a strange question

[ketchupgirl81]

when you die, and if you choose to be embalmed and put in a casket are you like permanently preserved? i know this might sound silly but i was just wondering because many caskets are airtight? what about if they put your body in a mausoleum? i personally want to be cremated, but i'm just wondering. what if you are not embalmed but just put in an

Comments

[krzdiamond]

you need to read that book, Stiff. it will answer all your questions and more.

me? I want to be creamated and have my carbon turned into fabulous diamonds!!

[ketchupgirl81]

i thought you were donating your body to science? or was that someone else?

[bren_jay]

Stiff *will* give you the full story.

Um, in general? Here's a quick guide.

Embalming is just used to keep you pretty and not-smelly for the funeral. Unembalmed people start to really smell after about two days. That's one reason (among several) that jewish funerals are supposed to be within 48 hours of death - you're not supposed to embalm the body.

Sealed casket with or without embalming = anaerobic breakdown (because no oxygen can get in or out), which is essentially liquefaction.

Unsealed casket with our without embalming = aerobic breakdown, which is much more like what happens to animals in the woods. You basically dry out and slowly decompose into the dirt.

There are bacteria everywhere, so no, it's not like you're preserved forever in any case. One kind of bacteria or another will do the deed.

[ketchupgirl81]

i see. thank you for the explanation, makes sense.

[mustard_seed]

That's interesting. Can you request an unsealed casket? Like, do you get the option (presuming you buy your own before you die)?

[bren_jay]

I have no idea.

I know when my ex-husband's grandmother died, we had to use a jewish funeral parlor, because there are religious restrictions on how/when one is buried - plain, unsealed pine box, within 48 hours, no alteration of the body (meaning, mostly, no embalming or other preservation) - the whole dust to dust thing.

So that much I know from having to deal with it. The rest of it I got from this fabulous book, Stiff, mentioned by kd above.

[mustard_seed]

I really don't know the answer to that, but personally, I want to be in a box, and I want the worms to come for me and to spread me back out into the earth. The actual process is disgusting, but I take comfort in becoming part of the elements after I die.

[heatherbell]

I have to laugh because I always randomly come up with strange things like that. Like I've always wondered if identical twins have social security numbers that are only one apart. I assume not but how do they decide what numbers go to who.

[ketchupgirl81]

hey, i know that the first digits of your ss number go to the geographical area of your birth. for example, i was born in nevada so mine starts with a 5XX and steven and my kids were born in the northeast so they start with 1XX and 0XX. kind of interesting.

[heatherbell]

I had a friend in high school where the first five digits of our SSNs were exactly the same.

[brave_margot]

Good morning and don't mind me...heh I'm just cruising the f/l over coffee, and fwiw have NO idea how SS#s are determined, but after reading your comment and thinking about it a minute, that can't be right. I was born in NY w/ a 5XX, V was born in another country entirely, also w/ a 5XX, S was born in AZ w/ a 6XX....both V and I had our SS#'s *issued* in CA, so maybe that's where the five came from. Obvioulsy 50 states would need to share the 10 possible "first" digits (0-9)and there would be overlap, so maybe NV shares a 5 w/ CA. I should research this but I'm lazy at the moment! Also after reading this entry I want to check out that book Stiff, even though I think it would freak me the h*ll out!

[nokturnelle]

Hey this was an interesting entry. And so were the replies lol. I learned several things, even about social security numbers. Thumbs up!