At one time or another, many of us have had morbid thoughts about our mortality.
Sometimes, however, our curiosities pertaining to death are more innocuous and less foreboding.
Examples of this were given when Redditor sushi_mane_ asked a hypotethetical of strangers, which was:
"What song would you want to be played at your funeral?"
Some Redditors want to be remembered for their sense of humor.
Denial Much?
"Still Alive (from Portal)"
– Megalopath
"If they're having a funeral, they're playing Weird Al's Trapped in the Drive-Thru."
– newtside
Who Ya Gonna Call?
"Ghostbuster theme."
– Calm-Internet6926
In Memory Of Anna
"My childhood best friend passed away suddenly in a car wreck this past November at 27. She also had a funeral playlist saved on her phone and her family used it! She was such a jokester and hilarious person. It gave us all a big laugh to find out she had already picked out her songs. It was a great way to honor her wishes and such a beautiful thing to have her put some humor in to a situation from beyond the grave. It really honored her memory in a way I won’t ever forget. Miss you, Anna!"
– jiff_extra_crunchy
Keeping It Positive
"My Grandpa had 'Always Look at the Bright Side of Life' From Life of Brian at his funeral. I'd like something like that."
– TechnologyOdd
Some Redditors got all introspective.
Getting Contemplative
"Otis Redding, 'Sitting on the dock of the Bay.'"
–ohbe1keyknowsea
Song Of An Irish Immigrant's Take
"Going Out in Style - Dropkick Murphys."
– ShockingPyro
Together In Spirit
"Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd"
– AlexiosMakesMusic
"This is the song they play for you when you go too soon."
"It's beautiful, great song, but if I'm not in the right space (alone) I can't listen to it."
"It's been over 20 years since I first heard it at a funeral. I wish it was the last."
– Alienmonkey
Ode To A Band Member
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond."
– Teemo63339
"Recently rediscovered Pink Floyd."
"Their music is absolutely next level."
– SaltyWailord
When One Song Isn't Enough
"I’ve actually got a funeral playlist on my phone in case I hit the deck earlier than expected 😂😂"
"Just a quick edit because I didn’t expect my morbid need to control my funeral would blow up so much😂"
"I’m not tech savvy in any which way so I can’t upload the link to the comments.. but I have written the songs in the comments somewhere… they are the only songs on the playlist, there isn’t anymore to add."
"Yes, I’m 43, yes, I’m British. Yes, I’m an Inxs fan, but there’s no Inxs songs on the agenda. No, I’m not from up north!! Bittersweet symphony is timeless!! I don’t go much on the slow stuff by oasis, but that one hits different! No, I’m not crazy, I like to plan ahead! I don’t drink alcohol at all, and I have a great relationship with my mother 😂 hit the deck IS a metaphor for dying in my world 😂"
– elegantlywasted2529
Some people want to get all stagey.
A Startling Wake
"Closed casket - pop goes the weasel."
– graeuk
Something Evil's Lurking In The Dark
"I want to hire a lookalike of myself who will pop out of a coffin and perform the Thriller choreography."
– lordcameltoe
I have actually entertained this question, myself.
One of my favorite tunes is "Graceful Ghost Rag" by William Bolcom.
It's a somber tune without being totally depressing. To me, gentle ragtime song represents a soul coming to terms with its new plane of existence and making the most of it.
It brings me peace listening to it, and I hope to have the loved ones I will eventually leave behind feel the same.
Funeral Home Employees Divulge The Weirdest Requests They've Ever Gotten
Death is scary. It brings the unknown of the great beyond, whether that's heaven, some other afterlife, or total nothingness, depending on what you believe.
But there is one perk that comes with death: total control of your funeral.
Think about it. You have a captive audience for the whole day. They're all going to be so intentional about respecting your memory that it would really take something huge to upset them.
That, my friends, is a time to push the envelope and take some liberties with that ceremony.
Many Redditors who work in the funeral industry have firsthand experience witnessing recently deceased people exercising that power through wills, parting words, and even pre-death meetings.
Some people have gotten quite creative.
hurtfocker asked, "Funeral home workers and owners: what's the weirdest request you've gotten regarding a deceased person?"
A good amount of people treat their funerals college parties.
They go with a theme they imagine everyone will enjoy, try to inject some sarcastic humor into the planning, and see how it all plays out
Let the Games Begin
"I got a request for the deceased to be dressed up in a Where's Waldo costume and to have 12 other identical caskets in the room so the guests could try to guess where he was by opening coffins randomly."
"Each guest was to play this guessing game and then sit down before the next person could enter so everyone could play the game."
"Problem was not everyone wanted to play the game.....super odd but they paid a lot for it."
-- ramontgomery
Dead In a Faraway Galaxy
"The deceased was a huge Star Wars fan and left explicit instructions for his funeral."
"As funeral organist, I was requested to play Star Wars principal themes on the grand pipe organ for prelude music, processional and recessional."
"As I once described, pall bearers were dressed in main characters costumes and "Obi-Wan Kenobi" gave an inspired eulogy, drawing upon memorable moments from the series."
"Using 'full organ' (all the stops out) for climatic moments, I played the Imperial March at the conclusion of the funeral before those in attendance departed for the cemetery for the committal."
-- Back2Bach
A True Celebration of the Life He Lived
"I'm a florist, and I've created some unique tributes out of fresh flowers, and more."
"I made a putting green two feet across, complete with ball, tee and a club for an avid golfer. I constructed a fish out of various blooms and leaves, placed by a lakeside foliage spray. I've made rainbows and black and white themed arrangements. I put a lot of heart into memorial pieces."
"A few years ago, I was helping a family decide on their tributes for a much-loved man. The wife stressed he was known for his big blue Giant Eagle truck, and most of their friends were from the driver's union."
"I volunteered myself for a watercolor picture of the truck around which I would design a floral spray. It took four attempts, but I was finally happy, and framed it."
"Two days later, I received the most wonderful letter from his wife, and said that everyone agreed it was the most appropriate and important statement about his life. It will sit on her mantle for the rest of her life."
-- cavepainted
Friends Til the Very End
"My family owns a grave digging business as well as lawn and garden statues, someone purchased an 8ft tall gorilla statue."
"My dad delivered it and asked what they were going to do with it and where they were putting it, the guys said their friends dying wish was to be stuffed up this concrete gorillas a**, and that's what they did."
"They drilled a whole in the a** and put their buddies ashes inside"
-- hayhay428
There also appears to be a strange obsession with eye sockets and eyeballs. Many funeral workers have fielded requests involving what exactly to do with eyes.
All of them are completely unnerving, of course.
Always Watching
"My husband found out they can make gems out of cremains, and now he wants to be reduced to 2 jewels seated in his own eye sockets."
"I don't want a skull! I don't want to own his skull! I don't want him to watch me with his evil gem eyes!"
-- ParadiseSold
For Science
"My own will requests that my right eye be removed, preserved and delivered to my oncologist in Miami for him to do with whatever he sees fit."
"Hopefully as a teaching aid to new optometry students, but if he wants to use it for pranks I'm totally fine with that too."
"I survived a very unusual eye cancer and they had to do all kinds of experimental things to repair it when all was done. I jokingly suggested I donate it to science when I went and he said that was an amazing idea. So, here you go."
"I hope whoever deals with my corpse has fun with that request."
-- zerbey
One Last Look
"My wife's uncle asked the funeral director when he dies he would like his eyes open in the casket during his viewing."
"His entire life everyone commented on his big baby blue eyes and he wanted them open for people to see one last time."
And finally, sometimes it's not all wine and roses when the close of life comes along.
People live complicated lives full of strained dynamics with family and friends. And often, that comes to a head right at the final moment.
One Last F-You
"One rich guy hated his kids and didn't want them to get a cent of his wealth. He therefore wanted all his money to spent on a mausoleum for his coffin with a rose garden around it and the eternal upkeep thereof."
"He had the city council-approved architectural plans for the mausoleum included in his will and testament."
"He demanded in his will that the remaining funds, after construction, must go to a gardening service to maintain the rose garden and clean off the bird poop from his mausoleum in perpetuity until the money runs out in a few centuries."
"The mausoleum is in Cemetery de Saint Rambert outside Lyon, France."
Utter Indifference
"My coworker was meeting a client who was picking up his mother's cremains. My coworker has the client sign a release, then hands him the urn."
The man immediately turns around and drops the urn into the trash can."
"My coworker is a 40 year funeral director veteran, and without missing a beat, he says, 'Sir, I can understand your strong feelings about your mother, but I cannot allow you to leave that here. What you do once you get out the door is up to you and God.' "
"Dude picked up the urn and left without a word."
-- keliez
To Reflect What She Was Like, Or Never Did?
"My mom asked the embalmer to put a few stitches in my grandma's cheeks to give her a faint smile.
"At the time it seemed like an odd, even slightly morbid request, but 20+ years on, it's one of the only things I remember from her funeral. It was kind of lovely, actually."
-- Fearless_Lab
Photo Op
"Not a mortician, but an EMT."
"I had a family ask to take pictures of their deceased adult child immediately after we stopped resuscitation efforts. There's tubes sticking out of the individual, discoloration, lifeless skin, hastily cut clothes, medical equipment strewn about, all of this uncomfortably taking place in a narrow corner in a crudely built and overfilled add on to a run down house... it was not a peaceful scene."
"The lead medic allowed it, but I almost intervened... I just couldn't think of a soft way to say 'you don't want to remember your child like this' at the time."
"I really hope the family found peace and deleted those photos. I ran into them a few times after that (unrelated to EMS), and they seemed okay... but holy hell. I understand that seeing the body of a dead loved one often brings closure after a traumatic event like that... but don't immortalize that image as the last picture of that person."
"From experience, those images are haunting. I have the last image of a friend of mine that died in a freak explosion (I did the crime scene photos), and I often have to look at good photos of him to put the bad ones to rest."
"They're not images you want to see when you think of someone fondly."
- ckjm
Comics And Nutella
"I worked 2 years as a casket bearer when I was a student because it paid very well."
"One time the undertaker came to us, telling that he's sorry for the extra weight, but the guy who died really wanted some comics books and a 5 kg jar of Nutella with him."
"For Germany, that's some next level extravaganza."
- bremishpotato
Practice Makes Perfect
"My parents owned a small business next door to a funeral home so we knew the guys who worked there pretty well."
"When my grandma was diagnosed as terminal she wanted to plan her own funeral so one of them came round to our house to make the arrangements with her. He was a really young guy barely out of school, the son of the main funeral director, and was still an apprentice who had never done a funeral by himself."
"When he asked my grandma whether she wanted his dad or his uncle to do the funeral, she told him she wanted him to do it."
"He started to refuse saying he didn’t have the experience yet, he might not do it well, he wasn’t at that point in his training yet and he was just here doing the admin etc."
"She insisted on him doing it because 'you need the experience eventually, might as well do your first one for someone who doesn’t care if you mess it up.' He did it, and he was great."
"Myself and my siblings and cousins were all a similar age to the guy at the time and doing our first jobs/apprenticeships etc and she’d seen us struggling with wanting more experience in our fields but not always getting the opportunities to do so; so that’s why she insisted."
"He did my granddads funeral two years later too."
- InterestingCloud9
The Tattoo
"My fiance works in a funeral home so I'm stealing his story. They had someone call and ask if they could remove a decedent's tattoo so he could have it preserved which is apparently a real service that one place offers."
"The director who took the phone call went to the manager with it and they were hemming and hawing because none of them wanted to do it. I guess it's something that is probably fine for them to do legally but is also borderline abuse of a corpse if someone in law enforcement wanted to be a dick about it, and also they all found it kind of personally repulsive."
"Finally the manager goes, 'Wait, which guy? Isn't that the guy they pulled out of the river? The one who was in there a while?' "
" '...well, I guess that's one time skin slippage would be a good thing.' (Do not google skin slippage if you are squeamish.) "
"Anyway, because of all the water damage the body was 'not viewable' and the tattoo was definitely not in any condition to be removed and preserved so they were able to tell the requester no for that reason rather than, 'It's weird and we don't wanna do it.' "
- scarrlet
Balloon Giveaway
"Not a funeral home employee or owner, just the daughter of a person who didn't want their funeral to be a sad affair."
"My mom passed quickly from cancer in 2019 but she had her entire funeral planned out and paid for. Turns out she told the funeral home she wanted 100 balloons surrounding her coffin and for the balloons to be given out to those who came to mourn with us."
"She wanted to bring a happy moment in the midst of sadness."
- smartnclumsy
Legalities
"My friend is a funeral worker and was directing a funeral for this woman. Her daughter arranged the funeral, paid for everything, did everything funeral related and paid for a full service to get her mother buried."
"There was a small issue right before the funeral and one of the workers at the mortuary needed to contact the daughter but she didn't pick up at the time and so they contacted her father who was listed as a contact."
"What the mortuary workers were unaware of was that the deceased woman and this man had been separated for decades but no one in the family, including the deceased woman, knew that they were still legally married. That legally makes him the next of kin that is responsible for arranging the funeral."
"He was upset that no one had told him and he ordered the mortuary not to bury her body or have the open casket (which was already paid for and her body already prepared). Everyone was already at the funeral (including the woman's own parents) when all of a sudden this man who hadn't been in any of their lives for decades cancelled everything."
"He demanded that her body be cremated. His own daughter was begging and crying for him not to do this, but legally, he had all the power to do this."
"The mortuary did everything they could but in the end, he had the legal power to do everything he did. The woman ended up getting cremated and the man gained possession of her ashes and went back into obscurity."
"My friend said that the mortuary worker who called the father felt so SO guilty, but she did what she was trained to do and somehow the daughter didn't hold it against the mortuary for goofing up like this."
"My friend says the biggest takeaway from this is to always name your power of attorney long before you even expect to die, especially after a big life event or when separating from your spouse or a household you no longer want to be part of."
"Last I heard, the man lost legal powers over the deceased woman after that. But what happened already happened and there was nothing else that could be done after that."
"The daughter and woman's family ended up just having to eat the cost of the funeral service that never happened. Truly traumatic."
- Kuneria
Memories On Loop
"Not really a strange request but definitely one that has stayed with me."
"I once helped conduct a service for a gentlemen who passed away of old age, he and his daughter were very close. I guess he had dementia before he had passed, and his daughter was taking care of him full time at home giving him hospice care."
"He apparently loved the song Memories by Adam Levine, as it came out before his diagnosis. His daughter made it a tradition to play it to him every night, because it was something he enjoyed listening to even if he didn't remember why."
"So she asked us to play this song on loop for the entire graveside service. Now that's all I remember when I hear that song."
- musicko1
However old you are, now is the time to start planning the big sendoff. Look no further for some ideas to start off the brainstorm session.
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Picturing your own funeral can be an eerie and depressing exercise.
For some, though, the freedom to subject all your friends and family to your own morbid humor is an exciting idea.
These Redditors have no shortage of ideas regarding their hypothetical funerals.
Luckily, questions of legality or logistical possibility need not apply to this thread.
The result is a collage of ideas that take different approaches to a couple key factors of the parting ceremony: what happens to the actual body, and how funeral attendees ought to feel.
They’re often meant to be grossed ought, entertained, shocked, or some bizarre combination of the three
aroadcaptain asked, "Social/religious norms aside, how would you like your death to be mourned/celebrated?"
A Nice Mix
"New Orleans has a tradition of marching slowly to the graveyard, mourning. Then a ceremony and a dancing jazz party on the way back to the church, where food and drinks are. The party continues from there."
"I've always thought this is good psychology - mourn, but celebrate also."
-- Naweezy
Quick and Cheap
"After my death, just throw me in the trash." -- leiner240
"If it's summer time, I just hope you die close to garbage day...you'll want your family to remember you fondly after all." -- Bradiator34
"trashes to trashes..." -- michar
Taking Your Principles With You
"I want to become a tree. I don't want my family going broke after I die. If my 1st choice isn't an option, I want them to do something sustainable and affordable." -- jennybean2442
"I want to become Coral Reef!!" -- SamwiseEGangeefff
"Do you want haunted forests? Because this is how you get haunted forests." -- Throwaway726368
Epic
"I want to be dropped like 500 or so feet from the sky and wherever I land is just a surprise." -- pukichoo
"I think there's a funeral parlor that cremates your body and put the ashes in a big-a** firework and blows you up over the sky..." -- superciuppa
At Least Have the Decency to Cure It
"I want my body to be cured, stuffed with candy, and hung from the ceiling so the funeral guests can beat the candy from my dead body like a piñata." -- fxstfullofashes
"Hmmm a human jerky piñata. Nice." -- DerpyArtist
A Minor, Important Stipulation
"I want my remains to be scattered over Disneyland but I DO NOT want to be cremated." -- fu**ingham_green
"My spouse, a wildlife photographer, said that instead of spreading my ashes over my favorite part of Yellowstone that he'd throw me out limb by limb so he could get some amazing photographs." -- chickaboomba
Viking/Irish/Italian Burial Rites
"I'd love to be placed in a wooden ship soaked in gasoline and pushed into the sea while an archer shoots a fiery arrow from the bay."
"The people will then mourn me watching my ship on fire and crumbling into the sea while a bagpiper play a sad Irish music."
"Then, after a while people will start questioning the irish sad song since i'm italian but i will be gone forever, not to be bothered by them."
-- Xobark
Living Reputations Will Follow You
"When I die, I would like one of the following said about me at the service, and written on my tombstone."
"If I outlived the average life expectancy age: 'Late for death, as he was for most things in life.' "
"If I died before the average life expectancy age: 'Finally, something he wasn't late for.' "
-- AMN-
Educational
"I want my body donated to the Body Farm with one special stipulation."
"I want to be put in a car trunk and spring-loaded so that when some hapless grad student comes to check on my decomposition, my corpse pops out at them like a fermenting eyeless jack-in-the-box."
A Corpse That Keeps on Giving
"I want them to take my bones and make me into one of those skeletons they always have in high school science classes."
"This is not in jest, I think it would be truly cool."
"I got the idea from a guy who lost his arm, and later had it taken to a taxidermist. It now sits on the mantle above his fireplace, a skeleton arm and hand."
-- FedMyNed
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk him about it.
The Most Surprising Things They've Found In Someone's Belongings After They Passed Away
When somebody passes away there is always "the box". It's in the back of an attic, down in the bottom drawer, or bestowed to a son or daughter in the will.
However the dusty crate makes its way to the living, looking through the items is often an eerie experience. There always seems to be uncertainty about whether the person was proud or ashamed of these things.
In some deaths there is time and notice. The person can get their affairs in order, choreograph who gets what, hide away the embarrassing things and divvy out the proudest trinkets.
Some deaths, though, come suddenly. There is no time to make calculations about the objects with that kind of passing.
For the living, the results of uncovered items can be a concoction of surprise, disgust, and sudden understanding.
One Quora user asked,
"While sorting through a deceased person's possessions, what is the most disturbing thing you found?"
Identifying Objects
"A morbid collection of about 20 teeth, clutches of different colored hair in little plastic bags, a bunch of what looked like fingernail clippings in plastic baggies, and a four-inch dried and twisted up stalk of something with a bow-clip attached in the middle."
"Upon closer inspection, you could see these very tiny markings or labels on almost every item."
"The teeth; they were [her son's] baby teeth and his brother Ron's baby teeth (Ron passed away a year before Thelma) and apparently the tooth fairy had helped [her] collect each one."
"The bags of hair were all labeled differently; 'My sister Jane funeral 1947,' 'Ron 1st haircut 1950,' 'Rich 1st haircut 1953,' 'Mom funeral 1962,' 'Aunt Mabel funeral 1964,' 'sister Dorothy Jane funeral 1965,' etc."
-- Becci Winkler
A Pristine Artifact of an Ugly Age
"Folded neatly inside, on top of a shelf, was the uniform of what we later found out was a Major in the SS. The tunic, cover, slacks, medals and insignia looked like they had been kept clean and maintained. It looked like it had been freshly dry-cleaned and was ready to wear."
"Under the shelf were several drawers, and in each one were his Ausweis, SS identity cards, daggers, commissions, promotion to the SS Medical Corps, and letters from superior officers; one was even signed by whom we later learned was Heinrich Himmler."
"There were also a significant quantity of Gold Krugerrands which he had obviously put aside for an emergency."
"The man who would have been my father-in-law was an SS Doctor who, I now believe, had worked under Mengele at one of the camps."
-- Patrick Parrish
It All Makes Sense
"My uncle Don was an odd guy. It wasn't until my teen years that I really understood that."
"When I was younger, he was friendly to me, so that was enough. He was a loner, particular, moody, intense, especially after he divorced and separated from his wife. No kids."
"When my parents went to clean out his home, among the heaps and mounds of a rotten life were dozens and dozens of high heeled shoes, both well- and never-worn, women's clothing, size XL, and a sturdy noose."
"It was a revelation that brought clarity to a lot of things: the solitude, the neighborhood, the sadness. I recall my parents both deeply rattled from the experience. Like someone might feel after watching a dog being hit by a car, traumatized, yet removed and either unable or unwilling to describe it in greater detail."
"Something that had occurred to me at various points in my adult understanding of people, was that Don had been in the seminary at the height of its pedophilia reign, when it ran wild and unchecked."
"Sure enough, Don was a student at St. Edward's Seminary. I found Father William Queenan's name in a database of abusive clergy with multiple accusers. The more I searched, the more certain and sad I became that this was the culminating experience that robbed Don of his ability for successful self determination."
-- Pam Patterson
"A very extended and detailed critique of my every word and movement. Even printed emails to a family friend who had been a confidant (but was close to my part of the family as well) that painted me as a terrible person."
"I began to question myself and wonder at who I really was. But some of the words she put in my mouth were bold faced lies and there were things she said I did that I knew I had not. In fact, some of the things she attributed to me had been things she had said or done."
-- Anonymous
Would Rather Not Have Known
"After mom broke the news to me that my dad passed away I went into his bedroom, remember it's the old days and quite often couples would have separate rooms and just meet for the conjugal part.
"I opened up my dad's large walk-in closet and went in observing all the different items in there and reminiscing and smelling."
"I saw this long white robe with this very distinct red white and black cross pattern and a goofy looking kind of hood hat I couldn't quite figure out what it was but it stuck with me and embedded so deeply that when I did see an actual KKK outfit I knew immediately what that was."
-- Fancee P Pearse
Evidence of Crisis
"My mom was an immaculate typist. She died in her 40's while much of her family was young (including me). Long after her death I was rooting through our basement for a prize; I heard that her journal was there."
"Here were hundreds of pages of journal, single spaced, typed and there was perhaps one error every 3 pages."
"It is filled with XXXXXX's, crossouts, notes in the margin. There are other errors that weren't caught. It was from a very dark part of the history of my parents' lives."
"A dark part that happened prior to my birth. My mom at that time, was struggling with her mental health. She knew it too. Had even asked to be committed, but we were far away from family and there were too many needs from her young kids and so she suffered."
-- Aaron Lassig
These Conspiracy Theories Are Easy to Debunk | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Wildly Organized Trash
"Boxes and boxes of used dead batteries, blown fuses, burned out light bulbs, broken household items, broken furniture, broken transistor radios, flashlights, Etc. All of these items were labeled with the date they stopped working. Why did my Mom and Dad keep garbage like that? I'm still confused."
-- Lisa Anne McBride
Couldn't Not Have This Story in the List
"Grandmother dies and Bonnie (ex-wife) goes to Winnipeg to help her mother sort through Grandmother's stuff and do what is needed."
"She gives me three pairs of knee-high socks which are still in their packets."
"I looked at the 3 packs of socks and decided to just open one of them for now and see how they felt. I opened the plastic covers and then felt the hard cardboard inner liners to help keep them stiff."
"I pulled out the inner liners BUT wait there is more; what is this? Wow, hundreds of dollars in Canadian bills."
"I fall back sitting on the bed and go WTF! My heart is beating strong as money will help a lot. I quickly count, then recount - nice there is $15,000."
"I was glad to give her the money to give back to the family... I cried a bit inside but was glad I did the right thing."
-- Bill Taylor
Hidden Talents
"A simple file hidden within my dad's personal files—past tax info, some stuff he was gathering from a genealogy site, and one other thing."
"A manuscript."
"So I began. I read, and I read. Then I read some more. I spent about 5 hours in our basement, lights off, in front of that glowing white screen that made my eyes ache. I read my dad's book."
"And it was flippin' amazing."
-- Rob Schark
Back Before the Trauma Set In
"Among them, a photo album. In the album, their were extremely disturbing and graphic pictures from the war. I'm not kidding—shocking images, heads blown open, bodies charred with napalm. People posing next to scenes of utter devastation and death."
-- John Kestell
When their True Character Comes Out
"What was the most disturbing to me was that my sister had removed much of my mom's belongings - almost as if I'd come and haul it all off."
"All her Waterford crystal collection and Belleek, and china sets, silverware were gone, so were the photos and jewelry, and a lot of other things, things that weren't nailed down. I'm sure my sister cleared out the place before I came."
-- Kathleen Grace
"Dark Family Secret"
"On the last day before closing, I emptied out her night table and found a yellowed envelope from a doctor dated sometime in the 1940s. Inside was a brief handwritten letter about my dad, confirming that he had epilepsy and was not qualified for driving or the draft."
"When my dad was asked about his exemption from the service, he always said it was because of flat feet."
"I mentioned the letter to my brother and he told me that one day, when he was a little boy, he saw our father rigid and unresponsive in his easy chair. He thought our dad was dead."
"My father's condition was a dark family secret."
-- Barrie Levine
A Record of Abuse
"My Mum died very suddenly at the age of 53. She'd had a massive brain haemorrhage caused by a berry aneurysm that just suddenly burst."
"I was given her possessions in a bag at the hospital. There was just her clothes and handbag and her mobile phone."
"The phone had got about 10 missed calls and voice messages. I listened to the messages. They were all from my Dad. Whilst she was dying my Dad had left several messages."
- "Ring me when you're on your way home."
- "Where are you, you should be home by now."
- "Would you mind calling me back and telling me where the f*ck you are?"
- "Where the f*ck are you, you f*cking bitch, answer your f*cking phone."
- "Get f*cking home right f*cking now.
- I've organised this holiday, and if you're f*cking late…you f*cking know what will happen when you get home."
"He obviously didn't know that I'd listened to these messages, and told everyone that their last conversation was, 'I love you, I'll see you soon.' "
-- Lucy Reid
Walls of Privacy Stripped Away
"Imagine a tornado hit your house. Inside. Add years worth of receipts and plastic bags, clothes, records, furniture, and stuff that belonged in the garbage, was strewn everywhere by this tornado. I had to look to find the bed. It was indistinguishable from the rest of the mess."
"Under the bed were tied-off, white plastic deli bags of cigarette butts. He'd empty the ashtrays but couldn't throw the bags of butts out."
"What was found that was even more of a surprise than the disastrous mess? Bank statements."
"He had millions in his account."
"He chose to live like that. Although choice may be the wrong word. I think it entirely possible he stayed there because if he moved, someone had to see the place. He probably couldn't bear the idea of anyone knowing how he lived."
-- Elizabeth Grey
Not Sure How Much it Helps the Case
"Several years ago as a police officer I was sent to deal with a report of the sudden death of a man in his thirties who was found deceased in the caravan he was living in."
"I was sorting through his personal possessions to try and find details of his next of kin when I came across a box full of Polaroid photographs."
"Also inside the box was a fairly interesting collection of rubber sex toys and vibrators, nipple clamps and cock rings."
But those Polaroid's were something else!
"Clearly the guy was well into the swinging/ bondage scene."
"There were photos of him in women's underwear, group sex, BDSM and a few other fairly strange and kinky group sex activities. I'm fairly broad minded and I've seen a lot of things before but some of this stuff was quite shocking."
-- Steve O'Boyle
A Sudden, Morbid Explanation
"Was cleaning out the large freezer and found the body of my aunt's favorite cat, Teddy. Now we know why she wouldn't let us get anything out of that freezer when we visited."
"She didn't want us to know she'd saved his body after he died and stored it there. He'd died several years before, and his uncleaned litter box was still in the bedroom she had kept shut since then."
"She slept on the sofa from then-on, only walked into her bedroom to grab something from time to time, and wouldn't let us go in there."
-- Arran Walker
Huge Fans
"A membership card for the Roy Orbison fan club in my stepfather's name, and a box of Roy Orbison records and memorabilia. I think if you had given me a thousand guesses, I never would have imagined him as a Roy Orbison fan."
"A photo of my grandmother and my grandfather as a young couple posing in front of Huey Long's grave in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This must have been a long and expensive trip for a young couple during the Depression; I had no idea that they had such a devotion to Huey Long."
-- Mark Thomase
Ya Certainly Hope So...
"Well, no one really expects to find pills of crystal meth in their Opa's belongings. Obviously at some point he had gotten it from a soldier or some other military complex, because there's no other logical explanation."
-- Melody Bertrile
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk him about it.
Death is hard. Saying goodbye to a loved one is one of life's worst hurdles. But maybe if we had some fun with death it could be more bearable or understandable. Who hasn't thought of faking their own passing just to see the attendance and then awaken and really shock everyone? Fun is essential in sad times.
Redditor u/frenreico42 wanted to know how everyone has... or has everyone.... dreamed of ways to cause hilarity at their passing of life celebration by asking... How would you put the fun in funeral?
Oprah style....
GiphyAt the end throw a bouquet of flowers to see who is next. ScotianStupid
Think bigger, throw the corpse. pototoes_
Tardy.
Since it's been an ongoing joke for my entire life, I actually want to be brought in late to my own funeral. crazyjake91
I am probably gonna write down something similar. "Please make sure to wheel me in about 15min late, because that's how I lived life as well." AErt2rule
'Pop goes the weasel'
Start with a closed casket. But at some point the organ begins to slowly play the music for 'Pop goes the weasel'. The music keeps getting slowly faster and faster as more and more people stare at the casket in horrific expectation. varthalon
My mom wants this but she wants a spring loaded casket full of glitter. She also wants strippers and some other random crap. And apparently I'm the one that's supposed to make this happen when she dies. mother_of_dragons011
Tased!
Everyone gets a taser.
Last one standing in my Battle royale gets all my stuff. Klaus_Klavier
Second place gets the ashes. m_sporkboy
It depends.....
GiphyIt depends on the person and family. My grandfather had a great sense of humor and loved to tell jokes. At his funeral, we celebrated his life of over 104 years. Everyone who got up to speak told a funny story or fun memory of him and a lot of laughter was had. Granadafan
Birthdays are for the dying. Funerals are for the living.
I was at a funeral of one of the aunties of my ex gf, she was from Suriname. During the whole funeral everybody was dancing and singing. At the end they told me that it was about celebrating life instead of feeling sorrow for death. lil_beanie420
Birthdays are for the dying. Funerals are for the living. WeedMan420BonerGod
Now for the details:
I would make mine a social event. Talk about me or don't talk about me. The fact that you came to see me off is good enough. My legacy has already been shared and my work here on this planet has been completed.
Now for the details:
Full service ice cream bar
My favorite EDM playing
Nachos and taco bar. Stamafia
Roasted.
My funeral is going to also be a roast. And I want there to be some kind of accident that occurs with the corpse. PhreedomPhighter
I hope it's not your typical weenie roast. Yes, I called your weenie "typical". NicNoletree
SPLAT!!!!
Fire me out of my new corpse cannon. mykylodge
Didn't George Carlin want to be fired out of a cannon against the side of a building? SPLAT. I think it's great. It would be hard to organize though. I'm sure some safety whiner would step in as they were setting up the cannon. jerkfacebeaversucks