# National Funeral Museum - pics!



## Frankie-s Girl (Apr 5, 2009)

My hubby and I just got back from the National Museum of Funeral History, and I have tons of pics of antique hearses (horse drawn and autos), coffins and other goodies!

National Museum of Funeral History

Fun Trivia:
Black hearses and horses were typically used for MALE corpses. Children or women were generally white. The white horses cost more, as they were harder to come by.

Cast iron caskets were very popular around Civil War times - as they were air tight and kept the bodies "fresher" than wooden ones.

President Lincoln was instrumental in furthering embalming during the Civil War - so as to ensure as many soldiers as possible made it back home to have a decent burial.



It was facinatingly creepy! I'm not going to overload this with all the pics, so here are some of the highlights:









1900 child's horse-drawn hearse.









1951 Cadillac Hearse









1800s Hand-carved horse drawn hearse









Custom coffin for 3 - Ordered in the early 1900s by a husband and wife. They were heartbroken over the death of their only child, and decided to have the husband kill the wife and then he would commit suicide, and they wanted their child dug up and re-buried with them in one big casket. (Now days, if a couple came in someplace and said this, they'd lock them in the loony bin, but the funeral home BUILT THE COFFIN FOR THEM). They never picked it up, and MANY years later, the wife called the funeral home and asked for a refund - but as the funeral home had changed hands so many times that no one had proof of payment, they told her that she'd have to provide proof. They never heard back.









Replica of the coffin type used for the Clantons after the infamous shootout at the O K Corral. The top has a wood veneer slide to reveal a window box for viewing the corpse

For anyone that wants more detail on the horse drawn hearses, or to see more, let me know as I did take some detail shots of things like the carving and lanterns and there were lots more hearses and coffins and such.

Hubby and I had a blast!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

These are great pictures. The details on the coffins and hearses are really beautiful.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

This is great stuff! I've heard of this place a couple of times. Thanks for posting the link and pics.


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

I bet that was a great place to visit! Thanks for sharing your trip.


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Very cool, sounds like a great place.


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## lowdwnrob (Jul 2, 2008)

Why would you not over load this with pictures? I say overload it. Its kind of weird to have a museum like this but I am completely captivated. Please post more pics.


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## Frankie-s Girl (Apr 5, 2009)

lowdwnrob said:


> Why would you not over load this with pictures? I say overload it. Its kind of weird to have a museum like this but I am completely captivated. Please post more pics.


Well, cause you asked for more...









The oldest hearse in the place: circa 1830.









1916 Packard funeral BUS! The only surviving example, this 1916 funeral bus was built to carry not only the coffin, but all of the flower arrangements and pallbearers and 20 mourners in the back! It unfortunately didn't stay in service very long because during one funeral, the weight distribution unbalanced it going up a hill, tipped the whole thing backwards and dumped the mourners and coffin out of the back... it was retired pretty quickly.









1973 Mercedes Hearse - Princess Grace's funeral hearse









1943 Packard hearse - I love this one!









Exact replica of President Lincoln's casket. Apparently nicer caskets at this time were wood, but covered with broadcloth so no wood actually showed. Lincoln's was studded with silver studs and stars and thick white fringe.

There was also a section devoted to Egyptian funeral arrangements, a display of what a coffin maker's workshop would look like in the early 1900s, a section of funeral trappings from Japan, Mexico and two German horse drawn hearses from the 1800s and fantasy caskets by Kane Quayne (think caskets carved to look like giant fish, cows, eagles, boats) and even more coffin- hearse-y goodness!


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## HolyTerror (Mar 11, 2009)

Ohhhhhhh ... don't stop now .... shoot , you get us going , and now your gonna stop ????? Come on now ... this is like drugs ...

GOTSTA HAVE MORE​
pics , that is


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

I'm with him....keep em going.


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## deathstaste (Apr 20, 2007)

pretty please


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## sharpobject (May 7, 2008)

Thanks for sharing - can't get enough.


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## Tyler (Jul 17, 2008)

Wow, great pics, Id love to go there!!


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Very cool. I guess there's a museum for just about anything.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I'd love to see the unusual coffins. Including the technology trial coffins. Ie. cardboard green aware, tupperware coffin, etc.


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## Frankie-s Girl (Apr 5, 2009)

Okay, here's more pics:









Sleigh hearse. The horse drawn hearses built in colder climates apparently were sometimes built so the wheels could be removed and runners added during winter funerals... weird and yet it makes sense!









The Money Casket. The owner loans this to the museum for display any time he's not taking it around to shows. It's built of lucite, and has over $600 worth of uncirculated coins and $1,000 worth of paper money embedded into it.









Child's window coffin circa late 1800-early 1900s. To the right, you can see a cast iron coffin that were very popular for soldiers during the Civil War. It could form an airtight seal and kept the bodies fresher for transport. I will never be able to look at my frying pan the same again.

OH - I forgot! They had a Civil War area that had wicker coffins as well, in fact they had large woven wicker baskets that the really blown apart or amputees had their lost limbs collected into... and they referred to the poor soldiers as "basket cases" - that is the origin of that term!









Completely fabric covered casket. Fancy silks and satins and lots of pintucking...









Kane Quayne's fantasy coffins. I am not kidding, he is a carver from Ghana, and the people there believe that the type of casket you have should reflect your loves and abilities to provide you prestiege in the afterlife...


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I saw a special on that once. They celebrate death as part of life instead of hiding it like people in the US do.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

No plastic coffins?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I just went to their web site - their trademarked by-line is "Any Day Above Ground Is A Good One"

You can buy boxer shorts from their gift shop with that saying on it.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Wow, these are great, thanks for posting! I love that carriage with the white curtains and the casket with all the money on it, who says "you can't take it with you when you go"?:jol:


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

Thanks for sharing, nice photos!


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## Draik41895 (Oct 25, 2008)

> the type of casket you have should reflect your loves and abilities


in that case i bet all of ours would be pretty cool.is that all the pics?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Frankie-s Girl said:


> Kane Quayne's fantasy coffins. I am not kidding, he is a carver from Ghana, and the people there believe that the type of casket you have should reflect your loves and abilities to provide you prestiege in the afterlife...


So the crab one must be for a total crank, the chicken one for a coward, and the bull one for someone who is full of it:googly:


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## Frankie-s Girl (Apr 5, 2009)

Sickie Ickie said:


> No plastic coffins?


Nope, none I saw. There was a real glass coffin that had a rubberized seal and the glass had the "coke bottle" effect where it was so thick it was greenish - but I couldn't get a good pic of it. They didn't produce too many of them as the lids were so heavy they cracked the casket when lowered into place...


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## Frankie-s Girl (Apr 5, 2009)

Lots of old newspapers and memorabilia relating to famous deaths and funerals - you could even order replica death certificates made "while you browse" of a slew of celebrities...









Scale model of Lincoln's funeral car and processional. It was intricately detailed and quite beautiful.









1921 RockFalls Motorized Hearse - GORGEOUS vehicle, made from 6 different hand carved types of wood, it is one of the extra special pieces in their collection.









They had several displays of "in the moment" type setups - this one was how a funeral/viewing would have been at the beginning of the 1900s when having the funeral held in the home was common. The body was displayed in the parlor, mirrors covered and any portraits of the deceased were draped with black bunting - and the widow was absolutely shrouded in black.


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## Rev Noch (Feb 4, 2009)

Frankie-s Girl said:


> They had several displays of "in the moment" type setups - this one was how a funeral/viewing would have been at the beginning of the 1900s when having the funeral held in the home was common. The body was displayed in the parlor, mirrors covered and any portraits of the deceased were draped with black bunting - and the widow was absolutely shrouded in black.


One interesting thing to note is that they also frequently built oversized doors and/or windows into the houses so that they could get the coffin in/out. My parents' house was built during the time and they have what's called a "Coffin Door".

This is the best picture of their Coffin Door I have access to at the moment. It's from Halloween a couple years ago.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

This is wild!
I guess somebody had to found a funeral museum.


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## Frankie-s Girl (Apr 5, 2009)

That is so cool!
I used to live in a Victorian (built 1867), and it also had an extra wide door... I never even thought about that as one of the reasons!



Rev Noch said:


> One interesting thing to note is that they also frequently built oversized doors and/or windows into the houses so that they could get the coffin in/out. My parents' house was built during the time and they have what's called a "Coffin Door".
> 
> This is the best picture of their Coffin Door I have access to at the moment. It's from Halloween a couple years ago.


Okay, I just uploaded all of the photos I took at the museum and put in the info on each pic into a HF album: 
http://www.hauntforum.com/album.php?albumid=269
I wish I'd taken more, but that's what I got... have fun!


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

How wide is the door..more than 36"?


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## Rev Noch (Feb 4, 2009)

Frighteners Entertainment said:


> How wide is the door..more than 36"?


I'm not sure off hand. I'll have to remember to measure it next time I'm over there. Now I'm curious too.


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## The Bloodshed Brothers (Jan 25, 2009)

wow thats so cool


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## IshWitch (May 31, 2006)

Whether it is cabinets or coffins, I loved the beauty of carved wood!


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## EvilQueen1298 (Jul 27, 2007)

TOO INTERESTING! I LOVE MUSEUMS!

Yes, more please!


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## stick (Jan 21, 2009)

Great pictures
Thanks for sharing.


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## Rev Noch (Feb 4, 2009)

Frighteners Entertainment said:


> How wide is the door..more than 36"?


I made sure to measure the door while I was over yesterday. Yes, it's more than 36 inches. The damn thing is a full 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall. I did not think to measure the width of the door, but I would imagine that it's a bit thicker than usual also.

No wonder I had a hard time opening it when I was a kid.


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## Lady Nyxie (Aug 30, 2006)

Ok, I think the NJ/PA group should take a field trip.


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