cremation
These Radical Undertakers Want Funerals to Be More Honest and Participatory
Claire and Rupert Callender are breaking all kinds of taboos by asking funeral attendees to carry the coffin, talk about the manner of death, and reflect on their loved ones openly and honestly.
This Is What Happens to Unclaimed Bodies in Washington, DC
Unclaimed bodies are supposed to be buried in marked graves with proper identification, but most end up in mass burial sites, without identification, beside heaps of trash.
A Month Living with Death in a Temple in Nepal
Photographer Yani Clarke spent a month documenting life and death at Nepal's Pashupatinath Temple, where more than 40 bodies are incinerated every day.
A Kickstarter for Composting Your Corpse, Because Dead Humans Are Killing Earth
It's a smarter idea than you think.
This Nonprofit Wants to Turn Corpses into Compost
Traditional burial is an unnatural process that uses a lot of land, and cremation releases carbon into the atmosphere—Katrina Spade thinks there's a better way to deal with dead bodies.
Bodies Discovered in Mexico Crematorium Had Been Abandoned for Months, Officials Say
"Some were wearing suits like they had just come from a funeral celebration," a witness said after entering an Acapulco crematorium that officials said had been abandoned for at least seven months.
Dying Is Pretty Bad for the Environment
New evidence shows that cremation may be worse for us than we thought. Which doesn't leave a whole lot of options if you're aiming for a green death.
Giving Up the Dead: Graveyards Are Easing Fears of Handing Over the Bodies of Ebola Victims
To help curb the spread of Ebola, the Liberian government in August ordered mandatory cremation in Monrovia. The ban was recently lifted, but many still don't want to give up their dead.
The Graves of the Rich and Famous in Los Angeles Will Make Your Apartment Look Pathetic
If you've got the dough, you can be buried among the Hollywood elite in luxury cemeteries so extravagant that they attract graveyard tourists.
Visiting the Place Where LA's Unclaimed Dead Are Buried
A trip to the LA County Crematorium Cemetery.
This Mortician Wants You to Take a Hands-On Approach with Corpses
"We are entrenched in the idea that dead bodies are dangerous, and we are entrenched in the idea that it is better to have professionals do it... American death is a really recent invention."
Looking at the Ancient Catholic Practice of Turning Human Bones into Art and Furniture
Sedlec Ossuary, a Roman Catholic chapel in the Czech Republic, purports to have one of every type of human bone in its collection of skeletons. In many cases, these bones were refashioned into art pieces or furniture pieces like chandeliers. We talked...