Death, dying and graves...................SmoknJoe

Death, dying and graves...

(37 facts) Presidential "grave" facts

1. Most-visited presidential grave: John F. Kennedy's in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

2. The only other president buried in Arlington: William Howard Taft.

3. The only president buried in Washington, D.C. proper: Woodrow Wilson, who was laid to rest in the National Cathedral.

4. The only president buried on the grounds of a state capitol: James Polk in Nashville, Tenn.

5. The only presidents buried together: John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams are in a basement crypt in Quincy, Mass.

6. The two presidents who died on the same day: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died July 4, 1826.

7. The states with the most presidential burial sites: Ohio and Virginia (tie).

Death trivia

A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated.

Over 2500 left handed people are killed each year from using products made for right handed people.

In 1845, President Andrew Jackson's pet parrot was removed from his funeral for swearing.

When Thomas Edison died in 1941; Henry Ford captured his last dying breath in a bottle.

Robert Hershey died when he fell into a vat of chocolate and drowned. (not verified)

A dentist invented the Electric Chair.

Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously - it can kill you.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Orange County, California. Number one is heart disease.

Only one in two billion people will live to be 116 or older.

When Mahatma Gandhi died, an autopsy revealed that his small intestine contained five gold Krugerrands. (not verified)

A body decomposes four times as fast in water than on land.

Dr. Alice Chase, who wrote 'Nutrition for Health', died of malnutrition. (not verified)

The tiny poison arrow frog has enough poison to kill over 2200 people!

On average, people fear spiders more than they do dying. However, statistically you are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by the bite of a poisonous spider.

Cockroaches can live for nine days without their heads, at which point they die of starvation.

In Erwin, Tennessee an elephant was once hanged for murder.

About 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens each year.

In the Spanish Pyrenees, when a beekeeper dies, each of his bees is splashed with a drop of Black Ink.

On average, right-handed people live 9 years longer than their left-handed counterparts.

A murder is committed in the US every 23 minutes, which makes about 22852 murders each year.



In 1992, approximately 750 deaths occurred in the United States due to workplace violence.

In the United States, poisoning is the fourth leading cause of death among children.

Influenza caused over twenty-one million deaths in 1918.

Each year in America there are about 300,000 deaths that can be attributed to obesity.

Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for about 180,000 deaths per year.

The leading cause of deaths for children between the ages of 1 and 4 are motor vehicle crashes.

Over the last 50 years in the United States, approximately 9,000 people have died as a result of tornadoes, 5,000 as the result of floods, and 4,000 as the result of hurricanes.

When a person dies, hearing is generally the last sense to go. The first sense lost is usually sight. Then follows taste, smell, and touch.



All bodies are taken to the hospital so that a physician can pronounce death. If the person died of known or natural causes, the body is then transported to a funeral home. On the other hand, if the cause is unknown or suspicious, the body is moved to the local medical examiner's office where an autopsy is performed. The body is checked for bruises, cuts, abrasions, punctures and marks of any kind. During this procedure, the chest cavity is opened and all internal organs are removed. They are then carefully weighed and measured. A long incision is made across the top of the head and the face is peeled down like a mask. An electric saw is used to make a cut around the circumferance of the cranium and the skull cap is removed so that the brain may be excised. It is then weighed and measured as well. If the cause of death is still undetermined, toxicology tests are performed. The chest is sutured or stapled back together. The skull cap is replaced and the face is pulled back up and sewn into place. The body is then sent to a funeral home.

At the funeral home, the body is placed on it's back on a stainless steel table. The mortician or embalmer inserts tubing into the large vessels on one side of the neck and all bodily fluids are pumped out. Those are replaced with an embalming solution. Some diseases such as tuberculosis may be spread via airborn particles, therefore, all bodily orifices are carefully stuffed with cotton. Plastic cups are placed beneath the lids and lips in order to keep the eyes and mouth closed. Tiny teeth latch onto the interior skin in order to accomplish this. If any facial reconstructon is required it is done at this time. After the body has been prepared, another person is called in to do the make-up. Next, comes the hairdresser. The final step is to dress the body. The suits usually have no back in order to make dressing easier and, I'm sure, to save money on fabric. The pants have no pockets and the body wears no shoes. After this is done, the body is transferred to a casket.

Now, we discuss the cemetery. Although it is no longer the case, most caskets used to be constructed of wood. Rain would seep into the ground and over a period of time, the wood would rot. When it became brittle enough, the weight of the Earth would crush it and the ground would sink. That is what it means when you hear senior citizens talking about sunken graves. And there are dozens like that here in NC. When that happened, they were usually covered over with more dirt so that the ground would be level. It was more aesthetically pleasing and grounds maintenance was made easier. That doesn't happen anymore because most caskets are no longer made of wood. Even so, vaults or outer containers are now mandated by law in most, if not all, states.

Although the body was embalmed, the tissues still contain a great deal of fluid. This is released as decomposition occurs. If a casket is airtight or a 'sealer' model, there is no way for this moisture to escape. What is left then is a container full of liquid. In the industry, it's sometimes referred to as 'soup'. You may have noticed that I have not used the word 'coffin' once. That is because it's now avoided,for whatever reason, in the industry. The accepted term is 'casket'. Most caskets are not the sealer variety and most vaults are equipped with vents or holes in order to allow drainage.

That brings us to crypts. These forms of disposition are above ground in buildings known as mausoleums. This is known as a 'dry burial'. That is because the crypts are vented in the rear in order to allow the evaporation to escape into the outside air.

Will eventually add some more trivia to another post like this. Such as people who were so terrified of being buried alive that they had bells or ropes attached to bells so if the awoke in a coffin they could summon help.

If you're still with me at this point, you may have been surprised and/or disgusted at times. You may have even learned something. Whatever the case may be, I hope you found it to be interesting. Rest in peace.

If you have any site suggestions as to the morbid or wierd stuff then post it here. I try to get the tidbits and save them for posting here. Thanks for reading and replying.

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