Greetings Deathlings!
Today we have a whale of a tale (again). OK...not quite...more of a porpoise of a purpose?
You asked for it, we delivered:
SECRET PORPOISE.
Few things are as weird and wonderful as when you, my dark babies, glom onto a little factoid I mention in a video and suddenly IT'S A THING. As soon as we saw your reactions to the SECRET PORPOISE, we knew we had no choice but to bring you the porpoise content you crave.
Hello Deathlings,
Today we have another Monica Torres collaboration video for you! We're talking HARDCORE EMBALMING.
(Don't worry, like I say in the video, we shot this way before QUARANTINE happened. The Before Time. Monica and I aren't just bucking social distancing and mask-wearing to talk about maggots!)
Did someone say maggots?
Yes, yes, there's far more to the kind of highly skilled embalming that Monica does than maggots, but like WHOA, t...
2020-06-13 14:43:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Ahoy Deathlings!
Today we bring you a tale that cashes in on so many of our greatest fears:
Cannibalism
Your ship sinking
Starvation/dehydration
"Survivor" But Make it Maybe/Probably Racist
Whales
OK, maybe that last one is one of MY greatest fears, but if you were in wee a lil' boat on the great big ocean and you glanced down and saw THIS:
You te...
2020-05-19 18:02:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
Today we have a new article for you about something I know nothing about: video games.
That's not to say that I don't love what video games can do for people – in this case provide opportunities for ritual and community when grieving. I'll tell you what Sarah told me when she sent me this article: grab a tissue.
In "Expl...
2020-05-13 21:51:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings,
Surprise! It's a midweek video!
About coronavirus.
[TIRED TROMBONE.]
I know, we're all suffering from corona-fatigue. I'm there too.
But for me, what cuts through that fatigue (aside from my new favorite game, "Diet Coke Bingo") is chewing on the increasingly complicated riddle of what funerals will look like a month from now, si...
2020-04-29 17:52:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
We have a new article on the Order website today that is a great tie to the video we released over the weekend.
In Grave Matters: Segregation and Racism in US Cemeteries, author David Sherman explores how privilege influences ho...
2020-04-20 20:57:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Greetings Deathlings,
How are you all doing?
Have you plundered the depths of Netflix? Created a new Instagram dedicated to the 173 loaves of bread you've baked? Is napping your new hobby?
I joke. I know that many of you are essential workers and are going out there everyday to make our lives safer and healthier. So thank you – I hope you are well, safe, and that somebody gifts you some bread.
For the record, we shot today's video way before COVID-1...
2020-04-18 15:12:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Greetings Deathlings,
How was your weekend?
A friend of mine in New York City, at a loss for how to give her young son the whole VIP Easter treatment, told him that the Easter bunny was quarantined. Don't worry, he still got pancakes and Black Panther movie time.
Everybody was happy and nobody had to unnecessarily leave their home for plastic eggs and chocolate. Her son understood the restrictions of these weird times – even if his understanding ...
2020-04-13 17:28:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
We don't normally do stuff like this – sharing fundraisers on our Patreon page – but because of our recent video about Peter Stefan and the special circumstances of these difficult times, we thought we would make a one-time exception.
So many of you have asked how you can help support the work that funeral director Peter Stefan and Graham Putnam Mahoney Funeral Parlors d...
2020-04-10 20:06:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
How are you hanging in there? I feel like I've asked you all this question a thousand times in the last few days, but things can change so quickly! As demonstrated by the fact that in the span of 10 days I've gone from ROAD TRIPPIN' to shelter in place.
This is a video we shot only a few short weeks ago, but it feels like a LIFETIME ago. I have a granola bar in the bottom of my tote bag that's older than this video.
It was the beginning of Febru...
2020-03-28 14:39:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
After a whirlwind ONE DAY turn around of composing, shooting, and releasing this video, I'm really happy that it's out there in YouTube Land and that we are able to provide the information that so many of you were asking for.
Thank you to everyone who wrote in with questions. I wish I could have answered every single one of them, but alas, my energy reserves (much like yours are, I'm sure) are on the low side. Plus, do we really want a three-hour video of C...
2020-03-26 19:48:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings,
How are you doing?
In our continuing effort to bring you resources and information during these difficult times, we have a new article today from Order writer/researcher, Louise Hung: "Talking About Death During Covid-19"
In this piece, Louise discusses questions we've noticed people asking like:
Is it OK to talk abo...
2020-03-25 17:58:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
I'll keep this brief. Here is a document we've created to answer some of the questions you've posed to us about burials and funerals during the spread of COVID-19.
The goal of this document is to stem the spread of misinformation. This FAQ a...
2020-03-18 21:29:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings,
Welcome to the video that many of you have been asking for for years. I'm so happy that we are finally bringing you a video focused on transgender rights at the end of life and after death.
Everyone on the Order team and Team Death Video PLUS the team at Cake has been working on this video for months. Our goal was to do the confusing work, so you don't have to.
I hope we've succeeded!
We're really proud of the video (please sha...
2020-03-14 15:08:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
OK, I don't know if anybody ever said mortuary school was GLAMOROUS (sorry to burst that bubble), but sadly in the case of the American Academy McAllister Institute (AAMI) AKA the HARVARD OF MORTUARY SCHOOLS, scandal is their middle name.
I've been wanting to talk about the situation with McAllister for a while. Yes, the scandal and fallout from it is disturbing and impacts a lot of people who maybe didn't deserve to be punished so harshly, but it's also a ...
2020-02-29 15:27:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
I feel like there are two general types of people:
1) People who dive fearlessly into a negotiation, bargaining with aplomb until they feel satisfied that $3 is a steal for that vintage prairie pickle dish.
and
2) People who shudder at the thought of negotiating and will say SOUNDS GOOD and pay $57 for the same pickle dish.
I admire those of you who fall into the former category. In my natural state, I am firmly in the la...
2020-02-22 15:18:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
Could it be? Today's video is a MORBID MINUTE?!
I've gotta say, coming back to a short and sweet video like this was a delight. Plus babies in skull helmets?! Has there ever been a Morbid Minute that Morbid Minuted more than this Morbid Minute?
Not only is this one just so darn fascinating and unusual and #goals, but I do hope you stay to the very end of the video. *Chef's kiss* just a charming piece of Landis Blair flare.
There were...
2020-02-15 15:22:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
To hold you over until our next video, check out these sweet guest spots I got to do with:
Paula Poundstone: https://apple.co/3bhpSS1
and Emily Graslie: https://bit.ly/2OzQqEk
More death talk tha...
2020-02-08 04:47:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
Who doesn't enjoy me weathering the the trials and tribulations of recording?
To distract you from your Tuesday responsibilities, I offer you a short Patron Exclusive blooper reel.
As always, this video is only for you, dear Patron. Please do not share the link anywhere. Not on social media, not on your office's Slack. Much appreciated!
From my earworm to yours,
Caitlin
2020-01-28 19:53:53 +0000 UTC View Post
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
That song will never not be in my head. I will be singing it on my death bed.
Greetings Deathlings,
Welcome to another video featuring things that terrify me!
Sing it with me: Underwater corpses, in a dark claustrophobic environment! Lalala la la!&n...
2020-01-25 15:37:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Greetings Deathlings!
Let me tell you about the genesis of this video.
(This is not a Genesis vinyl clock that I thanked and let go of, but I couldn't help but clutter this post with it. At least one of you is now scouring eBay for this gem.)
As I mention in the video, I've done a few Great Purges of stuff in my life. It's fun for all! (Says me...my closest companions...
2020-01-18 15:38:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Greetings Deathlings,
Welcome to our first video of 2020!
What we bring to you today is the culmination of one mortician's dream to be the architect of her own postmortem photos.
DREAMS CAN COME TRUE, DEATHLINGS.
(If you have the right team!)
OK – saying I'm the "architect" of the Victorian tintypes we shot is giving myself more credit than is due. Jolene Lupo<...
2020-01-11 15:34:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy New Year Deathlings!
I hope your decade is off to an excellent start.
To kick off the year, we bring you our first article of 2020!
In "The Good, the Bad, and the Future of Death: Talking with Death Law Experts", The Order's C...
2020-01-09 19:51:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings,
We present to you a new video* today – and what a video, if I do say so myself!
Through means I'm not entirely sure of but I'm not asking too many questions, we were not only allowed into, but warmly invited to shoot a pair of videos at the Merchant's House Museum in Manhattan!
At ...
2019-12-17 18:42:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
It's a new MIDWEEK video! Come one, come all!*
Woohoo! [AIRHORN! ROOSTER CROWS! BEAT DROPS!]
Today you get a whole lot of me. A week's worth to be exact.
I actually started this VLOG as a sort of SECRET project. Candidly, I wasn't sure if it was going to be embarrassingly boring, so I didn't tell Louise or Landis I was doing it until I was nearly finished. Plus I had to come clean because it would've been suspicious (and creepy) if Louise ...
2019-12-04 17:30:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello my deathy darlings,
It's a new Order article! This one's about how the fight for a good death incited a revolution.
Order contributor Rafaela Ferraz, conducts research on the collection and display of human remains. In her work Rafaela focuses on the reasons why we deem some corpses, and not others, appropriate for public display and viewing, and the ways we rationalize and ritualize...
2019-12-03 19:16:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello My Darling Deathlings!
Today we bring you the final installment of our "Death and Disney" series. We hope you still find the Magic Kingdom so enchanting the next time you're floating through the It's a Small World ride or the Pirates of the Caribbean, your hand grazes the water, and you remember CREMATED REMAINS.
Who am I kidding, you probably prefer it that way. Disney's favorite attractions with a deathling twist!
Of course, not everything Disney has crea...
2019-11-16 15:28:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
Welcome to round two of IT'S A DARK WORLD AFTER ALL.
There were so many things that didn’t make it into the final scripts, and one of them is this fascinating bit of Disney lore about the Haunted Mansion and a family of Disney Imagineers.
In Part 2 of our Death and Disney series, you’ll get a glimpse of the pet cemetery that can be seen from the line outside leading up to the Haunted Mansion--but wasn’t always there. The pet cem...
2019-11-14 17:00:56 +0000 UTC View Post
What's this?
A video on A TUESDAY?
A DEATH & DISNEY video on a TUESDAY??
THREE DEATH & DISNEY VIDEOS IN ONE WEEK?!?
EMBRACE YOUR FUTURE MY DARK BABIES.
That's right, I let Team Death Video whisk me away to Disneyland for a whole day so that we might explore the darker side of Disney.
And as much as it p...
2019-11-12 20:24:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Deathlings!
So remember that time I sat down with two wee deathlings over limeade and cakes and Play-Doh and we talked death?
Well believe it or not that shoot was not the tidy 12 minutes and 59 seconds we presented to you. We had over three hours of footage that was, to be honest, GOSH DARN DELIGHTFUL.
So for your viewing pleasure, here are some of the best parts that didn't make it into the main video. I hope you learn something about death...or bangs. Honestly...
2019-10-26 19:09:11 +0000 UTC View Post