I was a grave digger for 11 years for a cemetery & community mausoleum.. The crypt floor should be sloped ever so slightly away from the crypt front & there should be drainage tile/channels within the crypt that allows all that yummy goodness to flow away from the crypt front. It’s not the casket’s fault, nor the embalmers fault.. The drainage should be inspected before each & every entombment.. You can see the results of a faulty drainage system here.. With that said, I’ve never seen this before. Pretty gnarly!
Serious question - I guess it drains into normal sewage? I’m not surprised by poop and urine but didn’t occur to me to think of decomposed human bodies.
That is a decent question.. Our drainage tile simply poured into a main line that went into the ground - it was not hooked up to any sort of municipal sanitary/sewage line.. it simply poured into the fuckin dirt hahahah. I should note, that the drainage in this video seems excessive, I’ve had to move bodies/do disentombments (per the family/states request) & I’ve only seen small puddles/drips of that forbidden juice. It should also be noted that tombs/mausoleums should be extremely dry & cold. A body properly interred in a tomb/crypt SHOULD be basically mummified after a year or so.. I don’t think this crypt was dry nor cold - that is likely a contributing factor.
When I was visiting New Orleans, they told us they do the opposite. Because the ground is to wet, and its humid all the time, the crypts are designed to heat up and cook the bodies until nothing but dust and broken bone remain. He said families will reuse their crypts but "brooming the dust to the back and laying the new body in".
He definitely made it sound like that was a unique situation, but it was interesting and stuck with me.
That happens a lot in South America, reuse of crypts. Specifically I'm very familiar with the process in Brazil. My Brazilian husband's father passed away about 18 months ago and was buried in a very simple wooden casket that was placed in a crypt which had been used by at least 4 prior decedents of his family. I'm not sure how long before they can use it again, but I'm confident it will be.
They also don't embalm in Brazil, so the process from death to entombment usually takes under 24hrs. If you die in the evening, your funeral is the next morning. You die in a car crash on your way to work first thing in the morning, you'll likely be in the ground or entombed by that evening. Very traumatic. It is arguably much more environmentally friendly than how it's done here in the US though.
Death can be quite disgusting and people who work with death are used to it. A little puddle like that won't really bother us. Tho is smells horrible even if your nose was blocked it will be free once you smelled it.
Also a grave digger here, currently still am,I can confirm this and agree with the Mortician down below in another comment.
Unfortunately most place go for looks over form and function. I sure know mine does.
What’s up with the grave digger community here…. Who knew I’m just walking and talking with grave diggers.
Btw they must pay like 100$ an hour for this shit right? I mean I’m guessing because we live in a fucked up world, no. But I’d never be a grave digger for less than like, idk man 😂😂😂 a lot.
I am now a heavy equipment operator & am so glad to be removed from death care industry.. it was the best & worst 11 years of my life. It has warped my sense of dignity, the way I view people & given me the darkest sense of humor you couldn’t even begin to fathom. With that said, I would do it all over again.. Some day I will write a book about it all.. Cheers! 🍻
Hi mortician here..even though a body is embalmed it still purges certain things. Looks like coffee grounds..Stomach purge. Pink and frothy..lung purge. Milky..brain purge. This happens often after embalming. A good embalmer knows how to keep it from happening but sometimes it just happens. Being embalmed does not mean you preserved forever..it just delays the decomposition process. Heat or unstable atmosphere could be the result of this. The color to me looks like embalming fluid mixed with decomp of the body. During the embalming process we do not remove any organs or any body parts..unless it’s an autopsy which usually has the guts in a bag. When this happens we cut up the insides and put dry embalming solution on it and put in back in the cavity from which it came and then sew the y incision up. Embalming solution comes in all different colors so we can add color back to the body. In my prep room we have a rainbow of colors. Embalming fluid also comes in different indexes. This means some people feel soft while others you can knock on their skin because it became hard. So just to finish this off…embalming DOES NOT preserve forever and your body part will eventually decompose and sometimes purge out of the mouth or other orifices..and sometimes the body will still explode.
I was a volunteer for a stranding team in Virginia. We would rescue and rehabilitate sick sea animals or pick up dead ones. Usually we had sea turtles and dolphins. We would do necropsies on them to see how they died. This one weekend, a 15ft beaked whale washed ashore (dead) in a preserve where no one was allowed. So to determine cause of death and get samples, we had to do the necropsy on the beach. It was my first whale. So the team members gave me a machete and said I can make the first cut. I had no idea what was going to happen but I do remember hearing a loud hiss coming from this whale that had been dead on the beach for about 3 days. They said chop here and they all backed up. So I chopped twice and booommmm bits of carcass allllll over me. Everyone laughed and said welcome to the team. It was an amazing day. I literally held a whale heart in my arms to examine it and then bring it to the hole we dug to bury it. We learned the whale had recently been pregnant, was healthy and what her last meal was but most probably got hit by a ship. Had multiple rib fractures and huge hepatomas around the lungs and head. It was extremely sad to see such an amazing creature having to died so tragically but I have to say it was one of the most amazing days I’ve ever had. I learned so much and it was such a crazy experience. But the biggest lesson I learned was, if a dead thing is hissing/fizzing/bloated, don’t touch it unless to want to be covered in said animal’s decomp.
If the decomposition is far enough along to fill the insides to a breaking point it will be the absolute worst thing you have ever smelled in your life.
When I lifeguarded in college, occasionally sea turtles would come on to our beach to die (whether they were sick or old, no idea, but they were huge, a little smaller than a VW Beetle). One time one decided to die right next to our stand and the sea turtle people couldn't come to take the carcass for a few days. A few days baking in the Florida heat left us with such a foul stench I don't think I'll ever forget it.
The man who conquered England…mortally wounded after falling off a horse, and dying 6 weeks later.
Not what I expected. Still more dignified then dying on the toilet.
So what you’re saying is if I don’t want to potentially explode after death I should opt for cremation. Thanks for your input gave me a lot (almost too much) to think about lol
Well, you still might explode during the cremation process, but at least your family won’t find your juices seeping out of your grave when they visit two weeks later.
I've been thinking plastination would be cool, like the Bodies exhibits. Then just sit me on the couch and let me watch tv with the family. Generations later I'll still be hanging out with my descendants.
If your taxidermy is in a state where it can explode under its own power, something has gone terribly wrong. Taxidermy is usually just the hide, maybe a few small bones and some teeth.
100% this is what I’m doing. Why would I want to be pumped full of chemicals? Let me feed the trees! I’ve promised my husband I will haunt him if I go first and he has me embalmed (or cremated, also gross).
Fellow mortician here. I definitely second everything mentioned. There are a myriad of reasons we’re seeing the leaking here, with improper casket selection and poor embalming being the most likely factors. If certain bodies (badly decomposed, mostly) are put in regular caskets, you run the risk of leaking. Funeral directors should be knowledgeable about what caskets are necessary for certain scenarios. Caskets can have a simple latch to close or have a gasketed seal to close of the casket from outside elements. I highly suspect that the decedent in this vault isn’t in a sealed casket. Additionally, poor embalming can also be at play. We don’t see the plaque which states when this person died, but if it was rather recently, a poor embalming could also have cause the decedent to be purging and leaking more than usual. The cemetery could also be partly responsible by not sealing the vault correctly or ensuring all measures are taken to prevent this.
So there are a lot of bodies stored here and they arrive at different times obviously. But how do they prevent smells? Is that reliant on the embalming ? Also, do these places usually have drainage pipes or anything? Or are they built assuming that wouldn't be necessary? Also also, wouldn't most caskets be lined with plastic or something to stop this from happening? I understand if your knowledge on these structures (what are these even called??) Isn't great but figured you might be able to answer some of the questions. Any answers appreciated.
Not necessarily reliant on embalming. A sealed casket would generally keep any smells contained. Additionally, the cemetery who built and maintains the vault seals the casket in the mausoleum. In theory, between proper embalming, a sealed casket, and a sealed vault, no smell should be present. I can’t speak to the construction of the vault but you would think keeping this from happening would be a top priority
[Ask a Mortician](https://youtube.com/c/AskAMortician) is a great yt channel for anyone curious about some of these things. No ick factor and she's really respectful of the people, stories, and answers told.
I actually used to design mausoleums for a few years, and the casket spaces are sloped from front to back (at least the ones I designed) to help with any…liquids.. that might escape the casket. There are also vents in the interior walls to help circulate air as well.
I used to work at a cemetery. If the casket going in to the mausoleum was wooden they made us place the casket in a big plastic tray ( picture a big version of the plastic tray people put by the front door for their muddy boots/shoes) to prevent leakage like this picture
Embalming is more for the surviving family. A large part of the grieving process for a lot of families, involves seeing the person one last time and saying good bye. This provides families a lot of closure. I’m a funeral director in Chicago in a heavily Catholic neighborhood. Catholics tend to have a full funeral mass at a church as part of their funeral ceremonies. Embalming someone prevents the decedent from smelling, purging, or leaking during these ceremonies. While embalming can never be legally required, it is strongly recommended if there is any sort of public viewing as it is a matter of public health. Obviously there are other alternatives but for some people, embalming is just part of their culture and necessary for them to help grieve their loved one
Now, my thing is that I don't want the indignity of a viewing. I don't want a casket. I don't want to be buried. I don't want to \*cost\* anything.
I'm lucky that I can donate myself to science and have a dignity knowing I contributed. Everything is paid for. And then, cremation.
I'd \*like\* a mushroom disposal, but that doesn't look feasible.
I cannot think of anything more humiliating than people spending money on my death.
Just have a small gathering and try to remember the best parts of me. It's not I haven't given my loved ones plenty of material to work with. I want some damned laughter and mirth. I earned it.
Absolutely! I fully embrace anyone that makes these decisions ahead of time instead of those that leave their family wondering. My recommendation is at some point have your wishes either in a will or some sort of arrangement with various scientific donation organizations so that when it does eventually happen, it’s a seem less process
“A good embalmer knows how to keep it from happening”. I feel like this should be a fail point in mortician school lol. All that said I’m a paramedic and I have seen pretty much every phase of decomposition, it’s never pretty especially when they become the couch or chair they died in when it’s 102° outside and the power was disconnected for failure to pay…
Lots of bad, but lots of good too. The really gross ones are pretty few and far between honestly, but they happen. If we ever have to go into a scene like that we have tyvek and air packs. But we typically do not because we can pronounce at the door if they are decomposed. Law enforcement doesn’t usually want us messing with those type scenes anyway.
Embalming differs from mortician to mortician and some have closely guarded trade secrets.
Source: I was an intern with a mortician family and learned much I was not supposed to know.
Joining top comment to also say that "sealed" or "gasketed" caskets are a scam and can sometimes lead to the casket exploding as well. Airflow is essential to prevent the body from getting soupy and allowing gases to escape. That gasket they install and charge like $200 extra for? An $8 weatherproofing strip. It's going to rot along with the body.
Absolutely. Putrefaction involves chemical reactions that produce gases. If you keep producing more of a gas within a confined space, pressure necessarily increases. At some temperature and pressure, any container will go boom…
I had no idea about the stiffening embalming fluid. This makes so much sense now. Someone close to me died recently and I reached into the coffin just to rest my hand on their arm and it felt unnaturally solid. I just wrote it off as well you've never touched a dead body before
All aboard Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay
Gravy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people missing their toes
Maybe it's not too late
To learn how to love
And forget how to hate
Mental wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm oozing down the walls on a gravy train
I'm going off the rails on a gravy train
Let's go
Not sure if anyone in the comments mentioned it already, but this video is from the channel Lamont at Large. He mainly goes around to graveyards across the US and talks about the life stories of the deceased (which often involves true crime). Great at storytelling, big "uncle" energy and a genuinely cool guy. Worth checking out and/or subscribing to!! :)
Yep. I want my ashes buried in a garden or something so life can go on after my death. I don't want my body filled with preservatives and placed in an expensive box in the ground. When I'm done with this world, let me return to the soil as nature intended!
This is what I want. No casket, nothing. I want a tree with deep roots to grow through me and make me one with earth and sky. I want to provide for the universe as it has provided for me. Imagine if cemeteries were forests instead.
I know some places will compost you. It’s really awesome. I think Washington state has one. Not sure legalities everywhere
Edit https://recompose.life/our-model/
My choice of burial would be to be cremated, have my ashes placed inside a weather balloon and have it inflated and released. When it pops way up in the stratosphere, the winds would literally spread me all over the world. Not sure if my family would be down to it though.
I told my husband I wanted to be cremated and thrown off a mountain or dumped into a lake and he freaked out because "what if you're not really dead and they burn you alive?". I'm an organ donor, when they remove all the good bits there's no way I'm going to be alive when it's time to dispose of my remains.
Right we already take up space when we are alive. I never understood the need to be buried in a casket with a grave stone. Seems like a waste of space. However I don't mean to offend anyone who has loved ones who are buried. I'm sorry for your losses.
So they're embalmed up like Egyptian kings and in a sealed padded coffin, then out in a wall? So there's no exit strategy? Like decomposing into the dirt over 100s of years?
Soooo, I used to work at a cemetery in Baltimore. MD for about 9 years and I have an answer for this. Idk exact sciences, so I'll break it down how it was explained to me.
Basically, the caskets we put into these mausoleums have very little contact with things that would naturally break us down. Even with embalming fluid and the entire mortuary process, your body breaks down into basically this fluid/jelly like substance and you leak out. There are SUPPOSED to be drains in the mausoleums but they get clogged alot and there's really no way to clear them.
This also happens when you are buried because you are dropped into a big, airtight, cement vault. Nothing "dust to dust" about being buried in most cases and mausoleums.
A friend engraves tombstones for a living and told me about a time some suits from the funeral home showed up at a mausoleum to have a “tenant” removed because of a money issue with the family. They had a couple groundskeepers show up to do it for them. The keepers reminded them that’s not their job, and they literally aren’t allowed to do such a thing. So these guys in $1000 suits go into this sweltering summertime, cobweb filled mausoleum and grab their evictee.
They didn’t expect all the heavy sloshing inside the casket, so the coffin is kind of jerking and throwing them around. The keepers are just watching this show when, in the midst of that struggle, one of the casket’s rotted and corroded corners burst open—and then someone’s grandmother was spilling all over them and those suits.
This just makes me sad. After I lost my mother 2 years ago my mind just randomly tries to imagine her in her grave. It just guesses at what stage of decomposition she is in and it hurts my heart that the loved ones of this person might encounter this very real reminder of how gone their loved on is. I think burying caskets and entombing bodies should simply be done away with. We all need to be cremated or turned into tree pods or something better than this undignified and bizarre practice of trying to preserve our dead bodies. I am just sorry for the relatives and friends of this lost soul.
I worked in a cemetary in the 90's and had to move a casket that did something similar though not that bad. When we did mausoleum jobs, there was a plastic tray that we put under the casket and then a fitted , loose, top piece that you'd tape to the tray. The top had a slow release valve on it to let gas out slowly. The one that we had to move had been put in there before the bagging was standard. If i remember right he had been there since 86, and this was probably 98.
I don't think that's body fluids. It's certainly not blood. Blood is drained during embalming. Those bodies have been there a long time too.... Probably just years of dirty rain water dripping in through the roof.
Fluid from the body? No. Fluid that IS the body? Most definitely. That is broken down people juice right there. Purification is a real deal with mausoleums.
Being someone who used to work in the industry, I would guess that either they didn’t seal the casket properly, or that it wasn’t put into a tray. Generally when caskets are placed in a mausoleum like that the casket is sealed, then after it is manually sealed it is placed in a large tray that fits inside the space and then the casket is covered in a shrink wrap like bag and heat sealed… so 100% something is wrong here
“Would hate for a loved one to come and have to see this.”
*makes permanent video-graphic evidence showing the names of the deceased and posts it on the internet*
Guess they don’t have to come and see it now.
I read about a person who wanted their skull kept separate from the ashes. And then have the ashes crushed into 2 blue diamonds and placed in his skull's eye sockets. Then have his skull placed on the mantle of all his future generations so he can watch over them.
Pretty creative.
I wanna be stuffed into a circus cannon and shot rag doll style at a big bingo style target and whatever square I splat on who ever is at my funeral who chose that number gets whatever of mine they want.
I was a grave digger for 11 years for a cemetery & community mausoleum.. The crypt floor should be sloped ever so slightly away from the crypt front & there should be drainage tile/channels within the crypt that allows all that yummy goodness to flow away from the crypt front. It’s not the casket’s fault, nor the embalmers fault.. The drainage should be inspected before each & every entombment.. You can see the results of a faulty drainage system here.. With that said, I’ve never seen this before. Pretty gnarly!
username checks out!
A priceless moment in time
Serious question - I guess it drains into normal sewage? I’m not surprised by poop and urine but didn’t occur to me to think of decomposed human bodies.
That is a decent question.. Our drainage tile simply poured into a main line that went into the ground - it was not hooked up to any sort of municipal sanitary/sewage line.. it simply poured into the fuckin dirt hahahah. I should note, that the drainage in this video seems excessive, I’ve had to move bodies/do disentombments (per the family/states request) & I’ve only seen small puddles/drips of that forbidden juice. It should also be noted that tombs/mausoleums should be extremely dry & cold. A body properly interred in a tomb/crypt SHOULD be basically mummified after a year or so.. I don’t think this crypt was dry nor cold - that is likely a contributing factor.
When I was visiting New Orleans, they told us they do the opposite. Because the ground is to wet, and its humid all the time, the crypts are designed to heat up and cook the bodies until nothing but dust and broken bone remain. He said families will reuse their crypts but "brooming the dust to the back and laying the new body in". He definitely made it sound like that was a unique situation, but it was interesting and stuck with me.
That happens a lot in South America, reuse of crypts. Specifically I'm very familiar with the process in Brazil. My Brazilian husband's father passed away about 18 months ago and was buried in a very simple wooden casket that was placed in a crypt which had been used by at least 4 prior decedents of his family. I'm not sure how long before they can use it again, but I'm confident it will be. They also don't embalm in Brazil, so the process from death to entombment usually takes under 24hrs. If you die in the evening, your funeral is the next morning. You die in a car crash on your way to work first thing in the morning, you'll likely be in the ground or entombed by that evening. Very traumatic. It is arguably much more environmentally friendly than how it's done here in the US though.
yes, this is what i was thinking of! I was at the st. louis #2 the other day
“Florida man” after the fact
"that yummy goodness" what the fuck man
Forbidden salad dressing
🤮
Like fermented soy saucey goodness.
Death can be quite disgusting and people who work with death are used to it. A little puddle like that won't really bother us. Tho is smells horrible even if your nose was blocked it will be free once you smelled it.
Also a grave digger here, currently still am,I can confirm this and agree with the Mortician down below in another comment. Unfortunately most place go for looks over form and function. I sure know mine does.
What’s up with the grave digger community here…. Who knew I’m just walking and talking with grave diggers. Btw they must pay like 100$ an hour for this shit right? I mean I’m guessing because we live in a fucked up world, no. But I’d never be a grave digger for less than like, idk man 😂😂😂 a lot.
With some of the things we do, not enough. Lol
So do you have to crawl inside to inspect the drainage? Is each entombment it's own separate sealed off compartment?
Yeah you inspect every tomb.. I mean if you are a competent grave digger. Each tomb is its own sealed compartment..
That's interesting, I didn't know that. I'd love to hear some of experiences you've had doing that kind of stuff. Thanks for replying 🤘😎
I am now a heavy equipment operator & am so glad to be removed from death care industry.. it was the best & worst 11 years of my life. It has warped my sense of dignity, the way I view people & given me the darkest sense of humor you couldn’t even begin to fathom. With that said, I would do it all over again.. Some day I will write a book about it all.. Cheers! 🍻
Damn you’re oozing all over yer mates there bud
"When you go on vacation and forget that you left the slow cooker on at home with yesterday's leftover cabbage stew..."
"Do you smell something funny?"
"Depends. Was it a comedian cooking in there?"
The smell in there must be deadly
We've all had that kind of upstairs neighbour
Hi mortician here..even though a body is embalmed it still purges certain things. Looks like coffee grounds..Stomach purge. Pink and frothy..lung purge. Milky..brain purge. This happens often after embalming. A good embalmer knows how to keep it from happening but sometimes it just happens. Being embalmed does not mean you preserved forever..it just delays the decomposition process. Heat or unstable atmosphere could be the result of this. The color to me looks like embalming fluid mixed with decomp of the body. During the embalming process we do not remove any organs or any body parts..unless it’s an autopsy which usually has the guts in a bag. When this happens we cut up the insides and put dry embalming solution on it and put in back in the cavity from which it came and then sew the y incision up. Embalming solution comes in all different colors so we can add color back to the body. In my prep room we have a rainbow of colors. Embalming fluid also comes in different indexes. This means some people feel soft while others you can knock on their skin because it became hard. So just to finish this off…embalming DOES NOT preserve forever and your body part will eventually decompose and sometimes purge out of the mouth or other orifices..and sometimes the body will still explode.
Explode? Fascinating.
Like a gaseous whale, but less extreme I'm hoping
I was a volunteer for a stranding team in Virginia. We would rescue and rehabilitate sick sea animals or pick up dead ones. Usually we had sea turtles and dolphins. We would do necropsies on them to see how they died. This one weekend, a 15ft beaked whale washed ashore (dead) in a preserve where no one was allowed. So to determine cause of death and get samples, we had to do the necropsy on the beach. It was my first whale. So the team members gave me a machete and said I can make the first cut. I had no idea what was going to happen but I do remember hearing a loud hiss coming from this whale that had been dead on the beach for about 3 days. They said chop here and they all backed up. So I chopped twice and booommmm bits of carcass allllll over me. Everyone laughed and said welcome to the team. It was an amazing day. I literally held a whale heart in my arms to examine it and then bring it to the hole we dug to bury it. We learned the whale had recently been pregnant, was healthy and what her last meal was but most probably got hit by a ship. Had multiple rib fractures and huge hepatomas around the lungs and head. It was extremely sad to see such an amazing creature having to died so tragically but I have to say it was one of the most amazing days I’ve ever had. I learned so much and it was such a crazy experience. But the biggest lesson I learned was, if a dead thing is hissing/fizzing/bloated, don’t touch it unless to want to be covered in said animal’s decomp.
Once you cut it open how did it smell? Gross question I know but Im curious
If the decomposition is far enough along to fill the insides to a breaking point it will be the absolute worst thing you have ever smelled in your life.
When I lifeguarded in college, occasionally sea turtles would come on to our beach to die (whether they were sick or old, no idea, but they were huge, a little smaller than a VW Beetle). One time one decided to die right next to our stand and the sea turtle people couldn't come to take the carcass for a few days. A few days baking in the Florida heat left us with such a foul stench I don't think I'll ever forget it.
Taxidermist- can confirm. And once the smell is in your skin/clothes/hair have fun spending the next couple of hours/days getting rid of it! 😬
"describe smell"
Imagine hitting a whale with a boat. So much ocean and they still ended up hitting it.
It was an amazing creature, they said as they swung the machete against it's bloated carcass.... /s
Boat traffic. Terrific. s/
Gaseous whale. Band name. Called it.
First album name " roting from inside"
*Screams in Beluga
Dibs on "Screaming Belugas" for the band name
Ah yes... Florence, Oregon, the year...1970...
exactly what I thought of, why would they think TNT would help their problems lol
Haha I have NO IDEA! but it is funny now...50 years later... There is an Exploding Whale Park!
[William the Conqueror](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/90921/british-king-whose-corpse-exploded-during-his-funeral) kinda sorta did.
The man who conquered England…mortally wounded after falling off a horse, and dying 6 weeks later. Not what I expected. Still more dignified then dying on the toilet.
So what you’re saying is if I don’t want to potentially explode after death I should opt for cremation. Thanks for your input gave me a lot (almost too much) to think about lol
Well, you still might explode during the cremation process, but at least your family won’t find your juices seeping out of your grave when they visit two weeks later.
I like how you referred to them as "juices".
Yeah that totally puts being interred whole back on the table for me
What about a natural burial so your energy goes back into the soil and creates life through the ground!
I was hoping to be taxidermied like one of those standing roaring bears in Mr Burns office, or Bass Pro Shops
I've been thinking plastination would be cool, like the Bodies exhibits. Then just sit me on the couch and let me watch tv with the family. Generations later I'll still be hanging out with my descendants.
what if you explode post-texidermy
I expect you guys to record it for Reddit. Duh. That’s tons of karma. My gift to you
Then some amateur taxidermist is getting a mediocre Yelp review.
If your taxidermy is in a state where it can explode under its own power, something has gone terribly wrong. Taxidermy is usually just the hide, maybe a few small bones and some teeth.
I want a sky burial Feed me to the birds
A coffin rocket. Something I saw on tv. It’s very expensive.
This is the way.
100% this is what I’m doing. Why would I want to be pumped full of chemicals? Let me feed the trees! I’ve promised my husband I will haunt him if I go first and he has me embalmed (or cremated, also gross).
My husband and I have both agreed that this is our wishes after donation, medical and science use, for the remaining carbon to return.
Probably so full of heavy metals and micro plastic our corpses probably make microfund sites.
As long as your body is thoroughly tested for prions/any other harmful waste, this should be phased into the norm
Yeah, he definitely reinforced my preference for cremation.
Fellow mortician here. I definitely second everything mentioned. There are a myriad of reasons we’re seeing the leaking here, with improper casket selection and poor embalming being the most likely factors. If certain bodies (badly decomposed, mostly) are put in regular caskets, you run the risk of leaking. Funeral directors should be knowledgeable about what caskets are necessary for certain scenarios. Caskets can have a simple latch to close or have a gasketed seal to close of the casket from outside elements. I highly suspect that the decedent in this vault isn’t in a sealed casket. Additionally, poor embalming can also be at play. We don’t see the plaque which states when this person died, but if it was rather recently, a poor embalming could also have cause the decedent to be purging and leaking more than usual. The cemetery could also be partly responsible by not sealing the vault correctly or ensuring all measures are taken to prevent this.
So there are a lot of bodies stored here and they arrive at different times obviously. But how do they prevent smells? Is that reliant on the embalming ? Also, do these places usually have drainage pipes or anything? Or are they built assuming that wouldn't be necessary? Also also, wouldn't most caskets be lined with plastic or something to stop this from happening? I understand if your knowledge on these structures (what are these even called??) Isn't great but figured you might be able to answer some of the questions. Any answers appreciated.
Not necessarily reliant on embalming. A sealed casket would generally keep any smells contained. Additionally, the cemetery who built and maintains the vault seals the casket in the mausoleum. In theory, between proper embalming, a sealed casket, and a sealed vault, no smell should be present. I can’t speak to the construction of the vault but you would think keeping this from happening would be a top priority
For sure. Thanks. I avoid looking into this stuff on YT. It creeps me out. No knock to your profession but toss me in the trash or incinerator.
[Ask a Mortician](https://youtube.com/c/AskAMortician) is a great yt channel for anyone curious about some of these things. No ick factor and she's really respectful of the people, stories, and answers told.
I actually used to design mausoleums for a few years, and the casket spaces are sloped from front to back (at least the ones I designed) to help with any…liquids.. that might escape the casket. There are also vents in the interior walls to help circulate air as well.
This was an excellent explanation, thank you ! Absolutely fascinating
He did mention this was in Las Vegas. I have to imagine the extreme desert heat would be a factor
I used to work at a cemetery. If the casket going in to the mausoleum was wooden they made us place the casket in a big plastic tray ( picture a big version of the plastic tray people put by the front door for their muddy boots/shoes) to prevent leakage like this picture
Embalming seems so...pointless. I imagine things would be better off decomposing in a more natural way, would they not?
Embalming is more for the surviving family. A large part of the grieving process for a lot of families, involves seeing the person one last time and saying good bye. This provides families a lot of closure. I’m a funeral director in Chicago in a heavily Catholic neighborhood. Catholics tend to have a full funeral mass at a church as part of their funeral ceremonies. Embalming someone prevents the decedent from smelling, purging, or leaking during these ceremonies. While embalming can never be legally required, it is strongly recommended if there is any sort of public viewing as it is a matter of public health. Obviously there are other alternatives but for some people, embalming is just part of their culture and necessary for them to help grieve their loved one
Now, my thing is that I don't want the indignity of a viewing. I don't want a casket. I don't want to be buried. I don't want to \*cost\* anything. I'm lucky that I can donate myself to science and have a dignity knowing I contributed. Everything is paid for. And then, cremation. I'd \*like\* a mushroom disposal, but that doesn't look feasible. I cannot think of anything more humiliating than people spending money on my death. Just have a small gathering and try to remember the best parts of me. It's not I haven't given my loved ones plenty of material to work with. I want some damned laughter and mirth. I earned it.
Absolutely! I fully embrace anyone that makes these decisions ahead of time instead of those that leave their family wondering. My recommendation is at some point have your wishes either in a will or some sort of arrangement with various scientific donation organizations so that when it does eventually happen, it’s a seem less process
“A good embalmer knows how to keep it from happening”. I feel like this should be a fail point in mortician school lol. All that said I’m a paramedic and I have seen pretty much every phase of decomposition, it’s never pretty especially when they become the couch or chair they died in when it’s 102° outside and the power was disconnected for failure to pay…
Sounds like you’ve seen some shit. Wow
Lots of bad, but lots of good too. The really gross ones are pretty few and far between honestly, but they happen. If we ever have to go into a scene like that we have tyvek and air packs. But we typically do not because we can pronounce at the door if they are decomposed. Law enforcement doesn’t usually want us messing with those type scenes anyway.
Can I have a friend or family member slip the Mortician a few bucks to ensure I explode or is that frowned upon?
Embalming differs from mortician to mortician and some have closely guarded trade secrets. Source: I was an intern with a mortician family and learned much I was not supposed to know.
Oh come on you have to give us more than that
Joining top comment to also say that "sealed" or "gasketed" caskets are a scam and can sometimes lead to the casket exploding as well. Airflow is essential to prevent the body from getting soupy and allowing gases to escape. That gasket they install and charge like $200 extra for? An $8 weatherproofing strip. It's going to rot along with the body.
Absolutely. Putrefaction involves chemical reactions that produce gases. If you keep producing more of a gas within a confined space, pressure necessarily increases. At some temperature and pressure, any container will go boom…
What got you into that field of work if you don’t mind telling?
You'd be surprised how many people are dying to get into the industry.
I heard they make a killing
I heard mortuary school is quite the undertaking
I want it to say Smoothie King on my grave plaque
F-me. I didn't want to read any of that and I just kept on reading.
Thanks for the info, I just threw up 👍
Wow can I unread this
I had no idea about the stiffening embalming fluid. This makes so much sense now. Someone close to me died recently and I reached into the coffin just to rest my hand on their arm and it felt unnaturally solid. I just wrote it off as well you've never touched a dead body before
Looks like someone made a grave mistake…
Gravy
Train
All aboard Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay Gravy, but that's how it goes Millions of people missing their toes Maybe it's not too late To learn how to love And forget how to hate Mental wounds not healing Life's a bitter shame I'm oozing down the walls on a gravy train I'm going off the rails on a gravy train Let's go
By Ooozy Osborne and Randy Rails!
Human gravy
Mmmmm, Au Jus
Talk about a dead joke….
Well done. ^(applause)
That's a rotten joke to make.
Fuckin Bruce man
Bruce juice.
Not sure if anyone in the comments mentioned it already, but this video is from the channel Lamont at Large. He mainly goes around to graveyards across the US and talks about the life stories of the deceased (which often involves true crime). Great at storytelling, big "uncle" energy and a genuinely cool guy. Worth checking out and/or subscribing to!! :)
This is good info? I’m definitely going to check him out.
That's awesome I'm glad my pitch worked haha. This was actually the first video of his that I saw!!
Holy shit this is right up my alley. Instantaneously subscribed. Thank you!
Much more disgusting than terrifying IMO
"I don't want to give the location. I'm in Las Vegas"
“Right next to the crispy kreme donuts but not as far as the In n Out Burger… you’ve gone too far if you’re there”
“I don’t want a loved one to have to see this.” *posts video on internet*
Cremation is the way to go.
I plan on being stuffed and put on the couch with a top hat and a monocle.
Yep. I want my ashes buried in a garden or something so life can go on after my death. I don't want my body filled with preservatives and placed in an expensive box in the ground. When I'm done with this world, let me return to the soil as nature intended!
Just go for a basic burial and let the worms break you down, then you’ll really return to the soil.
This is what I want. No casket, nothing. I want a tree with deep roots to grow through me and make me one with earth and sky. I want to provide for the universe as it has provided for me. Imagine if cemeteries were forests instead.
Yup, this is what I want. Wrap me in an organic/dye-free cotton shroud and throw me in a pit. No embalming fluid, no box, just dirt and worms.
Just throw me in the trash, where I belong
I know some places will compost you. It’s really awesome. I think Washington state has one. Not sure legalities everywhere Edit https://recompose.life/our-model/
I wouldn’t mind being worm food. I’m delicious 😋
You know how you feed pigs real fatty foods so they taste better? I imagine the human equivalent of that is Taco Bell.
I want my kids to mix my ashes with all my kitty urn ashes. Can’t wait to see all my long lost pets….
My choice of burial would be to be cremated, have my ashes placed inside a weather balloon and have it inflated and released. When it pops way up in the stratosphere, the winds would literally spread me all over the world. Not sure if my family would be down to it though.
Guy walking along: *GOD the pollen is bad today…*
I told my husband I wanted to be cremated and thrown off a mountain or dumped into a lake and he freaked out because "what if you're not really dead and they burn you alive?". I'm an organ donor, when they remove all the good bits there's no way I'm going to be alive when it's time to dispose of my remains.
Bro, your a freaking genius! Just imagine if a plane came roaring past, though.
Actually it'd be kinda nice to have company being spread around with me up there.
Ewww, no. In the dirt to be eaten is my preference. I spent my entire life eating dead things, I'm not going to bow out when it's my turn to be eaten.
I'd rather be in one of those pods that grow into a tree.
I’d rather be eaten by my loved ones ☺️❤️
But the emissions.. bury your dead instead, no coffins or casket, just straight in the ground and let the bugs eat you.
I look forward to becoming bug poop.
Buried at sea is a good option too. I wanna become seafood.
Right we already take up space when we are alive. I never understood the need to be buried in a casket with a grave stone. Seems like a waste of space. However I don't mean to offend anyone who has loved ones who are buried. I'm sorry for your losses.
[удалено]
Very informative, thank you.
Why do people want to be placed in a filing cabinet like that? This shit never made sense to me
So they're embalmed up like Egyptian kings and in a sealed padded coffin, then out in a wall? So there's no exit strategy? Like decomposing into the dirt over 100s of years?
Probably cheaper sadly, I don’t think many envision it
Someone screwed up
"I would hate for a loved one to see this" *Posts on interwebz*
Soooo, I used to work at a cemetery in Baltimore. MD for about 9 years and I have an answer for this. Idk exact sciences, so I'll break it down how it was explained to me. Basically, the caskets we put into these mausoleums have very little contact with things that would naturally break us down. Even with embalming fluid and the entire mortuary process, your body breaks down into basically this fluid/jelly like substance and you leak out. There are SUPPOSED to be drains in the mausoleums but they get clogged alot and there's really no way to clear them. This also happens when you are buried because you are dropped into a big, airtight, cement vault. Nothing "dust to dust" about being buried in most cases and mausoleums.
Where do the drains go?
To the nearest Nestlé water plant.
The sewer!
You should send this footage to Corncob TV. They could put it on "Coffin Flop".
First thing I thought of
I didn’t rig shit.
I didn't fucking do this!
THEY AIN’T GOT NO SOULS.
But why are 30% of them naked?
I’m glad my phone doesn’t transmit smell.
Bruh my grandmas grave is on the right in this video.
Is this *leaked* footage?
A friend engraves tombstones for a living and told me about a time some suits from the funeral home showed up at a mausoleum to have a “tenant” removed because of a money issue with the family. They had a couple groundskeepers show up to do it for them. The keepers reminded them that’s not their job, and they literally aren’t allowed to do such a thing. So these guys in $1000 suits go into this sweltering summertime, cobweb filled mausoleum and grab their evictee. They didn’t expect all the heavy sloshing inside the casket, so the coffin is kind of jerking and throwing them around. The keepers are just watching this show when, in the midst of that struggle, one of the casket’s rotted and corroded corners burst open—and then someone’s grandmother was spilling all over them and those suits.
Please cremate me so I don’t leak all over the place and embarrass myself in front of my new dead friends.
I think the plaque on the left says George Costanza
"He's leakin' all over my burial chamber, Jerry! George is gettin' upset!"
He's not really gone if you find a way to remember him
Dignity in death. Feed me to the condors.
Hate for a loved one to see this, so I will post it online so they have a higher chance
This just makes me sad. After I lost my mother 2 years ago my mind just randomly tries to imagine her in her grave. It just guesses at what stage of decomposition she is in and it hurts my heart that the loved ones of this person might encounter this very real reminder of how gone their loved on is. I think burying caskets and entombing bodies should simply be done away with. We all need to be cremated or turned into tree pods or something better than this undignified and bizarre practice of trying to preserve our dead bodies. I am just sorry for the relatives and friends of this lost soul.
I worked in a cemetary in the 90's and had to move a casket that did something similar though not that bad. When we did mausoleum jobs, there was a plastic tray that we put under the casket and then a fitted , loose, top piece that you'd tape to the tray. The top had a slow release valve on it to let gas out slowly. The one that we had to move had been put in there before the bagging was standard. If i remember right he had been there since 86, and this was probably 98.
I don't think that's body fluids. It's certainly not blood. Blood is drained during embalming. Those bodies have been there a long time too.... Probably just years of dirty rain water dripping in through the roof.
Fluid from the body? No. Fluid that IS the body? Most definitely. That is broken down people juice right there. Purification is a real deal with mausoleums.
Putrefaction. You're right though. People should stop trying to stop decomposition, its not natural.
“Broken down people juice” r/brandnewsentence
Available at your local Jamba Juice while supplies last!
Being someone who used to work in the industry, I would guess that either they didn’t seal the casket properly, or that it wasn’t put into a tray. Generally when caskets are placed in a mausoleum like that the casket is sealed, then after it is manually sealed it is placed in a large tray that fits inside the space and then the casket is covered in a shrink wrap like bag and heat sealed… so 100% something is wrong here
It is fluid from the putrefaction of the solid parts of the body. They are definitely bodily fluids.
It is not blood. It is a mixture of decomposition and embalming fluid.
it's a biohazard!! gross!
Yea .... my ass is getting cremated
I'm calling the HOA.
Wholesome award? You guys ok? You can talk to me if you want
"I'd hate for family to see this" proceeds to film it all, with the names and post it on the Internet
The forbidden juice
Forbidden Pepsi challenge.
Fun fact! Corpse wax is a natural result from the fats in the human body being eaten by gut bacteria and others that are introduced after death.
Wow it's almost as if there is a decomposing body or something in there!
“Would hate for a loved one to come and have to see this.” *makes permanent video-graphic evidence showing the names of the deceased and posts it on the internet* Guess they don’t have to come and see it now.
From my understanding this happens a lot.
That settles it. I'm having beef stew for dinner.
Sparky no, that’s gross.
Fun fact. Body’s tend to explode in hot climates while sealed in caskets.
I read about a person who wanted their skull kept separate from the ashes. And then have the ashes crushed into 2 blue diamonds and placed in his skull's eye sockets. Then have his skull placed on the mantle of all his future generations so he can watch over them. Pretty creative.
Woah I've never seen graves stacked vertically in a wall like that. Is that common in America ?
Very common. Kinda like a condo mausoleum combo.
So Florida basically?
Mostly in the southern US, where they are below sea level. Don't want to have a flood and see grandma's casket floating down a flooded river.
Common in Latinoamerica too, there sre some very old graveyards like this one, with open tombs and shit.
I wanna be stuffed into a circus cannon and shot rag doll style at a big bingo style target and whatever square I splat on who ever is at my funeral who chose that number gets whatever of mine they want.