The (Brain)Wave of Death
With a few sudden, traumatic exceptions (such as a fall from a great height or a catastrophic accident like a car wreck), death is a gradual process. It...
Is There a Number One Cause of Unsuccessful Embalmings?
After going down a few research rabbit holes while writing this recent piece on difficult embalmings, a seemingly natural, harmless question arose: is there a single obstacle death...
When Embalming Isn’t Possible: Trauma, Illness, Surprises
Editor's note: We writers don't claim to know exactly how you do what you do, but we're voraciously curious! Email us with your own embalming challenges so we...
Herodotus, Harvard, and a History of Human Hides
Ok, let’s be clear: nobody’s out here skinning people to turn into purses or stilettos or footballs for the sake of a death care blog post. We didn’t...
Philosophy vs Religion: Something to Believe
Nowadays, our memorial services and life celebrations are typically based on a framework of morality or belief. It’s by no means standard: while many such services may be...
Cold Water’s Effects on Decomposition, Part 2: Victims of the Titanic (Seawater) vs. The Edmund Fitzgerald (Freshwater)
A recent Connecting Directors article discussed how Lake Superior’s victims rarely emerge from her frigid depths. The freshwater Great Lake is notorious for “disappearing” her dead: in the...
Here’s Why Superior (It’s Said) Never Gives Up Her Dead
Lake Superior – the largest of the Great Lakes – is notorious for its reputation as a “watery graveyard” from which corpses are rarely recovered. Its fearsome profile...
How Doctors Treat Complex Grief, Part 2: Medication
In our previous article, we discussed information which might be useful to have available to provide to families and prospective clients on some of the common forms grief...
Death Care Pros: Does Your Expertise Work Against You?
Mastering a trade is useful on a lot of levels. With long experience comes close familiarity: with one’s field, with the tools of the trade, with oneself. An...
Compassion Fatigue and Death Care Writers: Is This a Thing?
Funeral directors, embalmers and other professionals whose jobs involve the processing of human remains confront a unique form of stress, one intrinsic to the nature of the work....