Death, being inevitable, will arrive sooner than you think it will. Time flies, and once you die, your body will be buried, burned, or cremated depending on the death rituals followed by your religion, culture, and society. But the world is a strange place. These appalling and gruesome death rituals will terrify you – and the goosebumps will rise…
Note: Please avoid looking at the images if you are not with a strong heart.
Self-Immolation – A widow’s nightmare
As per religious practice, a Hindu is burned after he/she dies. Traditionally known as Suttee in ancient Hinduism, if a married Hindu man died, his widow is forced to be burned alive next to his corpse. This was practiced for centuries until the British came to rule, and was outlawed 1829. But minds and rituals are hard to change – there have been reported cases of Suttee even today, even when it was outlawed two more times after Indian independence.
Self Immolation - Suttee
But why? First the grief of her dying husband – and then the horror of the fire she will be facing. The Hindu widow was considered impure – everything from her presence to her voice was disregarded and shunned by society. Hence, better dead than alive – throw her in the same fire…
The Sky Burial – A vulture’s paradise
We have to thank the Tibetan for this one. The corpse is cut up, taken to the top of a mountain, and left there. The birds can enjoy the feast. Several mountains have been dedicated as burial sites, where the birds are enticed to come and pick on their food. The corpse is taken to the burial site wrapped in white cloth – and then the axes fly… when done, the vultures come and enjoy their food. Easy as that
Tibetan Sky Burial
But why? The Buddhists believe in reincarnation – the body in this life is just a soul holding object. After death, the soul will be transferred into another living being – hopefully not into the vulture that will be eating off other sky burials…
Aboriginal Body Exposure
The original inhabitants of Australia had a number of ways to deal with the dead, but the strangest and the most gruesome of them all was the exposure on a raised platform. The dead man was laid down on a platform created high above the trees, covered with leaves and branches and then left to rot and shrivel. When nothing is left except the bones, they are carried into an isolated space and left to change into dust.
A Diamond Is Forever – A dead man turned diamond
LifeGem, an American company will turn your loved ones into a synthetic diamond. Wear your mother as a ring on your finger! Just thinking about it gives me the creeps – I doubt many would want to be turned into a stone after death.
The process requires capturing carbon from the body or the cremated remains of the deceased, which is turned into granite, before converting it into a shiny, diamond like crystal. The bigger the diamond, the more costly the diamond is..
Space Burial – Float around in the universe for eternity
The most modern of all death rituals, now you can buy yourself a home in space! A rocket blasts your ashes into the orbits – how high up you want to go depends on which package you spent. The cost can go up to $60,000! Nevertheless this is horrifying – imagine getting sucked into a black hole…
The space burial
A small sample of the cremated ashes of the deceased are placed in a capsule the size of a tube of lipstick and are launched into space using a rocket. As of 2004, samples of about 150 people have been “buried” in space.
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