Is a traditional burial just too, uh, traditional for you? Well lucky for you, there are several ways that you can be put to rest after death that have nothing to do with caskets or cremation. And although Sunset Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery is traditionally traditional, we still thought we would share some of these bizarre burials with you.
For all of you tree-huggers out there, the eco-burial may be the perfect burial option. There is a Swedish company that specializes in eco-burials – a completely bio-degradable burial that consists of pulverizing a body and burying it in a cornstarch urn. The burial takes place in a shallow grave in living soil that turns the urn and its contents into compost with a year’s time.
Maybe bio-degradable isn’t for you – but how about recycling? They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend – and with this bizarre cremation, you can literally make a diamond out of a best friend. LifeGems, a company based out of the United States, creates diamonds out of cremated human or pet remains, which can then be cherished by loved ones for years to come. A full human body can be used to create up to 50 one-carat diamonds, which typically cost around $14,000 each.
Okay, so a bio-degradable burial weirds you out and you’re certainly not ready to become a necklace. How about a celebration of the circle of life? Tibetan Buddhists practice sky burials, where they cut and beat a dead body to a pulp, then leave the remains for vultures to eat. Because Tibetan Buddhists believe in re-incarnation, they consider the dead body to be nothing more than food for nature. Now that’s bizarre.
"I love Tibet."
We’ve covered burials under the earth, on the earth, and in the sky. So how about a burial in space? Well, a company in the United States, called Memorial Space Flights, has actually made it possible to be buried in space, by launching your loved one’s cremated remains into outer space. Of course, this service comes with a fee, ranging from a brief orbit and return to earth ($695) to a permanent launch into deep space ($12,500). Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t know how loved I’d feel if my “loved ones” launched me into deep outer space for the rest of eternity.
If a traditional burial or cremation sounds a little more appealing now that you’ve read this, then call Sunset Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery to pre-arrange yours today. That way, you won’t have to worry about your “loved ones” subjecting you to pulverizing, diamond-cutting, vulture-eating, space-launching, or any other bizarre burial process. Call (618) 656-3220 or visit http://www.sunsethillcemetery.com for more details.
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