Did You Know: You Can Buy Caskets Handmade by Monks
Trappist monks are known for their unique beers, but fewer people know that you can buy another Trappist product: handmade caskets. Trappist abbeys in the U.S. have the...
What Can Cremated Remains Tell Us About the Dead?
For osteo-archaeologists, cremated remains pose a problem: cremation destroys much of the information that bones can convey, such as diseases and nutrition, making it difficult to understand the...
Hart Island, Nation’s Largest Public Cemetery, to Become a Public Park
First used as a public cemetery for unclaimed and unidentified bodies in 1869, New York's Hart Island, home to the remains of over one million people and the...
Carla Harvey, Grief Counselor and Heavy Metal Star
Many heavy metal musicians want to portray a tough image–but Butcher Babies frontwoman Carla Harvey has quite literally stared death in the face. As a former embalmer and...
National Cemeteries May Limit Eligibility as They Run Out of Space
The U.S. Army is planning to limit eligibility for burials at Arlington National Cemetery as the iconic burial ground runs out of in-ground burial space. Under a new...
Cheerleaders Find, Like, Literal Skeletons in the Closet
What's the oddest thing you've found in an old closet? For some young Texas cheerleaders, the answer is literal skeletons. As the buildings formerly used by the Independent...
Canadian Embalmers Get Legal Go-Ahead for Visible Tattoos and Piercings
A Canadian labor arbitrator ruled in favor of visible tattoos and piercings for funeral home employees, saying one funeral home chain's ban violated the rights of its employees...
Preserving Historic Black Cemeteries
As the nation reckons with our history of racism and institutionalized discrimination, the stories of Black Americans are being unearthed –sometimes literally – in thousands of historic Black...
Reimagining the Cemetery as Public Space
From the humble churchyard to glamorous memorial parks with manicured lawns, cemeteries all require one thing: land. As urban real estate becomes an increasingly valuable commodity, many cemeteries...
Creative Urns Designed to Spark Conversation
Since the earliest days of civilization, humans have sought ways to memorialize the remains of their dead with ceremonial containers, whether buried deep within an underground vault or...