheduled for Sunday through Wednesday will not be transporting any deceased persons in the cargo hold.
Nevada’s first
Earth Funeral, one of the first three companies to launch natural organic reduction after it was initially legalized in the United States in 2019, has expanded into Nevada. The Silver State was the seventh state to approve NOR, passing legislation in May 2023. That number has now grown to 12 with the recent addition of Maine and Minnesota in June 2024. Earth Funeral’s Las Vegas location will offer 75 composting vessels in a 12,000-square-foot facility, and will also serve families in Arizona in California, both states where NOR has been approved, although it will not be available in the latter state until 2026.
One-stop shop?
An Indiana outlet is reporting that a man who just settled “multiple lawsuits” for “his role in taking and sharing nude pictures of the recently deceased” at a funeral home has started a new company where he offers a wide, wide range of services, including some related to deathcare. According to a quite thorough investigation by REAL News Michiana, Vernado Malone is a convicted felon who “committed the heinous act under the guise of helping families of homicide victims with funeral costs through his nonprofit.” Malone’s new business card, which REAL News found on his Facebook page, shows that he offers everything from consulting services to help families find funeral homes “with reasonable rates” to “DNA testing for paternity” to “free graves.”
Second scandal for UK
Just months after authorities recovered 35 mishandled bodies from a UK funeral home, a second deathcare facility has been racked with a separate scandal. This time three employees at a crematorium have been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office for not dealing with cremated remains “in accordance with the wishes of the families of the deceased,” including one case where cremains “could not be located” despite the burial ceremony going forward.
Special selfies
Another UK funeral corporation (not related to those in the previous tidbit) conducted a survey of its directors to gauge visitors’ social media use during funerals — and the results probably won’t surprise you. They found that nearly one-fifth of directors had witnessed people taking selfies with the deceased, and 31% have seen people post other images to their socials during funerals. Sigh.
