fuck thousands for a coffin. or hundreds for an urn. can i legally be burried in butcher paper?

can i donate my body to science and skip burrial all together?

i want my final action to be a big middle finger to the funeral industry picking on people in their weakest moments.

  • swelter_spark@reddthat.comEnglish
    13·
    11 hours ago

    There are burial grounds that are basically natural parks, where you have to be buried in something biodegradable, like a shroud or pine needle basket, and no grave markers are allowed besides something like a tree or uncut rock. (Burial locations are recorded by gps.) I’d like to be buried in one of these places. Not sure what the cost is, though.

  • abbotsbury@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    10 hours ago

    I think you can just not claim the body and the government will bury it in a pauper’s grave or something, but there might be some downsides to rejecting the body entirely.

  • garbagebagel@lemmy.world
    41·
    21 hours ago

    Pay a local taxidermist to stuff you so your kid/friend/partner can have you hang out in their living room. I told my mom I’m gonna have her stuffed and posed like a bear.

    Thinking about this now it makes sense why my mom picked my sister as the executor.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      5 hours ago

      Certain types of burial allow the body to potentially contaminate nearby soil. Others can leave behind a void that can either collapse and disrupt nearby graves, or in some cases lift the body back to the surface in heavy rain. (Extremely uncommon now because essentially nowhere allows you to use those methods)

      Funeral pyres or other forms of open air cremation are generally not legal due to concerns of fire spreading.
      Whole body water burial is probably not legal in a body of fresh water in the US due mostly to the complexity of figuring out which law applies to that circumstance in any of the bodies of water that could be used that wouldn’t be grossly undersized and unsanitary. (Basically that means the Great lakes, which are the only ones with the depth and size sufficient, but are shared between multiple states and also Canada. Usually the rule is that if it’s not forbidden it’s permitted, but body disposal is more complicated)

      • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
        1·
        4 hours ago

        I probably should have said “safely” rather than just “sanitary”, I was thinking about water burials and ground water contamination when I said that.
        And also just like… Leaving the body out in a public area.

        As long as you’re not putting people in danger, and you’re not disrespecting the deceased, what would be illegal?

      • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
        1·
        4 hours ago

        Funeral pyres or other forms of open air cremation are generally not legal due to concerns of fire spreading.

        That’s why you set up your OWN funeral pyre! Got a terminal cancer diagnosis, looking to go out on your own terms?

        1. Erect a large funeral pyre on a large piece of open ground. (Ideally do this at a time of low fire risk.)
        2. Create an ignition mechanism that can be activated by a timer.
        3. Take a lethal dose of opioids or whatever assisted-suicide drug you’ve been prescribed.
        4. Set the timer to ignite the pyre a few hours after you are certain to have succumb to the effects of the drug.
        5. Activate the timer, climb atop the pyre, and take the big nap.
        6. A few hours later the pyre alights and your body is cremated in an open funeral pyre.

        I mean, sure, it’s illegal as Hell. But who are they going to prosecute? Are they going to put your ashes on trial?

    • Worx@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

      I suspect it’s different in different countries, but things like desecrating a corpse are often illegal. I expect if you carved it up and started throwing chunks around, that would be illegal even if it’s what the deceased wanted. Probably storing the body away and not telling the authorities of the death would also be illegal

      • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
        1·
        4 hours ago

        I wonder, if you could throw the chunks around safely without sanitation issues, would it be illegal if that’s what the person wanted? Is it defiling a corpse if thats what they wanted done?

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

      There’s definitely some limitations. There was a bit of an issue in my state when a Mosque wanted to install a cemetery on their lot, but they were too close to the aquifer and weren’t allowed.

  • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world
    5·
    17 hours ago

    Thank you so much for the info! I want to donate my body so I can be useful and help folks a final time. I have been getting awesome tattoos so my corpse looks dope as fuck

    • Jarix@lemmy.world
      1·
      7 hours ago

      Why Native American specifically? I’m thinking of Darth Vaders pyre and wondering if there’s something different that the native Americans did, and also, what nation specifically if you know. They didnt all follow the same rituals/ceremonies

  • IzzyScissor@lemmy.world
    38·
    1 day ago

    Regardless of the final resting place after the funeral - DON’T EMBALM. They’ll pressure your family into embalming to ‘ensure the dead look their best on the day of the funeral’, but refrigeration does the exact same thing. You might think it’s more ‘dignified’, but just do a quick google at what the process entails. It’s ALL smoke and mirrors, and I’d rather have people at my funeral actually understand what my body is doing at that point - not the image of what a ‘body at rest’ looks like from Hollywood.