Harra, Todd, and McKenzie, Ken. MORTUARY CONFIDENTIAL
Leave a commentDecember 13, 2014 by ethelfritha
Quick! What’s going to happen to you when you die? No, I don’t mean on a metaphysical plane. I mean where will your nearest and dearest end up depositing your earthly remains? I’ll bet you don’t know, because, you know, death is yucky. But the morticians in this book do. One way or another, if you die in America, you’re going to end up on a cold slab in front of them, buck naked, faintly off-color, and about to have your desiccated tissues pumped full of formaldehyde.
Some of the stories in this book–contributed by morticians, funeral directors, and coroners from around the country–are darkly hilarious and some are sad, but they each illustrate a little bit of the weirdness that surrounds death in the First World. We’ve so successfully managed to push it out of our day-to-day lives that when it confronts us, we need an army of specialists to handle it.
Of course, there are the exceptions. One mortician tells the story of an old lady who comes into the funeral home and explains that her husband is in the back of the pickup truck wrapped in a tarp, and could someone help her get him out?
No, Seriously, Where are my Bonbons? 