Evendays

Three weeks ago, Wife, Daughter, Daughter’s Friend (girl) and I spent 4 days in Edinburgh, Scotland. It’s been our family tradition to “discover” a European city during the October holidays. Since Son 1 was in university and Son 2 in Marseilles, Daughter got to bring a buddy.

We love museums, especially free ones. In the Scottish National Museum there is a section on Edinburgh and death. Fascinating, especially when you read about the Resurrectionists. They were not a sect of Presbyterianism, but rather 19th century body snatchers, grave robbers who would steal recently buried dead and sell the cadavers to the medical schools. It was a lucrative business, not even a felony and overlooked by many authorities, but an added burden on the loved-ones of the departed for they would have to protect the dead from thieves.

Check out the Iron Coffin below (click to enlarge). Now, imagine Greg, our favorite funeral home director, trying to store that into his vehicle with his well-publicized grace.