Sleeping Beauty

Dethmama sent me a note about Rosalia Lombardo—an Italian girl who died on December 6, 1920, and was embalmed for preservation. She has been nicknamed Sleeping Beauty because, in many ways, she appears to be just sleeping.

She is in remarkably good condition still, and her corpse is housed in the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, which I posted about below.

Just a little more information to add to the thread on strange burial sites that seems to have become the theme for this week.

Would you be buried with your pet? Part 2

Washington State Senator Ken Jacobsen's bill that would make it legal for people to be buried with the cremated remains of their pets has passed through committee. 

This article from the Associated Press implies that the bill is still unlikely to pass ... but it has passed one hurdle. 

Personally, I would not be buried with my pet, but it would also not bother me to be buried nearby someone who was with their pet. 

However, as this article points out, many cemetery owners are opposed to the bill because they must account for all religions, faiths, and beliefs. And some religions, like the Muslim faith, for example, would consider it an insult to be buried near an animal. This is a very good point. 

And with funeral homes, I don't think regulations are quite so simple that a funeral home could chose not to offer a legal option. So, it may not be as easy as saying that some cemeteries can have pets and some can't. 

Roland Burris Erects Mausoleum with His Qualifications

Roland Burris has erected a mausoleum in a Chicago cemetery that lists his accomplishments and qualifications for the office of senator. WTF?

I think he has his symbolism confused.

He seems to have wanted to put out his resume in a way that would grab great attention and show that he was grand. By using the stone and building a big structure, maybe he thought he was building something like a statue—monuments often built to great figures in society. But great figures do not build statues to themselves. And their accomplishments are not literally listed out on those statues.

He has greatly confused matters by putting this thing in a cemetery. Is he suggesting that it will one day serve as the mark of his entire life, and he will add to it the remainder of his accomplishments? Even if that is the case, building it now, in the middle of a media controversy over his senate seat, makes it look like an argument for his ability to serve.

It seems the use of a cemetery was merely accidental, as if it was the only place he could get land. Because, what public park would house this thing? I feel sorry for the friends and family of people who are actually resting in this cemetery.

Roland Burris sure seems like a piece of work.

(image from CNN)

Update: I've done some more research, and it appears Burris has had this monument for awhile; it's just getting lots of attention now because of him being at the center of a controversy. I'm a little disappointed that media outlets aren't making that more clear in their reporting. It seems to be a big distinction.

Anyway, the monument is certainly a reflection of a large ego ... but at least it wasn't done as an argument for his senatorship. And hey, he's making some plans for his death—which is more than a lot of people can say.

Cemetery Fail

From failblog: