"Despite the fear of burial while still alive, there are no documented cases of anybody being saved by a safety coffin." The safety coffin and other similar devices from the early 19th century are best understood as an odd, transient cultural phenomenon, not a response to a real need.

That doesn't say much though.

If being burried alive was rare and having a being-burried-alive-safety-bell was rare. A combination would have been rare rare.

I guess rodents could leave scratch marks that would look like nails, too.

Embalming is largely a cultural thing. It's very rare in Europe for people to get embalmed. At least in the places I've lived. Also, the chemicals involved are a bit nasty and there's actually a trend for people to have their remains disposed off in a more sustainable way. E.g. composting is popular lately. My aunt was buried in a nature cemetery a few months ago. Very beautiful place.

I had to look it up (although I realise now that's what all the chemicals shown on Six Feet Under were about). Sadly as I get older I've been to many funerals here in the UK. Not one of them had an open display of the dead body. All but one of them was a cremation. Is embalming a very US thing or is it common elsewhere?

I think most people (60%) get cremated even in the USA these days, so it’s much less common than it was a few decades ago. Morticians usually run both since embalming doesn’t really support things anymore. In my state (WA), it’s around 80%, but it’s as low as 25% in MS.

N= 1 but I’ve attended funerals in Australia and Europe and never once encountered the open casket/embalmed body that seems so common on US TV and in movies.

In Ireland it's normal to have the dead in an open casket in their house prior to the funeral for a few days.

We rarely take more than 3-4 days between the death and burial though.

I'm Australian and have been to exactly 1 open casket.

Soap box while I'm here: bodies do NOT need to be embalmed to have a viewing or open casket. If a funeral home is saying it's 'policy' to embalm for a viewing it is 99.9% of the time an internal/company policy and NOT a matter of law. Bodies kept cool without embalming are not stinky, discoloured, or dangerous, or any of the other reasons a funeral home will try to push for embalming. Yes there are exceptions, but they are few and they should all be explained to you in detail and you still have a choice! Prep methods for viewing (to keep eyes and mouth closed) can be done without embalming. You can take the body to a different funeral home at any point, so if you do end up at one refusing a viewing unless they're embalmed you really can go elsewhere. You also don't need a funeral home to have a viewing; you can do it at home as was custom (for ...millenia, I assume) until recently.

Not just TV. I think every funeral I’ve been to here in the US (a dozen? Two dozen?) had an open casket “viewing” before the funeral began. Very common. And I’ve not known anyone to get cremated, but that might just be the circle I run in.

Funny. Just a few minutes ago a youtube snippet of Law & Order taught me the alleged "first rule of composting": No meat!

I guess I should unlearn that.

A sky burial achieves the same purpose. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial

At least if the dead person starts thrushing around while you cut them up they stop soon afterwards.

Oof I can understand this from a purely logical standpoint, but those photos are deeply unsettling.

As an alternative solution, someone offered a coffin with a large spike on it.

Dwight Schrute’s family had the best solution: on the day of the funeral, they’d just shoot the corpse in the casket three times with a shotgun at point blank range.

They also got married while standing in their graves. The weddings were a bleak affair, but the funerals were surprisingly romantic.