This fear was not something that surfaced in the 19th century. It’s quite ancient and dates back to the times of the Romans. However, the phobia was quite widespread in the Victorian era. Such was the public fascination for this subject that it even led to the founding of a group. It was for the prevention of premature burial. Now, let’s take a look at some of the renowned people who were afraid of being buried alive:

1. George Washington

The first president of the United States was apparently scared of being buried alive. He had requested his secretary to have him buried decently a few hours before his death. He had instructed not to put his body into the vault in less than three days after he was dead.

George Washington’s nephew was even more detailed in his request. He had told his doctor not to tie his thumbs together. He were to place nothing on his face. The president’s nephew also instructed not to place any restraint by bandages. Another instruction was to place his body in an entirely plain coffin. It was to have a flat top and sufficient number of holes.

2. Alfred Nobel

His will had led to the creation of the Nobel Prize. Alfred Nobel had left the bulk of his vast estate to fund the prizes. They only went to individuals who were of the greatest benefit to humans. He was the one who invented the dynamite. At the time of the invention, he had the feeling that it would bring peace.

He had invented the dynamite for non-military purposes thinking that it would make war unpalatable. The final portion of Nobel’s will is what’s truly interesting. He had expressed a wish to be cremated in a crematorium. Some believe that it came out of his fear that he would be buried alive.

3. Hans Christian Andersen

Andersen spent his final days at the home of his friends Moritz and Dorothea Melchior. Upon sensing that his end was near, he put forward a request to Dorothea. He begged that she cut his veins after he had breathed his last. She took it as a joke. According to Anderson’s biographer, Jackie Wullschlager, he was extremely afraid of being buried alive.

Hans Christian Andersen was more than a neurotic. The fear of being buried alive was not the only one. He was also afraid of fire and traveled with a rope in his luggage. Besides, he had a fear of dogs and the fear of trichinosis kept him from eating pork.

4. Edward Bulwer-Lytton

He was a novelist and a politician from the Victorian era. He has the credit of being the inventor of the phrase ‘it was a dark and stormy night’. This line also resulted in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Entrants to this contest take up the task of creating the worst opening lines in literature.

He was extremely worried about waking up one day in a coffin. He, therefore, had asked for his heart to be punctured before he was buried.

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The burial process also takes a toll on the funeral workers. They’re prone to many potential hazards as they have direct involvement in the rituals. Maintenance of the memorial plots or cemeteries also places a lot of stress on land and water. As a result, more eco-friendly alternatives are becoming popular today. People are increasingly realizing how harmful the typical burial services are.

Embalming of a dead body is quite common across most parts of the United States. Most of us have grown up watching the burial process and having a nice casket and stone marker. However, these are the very things that make burials expensive. Besides, they don’t help the environment in any way.

Toxic chemicals in conventional burials

A slowdown in the process of a dead body’s decay is possible through embalming. The idea of preserving the body for a ‘viewing’ service is not bad. The real cause of concern is the use of chemicals for this purpose. These chemicals are usually very strong and toxic.

Some of the toxic chemicals used in the process are menthol, formaldehyde, glycerin, and phenol. As a result of conventional burials, about 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde are released into the environment.

People use many valuable resources for conventional burials

In just a year, the amount of casket wood that goes under the earth equals 4 million acres of forest. This fact is enough for people to stay away from the burials. The materials in caskets are usually wood, bronze, steel, copper, and other resources that can be quite useful. There are people who end up spending enormous amounts on caskets. Once they’re placed in the ground, they’ll never be used again.

Conventional burial occupies too much space

When you are going past a local cemetery, you’ll notice that it always looks full. According to research, the total area of all the cemeteries in America put together is 1 million acres. This must raise a concern among people about the destruction of lands, especially forests. One wonders whether there’s still room to bury more people.

Natural burial is the best

More number of individuals are getting to know the negative effects of conventional burials today. This is why most of them are opting for cremation. Although it’s still not the best choice, it’s definitely better for the environment than a burial. There are reasons why cremation is still not the best choice for the environment. The burning of bodies releases gases like sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

Many other heavy chemicals are also released into the air by the burning bodies. The most eco-friendly way to be buried, therefore, is natural burial. This would be an upcoming trend in the process of burials. It is the best way to make sure that the body is decomposed in nature. It gets the nutrients back to the earth and the environment benefits from it to a great extent.

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In recent times, almost 50 percent of all deaths in the United States result in cremation. To the surprise of many, the numbers are growing every year. Here, we’ll go through some of the major reasons why many people opt for cremation:

1. Affordability

People have been spending thousands of dollars over the years on caskets over the years. Besides, the funeral services end up costing thousands, which is not affordable for many. Considering this, a direct cremation without any other services is always an affordable option.

Cremation is far less costly than the traditional burial. You’ll still have the option of having a wake, religious tradition or hours of visitation. The cost will greatly depend on various factors if you choose to conduct a wake or ceremony at a funeral home.

2. Flexibility

Upon choosing cremation, you’ll have plenty of time to plan out things. This is when you’re conducting an event that everyone would be able to attend. This is something which is not urgent. Things are different in case of traditional funeral services. It is common to have everything done within ten days of someone’s passing. The body needs embalming in order to slow down the process of decomposition.

Family members will need some time to arrange the funeral services. Those staying far from the town need to arrive as soon as possible to attend the burial and service. Some of them might be living in distant countries. So, it’ll not be easy for them to arrive quickly.

3. Convenience

It’s certainly not easy to plan a funeral. Things can take a toll on the members of the family. A funeral service can become overwhelming and emotionally draining for them. It, therefore, makes sense for a family to avoid the hassles of a traditional burial. Opting for cremation doesn’t mean that you love your family any lesser.

Many would agree that the most challenging part is arranging the activities after a loved one’s death. Cremation eliminates the need for these things and takes away all the worries from the family members. The process of cremation is also faster than the traditional burial.

4. Personal preference

Some people have to face their inner fears while thinking about a burial. These fears can be due to many reasons. Some are personal while there can also be emotional reasons for not choosing burial. You might be someone who dislikes the slow decay. There are others who just don’t like traditional burials. A family member may also choose cremation because of the last wish of the deceased.

The person who died might have expressed the desire to be cremated after death. He or she must have told about his or her dislike of the body getting buried. Another thing worth noting is that a sudden earthquake or flood can cause caskets to come out of the ground.

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1. Stepp Cemetery

This is a small, abandoned cemetery located in Indiana’s Morgan-Monroe State Forest. You’ll find only a few graves here, but some of them are 200 years old. Stepp Cemetery is a local family cemetery officially. According to the local legends, a cult known as the Crabbites was behind its founding. Their rituals involved sex orgies and snake handling.

They say that you can hear the chanting of their gatherings even today. You can hear these sounds only if you visit the cemetery at night. This happens to be more of an urban legend as one never comes across references to the Crabbites elsewhere. According to another story, a devoted mother stayed at her baby’s grave every day. This went on even after her death.

2. Chestnut Hill Cemetery

Located on Rhode Island, this cemetery is famous for the haunting of Mercy Lena Brown. In the late 19th century, Mercy died due to tuberculosis at the age of 19. She was interred with her family members who had also died from tuberculosis. Before her death, she used to visit their graves often.

Mercy’s father had revealed that her ghost haunted him every night. She visited him complaining of hunger. Later, her brother Edwin also fell sick due to tuberculosis. The family and people from the town considered the dead as the cause of his illness. Mercy’s father, George Brown, had all the graves of the family members dug up.

Among all the bodies, only Mercy’s body didn’t undergo decomposition. Because of this sight, George believed that Mercy was a vampire. Her heart was cut out, burnt, and the ashes were mixed with water by the villagers. They gave the preparation to Edwin as a medicine, but he died after a couple of months.

3. Silver Cliff Cemetery

According to some witnesses, the lights in this cemetery come alive in other colors often. These lights dance across the gravestones. Some dismiss it as reflections of lights coming from the town. However, such sightings were recorded even before the advent of electricity.

The name Silver Cliff Cemetery comes from the mining town of Silver Cliff located nearby. Despite an abundance of ore, mismanagement of the company destroyed the silver mine in this area.

4. Highgate Cemetery

Located in London, Highgate Cemetery looks quite scary with lots of overgrowth. A series of horror movies were filmed in this location in the mid-20th century. Tales of sightings of the first ghosts began to appear in the 1970s. This was a period when there existed a widespread interest in occult. Later, there were rumors of of people seeing vampires in the cemetery.

They mostly came from the stunts of vandalism and grave-robbing. Magicians David Farrant and Sean Manchester vowed to free this cemetery from the vampire. There were a series of escapades that occurred here between 1970 and 1973. Corpses were found unearthed and damaged, leading to crowds of people gathering at night. In 1974, Farrant was put in jail for vandalizing the graves.

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1. Funerals of the Viking

An Arab explorer named Ahmad ibn Fadlan spent some time observing the Volga Vikings. He lived in the 10th century. According to his writings, the Viking funerals were exceptionally brutal. The dead chieftains of the Vikings were temporarily buried while the clothes were prepared for the new funeral.

One of the slave girls of the chief would agree to join him in the afterlife. She would then indulge in a sexual encounter with each male in the Viking camp. After this, the matriarch of the village would stab her to death. Then, placing her alongside her chief on a wooden ship, it was set on fire.

2. Famadihana

This ritual is known as ‘the turning of the bones’. It is performed by the Malagasy people residing in Madagascar. According to the ritual, they exhume the bodies of the deceased from their ancestral crypts every seven years. Then, after wrapping the bodies again in fresh cloth, a lively celebration follows. This celebration involves a huge feast and music.

The living members dance with their dead ancestors and pass on the news from their family to them. The living members also seek blessings from the deceased. When all of these strange things are over, they bury the bodies again. Famadihana is a way of maintaining a bond between the living and the dead.

3. Sky burials

This ritual is based on the belief that the soul of the dead immediately leaves the body. It involves feeding of the remains to vultures. One can witness the sky burials in parts of Tibet and Mongolia. They consider this as the last act of charity to the earth. This practice of the Vajrayana Buddhists has been given the term ‘jhator’ in the local language.

They dissect the body of the dead and place the pieces on the top of a mountain. The purpose is to feed these pieces to the vultures. This ritual has been in practice in these parts of the world since ages. Nearly 80 percent of Tibetans choose sky burial even today.

4. The hanging coffins

In the Chinese province of Sichuan, one can find hundreds of hanging coffins. They belong to the Bo people. These members of the Bo people are believed to have died around 400 years ago. This practice also exists among ethnic groups in Indonesia and the Philippines. In the mountain town of Sagada in the Philippines, the logrot people practice this tradition.

Many such hanging coffins dot the faces of the cliff in the Echo Valley. These people believe that the ritual protects the dead from animals and flooding. In the Igorot culture, there’s also a belief that this ritual grants an easier passage to the afterlife.

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In this process, a body is burnt, vaporized, and oxidized to basic chemical compounds. This retains the appearance of a dry bone and results in more quantity of remains. It is a modern alternative to the process of burial. Here are some of the best cremation services in California worth considering:

1. Sacred Space Memorial Funeral and Cremation Services

This funeral and cremation service is proving to be a great alternative to the traditional funeral homes. It focuses on helping families select the most suitable locations for performing the funeral or memorial services. The service also focuses on providing end-of-life care involving personal planning. Contrary to the traditional funeral homes, this service doesn’t place any limitations or restrictions on the families.

They have several years of expertise in these matters and cater to families from all walks and backgrounds. The personal planning that they offer for families of the deceased is what makes their service special.

2. Oak Hill Funeral Home

People of all faiths are welcome at both the cemetery and funeral home. They have a dedicated staff that provides 24/7 service to the families of the deceased. Oak Hill Funeral Home and Oak Hill Memorial Park has a lot of experience in Asian funerals. Their non-denominational funeral homes stay open throughout the year.

For generations, they’ve been helping families in the Santa Clara Valley in their funeral and cremation services. They have several chapels that are useful for burning incense in case of the Buddhist ceremonies. They also arrange transfers of the remains from the United States to other countries.

3. Los Gatos Memorial Park

This cremation service has a licensed staff that understands the requirements of families and have a 24/7 availability. Los Gatos Memorial Park is a place where families can feel at home. It is a safe and welcoming space that celebrates the lives of those who have departed from this world.

The staff of Los Gatos Memorial Park is committed to creating a positive environment for the grieving families. Those who require help with planning of the cremation event can contact their cemetery staff or funeral directors.

4. Darling and Fischer Garden Chapel

What brings the staff of Darling and Fischer Garden Chapel together is decades of experience in caring for families. This is a place where the deceased individual’s good times of life are remembered and celebrated. The team at Darling and Fischer Garden Chapel is extremely passionate about their work.

Their promise is to provide top-quality funeral and cremation services that exceed the expectations of families. All the concerns of grieving families are heard when they get in touch with the staff. Based on their requirements, all the necessary planning is done in advance.

5. Martinez Family Funeral Home

Martinez Family Funeral Home understands the pain of loss that the grieving families have to go through. They are, therefore, committed to serving such families in every step of the cremation process. Their goal as a funeral home is to provide the best funeral service to all those who come to them. The staff ensures a respectful service to every family and the members are serious about their commitment towards honoring their wishes.

They always uphold their code of ethics in all their dealings. This ensures honesty and fairness to all the families. While performing the cremation-related services in an ethical manner, they also respect the privacy and dignity of family members.

6. Willow Glen Funeral Home

This particular funeral home located in San Jose understands the special needs of the veterans of America. They also take care of their family members with regards to the funeral arrangements. Willow Glen Funeral Home offers all the families in San Jose a warm and inviting environment.

They’re especially proud of the fact that they take the responsibility of honoring the country’s veterans. However, their services are available to all the families and not just the families of veterans.

7. Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel

The origin of this chapel goes back to 1945, when Donald J. Lima Sr. had laid its foundations. He, along with his two partners Ralph Salmon Sr. and Gilmore Erickson founded it as Lima Salmon Erickson Mortuary Chapel. Since those times, this chapel has been providing funeral and cremation services for families in San Jose.

Over the years, Mr. Lima became the sole owner of this establishment. In the year 1971, his children graduated from San Francisco College of Mortuary Science together.

8. San Jose Funeral Service

This is yet another excellent funeral service in California. San Jose Funeral Service offers a compassionate service for grieving families without any sales pitches. The Brown family provides this service and they have been serving the Santa Clara county since 1994. It was established as a tiny office in Willow Glen on Lincoln Avenue. Back in the day, it offered merchandise without using catalogs.

The funeral ceremonies were conducted at the cemetery or in churches. In the year 2010, they moved to Bascom Avenue. Today, they have their own chapel, preparation, and holding area. Their aim is to help the families avoid the high mortuary costs and provide them with professional care.

9. Bay Area Mortuary Services

In order to help the families in planning a funeral, Bay Area Mortuary Services offers many options in cremation. This is a family-owned and operated funeral home and mortuary. Their services include religious services, burials, and cremations.

Their high-quality and affordable funeral services also include mortuary shipping. Bay Area Mortuary Services takes care of all the details of the funeral services. This helps families to focus on what really matters in those crucial moments.

10. Casa Funeral San Jose

The origin of this funeral service dates back to the 1920s. The first and second generations of casket builders in Mexico were the people behind its establishment. The third and fourth generations established this funeral service in San Jose in mid-1960s. Currently, the fifth generation has taken over this funeral service. Starting in the late 1990s, they’ve been providing high-quality funeral services for many families in the city.

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These factors are mainly the weight and size of the body and the type of container that holds it. Efficiency of the equipment that is in place for the process also matters a lot. Every crematory follows its own policies on the amount of time required to have the remains ready for the bereaved.

When compared with the traditional form of burial, cremation doesn’t require embalming. It doesn’t need large plots for burial as well. Here, we’ll take a look at the two types of cremation:

1. Direct cremation

Direct cremations eliminate the need for a funeral service and casket. They are, therefore, the cheapest form of cremation. In the process of direct cremation, the remains go to the cremation center directly without a funeral service.

There’s no visitation, viewing, or wake beforehand in a typical direct cremation. Mostly, the families opting for this type of cremation will schedule a memorial service at a later date. This will allow the family members and friends to pay their respects for the deceased.

2. Liquid cremation

This is a flameless process, which results in much more remains than a flame-based cremation. Liquid cremations use the process of alkaline hydrolysis. It involves the combination of water, heat, alkali, and pressure to cause a reaction that accelerates decomposition.

As a result, only a sterile liquid and bone fragments are left behind. A larger vessel may be required in this type of cremation. The process takes about three to sixteen hours to complete, depending on the equipment used and body mass. There’s no need to remove pacemakers and other medical devices.

This is the cremation process for the modern world. It reduces over 75% of the carbon footprint of a body. Green cremation also consumes far less amount of energy compared to the conventional flame-based process. This is why alkaline hydrolysis is considered a green alternative to burial. The resulting sterile solution can be recycled through wastewater treatment once drained of the remaining fragments of bone.

The individuals who are conscious of the environment are now choosing alkaline hydrolysis for cremation. As there’s no flame involved, this ‘green cremation’ prevents mercury emissions and reduces the use of fossil fuels.

Deciding on green cremation

One disadvantage of alkaline hydrolysis is that it still doesn’t have a nationwide approval. You, therefore, need to know whether your state permits the practice if you’ve decided to go for green cremation. Only about half of the American states have legalized this process.

The first step would be to get in touch with the funeral home to know about their policies and practices. Even if your state allows alkaline hydrolysis, your funeral home must have the right technology to perform it.

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This is owing to the growing awareness of the environment. Many Americans are in favor of cremation today, as they want to reduce land usage. Preserving hardwood and other natural resources are also some of their priorities. Others want to avoid chemicals that they use in the embalming process. Cost is one of the strongest reasons why people choose cremation.

It is less expensive than a burial and gives families the chance to hold a traditional service. Cremation also gives them many choices for storing or scattering the remains. They seem to be meaningful options that represent the dead better. This process also allows some time for the family members to come together. This is helpful when the family members are in different parts of the country or the world.

The costs involved in cremation would depend on your location and the services you intend to have. If you go for a traditional service beforehand, the costs can go up significantly. This is especially true if there’s a need for casket. Now, let’s take a look at the steps involved in cremation:

1. Identification of the dead

The regulations for identification of the deceased vary from state to state. It typically involves a family member who confirms the identity. After confirmation, a metal ID tag goes on the body. It remains throughout the process. For the final verification, it needs to be with the remains. The individual facility has its own specific procedures that are based on industry recommendations.

2. Authorization of the procedure

In order to go ahead with the cremation, the crematory must have an official permission. For this purpose, the person or persons making the final arrangements needs to complete paperwork. Upon completion of the paperwork, the authorities give the crematory an authorization to proceed.

Each state has its own rules with regards to the person who has the legal permission to make such decisions. The paperwork also seeks information with regards to the type of container the crematory would be using. It also asks for information on who will take the responsibility of collecting the remains.

3. Preparation of the body

The embalming process is not done on the body unless the beneficiaries request for it. There are certain cases, for which, it would be necessary. The individual facility can handle the preparation of the body in its own way. Usually this process involves cleaning and dressing.

Jewelry or other items are taken off and handed over to the right persons. Prosthetics or medical devices of any kind are removed from the body to avoid chemical reactions. The body finally goes into a vessel that’s combustible and strong enough to handle the weight.

4. Moving the body into the cremation chamber

The process of cremation involves temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes place in a furnace that has been specially created for this purpose. The extreme temperatures reduce the body to ashes. After this procedure, the remains go through a cooling process before they can be handled.

5. Finalization of remains

After the cremation, the remains go through an inspection to identify metal remnants. It helps in finding out whether there are any metals present in the body, such as screws, pins, and joints. Such items may have been placed surgically in the body of the deceased during the person’s life. Metal is removed using hands or strong magnets. It mostly goes for recycling. Next is making the remains finer by a special processor to get the final ashes.

6. Transfer of ashes

The remains are placed in an urn or any other container unless it has been specified otherwise. They are then returned to the family.

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Everything associated with the holiday celebrations can be found in this game. They include marigold flowers, candles, incense, candy skulls, and cake. This online slot might seem a bit morbid to some players. However, it can be seen instead as a celebration of life while honoring the departed. This game would be a fabulous treat for all those who find this holiday intriguing.

Top-quality graphics

All the images of candy coffins, skeleton mariachis, sugar skulls, and offerings for the dead appear in the game. Among the first things that’s quite apparent is the game’s high-quality graphics. The 3D images used in this online slot are a highlight of the game.

Gameplay

When you begin playing this game, the first thing you’ll realize is that it’s not a typical online slot. This game certainly works a bit differently. The MultiWay Xtra in Day of the Dead is a bonus feature. It awards you the wins if you get the same symbol in the adjacent columns in any position. Your winnings can be multiplied if you get the same symbol in the same column.

You’ll have 720 ways to win in this system. Regardless of this, you’ll only get the highest paying combination per spin. The scatter symbol in this online slot is represented by a colorful candy skull. You’ll get 50 times the total bet if you get any 5 symbols on the reel. Any 4 scatters will pay 10 times the total bet. Any 3 scatters will pay 2 times the total bet.

You might find it difficult to get the big payout. It’s a matter of luck in this game. The candy coffins will appear only on the reels 2, 3, and 4. These are the wild symbols. They substitute for most symbols on the reels other than the scatter.

Bonuses

The Lady Skeleton is the bonus symbol in this game. You’ll get a total of 8 free spins in the free spin bonus. This feature will be triggered when the Lady Skeleton icon appears on 5 consecutive reels in any position. You can earn up to 96 free spins in the game. Day of the Dead doesn’t have any gamble rounds or bonus games. What truly stand out in this online slot are its unique game rules and the overall layout.

Closing thoughts

This online slot game offers you several benefits than just the aesthetics. It has some exciting bonus features in store for its players. One of the disappointments is the RTP of this game. At 92-94%, it’s quite low in comparison to most of the slot games. All of them have a minimum RTP of 96%.

One of the reasons for the game’s low RTP is that it’s older than most of the high-RTP slots. Another disappointment is that you’ll not be able to play this game on your smartphone. This is again due to its age when compared to the other online slot games.

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