Funeral Friday: Unusual Things People Have Done With Cremated Remains

When most people receive the cremated remains or ashes of a loved one, they either keep them in an urn or a box in their house, have them buried, or spread them where a family member requested, such as the beach, a park, under a tree, or the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney!

A few times a year, we hear stories of rides getting shut down at Disney because people decide to open a huge bag of crushed bones and dust while going through a ride. Maybe that is the real reason there is so much dust in the Haunted Mansion!😜

One of the more dramatic options is sending ashes into space. Memorial spaceflight companies place a small portion of cremated remains into a capsule and launch them beyond Earth. This has been done for several well-known people, including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and psychologist Timothy Leary. For a person who loved science fiction, astronomy, or adventure, space becomes the ultimate resting place.

Another unusual memorial is turning cremated remains into a diamond. Companies that specialize in this process extract carbon from ashes and use high-pressure, high-temperature technology to create a lab-grown gemstone. The result can be worn as a ring, necklace, or other piece of jewelry.

For music lovers, ashes can be pressed into a vinyl record. Companies have offered to mix a small amount of cremated remains into the vinyl itself. Families can choose music, spoken words, a favorite song, or even a recorded message.

Some people choose a more explosive goodbye by having ashes placed into fireworks. The cremated remains are incorporated into a professional fireworks display, allowing the family to watch their loved one light up the sky one last time.

There are also memorial tattoos made with cremated remains. In these cases, a tiny amount of ash is mixed into tattoo ink. The tattoo might be a name, a portrait, a symbol, a handwriting sample, or something meaningful to the person who died.

One of the most unsettling pop-culture examples came from TLC’s My Strange Addiction. A young widow named Casie appeared on the show after the sudden death of her husband, Shawn. Her grief had become so consuming that she carried his urn everywhere, spoke to it, cooked meals for him, and eventually began eating it!

According to the episode, the habit began after some of the ashes spilled onto her finger and she licked them off. From there, it became compulsive.

And finally, when you thought you had heard it all, a woman has recently gone viral because she embedded the remains of her “babydaddy” in her fingernails!

“My babydaddy passed away a year ago, yesterday I used some of his ashes for a design to get my nails done. His Mama was angry at me for doing it, but idgaf I had a kid with him, NOT YOU!”

With all of these choices, do you have any special plans for your cremains after you die? Have you done anything unconventional with cremated remains, or do you plan to in the future?

I always joke that if my husband dies first, I will wear his remains in a Flava Flav-type clock around my neck!