Taphophilia.(dot) Com - EDITORIAL: 6 feet under, 30,000 feet in the sky

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West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

EDITORIAL: 6 feet under, 30,000 feet in the sky

Written by DeadGirl
Monday, 27 September 2004
September 26, 2004 BY ELLEN CREAGER FREE PRESS COLUMNIST If you're flying your mama's ashes back to Biloxi, don't put her cremated remains in a fancy urn. Why? Even though she's gone, she'll be halted at airport security. Any urn that an X-ray machine can't see through can't be carried on. Unfortunately, the TSA can't open the container," says Ann Davis of the Transportation Security Administration. "We suggest that the container be air-travel friendly and not opaque." Lest you think this means you have to transport your loved one in Tupperware, it's not that bad. Just almost. Mystery of the urn It turns out that the question of which cremation urns actually are air-travel friendly is a matter of classified national security. I found this out when I tried to sort out which urns are OK. Plastic, cardboard and wood are acceptable. But what about marble? Glass? Cloisonne? Ceramic? Most crematoriums place ashes in a heavy plastic bag, then in a plastic container, then in a cardboard box. You can take this aboard with no problem, says Wayne McWilliams, funeral director at Wachterhauser Funeral Home in Alpena. Wood boxes are OK, too, even ones with metal hasps. Beyond that, the TSA won't say which urns cause returns. "It's a question of national security. We can't say which materials are opaque to our machines," says Davis. How will we find out in advance? We won't. So err on the safe side. Ashes to ashes Cremation is growing fast as a funeral choice. In 2003, 29,937 Michiganders were cremated, about a third of everyone who died. Nationally, the state ranks sixth in the percentage of residents choosing cremation. Because modern families are spread across the country, many survivors scatter loved ones' ashes in far-off places. Often that requires air travel, says McWilliams: "Many want to take their mother or father back to where they are from." The dead are also often honored with fancy urns, usually bronze. But urns also come in silver-trimmed alabaster, onyx with gold trim, wood with pewter inlays, blown glass trimmed in platinum and ceramic glazed with a luster of copper or lined with lead. Urns with metal in or on them are not good choices for air travel, says McWilliams, although the TSA's Davis would not confirm that. Marble urns theoretically should be OK because "it's basically limestone and X-rays can penetrate that," says Patricia Bondor, a cremation expert in Raleigh, N.C., and liaison between the funeral industry and TSA. She was not sure about alabaster, granite or onyx, and the TSA wouldn't comment on them, either. So we're left with wood or plastic. One company, Renaissance Urns of San Francisco, sells $79 silk covers for plastic boxes to make them look more dignified. You might be able to create a fabric cover yourself. The bottom line? Tell a funeral director if you plan to travel by air with cremated remains. The most important thing is that your loved one's last trip is smooth. To read the TSA policy on cremation urns, see www.tsa.gov. Contact Renaissance Urns at www.renaissanceurns.com. Contact ELLEN CREAGER at 313-222-6498 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it http://www.freep.com/features/travel/creag26_20040926.htm

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries