12 Strange Funerals and Funeral Traditions

Funerals are generally somber, mournful events. The loss of a loved one is always a difficult, heart-wrenching experience and the funeral service mirrors this loss. Occasionally though, the life of the deceased may have been so unique or peculiar that the dreary edge of the funeral is dulled by an atmosphere reflecting the distinctive personality of the departed.

Miriam Banks was always the life of the party. This did not change at her funeral. Her family members propped up her carcass and placed a cigarette in her hand and her favorite beer at the table. Banks’s service was also replete with disco balls and dance music. While a party dynamic may not be to your taste, others have made their services unique by taking long-loved possessions to their graves. George Swanson was buried with his 1994 Chevrolet Corvette. Car aficionados in attendance may have been weeping for both Swanson’s passing and the loss of the car; it only had 27,000 original miles on it.

Whatever your individual pleasure, a funeral may maintain a traditional, somber tenor, or it may take on the special personality of the deceased to create a more palatable memory for the grieving.

See Amanda Green, 12 Strange Funerals and Funeral Traditions, Mental Floss, January 11, 2016.