Burial Vaults at the height of the great depression.

Yes we are all going to die. Some of us will be buried, some cremated, some given to schools to play with and dissect. But everyone has to go from this mudball called earth. It is a interesting thing to see how the funeral industry found new and fascinating ways to not only bury your loved ones, but also rid you more of your hard earned cash. In 1834 it was just a box and a quick burial. By 1934 as this ad suggests, it was a big process. Which meant ....MONEY!!!

So this heart rending scene of mother's letter let's us know that she and every other widow would be very content to know that her husband was in a airtight, sterile, and protected environment. Not to be morbid, but unless we are bringing them up again, should I care what anyone else is buried in? They are dead, they are not making encores.

It is a great racket, but not what it once was. The day of the 3 day funeral with all the trimmings is pretty much past. Even 2 days of viewings is looked at as kind of silly. And once the body is in the ground...well it is not coming out.

But the funeral industry has made it a pretty good racket out of grief and making sure you respect your family member. Even in an economic depression. But now we have been brain washed to think that is normal to embalm a body, or find a fancy casket, or a fancy vault.
When my grandmother died I got her the cheapest casket and no vault. She was part of nature in a matter of months. Why bother? I would be happy for the same.
Cause yes these vaults work for a while, but then they leak and pollute the ground with all of the embalming fluids just like every other embalmed body.

Can you just imagine the toxic waste dump cemeteries are? Not from bodies not embalmed, but from those that are!


Well it is all history, and the history of embalming I should go into soon.

This is a great ad, and I am sure it sold a lot of burial vaults...even in a great national depression.