Printing/taking photos of open caskets

[Hank_Scorpio]

Saw some AP photos of Chris Henry's funeral on Yahoo.

Is it a recent thing that they started taking photos showing the body? I don't remember them doing that much in the past.

Is that something that should be done? Or do people view it as too creepy? Or should it be a case by case basis?


Here's a link to the story. There's a four photo slideshow on the left side.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AuEUVx.LBMYq6I2gnhNJ_vk5nYcB?slug=ap-henry-funeral&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

[RedHotChiliPrepper]

I don't know if that's a new thing, or an old thing. But something about it just strikes me as wrong.

 

[playthrough]

I wonder if the Cinci Enquirer will use those in the print edition.

 

[Boom_70]

His arm must be healed. I noticed his cast was gone.

 

[Drip]

Very tastefully done photos. Funeral pictures of prominent individuals isn't anything new.

 

[SixToe]

His arm must be healed. I noticed his cast was gone.

I got a token for the HellExpress for laughing at this.

 

[Drip]

His arm must be healed. I noticed his cast was gone.

I got a token for the HellExpress for laughing at this.

Actually, I think reports were that the cast had been taken off his arm for some time.
Six, your token IS STILL good should you decide to use it.

 

[Boom_70]

His arm must be healed. I noticed his cast was gone.

I got a token for the HellExpress for laughing at this.

Actually, I think reports were that the cast had been taken off his arm for some time.
Six, your token IS STILL good should you decide to use it.

No - you need to listen to the 911 call.

 

[Football_Bat]

Open-casket photos in the paper have been around for a while, as long as it's not gruesome. For instance, I saw one of Herman Goering on microfilm when I was doing research the other day. On the other hand, I doubt many papers ran Emmett Till's open-casket photo.

 

[deskslave]

Open-casket photos in the paper have been around for a while, as long as it's not gruesome. For instance, I saw one of Herman Goering on microfilm when I was doing research the other day. On the other hand, I doubt many papers ran Emmett Till's open-casket photo.

Goering's photo was shown because he committed suicide the night before he was to be hanged, and the powers-that-were wanted to ensure there wouldn't be any rumours about his still being alive.

 

[93Devil]

I do not want to sound racist with this, but often black people bring cameras when approaching the casket while paying respects at a funeral. And they take pictures.

Nothing wrong with that, but I would not do it or run it. I can also see why it would be available online - with the family's consent of course.

 

[Trey Beamon]

I don't know if that's a new thing, or an old thing. But something about it just strikes me as wrong.

Same here.

I understand why they took the photos, but even tastefully done, it just seems wrong.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

There was controversy in 1978 when the National Enquirer ran a cover shot of Elvis in his coffin. They paid his cousin to secretly take the photo.

Edit: Oops, Elvis died in 1977, not 1978.

 

[golfnut8924]

Personally, I think the really messed up car accident photos that newspapers publish are harder to look at than a cleaned up body in a casket.

I'd rather not look at either, but by comparison, I can see why the funeral pics would make it in.

 

[Den1983]

I don't know if that's a new thing, or an old thing. But something about it just strikes me as wrong.

Same here.

I understand why they took the photos, but even tastefully done, it just seems wrong.

I third this. My sentiments exactly.

 

[JackReacher]

Went to a friend's funeral a decade ago and his open casket was right inside the church doors. I was not expecting that and it really ****ed me up. Haven't been to a funeral since and have vowed not to go to another one. Seeing someone in a casket, for some reason, just freaks me out. I guess I'd rather remember them as alive, not dead. Seeing an open casket makes that very hard to do. At least for me. Maybe I'm just weird. Who knows.

That said, I accidentally came upon one of the AP pictures of the Henry funeral today. My initial instinct was to look away and click to another site. For some reason, I didn't. I just stared.

Christ. I have issues.

 

[Stitch]

Went to an open casket funeral for my great-grandmother last month and it wasn't unsettling.

 

[93Devil]

Went to an open casket funeral for my great-grandmother last month and it wasn't unsettling.

It's a way to have closure. You see them there and you understand that they are gone. I will never, ever forget touching my father's hand in his casket a few years ago. That I might not reccommend.

 

[Trey Beamon]

Went to a friend's funeral a decade ago and his open casket was right inside the church doors. I was not expecting that and it really ****ed me up. Haven't been to a funeral since and have vowed not to go to another one. Seeing someone in a casket, for some reason, just freaks me out. I guess I'd rather remember them as alive, not dead. Seeing an open casket makes that very hard to do. At least for me. Maybe I'm just weird. Who knows.

That said, I accidentally came upon one of the AP pictures of the Henry funeral today. My initial instinct was to look away and click to another site. For some reason, I didn't. I just stared.

Christ. I have issues.

I'm totally with you, Ryan. To me, what's ****ed up about an open casket is the immediacy of it all.

To see someone who was alive/in good health a few days earlier just lying there is hard to process. It's even more difficult when the person didn't suffer and looks exactly how you remember them. You almost want to shake the person and say, "Wake up, man ... let's get out of here."

Then again, IMO, it's nothing compared to seeing the casket closed and being carted into the funeral mass. That's when it always hit me the hardest.

 

[93Devil]

I attended the funeral of a man who had bone cancer in his face. Open casket, and I was not warned.

I'm amazed I did not scream.