More than likely- grandad did it. :)

naw- I bet she had some fear about this happening. Somewhere along the line, whether somebody said something, or she saw something on the internet about coffins being a hot theft item, perhaps even a tv show plot, or something, planted a seed of concern in her brain.

She had a fear. Someone could have stolen her kid's coffin, leaving her kid wet and cold beneath the earth. Never mind the coffin wasn't heated, so the complaint should have been simply "wet", or, "damn, it used to be just cold in here, but now I'm cold AND wet...and dirty..." , the fear was there, and wet and cold would have been the complaints.

Good thing I'm not buried, because I'd complain about everything. "Damn maggots eating my brain... Can't scratch my back... I'm hungry... Dark in here..." I'd be someone else's worse nightmare. They'd dig me up and kill me again to shut me up. But enough about me.


She worried. Over time, it festered and grew, reflected in the ever worsening spiral nightmares, until action was required to fix it, and it confirmed her worst fear.

fancy burials are for the ones alive, the dead don't know
stick me in a recycled amazon box and incinerate the box with me in it.

In my lawyer days, I once handled a case involving crematoriums and improper handling of corpses. To some people in the funeral trade, the body of your loved one is nothing at all.

This. Work around corpses for 40 years, and they can become nothing more than a source of making money from the family, legit or not.

It is just money.

Remember this very well. Lots of hurting and pizzed off people after discovering their loved ones were not where they thought or had not been buried at all.
Slimeballs in every area of life. These dirtballs are only exceeded by those who steal from churches & the infirm. If I were a believer, I would expect that a "special" corner of hell is reserved for them.

My father was a French polisher by trade. He was also an accomplished wood carver. Worked at a funeral home and actually made caskets for some time. He'd finish his caskets to perfection. If he made a casket for a child, he would hand carve their name into the wood. He would also carve the child's favorite animal into the lid. He always said back then that grave robbers were alive and well. He said they would generally pick Italian graves, as the women were often buried with all their jewellery. So not surprised by this at all.

Is your father still with us? He sounds like a good bloke.

A lot of graves in the Catholic section, West Terrace cemetery were robbed back in the 70s and 80s.

One of my buddies grew up in a house next door to a family owned funeral home, much like the HBO series 6 feet under. Of course it was not nearly as nuts as the TV show. He was over there all the time since he was the same age as one of the sons of the funeral family.

My buddies first job was driving a hearse and picking up bodies to bring back to the funeral home. He said at first it was creepy, then it became just a job.

This is a nice case of an unquantifiable reality...

A lot of supposition on this one from the peanut gallery.

The theft is another matter...File a police report and see an attorney to sue everyone in sight.. go to the media on this one.. create a bigger stink than a dead body rotting n the noon day sun. fk em..

People working in the HC industry can not be emotionally involved with all the patients or they would be emotional wrecks.. They have to have some sort of emotional detachment..to all the death and misery that they see.

At the same time, if you were a parent and this was for your deceased child, you may really not want that event to be your primary focus and constantly discussed for the months that it would take to sue someone.

this is a cold case.......

as it happened 20yrs ago ;)

Just like you are guessing. No doubt if the family has deep pockets and a very thick skin they can sue. All they can really do is question the reputation of the of the funeral home. They were likely sold long ago and are now part of the mega large funeral home businesses.

https://247wallst.com/investing/2011/01/13/the-ten-companies-that-control-the-death-industry/

Those companies likely will fight and drag out any lawsuit for decades.

Sadly not. Died a long time ago. He retired due to cancer. When he was a couple of months from death, he went back to the funeral home and made his own casket. He didn't want to the other guys he'd spent years with getting upset while making it. He also made my mothers casket. I was a kid. I do remember it was white with hand carved and painted red roses. As I got older I imagined how hard it must have been for him to make that casket a few weeks before her death. Makes me tear up every time I think about it.
Yep...it was the late 70's, early 80's. Cheltenham Cemetery also used to get robbers back then as well. Dad used to say they'd pinch the really large headstones, and then run them through a machine and take off the engravings. They'd then have a nice clean piece of marble or granite to start again.

Just an aside. Quiet possibly one of the best things my dad did for me was calling me into his work one day. I'd just got my learners permit so I caught the bus. He said I could drive home. When I got there, he said "come with me". We went into the cold room. I was really freaked out. He called me over to a body with a sheet over it. He pulled the sheet back. It was a kid slightly older than me. Driving to fast and hit a tree. Killed instantly. I can still see that poor boys face even today. But it worked. I never really drove like an idiot. He had the families blessing to show me their broken son. I didn't know him but out of respect I attended his funeral. The devastation on his family was the thing that struck me most.