Death is something very scary and somehow it still fascinates us. Many of us wonder about what will happen to our bodies and souls after we die. Is there something after we exhale our last breath?
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While it is difficult to answer those questions as no one has ever come back to tell us what death is like, we can prepare ourselves by planning our funeral. This is the only way we can know for sure what will happen to our bodies once we’re gone.
Some people choose to be buried while others want to be cremated. In itself, cremation sounds easy: the body gets burnt. But there’s much more to it and these crematorium technicians share every detail.
What people are afraid of
Being burnt is, according to science, one of the most painful ways to die. Therefore, it is understandable that cremation is scary to numerous people. In order to appease minds, a crematorium decided to hold an open day.
Mirror reports that in 2022, Bramcote Crematorium in Nottingham welcomed people into their establishment so that they could share their fears and ask the questions they needed answers to.
Louise Singer, manager at the council-run bereavement services said:
There are so many myths about what happens at a crematorium. People think we resell the coffins or mix the ashes so today is to show we are transparent and we care. We just want to reassure them through the process.
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What really happens when you get cremated
Mirror reports that, contrary to popular belief, the coffin doesn’t immediately enter the fire when it disappears behind the curtain. The law gives a crematorium up the 72 hours to burn the bodies but most do it within 24 hours.
Before burning anything, staff at the crematorium makes sure that nothing in the coffin shouldn’t be burnt and they check that the deceased doesn’t have a pacemaker.
When a body finally enters the fire, the temperature ranges from 800 and 1,000 degrees celsius. The machine runs so hot that when it is turned off on Friday nights, it will still be 300 degrees on Monday morning.
Moreover, the body will be in the fire for 90 minutes but the technicians will regularly check on the proceedings. Indeed, there is a peephole through which they can see if there are still raging flames.
The ashes are then carefully collected and left to cool for an hour. The weight of the ashes should roughly be equivalent to what the person weighed at birth.
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Sources:
Mirror: Exactly what happens to your body when it is cremated - and how long it takes to burn
