thegooddeath

Are the rumors true? Is my funeral home failing?

Ok, if you've watched the video, you know by now that I am a student in the sacred art of clickbait. I NEVER get to use it in my videos, so you have to indulge me this one time. Thank you.

I hope you like the new office!  If you follow us on Instagram (@undertakingla) we're always doing posts about green burial and home funeral rights, hopefully we can help even if you're not in LA. 

If you missed this week's livestream for $3 patrons, it's available FOREVER online, ...

How do you deal with the funeral industry as a fat person?

There is a lot of fear from fat people that they won't be treated with respect when they die.  As one activist we talked to said, "the fat body has been the hinge of too many jokes."

I hope this video explains the behind the scenes, lays out numbers, vocabulary, and options you have when dealing with a funeral director or planning for end of life.

I'm so grateful that you all give us the resources to do this work and research in such detail each week.

NEW LIVESTREAM ANNOUNCEME...

This Ask a Mortician brought to you by Corpse Wax

You've been asking for a more traditional Ask a Mortician, and here we are!  Be careful what you wish for, this is a somewhat gross but MUCH requested topic, adipocere, or corpse wax.

It's a mummy of a soapy kind. 

We've got another highly requested video coming next week.  Giving the people what they want!

I'm heading into my busy season in September and October. I'll be traveling all around the country for the paperback book tour, as well as all sorts of other talk...

Our new Iconic Corpse is a bit of a tall tale.

Hello deathlings!

This is the first Iconic Corpse we've done where the corpse in the MIDST of CONTROVERSY. 

Charles Byrne is the star of the Hunterian Museum's collection. But what if he didn't want to be?  Wildly didn't want to be? Went to great lengths not to be? And yet here we are...

This brings up all kinds of important questions.  What rights do people have over their bodies after death? The law in many places says "not much."  

We have this conversa...

It's a Cave of Glowing Skulls and You're Invited!

I like to open a video with Tonya Harding, and end it with an international skull controversy.

I had never heard of the Cave of the River Talgua and its alleged GLOWING SKULLS until it was briefly mentioned in the book The Lost City of the Monkey God. (That's a good book, I recommend it.)  Once I got wind of the story of the cave I was like TELL ME MORE.

Though I've never been to Honduras, I did see some purple crystal skulls in a dark, dark cave with Paul Koudounaris in Indonesia. ...

This is a Story About Control. CORPSE Control.

GOOD MOURNING, Deathlings!

You know I LOVE to talk about the rights you have when it comes to the dead body. But sometimes we also have to talk about the rights you DON'T have.  Especially when working with a funeral home. Can you see grandma whenever you want and do whatever you want with her at the funeral home for free?  Eeeehh, probably not. 

In other news, why is a helicopter flying so low over my office? Is there a standoff on the roof?  Is it the government fin...

Caring for the Bodies of Terrorists

Well... I released this video 3 minutes ago and the comment sections is already getting weird.  Am I PERSONALLY covering up the location of Osama bin Laden's body? I dunno, it's possible. RIP comment section.  

If you couldn't tell, today we're talking about what is done to the bodies of terrorists. Osama bin Laden and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are the examples we examine in depth, but it's a problem from time immemorial. How to we balance the grief of the families effected with the human im...

Recruiting Teens (Not as Creepy as it Sounds)

I may be running through the cornfields of Iowa right now (no, really) but last weekend I was at VidCon, the largest online video convention in the world. I was on 4 panels, including one called "How to Make Money on YouTube."  Answer: Uuumm, we don't really make money on YouTube, we use Patreon donations. We make money.... alongside YouTube?

I also made a video!  If you know anything about VidCon, it's focused toward younger fans and viewers and the hottest vloggers, etc. Some peopl...

The Dead of Pearl Harbor

Morning deathlings!

I haven't done a video about the dead from a major disaster since the video about the bodies of Titanic.  That is one of my favorite videos and I'm surprised I haven't done one since then.  As I say at the end, let me know if you'd like us to explore more about the dead of World War II.  You know I never tire of researching and discovering how the dead are identified and handled in difficult situations. 

I'm at VidCon in Anaheim this week, which is...

7 Habits of Highly Effective Death Positive People

Alright, so I have never read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  Though I own a copy now, so I might!  I could stand to be more effective in general.  

But what I DO know are ways we can all (including me) be more death positive. We're still defining what death positive is as a community, but what is clear is that it involves celebrating engagement with death- WITHOUT beating yourself up if you have hard or difficult days. Death is not easy, friends. And your relationship...

What Happens to a Body During Embalming?

People are surprised I've never done a video on this topic before.  I know!  I am too!  That's why we're doing these "back to basics" videos. Remember "What Happens to a Body During Cremation?" Just simple basics for people trying to decide on their corpse's destiny. 

You know embalming isn't my FAVORITE, but I want to be fairly neutral here, because this isn't an embalming rant video. Believe it or not, in spite of my desire to bend people to my will in all things, I actua...

It's Finally Time to Talk Demon Babies.

Before death, I had one great academic passion- demonic babies.  I make passing references to them...my evil little friends... but now they finally get their own video, their moment in the sun.  Rise demon babies, rise!

I haven't done a Middle Ages Were Magic video in awhile, and this is my FAVORITE topic.  I think it defines the topic of Middle Ages Were Magic. So much so that I wrote my undergrad Medieval History thesis on it. And no you can't read my thesis, it's embarrassing...

Darling it's better, down where you're deader. PLUS LIVESTREAM.

After we decided to research burial at sea for a video, we started getting a flurry of questions about it.  Which means we're in a rhythm, riding the zeitgeist, giving the people WHAT THEY WANT.  WE WANT TO BRING YOU DEATH NEWS YOU CAN USE.

I'm glad there were so many people here yesterday for our live author conversation with Colin Dickey. Louise will be posting some of the greatest hits from the convo in the Deathling Den. Deathlings really are some of the smartest and most engaged...

LIVE Conversation with Author Colin Dickey about GHOSTS, ELISA LAM, HAYDN'S HEAD. Starts now!

Hello deathlings! 

Welcome to our conversation with Colin Dickey, author of Ghostland. Colin and I are old friends, and I'm excited to publicly harass him... I mean ask him questions.

It's 10:00 PST now, I'm going to be talking to Colin in the thread below for about 15 minutes, and I'd also like to open it up for you all to ask him questions you have directly.

Let's get started!

Caitlin

Breaking: Don't Unwrap Ancient Mummies

It's not a good idea for many reasons. One, there is that whole "mummy curse of the ancients"... thing. But more importantly, it's just bad for archeology and good taste.  And yet, surprise surprise, the Victorians, debauched little suckers they were, were all about the Mummy Unwrapping parties.

Also please appreciate my toilet paper mummy art yes, I am very gifted everyone agrees, thank you. 

Remember: If you're new, come join the Deathling Den on Facebook. That's where all th...

A new (modern) morbid mystery!

There have been countless videos made on the death of Elisa Lam. You probably know her as "the young woman in the water tank." Most videos and blogs about her focus on the mysterious, the supernatural, the..... murder-y aspects of the case.  

If I didn't think I had something to add, I wouldn't have made ANOTHER video and added to the chaos.

But, Elisa has a family that must still mourn her terribly, and I wanted to add a more rational view of the whole story. 

Have I cha...

HAYDN'S HEEAAADDD

Iconic Corpse is back, baby!

This week made me SO grateful to Patreon. As you know, after talking to all you folks, we decided to monetize the channel on YouTube and donate the money to a different death related charity each month. It seems like YouTube, post Logan Paul, has a no corpses NEVER NO HOW- policy, even educational corpses. They have monetized a few of my videos (after I requested they manually review them) but it's VERY arbitrary. Let's just say that redecorating the viewing room w...

Queer Eye for the Dead Guy

(Title of this post suggested by a viewer!)

I know I said I would never vlog again, but this was such an exciting day. I LOVE design and creating cozy environments for our families and the viewing room at our crematory was just NOT cutting it. Families should feel comfortable and held in their grief. And overhead doctor's office lighting and some white walls doesn't achieve that.  So it's crematory makeover time!

(We also shroud my co-worker Susana. #freeSusana)

Exciting annou...

It's Mule Time! (And Death Time, and Tragic History Time)

For the first time I was able to visit (by mule!) the remote and tragic leprosy colony of Kaluapapa. It's a story that more people should know. A story I didn't know until I was an adult, even though I grew up nearby. 

This is the kind of video that is absolutely made possible by your support. I still travel home to visit my parents, but usually I just watch their cable TV and read their People magazines.  But because I know you all are donating and want to see me up my game, it's li...

What goes on behind the cremation machine door?

We've been experimenting so much with video styles recently, it's time to go back to basics.  Like nitty gritty minute by minute descriptions of human flesh cremating! Fun, right?  Wait, where's everyone going?

We've talked about the steps of cremation, but after digging up some good academic papers on the subject (and just my own experience cremating) we were able to come up with the steps the body goes through inside the machine.  My thought is that it will either make you wil...

Who even WANTS the Manson corpsicle?

Turns out A LOT of people want Charles Manson's dead body. I know what you're thinking. Why? Just toss that dude out to sea somewhere!  I hear you. But it's rare that there is good money to be made off of a corpse, and this is one of those times. 

It was fun to get in there and untangle all the legal wrangling for this video. Mostly because I'm so steeped in next of kin laws in the State of California from working in death for 10 years.  Bring on Section 7100 of the Health and S...

The Video No One Wanted!

We're ending the month on a video that no one "asked for" or "wanted" but here it is- a vlog of a week in my life!

Watch me take on the world, one corpse at a time! (Note: no corpses are shown in this video)

Vlogging is hard, folks. I have a new respect for it. It's hard to make your life seem interesting, even when you work at a funeral home. We'll see how you like it.  I love the freedom to experiment that we've had this month- videos every day, vlogging, who knows where we'll go ...

Funeral Strippers! (No, really)

This is one of those "Yahoo weird news too wild to be true" funeral traditions, but when you break it down, the funeral strippers of Taiwan and rural China actually sound pretty entertaining. There are giant puppets too, which frankly I'd like at my own funeral. Perhaps a giant grim reaper puppet?  Yes please.

I also discuss potentially monetizing the videos on YouTube and donating the money to worthy death causes. We already have some wonderful organizations in mind. I brought this discu...

BADASS DEATH WOMEN WEEK Comes to a Close

In our final video on history's badass death women we have arrived at my FAVORITE– the most iconic of iconic corpses, the goddess of rot, pioneer of exposure burial– Tachibana no Kachiko. 

I hope you liked this lil' experiment with shorter videos.  Obviously it won't be the new normal (I like the deep dives too much) but I also like being able to cover so many people so quickly. 

Some level updates:

If you are a $3 live stream level person-folk-deathling and you ...

New Video Every Day this Week!

Surprise deathlings!

Every day this week we're releasing a short video about a BADASS WOMAN in death history. Today: Henrietta Duterte, the first female funeral home owner in America. 

Patron note: If you're someone who doesn't have a cap on pledges, worry not, all five videos will just be considered one video, and charged once on Friday.

I won't clog up your inboxes by posting every video (I'll come remind you when they're all out in Friday). But they will be out every day th...

A new. MORBID. MYYYYYYSSTTERRRYY. (+ Livestream Update)

One of our most requested videos!  Are you liking the Morbid Mystery series?  Blink twice if you're enjoying it. 

Patreon keeps emailing me about their new in-house platform for users to interact. Is anyone using this with other creators?  My instinct is that they don't want people to go off and create private Facebook groups (cough The Deathling Den cough).  But I like the Deathling Den and how it's working and many of you seem to be enjoying it.  So keep it like...

Let's get vertical, vertical! I want to die verrttiiccaalll!

Let's talk vertical cemeteries (...also cruise ships.  Let's not forget cruise ships.)

With burial space at a premium, where are we going to put all our dead?!  A question I just got was "if we don't have anywhere to bury urns, why don't families just take them home?"

Interestingly, many countries don't allow that.  Here in the United States I think of urns as a tiny companion you can go on a road trip with, or keep on your mantle, etc. But in other countries they may requ...

I visit the "Apache Death Cave"

At the Order of the Good Death we're doing #CemeteryWeek (get your favorite graves ready). We're launching it with this video where I visit the "Apache Death Cave" in Arizona and talk about some of the harmful myths that are created when we build up the trope of Native American burial ground curses. 

Remember that if you're a new patron, you should visit the Deathling Den and say hi: https://www.facebook....

Helping a Friend Through Grief

In this time of "thoughts & prayers" and "everything  happens for a reason" we need to develop our language around grief! I admit that I don't focus on grief as much as other death topics.  It feels obvious to me that what I advocate for: time with the dead body, open conversations, green death options, etc, help the griever engage with tough feelings.  Buuutttt, while that may feel obvious to me, it's important to give a specific voice to grief.

So that's what we're doing h...

A fun Valentine's Day video (kidding NO NOOOOOOO!)

This is not a Valentine's Day video.  Far from it, in fact.  It's an Iconic Corpse video on one of the more disturbing stories we've done, on the exploited body of Elena de Hoyos at the hands of lonely radiologist Carl Tanzler.

People really wanted to hear this story. Interestingly enough, now that we've released the video, folks are commenting "I thought you had done this video already?"  I've done a blog, years ago, but never a video. Do we have a 2018-02-09 18:10:32 +0000 UTC View Post