Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2013, and all the prices it quotes for Celestis, the Cryonics Institute, LifeGem and Summum are from that time; the services described may have changed or ended since.
The funeral business is a sector where customers have kept coming despite the crisis. Even after passing on to a better life, some people choose to do it with methods that use the latest technology, while others prefer methods dating back to before Christ. These are the most unusual funeral businesses in the world, aimed at a more select customer.
1. Space funerals (Celestis.com)
This company has been working in private space missions for more than 30 years, so part of its business diversification is space cremation. The deceased’s remains are placed in a capsule, which is then sent into space. That way, the day of the burial becomes a special occasion, complete with a rocket launch. Afterwards, your relative is literally up in the sky, closer to the stars. Prices range from $900 to $12,500.
2. Cryonics (cryonics.org)
The Cryonics Institute is a cryopreservation organisation. This means storing the dead in liquid nitrogen to keep them in cryostasis, in the hope of thawing them out in a future world where today’s fatal diseases have been cured. Signing up for this service is not cheap at all: it requires an annual payment for life and a $28,000 fee for the cryopreservation. On top of that, if at some point the body has to be moved somewhere else, transport can cost as much as $88,000.
3. Turn your loved one into a diamond (LifeGem.com)
This company creates diamonds from cremation ashes. That way, you can always carry your loved one with you in a ring or a pendant. Prices range from $2,400 to $20,000.
4. Your loved one turned into art (memorials.com)
This company is one of the leading online suppliers of funeral, cemetery and memorial products. It offers a wide range of traditional items, such as urns and headstones, but its most innovative product is “Art in Ashes”: basically, a painting whose paint is mixed with the ashes of the deceased. That way, the memories will always be on view.
5. Mummification (summum.org)
The art of mummification goes back a very long way. This company offers the chance to undergo the funeral procedure that has been practised around the world since time immemorial. According to its website, it works with “modern mummification”, a technique that combines medical technology, modern chemistry and esoteric art. The service costs around $67,000, and the fright you can give a friend when you explain what is inside the statue is, quite simply… priceless 🙂
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