My idea is based on the fact that myself and several people I know don't like any of the burial options available to us. I don't want to be cremated. I don't want to be buried in a big grass field with a bunch of other people. So what are my options?

I am proposing a Funereal Wilderness area that is made off-limits to living people (aside from caretakers / rangers). People can pay to have their bodies "dumped" in the wilderness. Their remains will be eaten, scavenged and reincorporated into nature very quickly.

The fees for the "dumping rights" will pay to keep the park wild and free from human intrusion. If you don't care much about your physical body in your "afterlife" and you want to support nature - this would be a great way to dispose of your remains.

You could be dumped into a gully or desiccated on a mountain, etc.

The only big issue I see is that human remains are, in general, tracked fairly closely. The park would have to keep track of what happens to your body in some way otherwise the authorities would worry that some bodies could be illicitly dumped in the area. I'm not sure what the legal barriers and issues would be for this project.

But for people who don't like the idea of paying to be cremated and scattered via boat or helicopter (not to mention spending eternity on your grand-neices fireplace mantle) and who don't want to spend their nether years in a rotten casket under six feet of fairway green, this could be the ideal solution.
-- unequivocal, Apr 07 2005

BBC: Crematorium owner gets 12 years http://news.bbc.co....mericas/4229947.stm
[krelnik, Apr 07 2005]

Marin Eco Burial http://www.acfnewso...ent/eco_burial.html
Now 3/4 baked. Way to go Marin County. [unequivocal, Nov 09 2005]

It could also be a sort of wild animal sanctuary too, so that not only do you get to be reincorporated into nature, but while you're at it, you get to be eaten by a Lion! How many people have that chance? Maybe a Lion who has been in captivity forever and is now retired to this cemetery park and gets to pay back all the fool tourists by devouring your body! See? It helps everyone!
-- chili, Apr 07 2005


Many, including myself, will just get cremated, and have family & friends just go for a hike in the hills and scatter the ashes as they walk.

This returns you to nature just fine, is good therapy for those left behind, is not nearly so grotesque, and is less likely to spread disease.

Also, as a corpse, I'll get to be fully baked.
-- sophocles, Apr 07 2005


This was inadvertantly baked by a (now jailed) crematorium operator in Georgia. See link.
-- krelnik, Apr 07 2005


This idea was posted before, but a quick search shows that it has been dragged into the wilderness and left for the wolves. My own preference as well. +
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 07 2005


try Everest. they leave the bodies there - not quite sure why, difficult to retrieve?
-- po, Apr 07 2005


I belive this is baked.
-- crash893, Apr 07 2005


I’ll be at the bottom of the ocean, next to [Pericles].
-- Shz, Apr 07 2005


You can donate your body to forensic science. They watch how bodies decay in nature, in plastic bags, in water, etc. It's really helpful in solving crimes, and you get to be the aboveground kind of wormfood.

I'll take cremation any day.
-- justibone, Apr 07 2005


We is stone, and stone is earth, earth the sun, and that's where my dead naked rotting body is going.
-- daseva, Apr 07 2005


This is now 3/4 baked. See new link..

Nice to see the market is catching on. :)
-- unequivocal, Nov 09 2005


I'm content to just be weighted to a stone and tossed overboard.
-- shapu, Nov 09 2005


Erm, before or after you stop breathing?!
-- DrCurry, Nov 09 2005


Yes.
-- shapu, Nov 09 2005


I wonder if it is legal to bury a person on your land? Suppose I want to be buried by my great grandparents on my family farm. Is that illegal? If not, could you not simply pay the owner of some wilderness to bury you out in it somewhere? If the attraction is to be eaten by critters, don't use a coffin or any formaldehyde.
-- bungston, Nov 10 2005


There are a lot of really strict laws concerning the disposal of bodies. I doubt it would get approved.

However, I do like the idea, and basically, as long as the body is buried, I don't see a reason why it wouldn't be ok from a lwa point of view.

I think it is great to be buried in some forest. Forget about boring fields with endless rows of memorial stones, just put me under a nice big tree...
-- akumabito, Nov 10 2005


+ What you are basically proposing here is the ‘fly-tipping’ of human remains. If you’ll allow me to extend the theory a little then why not drop the body of your deceased relative/friend from the side of a helicopter hovering at height over the wilderness as you have half suggested?. What could be more dignifying than that?! If you drop them from high enough they will almost bury themselves. In fact I’m sure that the future entrepreneurial founders of “Coptor-go-now” would be able to drop you anywhere you fancy. You could go ‘Arctic’ (polar bears), ‘Marine’ (fish food), ‘Jungle’ (ants), ‘Desert’ (desiccation) or ‘Protest’ (shot into the latest war zone as a meat incendiary). But I digress. My point is that cadavers are too good for worms, and a waste of good gas at the crematorium they should be recycled.
-- TrapCheese, Nov 11 2005


I just bought a block of land. Over 100 years ago there was a small church and graveyard on it. The headstones are all thats left, although they are piled in one corner. Who knows where the graves were ? Not sure !

I wonder if I can bury people there now, seeing as how it has already been used for that purpose ?

I'd like to be buried on my own land (hopefully then my childrens), in a random location, where no-one knows.
-- JoeyJoJoShabadoo, Nov 11 2005



random, halfbakery