Wednesday - Funeral Exhibition

[ninanevermore]

Since someone said he was interested in seeing pictures of the funeral museum, I thought I'd post a few. I don't have pictures of the heads in a case, however. I never made it back into that part of the building. Still, I do have photos of some of the quirky things that I described on Monday.



(Warning, lots of photos, slow internet connections open at your own risk.)



First, the Family-Sized Casket:

This was before the food industry started lacing our food with high-fructose corn syrup. Sadly, a casket for a modern American family would need to be twice as wide…


The Yamaha Outboard Motor Casket, from Ghana:

Yes, this is big enough to put a human being into. Really. Ghana is a fishing and agricultural culture, and owning a real Yamaha Outboard Motor is a major status symbol. Being buried in one is almost as nice, I guess.

You can see the open lid to the 3-person coffin in the background, which gives you a better idea of how big it actually is.


The Outboard Motor is not as fun as the Chicken Casket, however:



Or as cool as the Leopard Casket:



Nice, kitty...



I like to call this one the "Make your grave worth Robbing" casket:

These coins and bills are in mint condition, uncirculated, making the cash slighly more valuable than its face value. It started off with $1000 in it, but some of the panels were stolen at one point, so only $643 remains.


In the celebrity funeral memorabilia case, the most interesting things I saw were the program and iced cookie for Rodney Dangerfield. Rather than a photo of the deceased like most funeral programs, his had a red, satin necktie on it. It was the food at the funeral that had the dead man's (cartoon) face on it.



Once upon a time, ambulances and hearses were one in the same. If you were alive, they took you one place, and if not they took you elsewhere. It looks like the gurney has a bloodstain on it, but it is actually the reflection of the red cross in the stained glass window on the side of the vehicle.





Into Egypt? How about this coffin?



"Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open hearse
Over the hills we go, trying not to curse…"



For Disney Fans, here is a real-life Snow White Coffin:



And last of all, a fine example of Victorian Funeral Overkill:




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Comments

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Wow... Those are gorgeous! :D

A little freaky, but gorgeous!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Aw, what's so freaky about a coffin shaped like giant chicken? ;)

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Just have to wonder as to the type of person who would want to be buried in it :P

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

A poultry farmer. The culture that produces these fantasy coffins (as they are called) buries you in a box that reflects who you were, what you aspired to be, or how you made your livelihood.

There are few more of them to see in this album, if you're interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neanah_e/sets/72157602085379686/

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Heh... Mine would have to be shaped as a PC :D

[coupesetique.livejournal.com]

I'm officially jealous that you get close proximity access to this museum. I deem this post beyond cool.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

It's 28 miles from where I live, but only 6 miles from the house I grew up in. Maybe I'll have more of my training there in the future.

[serene-orange.livejournal.com]

I have been meaning to go and take my son to this.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I believe it's open 7 days a week. The building is beyond nondescript, though. The outside of it screams "Nothing to see here." It doesn't get interesting until you step inside. Did I mention there's a gift shop, too?

[prdct.livejournal.com]

wow fantastic photos!!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

*is somewhat relieved that you didn't get the heads in the case*

It's all so morbid, yet fascinating... That Victorian hearse is something else. o.O

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

The heads weren't as creepy as they could have been, since you can see the bottoms of the necks (which would look grusome on real heads) are solid stumps of flesh-colored silicone. It softens their effect somewhat.

The Victorian hearse is kind of elaborate, but they were kind of known for that sort of thing back then.

[austin-boo-moo.livejournal.com]

I must be a little morbid because I thought these pictures were fantastic. I love unusual places - I would have gone there in a heartbeat if I were in the area.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

The place makes a lot of "Offbeat America" lists of odd places to see. The walls of the hallway to the gift shop are lined with framed articles that have been written up about it. It's two blocks off of a major highway, but you kind of have to be looking for it to find it.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

I need to make it down there.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

From where you live, it would be up there. It's up close to Spring. ;)

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

I thought you knew better. It's down. Always down.

[aymen.livejournal.com]

That family size one was sad/scary. It's a piece of history. :)

Thank you for posting these!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I think the family coffin and the story behind it create a wonderful illustration of human psychology. We always think grief will be more than we can bear and that it will destroy us. When it comes though, we go numb and it all seems like a dream that we don't wake up from until we are strong enough to deal with what has happened. For most people, our emotions come with this handy safety valve that shuts us down when we are faced with all we can handle.

the dead

[robin-rule.livejournal.com]

nina, when i was seven years old and had the measles, i had to go live with my grandmother because my mother was single and had to work everyday. when i started getting well, she would open her cedar chest and we would look at all the family pictures and great grandmother's quilt, (she had watched those crazy wright brothers and their flying contraption take off on the dunes at kittyhawk...) and one thing that i was fascinated with and she promised me i could have one, was their was a very ornate photograph of thier younger sister edith who was killed at the age of eight by a horse-driven, lantern-swinging milk wagon. Little Edith lie in state in her child-sized casket and was so beautiful and had on a beautiful laced dress and whir satin shoes, obviously sunday clothes, because there was not a lot of money in the family. the last two times i have been down to my aunt's house who inherited these things, there has been nary a trace of these photographs and i must confess a deep Addams family disappointment. i don't know why the attraction, but i still have it.my aunt is 81 and i am worried when she passes, something will get in the way of me being able to fulfill this strange childhood desire. i have since seen many children laid out like this and it seems it was a common thing to do 'back then'. i collect anonymous photos, even as recent as the eighties or now, but i really love the older the better. i use them in my artwork. i once had a girlfriend who was an orphan and had no family and she would buy these old photos and name them. "Aunt Lucy", Uncle Harold, GRanmother Lily, etc and give them histories. i always thought that was the dearest thing...

Re: the dead

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I remember people taking pictures of the dead at funerals even when I was a child in the 1970's. I've taken my share of photos of caskets and flower arrangements myself (it's part of the tradition of my more rural Texas kin). I've never taken pictures of the dead lying in state, though; it's never how I wanted to remember them.

I hope the photos of little Edith find their way to you.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll try to get some new ones while I'm out here. :)