Civil suits were filed against the Marsh family as well as a number of funeral homes who shipped bodies to Tri-State; these suits were ultimately settled. The property of the Marsh family has been sold, but collection of the full $80-million judgment remains doubtful. Families have expressed the desire to return the former Tri-State crematory to a natural, parklike setting.[citation needed]
Contrary to popular belief, the cremated remains are not ashes in the usual sense. After the incineration is completed, the dry bone fragments are swept out of the retort and pulverised by a machine called a Cremulator—essentially a high-capacity, high-speed blender—to process them into "ashes" or "cremated remains",[56][57] although pulverisation may also be performed by hand. This leaves the bone with a fine sand like texture and color, able to be scattered without need for mixing with any foreign matter,[58] though the size of the grain varies depending on the Cremulator used. The mean weight of an adult's remains is 2.4 kg; the mean weight for adult males is about 1 kg higher than that for adult females.[59] There are various types of Cremulators, including rotating devices, grinders, and older models using heavy metal balls.[60] The grinding process typically takes about 20 seconds.
Start by arming yourself with the right attitude. Making the funeral arrangements will be less of a weight if you recognize that it can actually help you and your loved ones work through the grieving process. Begin thinking of the service as a celebration of the person's life. It should be dignified and respectful without being depressing and morbid. Along with mourning, there should be room for expressions of joy -- even laughter.
During World War II (1939–45) Nazi Germany used specially built furnaces in at least six extermination camps throughout occupied Poland including at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chełmno, Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka, where the bodies of those murdered by gassing were disposed of using incineration. The efficiency of industrialised killing of Operation Reinhard during the most deadly phase of the Holocaust produced too many corpses, therefore the crematoria manufactured to SS specifications were put into use in all of them to handle the disposals around the clock, day and night.[33][34] The Vrba–Wetzler report offers the following description.
In parts of Europe, cremation was forbidden by law, and even punishable by death if combined with Heathen rites.[11] Cremation was sometimes used by Catholic authorities as part of punishment for accused heretics, which included burning at the stake. For example, the body of John Wycliff was exhumed years after his death and burned to ashes, with the ashes thrown in a river,[12] explicitly as a posthumous punishment for his denial of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.[13]
In early 2002, 334 corpses that were supposed to have been cremated in the previous few years at the Tri-State Crematory were found intact and decaying on the crematorium's grounds in the U.S. state of Georgia, having been dumped there by the crematorium's proprietor. Many of the corpses were decayed beyond identification. Some families received "ashes" that were made of wood and concrete dust.[127]Can dead bodies sit up?
Burial is a known source of certain environmental contaminants, with the major ones being formaldehyde and the coffin itself. Cremation can also release contaminants, such as mercury from dental fillings.[73] In some countries such as the United Kingdom, the law now requires that cremators be fitted with abatement equipment (filters) that remove serious pollutants such as mercury.
^ Rabow, Jerome A. A Guide to Jewish Mourning and Condolence. Valley Beth Shalom. Archived from the original on 22 April 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2006. ... cremation is un-questionably unacceptable to Conservative Judaism. The process of cremation would substitute an artificial and "instant" destruction for the natural process of decay and would have the disposition of the remains subject to manipulation by the survivors rather than submit to the universal processes of nature.
What happens when a family can't afford a funeral?
My father passed away April 2017. He had prepaid his cremation services through National Cremation in Oviedo, Florida many years prior. I met with Stephen Barreto at an appointed time. He had the file in hand, and all of the paperwork ready to start the information gathering process. He kept in constant communication through out the process, and every little special request and detail was in order when I went to pick up my father’s remains. He assisted with the death certificate process, ensured the certificates were sent to me in New Jersey, and provided an overall sense of reassurance that everything would be, and was, taken care of. I highly recommend National Cremation be it Oviedo, or any other location, as the staff was courteous, well trained, and a pleasure to interact with. Thank you so much to Steven Barreto for your kindness, patience, and attention to detail. You made everything perfect.
A funeral home can help you coordinate a cremation. In some cases—mostly depending on whether or not you want to have a funeral service before the cremation—you may be able to work with a crematory directly. In addition, certain states have laws about who may coordinate a cremation, and in some state a funeral director at a funeral home must legally handle the arrangements. It’s best to reach out to your local crematories and talk to them about the laws and regulations in your state.
Despite being an obvious source of carbon emissions, cremation also has environmental advantages over burial, depending on local practice. Studies by Elisabeth Keijzer for the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Research found that cremation has less of an environmental impact than a traditional burial (the study did not address natural burials), while the newer method of alkaline hydrolysis (sometimes called green cremation or resomation) had less impact than both. The study was based on Dutch practice; American crematoria are more likely to emit mercury, but are less likely to burn hardwood coffins.[73] Keijzer's studies also found that a cremation or burial accounts for only about a quarter of a funeral's environmental impact; the carbon emissions of people travelling to the funeral are far greater.[73]