casket news stories on Newser

Cemetery Worker Breaks Legs Tumbling Into Grave

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:43:59 CST

Mourners at a funeral in New York were shocked to see a cemetery worker plunge into a grave today and break both his legs, DNAinfo reports. The 49-year-old "was removing the strap from the casket at that time," says a cemetery official who suspected the man only hurt a knee....

Cops: Man Steals Game Boy From Teen's Casket

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 02:04:20 CST

Now that's low. Indiana cops have busted a 37-year-old man they say swiped a Game Boy from the casket of a teen killed in a car accident. The heist occurred during viewing of the 11th-grader's body at a local funeral home, said investigators. The teen's uncle confronted the robber outside...

Tony Curtis Is Not Alone in His Casket

GoingLikeSixty — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:33:54 CDT

Wherever Tony Curtis ends up after his death, he will have some gold coins, sketchbooks, and a DVD of film clips to keep him busy. Curtis was buried yesterday with plenty of celebrities (including daughter Jamie Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger, both of whom gave spirited eulogies) in attendance, and his...

Wal-Mart Enters Coffin Biz

Rob Quinn — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:08:06 CDT

America's leading big-box store is now also a pine box store. Wal-Mart has started selling a range of discount coffins on its website and plans to expand its death products to include pet urns and memorial jewelry. Prices start at just $895 for a steel coffin. Funeral home owners say...

Questions Linger in Wake of Memorial

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:44:18 CDT

Fans are donating to the city of Los Angeles in an effort to defray the cost of Michael Jackson’s memorial, E! reports. The final total is still in the works, and some famous friends and corporate sponsors are rumored to have donated generously. More from the aftermath: Los Angeles could...

Jackson May Be on View in Glass Coffin

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:53:33 CDT

Michael Jackson’s funeral could be as lavish as one of his concerts. His body will reportedly be transported in a horse-drawn carriage, and he could be on view in a glass coffin. “The glass casket idea would create so much public interest it would take time to organize,” a source...

Final 'Green' Frontier: Cemeteries

Katherine Thompson — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:53:59 CST

As the green movement contemplates the afterlife, more funeral directors are seeing demand for a sendoff without the embalming and sturdy coffins of traditional burials, the Wall Street Journal reports. Natural burials won't necessarily put funeral directors out of business: Yes, simple shrouds are available, but so is a $300...

Fans Get Prime Seats for Eternal Extra Innings

Katherine Thompson — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:35:01 CST

Die-hard baseball fans can now continue showing their team pride even in the afterlife. A Boston-area funeral home is offering its first-ever Red Sox casket, emblazoned with the team’s logo and accented with baseball-bat-type wood. “It's really a beautiful thing,” the funeral-home director, a Sox fan himself, tells the Globe...

As Cremations Increase, So Do Options

Jess Kilby — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:00:15 CDT

The cremation industry is booming, a reflection of tighter economic times and a push from consumers for more creative funeral options, reports the Washington Post . Cremations, cheaper than traditional burial, rose 7% nationwide in the past 5 years and made up 35% of the funeral market last year. Funeral homes...