Post Mortem
Should We Stop Using the Phrase 'Assisted Suicide'?
Terms like "aid in dying" paint a better picture of end-of-life decisions, and could give people with terminal illnesses a way to work around laws.
The Internet is Still Teaching People How to Kill Themselves
Search engine algorithms and laws have made it harder for people to find suicide-related content online, but it's still pretty easy to find explicit instructions on committing suicide from a quick Google search.
Dying on Facebook
The company will either delete the profile or preserve it as a "memorialization" account—but neither of those options are without problems, and some people are frustrated by their lack of control over their loved ones' pages.
Meet the Living People Who Collect Dead Human Remains
Skeleton collections aren't just for museums and science labs. We talked to a few private collectors in the business of gathering human remains.
Human Pelts: The Art of Preserving Tattooed Skin After Death
Inked bodies can become permanent pelts after a person is carefully skinned and then covered in preservative chemicals, like an animal hide.
Nonprofit Mortuaries Are Helping Cash-Strapped Families Honor Their Dead
Nonprofit funeral homes have popped up across the country to ensure that grieving people don't get price-gouged after the death of a loved one.
These Photographs of Zombie Children Will Terrify You
Photographer Brittany Bentine has been creating macabre photoshoots for children for years now. Other parents have called her work "sick" and "disturbing," but for Bentine, it's just plain fun.
Atheism Terrifies People Because It Makes Us Think About Death
Studies have found that considering atheism leads many to thoughts of death—even when those people are atheists themselves.
Gravestones from the Past Were Way Cooler Than They Are Today
Headstones today are as boring and lifeless as the bodies that lie beneath. But in the past, headstones were a way to show the person's personality with quotes, miniature sculptures, and elaborate artwork.
These Radical Undertakers Want Funerals to Be More Honest and Participatory
Claire and Rupert Callender are breaking all kinds of taboos by asking funeral attendees to carry the coffin, talk about the manner of death, and reflect on their loved ones openly and honestly.
Necrophilia Is a Tough Crime to Adjudicate
Laws for governing the treatment of dead bodies are murky at best and contradictory at worst, since it's more of an ethical question whether corpses should be treated like people or property.
This Is What Happens to Unclaimed Bodies in Washington, DC
Unclaimed bodies are supposed to be buried in marked graves with proper identification, but most end up in mass burial sites, without identification, beside heaps of trash.