Now I've Seen Everything!

[mysteryclock]

I just watched "Death and the Civil War" on PBS... it was informative, beautiful, haunting and surprisingly tranquil. Told through modern voices, period letters read aloud and incredible photographs, I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the human toll of the Civil War and the treatment of the wounded / dying / dead both immediately and far after the fight.

There is one part in particular that was especially moving, a poem by Walt Whitman:

Pensive on her dead gazing I heard the Mother of All,
Desperate on the torn bodies, on the forms covering the battlefields gazing
(As the last gun ceased, but the scent of the powder-smoke linger'd),
As she call'd to her earth with mournful voice while she stalk'd,
Absorb them well O my earth, she cried, I charge you lose not my sons, lose not an atom,
And you streams absorb them well, taking their dear blood,
And you local spots, and you airs that swim above lightly impalpable,
And all you essences of soil and growth, and you my rivers' depths,
And you mountain sides, and the woods where my dear children's blood trickling redden'd,
And you trees down in your roots to bequeath to all future trees,
My dead absorb or South or North--my young men's bodies absorb, and their precious, precious blood,
Which holding in trust for me faithfully back again give me many a year hence,
In unseen essence and odour of surface and grass, centuries hence,
In blowing airs from the fields back again give me my darlings, give my immortal heroes,
Exhale me them centuries hence, breathe me their breath, let not an atom be lost,
O years and graves! O air and soil! O my dead, an aroma sweet!
Exhale them perennial sweet death, years centuries hence.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/death/

 

[tolivac]

Watched the "Decomp" video out of curosity-was interesting-but like others muted the audio-Question--What does the "Rap" music have to do with decomping bodies???Glad I saw the video after lunch hour.Geez-someone interrupted those folks dirt naps!!

 

[launderess]

It's Happening More And More

Saw on the news or some such program on television that somewhere in Florida the local ME along with the DA's office are exhuming persons and children buried whose IDs were then unknown. Due to modern DNA technology advances science can now often tell who they were and return the remains to loved ones. Here in NYC just a few weeks ago the body of a teenager/young adult was exhumed from Hart's Island (NYC's Potter's Field) and ID'd as a boy reported missing decade or so ago. Turns out due to various errors at the time his body was found including physical description no one connected the dots. The mother and family of this poor soul was glad to finally bring him "home" and to rest. IIRC he had committed suicide by jumping off a building or something.

Personally having had been around just dead bodies from working in nursing, that is as close as one wants to get, and that is pushing it. You couldn't pay me enough or give me anything that would get me in the same room or within a NY city block of an exhumation and or dug up corpse.

 

[davey7]

Was that the little boy who went missing in the village or somewhere in the mid 70's?

I read somewhere that, I want to say Whitby, did well in the 19th Century due to mourning jewelry, made with jet, being very popular.

 

[launderess]

Missing Lad ="s Etan Patz

If that is to who you are referring, no it wasn't (sadly).

On any given day there are probably more than a few "John,Jane or Baby Does" in various NYC morgues. Has always been so an probably always will. If they remain unclaimed after a period of time they are usually buried in Potter's Field. Say "usually" because there are one or two civic groups (made up of IIRC NYPD and or NYC Sanitation Department members) that often will arrange a funeral and burial for unknown deceased infants found say in the rubbish or some sort.

Here in most of NY it is legal for almost anyone to arrange the funeral and or burial of a body if the family cannot or does not step up. The only time things get "legal" is when a cremation is requested. Because it causes the destruction of a body if legal next of kin cannot be located to sign release papers, the corpse must be buried. One assumes this is because a body can always be exhumed and the remains of an unknown later identified (as is what is happening today), however once destroyed by cremation the body is "toast", if you will excuse the pun.

As for the missing lad Etan Patz, sadly it is likely his remains will never be found. If as the man in police custody states is true, that the body was placed with the rubbish it has long gone to any number of landfills. By now there would be decades of layers over that time and or the place may have been sealed off and closed. No one knows if records go back that far as to what NYSD trucks picked up what rubbish and where it went.

 

[whirlcool]

I was talking to that friend of ours whose brother passed away a few months ago. The family option for cremation because that's what the guy wanted. She said it wasn't easy. They wanted:

A copy of the will indicating he wanted cremation
A copy of his sisters and her husbands birth certificate
A copy of the deceased's parents death certificates

They wouldn't do a thing until all of the above was provided. For reasons Laundress pointed out.

 

[launderess]

Cremation Has To Be One Of The Most Complicated Things Death

So one urges those considering it to investigate and or make their wished known.

NYS has some the most strict laws on cremation and there are only two crematories in the NYC area (Woodlawn cemetary in Brooklyn and Greenwood in the Bronx), so most often the body travels to another state (New Jersey) for cremation. For instance know most Staten Island funeral homes use NJ as it's closer and probaly easier to get to than driving all way into Brooklyn.

What is interesting is that universally most all local laws require all "foreign" matter be removed from a body before it can be cremated. This includes but not limited to pacemakers, breast implants, fake eyes and so forth. A signed legal form attesting to this fact must accompany the paperwork for the service. Also the chamber must be quite cleaned out between bodies to prevent intermingling of differnent bodies ashes.

http://www.dos.ny.gov/cmty/faq-cremation.html

 

[whirlcool]

We want to be cremated and have investigated it already.

For families whose religion requires it, creamtoriums have viewing rooms so you can view the cremation. They even have the "start" button in the viewing room. Some religions require that the father or the oldest brother in the family be the one to start the process.

Here in Houston there are crematoriums everywhere. Next door to apartment complexes, in one level strip centers, etc. Because of all the filtering that is done with the exhaust there is no odor outside the building at all.

There is this really nice guy who was a vet at Texas A&M that gave up his vet practice to become a pet mortuary outside Houston in the country near Anderson, TX.
He also became a grief counselor. You'd never meet a more friendly person. I went to his place to pick up Kurt after Texas A&M was done with him.
This guy gave me a tour of his facility. I was very impressed with the dignity he gave each animal. He has a huge walk in cooler and each pet is on a shelf with a nice little blanket over it until it's time to be cremated. He waits until he has enough to cover the costs of crematory pre-heat. Which ends up being three times a week. He also has a pet cemetery on site and if you like you can choose a casket for your beloved pet. He even has a chapel where you can have a wake for you pet.

He mentioned having to clean the "fire box" out between uses when he has some single pet cremations. His firm offers two different kinds, single pet and multiple pet. The later is much cheaper. In this case they cremate your pet with others and then each owner is given some of the ashes in the end. In single pet all you get are the ashes of your pet only, guaranteed.

To tell you the truth, I never knew such places existed. Anyway, when I got the box containing Kurt's urn in it when I opened it there was Kurt's urn, a packet of sage and a handwritten personalized note from the guy who owns the business and a prayer card for Kurt. We were more than impressed. The next time we have a pet go we will have in home euthanasia done. It's not expensive and from what I have heard is a lot easier on the pet than being taken to the vet's office one last time.

 

[tolivac]

when I did look up "cremation equipment" on the web out of curosity-most suppliers indeed could provide remote start buttons for the cremation process-a family member activating the cremation furnace.Otherwise the equipment suppliers mention allowing the family member to activate the furnace with the button on the unit.And some states allow keepsakes to be cremated with the deceased-like a favorite jacket or military uniform.And "ID" tags that can withstand the cremation process or placed in the furnace along with the body-another ID device.And only one body can be creamated at a time-and the cremation furnace cleaned out between bodies.Pacemakers,indeed have to be removed since the batteries inside them are radioactive or can explode during the heating process dam aging the furnace or injuring the operator.Plastic items have to be removed-plastic can damage the furnace lining.the cremation furnace has an "afterburner"that burns the smoke and other gases.There is a company in Largo,Florida that builds cremation machines-and related equipment.