WEBVTT - Selects: How Coffins Work 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.200 How to everyone. It's Saturday morning, and this is your 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:08.800 weekly Selects episode aka Stuff You Should Know reruns handcrafted 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:12.000 and curated by me, Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and my 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.520 lovely and handsome co host Joshua Clark. This week, I 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:17.520 am on the hook for this one, and so I'm 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.040 going to pick how coffins work. From May thirtieth, twenty thirteen. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.040 I feel like we kind of came down a little 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:26.520 bit hard on the funerary industry on this one. These 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.320 coffins are expensive. Boy, oh boy, who wants to pay 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:31.720 that kind of money once you're dead? Not me to 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:34.400 grind me up and plant me as a tree or something, 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:36.360 or maybe just throw me on the woods and let 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:38.680 the worms take care of it at any rate. That's 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.840 my journey, not yours. I don't want to yuck anyone's yum. 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.639 If you want a big, fancy mahogany coffin, go for it. 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.080 The podcast is going to teach you all about him. 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:54.360 Please enjoy. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.280 of iHeartRadio. 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.040 Hey, and welcome to the podcast on Josh Clark. There's 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:06.520 Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and this is Stuff you Should 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:08.080 know the podcast. 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:08.920 That's right. 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:13.080 This is part of our ongoing death Sweet, which is sweet. 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.280 Yeah. We've covered death a lot because death is multifaceted, 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:21.560 sure you know. And this reminded me of the I 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.400 guess we covered green burial not in its own podcast 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.319 yet and like different ways to what to do with 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:29.000 the dead body. There you go, That's what I thought 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:29.600 it was into. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.959 But I'm surprised we didn't do a podcast dedicated just 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:33.200 to that. 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.920 Maybe we should. Yeah, I looked up because I'm interested 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.440 in that for myself. And there are some lovely places 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:40.759 right outside Atlanta. 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.280 To be buried Greenley, Yeah, where you can just. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.160 Be wrapped in a shroud and buried in the field, 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:47.880 which ripped to death by coyotes. 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:49.640 Left in a field. 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:51.600 They don't leave you, no, well they bury you in 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:52.360 a shallow grade. 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.640 Oh okay for the coyotes to come get you. 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:56.000 No, they said they don't have a problem with that. 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:01.240 But I'm not one of those people that cares about that. 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:03.760 Yeah, about what happens to your body, Like I would 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:04.680 do a sky burial. 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:06.960 That wouldn't bother me for vultures to pick me apart, 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.720 Like use the body if it would feed an animal. 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.520 Great, why not donate it to science. 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:14.920 Yeah, maybe I'll do that. I'm not precious about that 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.680 my body after death. I'm not precious about my body 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:22.320 in life. Why start then, exactly? Yeah, that's funny. Yeah. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:27.080 So anyway, Well, a shroud does kind of technically count 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.840 as a coffin chuck, Yeah, back in the day if 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:31.120 you didn't have a lot of money. 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:35.440 Right, or if you're into being picked apart by coyotes. 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:35.799 Right. 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.519 But the whole point of a coffin, or what constitutes 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:44.160 a coffin is it provides a barrier between the body 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.960 and the ground. Yeah, and technically a shroud does that. 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.600 It's a really, really poor coffin. Yeah, but that's the 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.640 whole point. It's that the body is encapsulated in something 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:59.639 that just dropping a body into a grave is undignified. 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:04.119 You might say even cremating a body without some form 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.359 or fashion of a coffin is considered undignified. And you'll 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.639 be hard pressed to find a crematorium that will let 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:11.839 you just put your loved one on the conveyor belt 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.000 and let them just kind of flop lifelessly toward the flames. 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:16.560 I don't think they flop. 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.639 I mean, if they're jostled, they're gonna flop. Okay, yeah, 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:22.560 especially after Rigger's done. 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.880 The coffin the word coffin. We're not gonna do any 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.200 Merriam Webster stuff because that's who would start an article like. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.320 That or do it six times in an article. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:34.280 But we will say we'd like to give root words. 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:36.360 And of course Greek and Latin are involved here with 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.960 the Greek koffinos and Latin koffin uts. M h. They're 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:44.320 always like, oh yeah, I'll change that kto a C 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:45.400 and that O too a. 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:47.520 U, and no one will ever even remember the Greeks 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:48.440 happen exactly. 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.000 So that's where the word coffin came from. But here 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:56.360 in the United States we generally refer to that vessel 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.920 as a casket, whereas in places like England and Australia 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.120 I'm sorry, Great Britain and Australia they might say coffin, 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:05.840 even though a lot of people here think that's like 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:06.880 a word you shouldn't use. 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.280 Well, yeah, their casket still means a place to keep 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:11.960 your valuables. 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:13.960 Right right, your bubbles right yeah. 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.440 Here in the US, if you go to a funeral 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.960 directorium also called a funeral home. You're going to find 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:22.800 that they'd never use the word coffin. 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.160 No, and you know it's pretty subtle, but the language 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.880 is definitely. They don't say, uh, we'd love to pick 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:31.600 out for you to pick out a coffin for your 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.279 husband's dead body, and then we'll dig a grave over 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.839 there and put it in the ground. Wah that we'll 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.040 say things like we would like you to pick out 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:42.720 a casket for your husband and. 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.200 From our display area, from the display. 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.200 Area, and we will take you there in the casket coach, 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:51.320 not a hearse, and and place him in the internment space, 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:52.040 which is not. 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.960 A grave opened, and then we'll close afterward, rather than 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:57.719 filling or digging the grave. 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.240 They don't say words like digging and ground. 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:07.000 Basically anything that brings to mind the guy from Phantasm. 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:07.640 Yeah. 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.560 Those the funeral industry avoids those words. 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.120 Yeah. And of course we've ruined six feet under and 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.880 the Fisher and Sons the boys such a great Yoh, 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:19.880 Michael always did such a great job of, you know, 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.160 being the proper funeral director and using all the all 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.760 the words that you should use, like casket. 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:26.400 He's good at it. And then he turned into a 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:27.119 serial killer. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:28.520 No, well, dexter. 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.760 Yeah, so there actually is a distinction beyond where you 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.599 live with the word casket in coffin. Sure, there's a 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.920 slight difference. Shape, Yeah, it's it's all. It's basically shape. 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:44.080 A casket is a long rectangle and the top is 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.240 usually split, so you can know that's a coffin. That's 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:47.800 a casket. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.240 Oh yeah, that's a casket. Coffin is the hexagonal a 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.760 hexagonal box. Yeah, and that you know, back in the 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.240 day he had the old pine box. Actually a lot 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:01.400 of those were just rectangular, but some were you know, 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.800 had that familiar sort of keyhole shape. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.279 Well, back in the day, in the nineteenth century, the 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.599 person who was responsible for carrying out your funeral services 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:15.840 and building your coffin was usually the local carpenter, and 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:20.360 he undertook your funeral service, hence the word undertaker from 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:24.159 what I understand, Yeah, but it was usually somebody who 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:29.599 built wagons and kitchens and whatever. They also built coffins too, 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:31.120 and they built them to suit. 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:42.719 That sounded to me like our first casket. Fact. Well done, Chuck, wow, Yeah, 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:44.640 thank you Jerry for going the extra mile there. 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.159 And if you like that, you're going to love this 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.360 episode because this place is lousy with casket facts. 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.640 Yeah, we won't play the sound effect on this one. 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.120 But I thought another interesting fact, because you know, I 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.760 like origins of phrases and things. If someone casts a 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.960 Pall over a room, yeah, a Paul was actually a 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:04.760 dark cloth that they would put over the casket to 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.120 I guess cover, you know, block out the bad juju 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.080 of having the dead body in there. Right, So you 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:12.560 would cast a Paul over the casket. 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.000 Yeah, Or if you're me, you cast a Paul over 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:19.320 any room you enter. That's fun, no fun anymore, everybody 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:21.920 can Can we talk a little bit about the funeral 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.480 industry for a second. Yeah, about the casket industry, I 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:28.360 should say specifically, there's still some furniture companies that make 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:30.680 caskets on the side, like Lazy Boy. 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:31.040 Yeah. 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:32.720 I don't know if Lazy Boy does it, but there's 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.840 they represent a very small shit of the casket that's an. 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.720 Ultimate lazy boy. You know your forever chair. 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:43.760 Right exactly. Well, they actually have caskets for those people. 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:50.880 It's called Goliath Caskets. Oversized Caskets, Order Oversized Caskets dot com. 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.760 Huh. Anyway, of course, there's someone that does that, because 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.760 that's a common thing. You know, caskets aren't you know 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.720 some people of girth. Sure, that's pretty embarrassing, you know, 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:02.880 when you can't fit in your casket. 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:04.680 Right, And I went and looked, and these are very 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:05.679 dignified caskets. 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:06.520 They're just larger. 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:07.760 They're for the larger person. 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.200 Double widse. Wow. 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:17.760 There's also uh okay, so one of the largest casket makers, Batesville, 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:19.240 originally started out as. 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:20.080 A furniture company. 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.960 So there's like this whole origin of yeah, I'll build 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.440 your chair and I'll build your coffin for your uncle too. 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:28.960 That makes sense, it's carpentry. 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.640 Yeah, And then that's kind of the way it went. 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:36.880 There were some some groups that started to consolidate and 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:41.440 just make caskets around the late the turn of the 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.520 twentieth century, the beginning of the twentieth century, and you know, 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.600 that was fine. They kind of created the industry. And 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:49.800 then it was like the fifties after the Korean War, 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.640 when metal caskets became like all a rage. 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.640 Yeah, because that was mod looking and that was popular 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:56.520 at the time. It was. 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:58.960 And you'll also find in the funeral industry it was 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:04.560 easy to subtly exploit the grieving out of their money. 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:09.920 There it was very cheap to mass produce metal caskets, 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.560 and so they were sold, sold, sold, There was a 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.880 huge profit margin with them, and I think by the 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:20.880 seventies half of all caskets were metal. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:26.040 Yeah. Well, because what better way to protect your loved 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.719 one from the elements and the harsh afterlife that they 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.720 may encounter than with a good old solid metal in casing, 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:39.760 yes exactly, which also happens to be have greater profit margins, 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.079 and it's cheaper to produce, so. 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.560 It is it's cheaper to mass produce the other aspect 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:46.559 of a metal coffin. In the rise of the metal coffin, 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:51.160 it changed the casket making industry because it's really expensive 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.680 to get into metal coffin making. Apparently it costs about 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:56.880 a million dollars just for the dies to make a 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:00.920 standard metal coffin, just for the dies alone. So this 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.520 kind of consolidated the industry down to fewer and fewer 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:07.920 companies that were making metal caskets, so it became a 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:12.320 real industry at that point. And then ultimately the casket 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.959 industry started to suffer and decline thanks to advances in 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.440 medicine there were fewer deaths, so their profits. 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:20.320 Dropped or the revenue dropped. 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.600 And then starting in the eighties, people said, you know what, 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.040 maybe cremation isn't so bad, right, And so in nineteen 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:30.120 eighty five, I think fifteen percent of people opted for cremation, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:35.280 and then by two thousand, I think, no, twenty eleven, 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.320 it's like forty five percent. Oh really, yeah, and every 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:42.480 time somebody gets cremated, the coffin industry dies a little bit. 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:47.400 Yeah, although you know, like you said, you can still 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.360 have a casket to be cremated in I know, we 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:51.920 covered this in the Cremation podcast. 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.360 Yeah, well you have to, like you can't find somebody 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:55.559 who just let your. 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.359 But that can be super cheap. Like sometimes it's even cardboard. 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:00.480 Well it's supposed to because it's got to burn. 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.440 Yeah, but I mean at the very least wood will 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.240 also burn. But you can you can spend a little 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.080 bit more money, or you can get a temporary encasing, 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.640 an outer encasing that is more attractive to show the family. 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:16.840 And then when push comes to shove, they shove. They 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.319 remove the outer casket and shove. Yeah, you in. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.920 It's like a rental casket just for the service. 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.040 Yeah. Yeah, and it can actually rent caskets period, like 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.640 even if you aren't being cremated, just for a more 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:32.000 showy experience and then they'll, you know, then you get 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.880 the pine box treatment, right because nobody loves you. Yeah, 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.400 and it's expensive, man, people, a lot of people don't 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.200 have the money to pay for a big funeral, and 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:42.240 it's a lot of people really believe in that kind 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:44.320 of thing. Is really sad for them, you know, it is. 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.520 Luckily there's such a thing as Walmart and Costco. Both 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:51.040 of them sell caskets. Walmart has a casket for eleven 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:55.240 ninety nine one ninety nine dollars, it's the Lady of 0:11:55.440 --> 0:12:02.080 Our Lady of Guadalupe casket model. And then Costco Yeah okay, 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.000 and then Costco has the same same model for one 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:05.840 hundred bucks more. 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:06.640 Really. 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:08.920 Yeah, I was surprised that it's not exactly the same. 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.400 But it's nice to see that the big box retailers 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:13.920 aren't price fixing coffins. 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.560 Yeah, it's great to see Walmart's on coffins. 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.120 But I mean it's like that, you if you need 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.760 a coffin and they're attractive looking coffins, I think they're fiberglass. 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:25.760 Have you ever laid down in a coffin? Probably not, 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:27.960 I haven't. I haven't either. I would just to see 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:29.760 what it felt like. They look compy. 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:31.960 Did you see the thing about the six feet Under 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.839 Club in San Francisco? There is a club where it's like, hey, 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:41.840 you and your partner, life part swinging partner, shartner, whatever 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:43.600 you yeah, your sex partner. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:44.880 Let's just call it what it is. 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.840 Can Wright can come lay down in our coffin and 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.560 will bury you and you guys can do it, and 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.840 we are going to watch you on a night vision 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.719 webcam that's going to be projected on the walls of 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.960 the club above versus San Francisco, San Francisco six Feet 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:06.040 Under Club, and you can email and reserve a space 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:06.680 in their coffin. 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:09.280 Huh is there? I mean, is there any room in 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:10.280 the coffin this preak. 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.240 I'd imagine it would have to be a larger, but 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.000 maybe a goliath coffin double one? 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.160 Yeah, huh, Well I will never do that, but it's 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:20.000 interesting to know it's out there. It is out there 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.920 in San Franciscos, like knowing my options. Well, let's talk 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.520 about the anatomy of a coffin, chuckers h. Well, you know, 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:28.600 the most important thing, of course, is that it is 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:33.440 a barrier too, from the body to the you know, 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.040 the elements. No one, Actually I don't care, like I 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.880 already said, but most people, most normal people don't want 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:43.360 to think about their loved ones bodies like decaying and 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.559 being eaten by you know, being worm dirt. But one 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.360 thing they cannot tell you is that it's illegal to 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.960 say that we have a casket that will permanently seal 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:58.280 the body, Like it's against the law to claim any 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.040 sort of permanence, even if it's one of these new 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:07.000 gasket coffins. What are those called. It's called a protective coffin, yeah, 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:09.440 which actually has a rubber gasket, so it sealed much tighter. 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.760 But they still legally can't say like it'll protect them forever. 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.320 Right, because it will protect them from the elements. But 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.840 there is such a thing as decay, like your body's 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.440 going to decay in the nothingness. And apparently, I guess 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.360 the funeral industry was selling coffins based on the idea 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:28.480 that the body was going to survive forever. Yeah, and 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.680 with this impermeable seal that the protective coffins had. I 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.960 mean it wasn't letting anything in, but it also wasn't 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.160 letting anything out, which is a problem. And in an 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:43.880 air tight environment, anaerobic bacteria gets to work and as 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:48.440 they start putrefying the flesh, they expel methane gas as 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.520 a byproduct. And there's this thing called exploding coffin syndrome, 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:57.960 which was most apparent in mausoleums, where a coffin would 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.880 just blow up, and sometimes they would blow up so 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.600 much that it would blow the mausoleum door open. Yeah, 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:08.080 like a huge methane explosion from the gas built up 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:11.040 from the decaying corpse in this protective coffin. So now 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.960 they have ones that that don't let anything in, but 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:15.320 they burp gas out. 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.040 Yeah, they're called burping coffins, which is a great name 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:18.760 for a coffin. 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.240 Yeah, but so is exploding casket syndrome. 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.840 Yeah. Boy, could you imagine being a cemetery worker and 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.400 seeing a mausoleum door explode wide open? Yeah, you're just 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.520 like seeing it. Oh, I would quit my job that day. 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.040 So it depends on where you are in the world. 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.840 What you're going to get with your with your coffin 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.680 and with regulations, you know, and less developed countries. Obviously 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:46.120 they're less regulated. You could still be wrapped in a 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:47.640 shroud in some parts of the world. 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:51.880 Right here in the US, in the West, they're basically 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:55.120 public health regulations, which is why that that place for 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.320 the green burial is designated a green burial place. 0:15:58.440 --> 0:15:59.480 Yeah, so I'm sure. 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.040 You the body won't come in contact with the groundwater, 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:05.320 I think is what they're trying to keep from happening. 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:07.320 Yeah, that was in their fac Yeah. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.400 So that's pretty much the whole public health regulation, and 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.680 it's gotten to the point where most most people are 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.480 buried with cement encasement around them, right. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.080 Oh, is that what they do these days? I think so. Yeah, 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:19.760 I think I knew that. 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.120 Actually, it's so funny, like we're all still six year 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:24.200 olds at our court. 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.800 It's like, ewe, dead body. Gross. I can't let that 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.040 get into the water. Yeah, that stuff doesn't bother me. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.600 You gets bodies, no not. I wouldn't want to drink 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:35.520 a dead body now, but seeing one, I mean, I'm 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.400 the guy who poked a head floating in a bucket, 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.600 you know, in the hospital that way. Yeah, yeah, I 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.320 forgot about that story. I didn't poke it, but I 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:47.680 mentally poked it. It didn't bother me. If you are 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.840 in the Western world, you're probably gonna be dealing with 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.200 wood or metal or fiberglass. If you live out in 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.160 the desert, they may use things like local products like 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:01.440 clay or stone, which is kind of interesting. I guess 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.080 we got a lot of wood here in the United 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:07.000 States though. Particle board yep. And like we mentioned the sad, 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.680 sad cardboard cremation vessel. 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.920 Right, which, again, if you're being cremated, you probably don't care. 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.000 Yeah. I was also up for cremation, and then I thought, 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.240 I don't know, is there anything that's in the green 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:21.400 burial seems like a good option. 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.919 Sure, just become one with the dirt. 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.560 Maybe, but I like the idea being scattered as well. 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.679 Or again helping somebody helping other people. 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.400 Yeah, but they'll still like if you donate your body 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:36.960 to science, did they not give you any sort of like. 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.000 No, you can't be EMBALMD or anything. I guess you 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.000 probably could if like, say you're going to the body farm. 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:44.920 You wouldn't be able to be INBALMD. Sure, and I'm. 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.639 Sure there's like memorial services but I don't as I 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.080 understand it. That's another thing that's eating into the casket 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:54.639 industry's profits is body donation. Hey man, I think this 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.840 is a perfect time to have a message break from 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.040 our sponsor agreed, which means our jingle. 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:20.359 Fish. All right, So I think this is actually a 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.280 great time for a second casket. Fact. 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:25.119 Oh, I like these already. 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.639 All right. Back in the day, in the early nineteenth century, 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.720 that was sort of a they called it a grave 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.280 body snatching period, and people were into snatching up bodies, 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:45.440 digging up graves, exhooming people, if you will, and basically 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.080 selling bodies for money for medical research. It was a 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.200 way to make a buck or doing research on your own. 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:55.960 Medical College of Georgia was they found dozens of skeletons. 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.280 I was like, I think it was one hundreds, dozens 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.160 of skeletons of people who were dismembered, and they figured 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:04.159 out that all of them had been stolen from graves. 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:06.359 I remember that. Yeah, of course that wasn't in the 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:08.400 early nineteenth century, was it. 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:10.040 It was in the nineteenth century, Now, it was early, 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:10.439 but it was. 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:14.080 It was in the nineteenth So they developed something well, 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:18.119 various things to you know, protect bodies like locked mausoleums 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.000 and vaults, and then something I think it's kind of 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.720 eat called a mort safe, which is basically an iron 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.400 cage put over the coffin. It's like sunk into concrete. 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.320 It's like what people used to protect their air conditioners today. Yeah, exactly, 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:33.439 but over like a grave. 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:35.760 So that that was a mort safe and that kept 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:41.320 people out. They had guards, sometimes staffed guards. 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:44.480 I think the money the caretaker doubles as a guard, 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.080 but they had people who they hired as guards would 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:48.280 protect a specific grave. 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:51.520 I think if you had enough dough, wow, you could 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:54.000 have like, you know, the mausoleum with a guard. That's 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:56.280 pretty cool. And that's you know, that's if you're rich 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:56.879 and wealthy. 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.000 They were also if you weren't wealthy. The other way 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:04.560 to thwart grave robbers was to put heavy planks, yeah, 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.480 to backfill the grave with rocks instead of dirt, which 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.000 might not have kept somebody out, but they would have 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:13.359 made quite a bit of noise digging you up. Sure, 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:18.120 and uh yeah, have you ever been to Oakland Cemetery? 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:19.479 Oh yeah, I go all the time, Well not all 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:21.919 the time, but I go. It is BEAUTIFU couple of 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:23.560 times a year. Yeah, you me and I went and 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.000