"Open Casket" when it should have been "Closed Casket"

[Mickey'sMainMami]

While I have been to a few open caskets that I personally wished had been closed, it is up to the family and what they want.

 

[CocaColaGuy]

I automatically check the date on anything over 5 pages because human attention spans tend to be oh, hey, look at that! There's a squirrel climbing on my garage!

I did read this entire thread, though. It is an interesting topic to me, no matter how morbid it is!

I knew two people who should have had closed caskets. One was a cousin of my father's. He was crushed by a piece of farm equipment and was very swollen. The other was my friend's grandfather. He was caught up in a brush fire and died of infection at the hospital. His face was fine, but he had 3rd degree burns on 90% of his body. Basically, his necks, hands, etc, were charred and no amount of mortuary work was going to make it look better.

When it's my time, give my body to science and have a big party with the life insurance money! Drinks are on my estate!

 

[Caropooh]

Yeah, I know. And I'm a "retired" licensed funeral director.

Hijacking the thread for a moment!
I bet you could answer this question for me! Once a casket is closed, is it sealed shut also? How hard is it to reopen it, if necessary? I've always wondered this, but then watching a show this week, it made me wonder even more. On the show, they were exhuming a body. Once they had the casket out of the ground, they just opened the lid with no problems. The casket had been buried for probably close to 30 years, if that matters.

 

[teacup princess]

I read the thread even though it's old because I thought it was interesting and now I'm gonna post on the old zombie thread even though this really has nothing to do with closed casket, but here's my worst funeral story.

My husband went to the funeral of a work acquaintance's wife. I didn't go because I stayed home with our then 2 week old baby. When my husband got home he was obviously shaken and he said he was so glad I didn't go. When he went up to pay his respects, the man's wife was in the coffin holding a deceased baby. Their granddaughter had a stillborn at the same time and they ended up burying them together. I probably would have done the same in that situation but he walked in totally unprepared for that. We didn't know the extended family and had no idea that had occurred. If I would have seen that I would have passed out cold. That poor family.

 

[SandrA9810]

I read the thread even though it's old because I thought it was interesting and now I'm gonna post on the old zombie thread even though this really has nothing to do with closed casket, but here's my worst funeral story.

My husband went to the funeral of a work acquaintance's wife. I didn't go because I stayed home with our then 2 week old baby. When my husband got home he was obviously shaken and he said he was so glad I didn't go. When he went up to pay his respects, the man's wife was in the coffin holding a deceased baby. Their granddaughter had a stillborn at the same time and they ended up burying them together. I probably would have done the same in that situation but he walked in totally unprepared for that. We didn't know the extended family and had no idea that had occurred. If I would have seen that I would have passed out cold. That poor family.

That sounds traumatizing, whether you knew it or not. Is that even allowed (to have more than one body in a casket)?

Hijacking the thread for a moment!
I bet you could answer this question for me! Once a casket is closed, is it sealed shut also? How hard is it to reopen it, if necessary? I've always wondered this, but then watching a show this week, it made me wonder even more. On the show, they were exhuming a body. Once they had the casket out of the ground, they just opened the lid with no problems. The casket had been buried for probably close to 30 years, if that matters.

I know in Florida, all caskets have to be placed in a vault before burial because of the low water table. I'm sure other low lying areas have similar rules for burial. Even ashes buried have to be in one. My grandfather was not buried in the family plots in Miami because of the added costs, just cremated.

 

[tvguy]

This thread is 5 years old.

No offense, but I have never understood why that is an issue here. I swear at least a third of the "new" threads are just repeats of topics that cycle through the boards every few months. If it's what people want to talk about, let them talk about it.

 

[Poohforyou]

No offense, but I have never understood why that is an issue here. I swear at least a third of the "new" threads are just repeats of topics that cycle through the boards every few months. If it's what people want to talk about, let them talk about it.

It isn't an issue, it's just odd. Why would a 5 yo thread about open vs. closet caskets get resurrected (no pun intended) by a brand new poster?

 

[kacaju]

It isn't an issue, it's just odd. Why would a 5 yo thread about open vs. closet caskets get resurrected (no pun intended) by a brand new poster?

If you read what that poster wrote, they were writing about their cousin recently getting accidently shot and my GUESS is they were googling stuff trying to find some peace to what happened to them and came across this thread. Not realizing this is a Disney board or that the thread was 5 years old, they just posted what was on their mind at the time

 

[tvguy]

my GUESS is they were googling stuff trying to find some peace to what happened to them and came across this thread. Not realizing this is a Disney board or that the thread was 5 years old, they just posted what was on their mind at the time

There are times there are interesting topics with questions I have no answer for and I google the topic and a lot of times one of the results is the post I was reading.

 

[MrsPete]

I had a neighbor die when she was 16 in a car accident and her parents had the casket closed with a beautiful picture of her on it.

I saw that done for a lady who'd suffered through cancer for years and looked very bad at the end. The photograph the family chose to display was one taken at the wedding of one of her children, so she was dressed nicely and looked radiantly happy. It was a very good choice to show her as she had been.

 

[Atlas722]

I choose not to attend funerals unless I have no choice. The last one I was at was DH's aunt and it was closed. His mom was the last open casket I was at.

I want no service, no embalming and no visitatioin. I want to be cremated as quick as possible. Please, just honor my wishes and I will be happy. I have told my family to have a nice vacation with the funds which would have been used for the above.

I guess I have a weird sense of death. I am not religious and even though I have a lot of experience with several different religions through friends and family I don't wish to have my death dealt with in that way. If feels phoney to me. See, weird, I know.

I feel also it is up to each family to do what feels right for them. It is never easy and if each of us decides what we would like for ourselves and makes our family aware it could make it a lot easier. My MIL had a planned service and it went very smoothly. I hope mine does also.

Same with me: Cremate me, hold a memorial service, and then scatter my ashes in Lake Erie off Kelleys Island's west side.

 

[Atlas722]

I've hear that back in the olden days, they would put a bell on a rope with the end of the rope going doen into the coffin. It was actually someone's job to watch the grave yard and if the bell rang, to unbury the bell ringer. Has anyone ever heard that before?

I have. If I'm correct, this is where the term "dead ringer" came from.

 

[DawnM]

I had a student who was shot and killed. The mother didn't want to bury him and would visit his body every day for the 10 days allowed at the mortuary. After 10 days they told her she needed to bury him or they would do it themselves.

The casket was open and after 10 days he was so discolored that he looked almost black (he was Latino) and waxy.

The casket was tilted and open the entire funeral service. UGH. We had to look.

The worst was when they told us all to follow them down to the grave site and the mom ran up to the casket and grabbed him and tried to pull him out and screamed, "Don't take him away!" She tried to jump in the grave at the site too. It was horrifying.

I was his school counselor at the time.

 

[Squirlz]

How many times is this thread going to get dug up?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Seems appropriate:

 

[NC State]

It's Halloween so the dead thread from 2008 is alive again!

 

[DawnM]

Oh good grief. I am the culprit. I am so sorry. I was doing a search for something based on another thread and this one popped up and I didn't realize how old it was.

I normally DO check. I am very sorry.

But Happy Halloween!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Don't apologize. There is no time limit on most threads. If people want to post or read they can. I hadn't read it before, and found it interesting, so thank you. I don't understand why people complain - no one was being hurtful.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Don't apologize. There is no time limit on most threads. If people want to post or read they can. I hadn't read it before, and found it interesting, so thank you. I don't understand why people complain - no one was being hurtful.

I don't think anyone was complaining. Just a number of us have probably found themselves providing answers to people who started threads years ago (probably resolved by then). Just a "head's up" notice that the original post was years ago.

 

[Missy1961]

It doesn't bother me when an old thread gets bumped up, it can be fun to read some of these threads again. But when people start to question how things turned out, I'll point out the age of the thread.