In the next 50 years the National Center for Health Statistics and the Population Division, U.S. Bureau of the Census anticipates that 17,775,000 Americans will die. When you think about it, that's a lot of 9 feet by 4 feet plots. I believe we should move away from our practice of digging horizontal burial plots in favor of a more space conscious, vertical burial plot. If this were the case we could bury twice as many people in the same space.-- veryvermilion, Aug 02 2004 I have seen photographs of these natural mummies standing propped up against the walls of the catacombs. http://www.mummytom...roup/guanajuato.htm [po, Oct 04 2004] "CONGESTED CEMETERIES: WHY NOT BURY THE DEAD STANDING UP?" http://www.newsflas.../05/ht/ht003853.htmManila, November 1, 2003 [angel, Oct 04 2004] Ben Jonson... http://homepage.smc...markable_people.htm..."asked for an eighteen square inch plot in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, where he was eventually buried, standing up." [angel, Oct 04 2004] the other one! http://beta.encarta...tive_for_Drugs.html [po, Oct 04 2004] Popular in Brazil http://bldgblog.blo...f-death-market.html...apparently. [moomintroll, Feb 23 2007] Not only that but you could do it with an mechanical auger on the day of the funeral then use it to lower the body in Now you could even use cardboard coffins much like toilet roll centres to further cut costs. And how about digging a deeper hole and use a bit of stacking. Now you could offset the tackiness of the burials by having lots of glossy photos of the "satisfied " families of past clients. The party could walk in front of the hearse a little bit dressed in slick outfits . You could even have some scot guy with full tartan carrying ''granny" over his shoulder like a caber-- tasman, Aug 02 2004 It kind of ruins the image of eternal rest.
Best instead to encourage (but not make mandatory) cremation .. they are kind of doing this at the moment.-- britboy, Aug 02 2004 Cremation involves the unnecessary use of energy to burn the corpse, and also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, not to mention various substances in the body such as mercury amalgam in the teeth. Burial is definitely a bit better, involving the return of the corpse to the ecosystem without so much energy use. Vertical burial would be even better.You can will your body to be dumped in a wood to further forensic research or leave it to medical science, both of which seem worthwhile projects.-- nineteenthly, Aug 02 2004 how exactly does dumping your body in a wood help further forensic research?-- po, Aug 02 2004 If you dump [pmboy2000]'s body in the woods and nobody's there, does it make a sound ?-- normzone, Aug 02 2004 When your body floats up to heaven, it's more aerodynamic if it's vertical, than horizontal. So +.-- phundug, Aug 02 2004 There are plenty of semataries (sic) that inter you in an upright orientation and then put a tree on your head in order that you may give back to the area what you have taken from it. I find this quite appealing. It is not, however, consecrated ground and I think that this fact might make some of our members balk.Frank Herbert also used this idea in one of his (shouldn't-have-bothered-after-the-trilogy) Dune books. It was apparently 'de rigeur' for some of the Bene Gesserit. Forgot to mention the Bun for [veryvermilion}-- gnomethang, Aug 02 2004 [angel], re: your second link. Seems a bit harsh just because he cheated in the 100 metres.-- gnomethang, Aug 02 2004 //We are not talking about shark either which swim while sleeping.// Not true, pmboy. Many benthic sharks do not swim while resting.
I think this is great. Standing, stacked, cardboard cylinder, whatever; I'll be dead - why would I care what happens to my body? Bun.-- Ichthus, Aug 02 2004 //Cremation ... releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere//This would be "short-cycle" carbon, which effectively does not contribute to atmospheric CO2.[gnome]: Huh?-- angel, Aug 02 2004 thanks for the link, Tabs - not exactly dumping your body in the woods though, eh?
Dana Scully taught me all I need to know :)-- po, Aug 02 2004 Thanks [Po]!-- gnomethang, Aug 02 2004 No no no. When I'm dead I'll get to do what I love. Lay down. Standing is for suckers that can still breathe.-- miggavin, Mar 31 2006 random, halfbakery