Viewing dead bodies

[WSUCougar]

Something about it bothers me, and it’s hard to explain.

No, they aren’t inherently scary or gross, and don’t otherwise freak me out. Nothing like that. But something about having them on display strikes me as…I dunno…wrong.

I’m referring in this case to the Pope laying in state and having thousands walk by, but I think I’ve always felt this way. I always get uncomfortable at funeral home “viewings” and also tend to get antsy when corpses are involved in TV or movie plots.

Who else feels this way?

[digamma]

I think viewings are intensely personal experiences. Maybe that is why I'm a little freaked out/turned off by all of these pictures of the pope's body being carted around and on display.

[Anthony]

me too. i don't like looking at dead bodies. there's a definite "un-human" quality about corpses.

[cthomer5000]

I think the fact that we don't (as a culture) do this sort of thing very often makes it that much stranger to see. I think we kind of try to hush death, when we should be far more open and honest about it.

Dead people just look like dummies to me, or some sort of special effect. They are missing the glow of a living person entirely.

[terpkristin]

I too feel awkward about it, though it's not that it feels "wrong" so much, but it does make me feel uncomfortable. In retrospect, I think it'd be because I want to crack a joke to ease the tension, but in the viewing/funeral, I can't do that.

Granted, I've also been to more of my fair share of funerals lately, so that might be part of it too...

/tk

[WSUCougar]

I think viewings are intensely personal experiences.
Very true. I tend to key off people's sincerity, and too often there is a lot of forced commentary or falseness. Not that people are doing so intentionally, it's just inherent in the setting.

[ShaqFu]

When a family friend passed away a few years ago, I finally choked up at the viewing. I think an open-casket or having the body laying without a casket is an emotional experience, giving people a chance to see the loved-one one final time before they are laid to rest. I think seeing the Pope like that would be a truly emotional experience, if only for a fleeting moment.

[Ben E Lou]

Well, in Southern black culture, the viewing of the body is the norm. Many (most?) funerals are open-casket for some or all of the time. For me, the most creepy experience I've ever had was viewing the nearly-dead body of Andrew Childers (http://www.ajc.com/highschool/content/sports/highschool/2003/project/08lede.html), who had lost so much blood from a ruptured spleen that he was corpse-grey from head to toe as they were wheeling him from the trauma room into emergency surgery in the middle of the night. That image is much more burned into my memory than any dead body I've seen.

[digamma]

Well, in Southern black culture, the viewing of the body is the norm. Many (most?) funerals are open-casket for some or all of the time. For me, the most creepy experience I've ever had was viewing the nearly-dead body of Andrew Childers (http://www.ajc.com/highschool/content/sports/highschool/2003/project/08lede.html), who had lost so much blood from a ruptured spleen that he was corpse-grey from head to toe as they were wheeling him from the trauma room into emergency surgery in the middle of the night. That image is much more burned into my memory than any dead body I've seen.
SkyDog,

Do you remember the Ralph Abernathy funeral? If I'm thinking of the right one, they had a funeral procession in downtown Atlanta and propped his corpse up in the seat of a horse and buggy as if he were the driver.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

When my grandmother died, I was there when the casket was sealed. I was the last member of the famioly to see her face. I am so glad that I was there for that moment.

When my other grandmother died they closed the casket in private. I feel I missed out on that last moment of sunshine on her face.

[BrianD]

I’m referring in this case to the Pope laying in state and having thousands walk by, but I think I’ve always felt this way.

Am I the only one who saw the picture of the Pope and wondered when Santa Clause died? For some reason the red robe made him look like Santa.

[Ben E Lou]

SkyDog,

Do you remember the Ralph Abernathy funeral? If I'm thinking of the right one, they had a funeral procession in downtown Atlanta and propped his corpse up in the seat of a horse and buggy as if he were the driver.Just checked his bio. He died in '90, and I moved to metro Atlanta in '91. If that's the one you're talking about, then I don't remember it, but it doesn't really surprise me, either. We can do some *strange* things with bodies. In fact, one of the funniest stories I've heard in my lifetime is one my sister told me about the funeral of her husband's father, out in the country. I ought to post the details at some point.

[Draft Dodger]

if I may...I think dead bodies are kind of like boobs. Our culture generally tends to hide them, while in other areas of the world it's much more normal to display them in public. The first few times we see one, it's quite a shocking and memorable experience, but eventually it becomes just a normal experience.

[MIJB#19]

I didn't like it at all when I saw the corpse of the dead pope on tv the other night. I can't explain why, but the way it is 'exposed', it looked so freaky, unreal. Somehow, I think I'd rather remember people in my minds the way they moved their body, their spirit of life, not how they look like lifeless. I know I felt that way as a 10-year old when my grandfather died and I think I'd react the same today had a loved one pass away.

[Gallifrey]

I only like viewing dead bodies in the movies.

[JeeberD]

Seeing bodies on TV doesn't bother me for some reason. Seeing them in person is kinda freaky though. At my grandmother's funeral I held myself together very well until the casket was opened at the end. That's when the waterworks started flowing...

[SFL Cat]

Well, since I happen to believe that we're more than just flesh and blood, bodies on display at funerals don't bother me. I realize that with the life-force that energized the body gone, it is simply an empty shell. What DOES creep me out are people who I have seen that have actually reached down and kissed the corpse during viewings.

One thing I have noticed is how different a person's body looks after they've died than when they were alive. I've felt that way at every funeral I have attended, even my mom's funeral. I didn't think what was lying in the casket looked like her at all. I almost felt I was looking at some kind of mannequin.

[Anthony]

if I may...I think dead bodies are kind of like boobs. Our culture generally tends to hide them, while in other areas of the world it's much more normal to display them in public. The first few times we see one, it's quite a shocking and memorable experience, but eventually it becomes just a normal experience.

no, my homosexual friend, exposed boobs will NEVER be *just* a normal experience. they are an adventure each and every fucking time.

[Buccaneer]

I'm glad someone else brought this up but I think this practice is morbid and freaky. My wife tells me it was common in her Catholic family but she finds it freaky as well. I guess it is a cultural thing, extending from traditional Catholic to Southern blacks as well as the Islamic cultures.

[Karlifornia]

I think they should let people view the bodies whenever they want. Even years after death. It would teach children that RIDING YOUR SCOOTER WITHOUT YOUR HELMET IS NOT A LAUGHING MATTER, IS IT BILLY!?!?!?

[JonInMiddleGA]

My wife tells me it was common in her Catholic family but she finds it freaky as well. I guess it is a cultural thing, extending from traditional Catholic to Southern blacks as well as the Islamic cultures.

Not just a Southern black thing AFAIK, more of a rural Southern thing at the least, as open-casket was the norm throughout my youth & is still at least half or more of the funerals I've attended as an adult. Typically, the only time the casket was closed through most of my lifetime was when there was some circumstance that rendered the deceased ... well, "unpresentable". I lost a cousin in an auto accident, killed when she was ejected through the sunroof. After hours of cosmetic work, there was a decision not to open the casket, but even in those circumstances I remember it being a very difficult decision for the family. (an indication of how important having it open was believed to be).

[Ragone]

I saw a video of this.. i half expected the pope to sit up and ask for a root beer or something

[Castlerock]

Definitely not just a Southern black thing. The vast majority of wakes I have attended were Catholic but I can recall only one wake which was not an open casket (that was for my uncle who was killed in a car crash). It is not at all freaky to me and I think it does aid in the grieving process.

[WSUCougar]

And then you read lines like this one from CNN.com:
Speculation that the pope -- or simply his heart -- might be buried in Poland swirled from the moment his death was announced on Saturday.
So is it traditional to divvy up the internal organs, or is this a unique occurence?

[Raiders Army]

And then you read lines like this one from CNN.com:

So is it traditional to divvy up the internal organs, or is this a unique occurence?
Must...hold...back...

[mhass]

I'm creeped out by my wife's wedding bouqet that sits under glass in our living room. It would definitely be creepier if it were body in there.

[HomerJSimpson]

I'm glad someone else brought this up but I think this practice is morbid and freaky. My wife tells me it was common in her Catholic family but she finds it freaky as well. I guess it is a cultural thing, extending from traditional Catholic to Southern blacks as well as the Islamic cultures.


Actually, it is a very healthy thing, psycologically wise, to have a "viewing" or an open casket. There is a need for closure and permission to mourn that are both met with the viewing of the body. When you deal with people that have a problem with grief, many times part of it is they didn't get a chance to see/touch the body (so the death is not real) and get to say goodbye one last time.

[Buccaneer]

I just read that the Pope is not embalmed (his internal organs still intact) and that he won't be buried until Friday.

[Buccaneer]

Homer: Understood.

[Loren]

Not just a Southern black thing AFAIK, more of a rural Southern thing at the least, as open-casket was the norm throughout my youth & is still at least half or more of the funerals I've attended as an adult. Typically, the only time the casket was closed through most of my lifetime was when there was some circumstance that rendered the deceased ... well, "unpresentable". .
same here, being Mexican I grew up where it was quite normal for an open casket funeral at all times, unless there was something horribly wrong with the body..in fact it's very normal for the body to be kept and viewed in a family home instead of an actual funeral home. Out of respect for the person and the person's spirit and some other religious factors, someone would always have to stay in the room with the body, and they could stay in the home for well up to 4 days before being taken for burial, guess thats why ive never been freaked out about it, well i guess as long as i knew the person, you go up and touch the person and say your farewells....