"How would you like to tour my famous tomb?" he asked. "It's impossible to be buried alive there."

This gentleman is almost alone in his concerns today, thanks to modern medicine's advances (and advances in embalming). But in the 19th century, plans to prevent live burial were frequent. Timothy Clark Smith of Vermont had a window installed in his grave, where you can check on him to this day. The Germans instituted Leichenhauser (or "waiting mortuaries"), halls in which corpses rested among flowers, their fingers tied to alarm bells, until it was clear to everyone that it was time for their burial. [more inside]
posted by Countess Elena on Oct 31, 2008 - 27 comments

The Mercury Prize shortlist for 2008 is: Adele - 19 | British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music? | Burial - Untrue | Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid | Estelle - Shine | Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim | Neon Neon - Stainless Style | Portico Quartet - Knee-Deep in the North Sea | Rachel Unthank & The Winterset - The Bairns | Radiohead - In Rainbows | Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand | The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin on Jul 22, 2008 - 45 comments

Where would you like to spend the rest of eternity? The man who designed the Pringles potato crisp packaging system has been buried in one of the iconic cans. Sandra Ilene West was buried in her favorite Ferrari. And a man buried in a suitcase (not by choice, it would appear) Previously: 1, 2
posted by subgear on Jun 2, 2008 - 30 comments

God's Waiting Room is a British documentary about the daily struggles of Haji Taslim Funerals, the first European Muslim Funeral Directors, and how they work to honor the requirements of ancient faith while cutting through the red tape of modern death. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Nov 26, 2007 - 6 comments

Thanatorama [flash] You died this morning. Are you interested in what comes next? Webdocumentaire.
posted by tellurian on Nov 1, 2007 - 25 comments

A German consortium has announced its plan to build the world's largest structure - a 578m-high "Giant Pyramid" where for €700 anyone can get a burial spot.
posted by stbalbach on Sep 9, 2007 - 35 comments

Nazi collaborator buried in France with his Légion d'honneur medals.
posted by pwedza on Feb 21, 2007 - 29 comments

Big freeze an alternative to cremation A town in Sweden plans to become the first place in the world where corpses will be disposed of by freeze-drying, as an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial. Jönköping, in southern Sweden, is to turn its crematorium into a so-called promatorium next year. Sorry - registration is required to access Sydney Morning Herald so more of the article will be included: "the pioneering method ... involves freezing the body, dipping it in liquid nitrogen and gently vibrating it to shatter it into powder. This is put into a small box made of potato or corn starch and placed in a shallow grave, where it will disintegrate in six to 12 months. People are to be encouraged to plant a tree on the grave. It would feed off the compost formed from the body, to emphasise the organic cycle of life." After seeing the destruction Katrina wreaked on the above ground graves in Louisiana, one might seriously consider an environmentally friendly alternative.
posted by Cranberry on Sep 29, 2005 - 48 comments

Cult leader proves his divinity by being buried alive and resurrecting himself. Except for the resurrecting bit. Good show for trying though
posted by criticalbill on Dec 16, 2004 - 26 comments

Capsula Mundi is an Italian project to promote ecological burial. Alternatively, those who prefer the sea can become reefs. A Swedish company has come up with a freezing method. [Via Aeiou and MoFi.]
posted by homunculus on Sep 17, 2004 - 10 comments

Pardon? Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2004. From the transcript of a phone call made by Kevin B. Wyckoff to his parents, Charles and Martha Wyckoff, a few hours after they had attended his funeral on December 22. Kevin B. Wyckoff is an inmate at the Lexington Correctional Facility in Oklahoma, where he is serving a five-year sentence for offenses including kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Originally from Harper's Magazine, March 2004.
posted by sunexplodes on Jun 3, 2004 - 18 comments

A new way to go How would you like to get to the next world: burial, cremation, or alkaline hydrolysis?
posted by gimonca on Jul 30, 2003 - 8 comments

The Himalayan Art Project. An online collection of Himalayan visual arts and heritage, '...containing over 8,000 records, 10,000 images and 700 thematic sets'. The exhibits page is good: here's a collection of photographs of Tibet as it was in the 1950's, and here's an essay on the history of 'visual Dharma'.
Some related links :- Mongolian stories and anecdotes about politics, religion, sport and horses (Mongolians belong to the same religion as Tibetans); a privileged witness to a sky burial (via the Tibetan Studies Virtual Library); the Tibetan game of rebirth.
posted by plep on Mar 29, 2003 - 3 comments

105 unconscious children temporarily buried alive in the name of religion. In a horrible ritual witnessed by an Indian government official, who quit his position shortly afterward, children were worked until exhausted, wrapped in cloth, and then buried for one entire minute. Sometimes it feels like that we will never shake off the need for ancient tradition, myth, and groundless faith, but there is a bright side. There are more non-religious people now than ever. As the information age expands, education becomes more accessible and may be the most important factor in determining how religious one is. Unsurprisingly, a follow-up article on the mass-burial quotes, "Inquiries also revealed that no educational programme had been introduced anywhere near Perayur in the last six years."
posted by skallas on Sep 6, 2002 - 93 comments

African fantasy coffins are produced by the Ga and other tribes of the Ghana coast to confer the status of travel and luxury goods upon the deceased. The coffins themselves are incredibly detailed works of art that range from miniature Mercedes automobiles and cellphones to giant fish and Coke cans. What would you like to be buried in?
posted by MrBaliHai on Dec 29, 2001 - 13 comments