A bit odd!

A Pirate’s Farewell – Ashes of an Old Pirate fired from a Cannon

Shiver m’ Timbers etc etc. I adore stories like this. Drama, ceremony and a dash of irreverence. Brixham in Devon love their Pirates, so much so that every year they hold a Pirate Festival where the town is mobbed With Long John Silvers although in slightly odd fashion, 101 versions of Johnny Depp’s Character Jack […]

Cremation Ashes as a Marketing Ploy

Nothing new in the world they say. Well perhaps, but this is certainly different. There is a famous restaurant in the Las Vegas called the Heart Attack Grill. Its whole method of promotion is entirely paradoxical. It is famous for telling you that their food is very very bad for you. They are in the […]

Commemorative Album Release with a difference: the singer’s mum’s ashes

Commemorative Album Release. I am a child of the era when coloured vinyl limited edition LPs were the all the rage. I was proud owning a handful in my own collection. And I have to say I was somewhat disappointed that I was not aware of this story before. The Idles Back in October 2017 […]

Carrie Fisher interred in prozac pill urn

Carrie Fisher immortalised in film as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars films passed away in December. She was laid to rest alongside her mother: Debbie Reynolds – also a movie star who tragically died a day after her daughter. Carrie Fisher had suffered with mental health issues for many years, so it was […]

Ashes are priceless. Well Truman Capotes aren’t !

The world of ashes always throws curve balls. People often say that the cremated remains of a person are priceless and in a sense this is true: they can’t be replaced; they can often be the most sentimental possession in the world or they may be unwanted. I think this the reason why so many couriers […]

Drug smuggling gang use scattering ashes ceremony in attempt to outwit police

Well I suppose scattering the ashes of a ‘bro’ is one excuse to give the Boys in Blue as a reason for being on New Zealand’s iconic 90 Mile Beach in suspicious circumstances. However the truth of the matter was the bad guys got busted attempt to smuggle in an eye watering ½ Tonne of […]

King Arthur wants cremated remains reburied at Stonehenge

Apparently the legendary king of England has been reincarnated, what’s more Arthur Pendragon is on the war path once more. He and bands of druids are not happy the cremated remains dug up and removed from Stonehenge are not being treated with due respect and they want them returned to the earth where they belong. […]

A 6ft dinosaur, 600 umbrellas and a casket of ashes

All left First TransPennine trains – umbrellas, well indeed I think all of us have done that at least once. The ashes slightly strange. I suppose if you put them on the seat beside you and then jump off in a bit of a rush its possible. However the odd part here is it would appear […]

A strangers ashes buried in your garden – spooky

When Bill Stephenson of Cherter-le-Street noticed something odd under the rose bush in his garden he went to investigate – he discovered a plaque beneath that was an urn. Now you may jump to the conclusion that Bill had unearthed a previous resident of the house. But this is not true, Bill had lived in […]

Ashes contained inside a marital aid

I kid you not. Now where might a product such as this be produced, come on guess…. The Netherlands, which accordingly to the straweyist of straw-type polls I conducted was the bookies favourite. I love the Dutch. Not just because of their determination to bring all things back to sex, but in the unflinching way […]

A send-off with a bang! Memorialised though a cannon blast

Now this is on the unusual side, a long time firearms enthusiast has had his ashes blasted out of a replica US civil war cannon. Now that is a proper send-off! Julian ‘Boyd’ Mercer lost his fight with cancer in September at a the age of 49. He had been a longtime fan of competitive […]

Cross-dressing thief steals ashes

I often wonder whether the world is becoming stranger or that weird things always happened but now communication is much better so we see more of them. In this case we have a fairly well reported occurrence: the theft of ashes. Readers unacquainted with the blog may not know this is common, but it is, well sort […]

Make your own ashes: Japanese bone crushing apparatus for rent

Now here’s a franchise opportunity you are unlikely to see on Dragons Den: Rental of bone crushing apparatus. The Japanese tradition is to cremate and then place the bones of the loved one in an urn, I have already posted on this – Japanese cremation. Normally what happens is for the urn to be […]

Medieval fashion – ashes launched from a Trebuchet or Catapult

Flung from a mighty medieval war engine, sailing into the sky then boom! The ashes scattered across the the target – what a way to go! Well okay perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but I would wager there are plenty people out there who would like it! Okay mainly your armour clad battle enactment […]

The forever fisherman: an anglers choice

People who have a passion for a sport often choose to have their association enshrined with their ashes. So whilst the request Mr Peter Hodges, an angler from Somerset final wish may seem strange to many, to others it has perfect resonance. When Mr Hodge, at the age of 60, discovered that had motor neurone […]

A Celebrity so famous his ashes were invited to a Broadway Premier

The red carpet has been booked, the canopies ordered, so who is on the invitation list? Angelina, Brad, oh yes and the cremated remains of Truman Capote…pardon? Yes there has been an odd request made to the friend of the famous American author Truman Capote. Producers wanted his ashes to attend Breakfast at Tiffany’s play […]

American lady eats her husbands ashes – this is odd!

With this subject, sometimes you do get to blog about the stranger side of life , however it is rare these days when I am taken aback. Here we have the peculiar story of a lady who eats her deceased husbands cremated remains. Beware it does make for disturbing viewing! The lady concerned is […]

Pyramid scheme with a difference – Cremation ashes interred in a most dramatic way!

Bernard Madoff had a pyramid scheme which was a scam. On the Giza Plateau, in Egypt the Pharaoh Khufu constructed the largest pyramid ever built, it is made from about 2.3 million stone blocks. This project from the States has caught our eye – A modern pyramid huge in proportions set to house people cremated […]

Cremation ashes and art – a step too far?

Ashes of deceased mental patients are subject of new photography exhibit. The artist David Maisel has an exhibition photographs of something a little challenging. A few years back he came across thousands of decaying urns / canisters in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon that had been forgotten. They contained the unclaimed cremated remains of former […]

Cremation Ashes as an art form

Cremated ashes evoke strong feelings and the art world loves playing with just those feelings. Watch this, and maybe like me you will end up scratching your head and frowning, not that it’s is bad or for that matter good, it is certainly different and challenging. I guess I couldn’t make up my mind whether […]

Ashes into Vinyl Record

This one is has to be a boundary shot. Truly different. I see the the sentiment and and appreciate the two fingered salute, however I have to say I think this is a landmark! Yep it’s true a British company the will press your ashes into a record- you can record your last will […]

Memorial Tattoos again…

What is going on? first in the Daily Mail then one of our most respected academics on the subject Dr. John Troyer, Deputy Director, Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath goes over to New York to give a lecture on the the Ashes and memorial tattoos. Don’t get me wrong I am not […]

Cremated ashes in a Memorial Tattoo!

This is a radical way of memorialising a loved one – putting cremated funeral ashes into ink, then having them tattooed somewhere on your person. The more we looked into this the more ‘common’ it actual is. Despite the obvious heath implications it seems to be fairly popular in the United States. The article below […]