Digital Dying By: Justin Nobel

by Justin Nobel

Atoll inhabitants come to main Yap for temporary work or treatment at the hospital but often end up staying. When they die their bodies are held in the morgue until the next ship out. (Photo by Justin Nobel)

The rumble of a ship's engine is pierced by a human wail. A topless woman in a skirt woven from hibiscus fiber crawls across a deck strewn with baggage and begins weeping over a simple wood coffin that has been wrapped in a blue tarp and decorated with flowery wreaths. Other women join and a tearful song emerges, sung in a local dialect called Woleaian. The melody contains ear-splitting shrieks, pleasant moans and long undulating wails; it continues for over an hour.

I am on a ship traveling through the atolls of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), an isolated island nation on the western edge of the Pacific. The ship, the Caroline Voyager is primarily a cargo ship and the few available cabins have gone to health officials who are aboard to deliver H1N1 vaccinations to the islanders. The several hundred passengers, mostly islanders themselves, homebound, are camped in whatever crannies they can find. People sleep in hammocks hung in the rigging and under tarps tied to the rails. They lie wedged in narrow companionways and atop the heaps of coconuts that fill practically every inch of deck space. Or, like me, they sleep on a wood platform under a large green tent in the center of the ship, amidst a litter of luggage, bins of food and the coffin.

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by Justin Nobel

By hook or by crook, Shi'a Muslims have for centuries smuggled their corpses in the dark, across treachorous passes and over scalding wastelands, to the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, wherein lies Wadi al-Salam, one of the largest cemeteries on earth. (Photo by Justin Nobel)

On dark nights in the Zagros Mountains, along a border laced with mines, smugglers sneak into Iraq from Iran, carrying explosives, drugs and guns. Some harbor items much more benign: corpses. Their destination is the holy city of Najaf, home to Wadi al-Salam, or Valley of Peace, one of the largest cemeteries on earth.

The cemetery, which holds the remains of millions and stretches for six miles, is said to contain the tomb of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, who founded the Shi'a branch of Islam and died in 661. To be buried near Ali, Shiites claim, is an act on par with 700 years of worship and will ensure bodies a hasty journey to heaven. Shi'i Muslims have been sending their bodies to Wadi al-Salam, by hook or by crook, for many war torn centuries.

As Iraqi tribes and Iranians adopted Shi'ism through the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, corpse traffic increased. Bodies were placed in long wooden boxes covered with felt and stacked half-a-dozen high atop mules. In 1812, Shaykh Ja'far Kashif al-Ghita passed a decree to allow bodies to be carried in parts. Read the rest of this entry »

by Justin Nobel

Wal-Mart, the Arkansas-based superstore chain, recently began selling caskets on their website. Prices range from under $1,000 to almost $3,000. Their site joins an eccentric group of online casket vendors.

What do Lady de Guadalupe, American Patriot and Executive Privilege have in common? They are casket models, now available on Wal-Mart's website. The Arkansas-based superstore chain is offering more than a dozen types of caskets on their online store, with prices ranging from under $1,000 to almost $3,000.

Funeral homes have historically dominated the casket business, but under federal law they must also accept caskets purchased elsewhere. Several funeral home operators commented that Wal-Mart's entry into the market would be a bust, stating that people need caskets quickly and need to be confident they can receive them undamaged. But caskets have been available online for some time, in many strange forms. Here's a sampling.. Read the rest of this entry »