Journey of the Dead : When Pat Garrett killed his poker buddy, Bill the Kid, he had no idea what a terrible emotional price he would pay.--[4]Cover.

On Dee Branch’s first date with Johnnie Oliver, a fourth-generation funeral director, she knew she was in for a unique relationship when he had to leave “for just a minute”—and he came back to the car with a corpse. Over twenty years later, Dee was still in love with her charming southern gentleman when he passed away suddenly in 2007. Determined to carry on Johnnie’s work, Dee earned her mortuary science degree, only to find herself no longer needed in the family business. So Dee crossed the racial divide in the most segregated industry in America and joined the staff of an African-American funeral home as a single white woman. In The Undertaker’s Wife, Oliver draws from her wealth of experience to provide candid and often hysterically funny advice on dying well and surviving the loss of those who have gone before. Her insights on the common ground of grief, survival, and the ever-present faithfulness of God (to all of us, regardless of our race, religious upbringing, or socio-economic background) will help readers prepare for one of life’s only certainties—and do it with wisdom, grace, and a healthy dose of joy.

The eternal darkness of death comes to every human. Whether it is the miscarriage of an imperfect, fertile egg, or the grim reaper coming to harvest our soul, we all enter into another world in an instant. It can happen at any time, from the moment of conception until well past the century mark. We all have our very own time to die. "My Life With Death" is a fast paced, firsthand account of one man's journey as an undertaker. From David VanBuskirk's accidental beginning as an ambulance driver, to the surprise ending, he takes his readers through some of the most memorable instances in his life while dealing with the injured, the dying, and the dead. Out of the thousands of experiences in his career, these are the incidents that will forever be etched into his memory. The story contains compelling accounts about Dave's involvement with some of those dead human bodies, and their survivors. It contains his own observations, thoughts, and descriptions of how, when, and where death occurred. He relays his relationship to the circumstances, and to the part he played in the removal and disposition of those bodies. Dave's intentions are to enlighten the reader about his profession: what undertakers do, the odd hours they work, and to let you know that those in the funeral industry are humans, also. Some of what he writes about is sad, some of it is humorous, and some of it is extremely gross. Dave tells about some of the mistakes he's made in dealing with grieving families, and some of his embarrassing moments while conducting funeral services. He relays the humor attached to death, and the gruesome, grotesque looking bodies that he's been forced to deal with. He also reveals some behind the scenes techniques involved in the preparation of dead human bodies. Dave explains, in vivid detail, how an autopsy is performed, and how the body is put back together by the embalmer. He also explains how he makes a grotesque looking body presentable to the next of kin. "During my thirt

Macabre tales of death and mourning in Victorian America.

Discover a more lighthearted side of the funeral industry in this collection of real-life stories from the authors of Mortuary Confidential. Not knowing what to do, I sat on the church steps and waited. As the gravity of my failure began to well up in me, I began to cry . . . I Had Lost The Hearse! Funerals and the all the things that accompany them are traditionally somber, contemplative events in which the bereaved look to their undertaker to guide them through that most difficult of times. Of course, sometimes tradition gets thrown under the bus. From a dysfunctional family who turn their mother’s wake into a full-blown riot, to funeral crashers looking for free meals, to a horse-drawn hearse taking the dearly departed for the ride of their afterlife, these accounts from actual undertakers will have you laughing, thinking, and gasping in disbelief. A literal graveyard of wild coincidences, slapstick humor, and touching moments, Over Our Dead Bodies explores the lighter side of the dead, the living, and the lone undertaker who must make it all go as planned—even if it doesn’t. Praise for Mortuary Confidential “Outrageous funeral stories, dipped in beauty and morbid humor.” —Caleb Wilde, author of Confessions of a Funeral Director “Curious, wildly honest stories that need to be told, but just not at the dinner table.” —Dana Kollmann, author of Never Suck a Dead Man’s Hand “As unpredictable and lively as a bunch of drunks at a New Orleans funeral.” —Joe R. Lansdale, author of Moon Lake “Sick, funny, and brilliant! I love this book.” —Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of They Bite! And Rot & Ruin “These true mortuary tales are poignant—and suddenly, gaspi

Written in response to the Hawk's Nest Tunnel disaster of 1931 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, The Book of the Dead is an important part of West Virginia's cultural heritage and a powerful account of one of the worst industrial catastrophes in American history. The poems collected here investigate the roots of a tragedy that killed hundreds of workers, most of them African American. They are a rare engagement with the overlap between race and environment in Appalachia. Published for the first time alongside photographs by Nancy Naumburg, who accompanied Rukeyser to Gauley Bridge in 1936, this edition of The Book of the Dead includes an introduction by Catherine Venable Moore, whose writing on the topic has been anthologized in Best American Essays.