Group Grief: Emotional Contagion in Shared Sorrow
In emotionally intense situations like funerals, demonstrations of grief can move through a crowd like a wave. The stronger the despair of others, the more likely those nearby...
To View or Not to View: Psychological Effects of Closed Caskets
A family’s decision of whether or not to view the deceased can be complex. Cultural considerations of both the dead and their loved ones feature significantly, as do...
Casket Size Discrepancies: Measured Twice, Still Won’t Fit
Any given day in the life of an intrepid funeral director is likely to be jam-packed with unanticipated incidents requiring creative solutions. Workflow volume unpredictably already affects everything...
From Relics to Research Pieces: Famous Preserved Body Parts
Einstein’s brain. Chopin’s heart and Beethoven’s skull. The right hand of St. John the Baptist (used to baptize Jesus) and finger bones of the apostle known as Doubting...
It Matters: Early Clothing Requests in Conversations With Families
If your services include a final outfit for dressing the deceased, getting everything you need to do that in your hands as early as possible can eliminate a...
Buried in Memories: Extracting Hoarders’ Remains
Crushed. Mummified. Skeletonized, or at any stage of decay; freshly dead or disarticulated by vermin such as rats or other animals… depending on the hoard and whether discovery...
Funeral Clowns Brought the Dead to Life
I heard “funeral clowns” and envisioned the grim reaper’s hood with a red nose poking out. Something smiley with too many yellow fangs and a scarlet afro. A...
Graveyard Dirt: Encountering the Collectors
Graveyard dirt is exactly what it sounds like: dirt taken from a grave, often for the purpose of serving as an ingredient in spiritual and religious rites. It’s...
Prosecuting the Dead
Posthumous prosecutions! We’re such a litigious people it’s almost believable of 2025 America, but no: this is another one of those incredible feats of folly that history holds...
Do More People Die During a Full Moon?
The full moon gets blamed for all kinds of nonsense: spates of weirdness or bad luck, general craziness, psychosis. Busy emergency rooms. Increased fatalities. Freak accidents. People are...