1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: Vollebaum here. The Republic of Ghana is nicknamed West Africa's 3 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: Golden child. It's renowned for its amazing wildlife sanctuaries, and 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: international companies like Google, Guinness, and Coca Cola have set 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: up facilities in Acra, the capital city on Ghana's coast, 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: and Acra is also known for another industry, a one 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,160 Speaker 1: that's homegrown. The business is so unique that it's caught 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: the eye of death care providers all over the world. 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: In Ghana, there's a big tradition behind big coffins carved 10 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: and painted into shapes from chili peppers to taxi cabs 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: to Nike sneakers, just about any object imaginable to suit 12 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: the deceased's personality. Each one is a vibrant work of art, 13 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: requiring skillful carpentry. In the Ga language, the funerary boxes 14 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: are called proverb coffins. In English, we often call them 15 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: fantasy coffins, but the practice of building these fantasy coffins 16 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 1: has never gained traction outside of Ghana and neighboring Togo 17 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: before the article. This episode is based on how stuffworks 18 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: spoke with Genevieve Keeney Vesquez, a licensed in balmer who 19 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 1: serves as the President and Chief Operating officer of the 20 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas. She explained 21 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: that she's never come across any parallels to fantasy coffins 22 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: from other parts of the globe. She said, I get 23 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: made aware of quite a lot of interesting rituals and 24 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: customs and have yet to hear of anything close. Her 25 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: museum houses the largest collection of fantasy coffins outside of Ghana. Altogether, 26 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: it has a dozen on permanent display. There are shapes 27 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: ranging from a Mercedes Benz to a red legged crab. 28 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: Fantasy coffins have been showcased at art museums as well, 29 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: from the Brooklyn Museum to the National Museum of Modern 30 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: Art in Paris, France. These ornate coffins reflect the area's 31 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: blend of beliefs about ancestry and death. Modern fantasy coffins 32 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: were devised by the Ga people, who are part of 33 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: the region's Ga Adongwei ethnic group. Cultural and religious traditions 34 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: described dying as a period of transition from one life 35 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: to the next, and funerary rites as a celebration, and 36 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: there's also a concept that the deceased still have influence 37 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: over the circumstances of their living relatives. Keep your loved 38 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: ones happy post mortem and they might grant you some 39 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: blessings down the road. So making a good impression on 40 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: newly dead family members and sending them offen style is 41 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: considered hugely important. That's where fantasy coffins come in. Traditionally, 42 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: it was common practice to bury a body with some 43 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,679 Speaker 1: personalized trinket, like a miniature canoe, that represented the individual's 44 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: former career or aspirations or social standing. Back in the 45 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 1: mid nineteen hundreds, before Ghana achieved independence from the British Empire, 46 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: and a craw area carpenter by the name of Seth 47 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: kenny Quay did something similar, but on a much larger scale. 48 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:17,839 Speaker 1: Kenny Quay was born in nineteen twenty two, and by 49 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: all accounts, he had an entrepreneurial spirit. When he was 50 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: a young man, kenny Quay created a coco pot shaped 51 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: palanquin for a local chief to ride in during an 52 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: upcoming festival. When the chief died unexpectedly before the festival, 53 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: kenny Quay persuaded the family to bury him in it instead. 54 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: Shortly after that, the artist's grandmother passed. Remembering the mourner's 55 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,839 Speaker 1: enthusiasm for the chief's coffin, he crafted an elaborate one 56 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: for her in the shape of an airplane. She had 57 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: lived in a suburb near Across Airport and had loved 58 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: watching the planes go by, but had never taken a 59 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: flight herself, so Kenny Quay gave her a way to 60 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: fly into the afterlife. Kenny Quay was approached by mourning 61 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: clients requesting personalized coffins whose designs would tell the stories 62 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: of their occupants, like a boat for a fisherman or 63 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: an onion for a farmer, and the rest was history. 64 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: Kenny Quay wasn't the sole inventor of fantasy coffins as 65 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: we now know them, but he did popularize the concept. 66 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: Artistic coffins became the specialty at his workshop, where he 67 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,279 Speaker 1: passed on his skills to his sons and grandson, who 68 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: still manages the shop to this day, as some of 69 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,280 Speaker 1: his other apprentices, like the now renowned artists Pa Joe, 70 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: would go on to found their own businesses in a 71 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: crap and supply coffins as art on the international scene. 72 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: Joe told the BBC back in twenty sixteen that when 73 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: he goes he's considering a coffin in the shape of 74 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: a hammer. Given their elaborate shapes and details, it's easy 75 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: to forget that in first and foremost. Most fantasy caskets 76 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: are purchased for their original intention and must be functional 77 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 1: for burial in the ground. Building materials vary. A funeral 78 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: ready coffins will consist of less expensive, lightweight woods and 79 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: go for a couple thousand dollars. Others are tailor made 80 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: display pieces built to wow the patrons of art galleries 81 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: and museums. The latter tend to be made of hard 82 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,600 Speaker 1: woods like African mahogany. A coffin of the sort can 83 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: easily sell for more than ten grand. Regardless of where 84 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: the coffins are headed, they all need to be carved, 85 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: painted and sanded before the client hauls them off. They 86 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,719 Speaker 1: can take a couple of weeks to build, as for 87 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: the shapes, and that's up to the buyers. Artists have 88 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: built human sized wooden cameras, eagles, hair dryers, pineapples, and 89 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: beer bottles for their customers. In Ghana. Bodies can spend 90 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: months or even years inside refrigerated storage units, while the 91 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,280 Speaker 1: family of the deceased organizes the funeral. After the day 92 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,280 Speaker 1: and time are set and the coffin is paid for, 93 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,480 Speaker 1: the event can proceed. Gone in Funerals are lengthy and 94 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: expensive affairs that might last for three full days at 95 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: a time with the community and extended family. The dozens 96 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 1: to hundreds of guests are attended to by musicians, DJs, photographers, caterers, bartenders, 97 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: and morticians. Visitors might help the inner family recoup some 98 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,920 Speaker 1: of the costs by raising funds on site while also 99 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: dancing the night away. Today's episode is based on the 100 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: article Gana's Fantasy Coffins Are to Die for on HowStuffWorks 101 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: dot com, written by Mark Vancini. Brain Stuff is production 102 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,039 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and 103 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio, 104 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 105 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.