In Vietnam, grieving the dead once lasted 2 to 3 years and required following strict rituals. At Lac Hong Vien Cemetery, west of Hanoi, people can now pay online to have cemetery workers visit their loved ones graves.

In Vietnam, it is customary for grieving families to bring offerings like fake money, cognac and boiled chicken to the graves of their recently departed loved ones but Lac Hong Vien Cemetery puts a new twist on the old tradition: the ability to order these things online and have cemetery workers place the offerings for you. They then email photos showing the task was done.“The best thing would be for our children to visit our graves,” said a 53 year old woman named Bui Mai Phuong, in a recent AP article. “But if they're too busy, we have to accept that.”

Lac Hong Vien Cemetery is 30 miles west of the capitol, Hanoi, at the end of a road called Highway to Eternity. The cemetery is to have 120,000 graves, though now just 30 people are buried there. It is not cheap, burial land goes for about 8 million dong, or $400, per square meter, according to the AP article, nearly four times the going housing property rates in nearby towns. Then you must by the tombstone, which can cost as much as $48,000.

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It is a very new way to bury people in a country that has some interesting traditional funerary rites. In the bygone times of Confucius, the eminent 6th century Chinese scholar, mourning the dead was actually considered more important than the affairs of the living. Even today, the mourning period for a parent is meant to be two to three years, and often begins before the death has occurred. When someone is on their death bed the entire family will assemble around.  Everyone is quiet and the eldest son or daughter bends close to record the last words. They then suggest a name for the dying person, as it is considered unfortunate to use the same name in death as in life. Men often take the name Trung, which means faithfulness or True, which means loyalty. Women frequently go by Trinh, which means devotion or Thuan, which means harmony.

Other Great Reads: More on funeral customs from around the world

In a ceremonial cleansing, the corpse is bathed to wash off the dust of the terrestrial world, the hair is combed and the nails are clipped. Money, gold, and rice are put in the mouth of the dead to show they've departed this world without want or hunger. The body is then wrapped in white cloth and put in a coffin. Family members watch the body around the clock until a propitious burial time has been selected. Mourners wear loose-fitting garments made of crepe with a seam in the middle of the back. All must cover their heads. A public official is supposed to retire their position for the set mourning time and stay at home to build a tomb for their loved one and conduct memorial ceremonies. Mourners are not allowed to marry or comb or cut their hair.

Sometimes children don't initially accept a parent's death. In an effort to revive the body, they'll place a chopstick between the teeth of the deceased and put the body on a mat on the floor. The eldest child may take one of the deceased's shirts and waves it in the air, calling upon their soul to return to the body.

On one website, a Vietnamese man shared the story of his uncle, who died of liver cancer. Initially it sounded similar to what happens in the West. There is a funeral and a grieving period that lasts several days in which families bring flowers to the grave and burn incense and say prayers. Only with a Vietnamese funeral, the process continues: “Then, for the next 49 days, the family held a memorial service every seven days…The next gathering occurred 51 days later, on the 100th day after death…and finally a whole year later.”

But a man named Da, who I was directed to at the Vietnamese Consulate, in New York City, said such practices did not exist any longer. “Maybe in mountainous areas,” he said.

Da did, however, describe the funerary traditions his own family still followed:

“A relative would go to the grave and make sure the grave is still in good shape. If not, they fix it, then bring something to burn, bring some fruits, some incense, bring some dishes with food. You often bring the food that the dead loved when he was still alive. Then they bring them home, they will use those foods. A year after the relative has died the family will return to the grave.”

Have any stories about going to Vietnamese funerals? Leave a comment below..

“With a funeral you never know what's going to happen,” says Priscilla Etienne, who runs a company that takes professional photos at funerals. “Someone might jump up and leap on the coffin. Emotions are real, they're raw.”

Priscilla Etienne runs a London-based company called Funeography that takes professional photos at funerals. She has been featured on the BBC and in Popular Photography. Digital Dying spoke with Priscilla about her beef with funeral directors, why weddings are boring and the reason she's dying to photograph a gypsy funeral.

Most people aren't accustomed to funeral photos, how do you persuade potential clients that it is a good idea?

People spend so much money on getting the coffin, or getting the brass band, what's the point if you don't remember it? Why not have a record of everything? I was at a funeral of a 12 year old boy, they had a Welsh quartet then sung football club songs. It was marvelous, but no one was taking pictures. When my parents died in 1996 no one took pictures. We all missed it. My mom's death was expected, she had been sick for a year. But my dad died eight months later and it was unexpected. He was in the Caribbean. We weren't told about the funeral until literally two days before. That kind of thing happens quite a lot and is another reason why it's good to have the photos. The distance people sometimes have to go for funerals is tremendous. Not everyone can make it.

How do you go about photographing a funeral?

We wear black trousers and black T-shirts with the photographers name. We'll go to the home beforehand and ask about the person. If, for example, I learn that the dog will be getting their possessions, then I know to make sure and get two to three pictures of the dog. We take pictures at the home, at the church and of the family arriving and the coffin being carried in. Coming from the East End there are a lot of old gangster types and sometimes they'll ask about the camera, say something like, ‘Where's that going love?' We do a lot with zoom lenses. Inside the congregation everyone's eyes are at the front but they are in their own thoughts. I have one photo of a white woman amongst a group of about 400 black people and she is just looking up with this expression like, ‘I wonder what's for dinner?'

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What's the business model for Funeography, and just who are your funeographers?

I run the business like a newspaper, it's efficient and quick but we're not as cutthroat. We have empathy, we have understanding. Many funeographers are students. They have to have certain techniques but they can experiment. There is room for artistry within the funeography books, which is the item the families receive at the end. We own the images, but if families tell us not to use the images then we don't. It took me five years to build this from scratch and there's still a bit more I need to learn. I'm still gaining people's trust, that's important. If people trust you it will come flowing in.

Were you always into both funerals and photography?

I grew up in East London. There were literally only 10 Caribbean families in the area. They do not see death as a bad thing, it's joyous. They don't expect you to cry because the dead are entering heaven. It's a celebration, you should be happy, you are going to God. In Caribbean culture, someone will always have an ordinary small camera around. I was into photography from about age nine. My dad was an amateur photographer and built a dark room in our loft. My first funeral was at 17. And then people in my life just kept dying.

Why do you have such beef with funeral directors?  

I believe when funeral directors started to establish themselves in the 1800s and said, ‘let us take the burden from you, let us handle it,' is when people became fearful of death, because they were no longer touching it. The funeral directors make death like a secret club. They feel no one else can do the job. When I approached funeral directors with my funeography idea they were like, ‘Oh yeah, fantastic idea.' They just were not grasping it. Funeral directors have forgotten where they stand, and I think people are starting to get fed up with them. Families want to take control of their funerals again.

Do you see the funeral industry changing for the better?

People are becoming bolder, even in what they name their companies. A woman contacted me last year who has a company called when they croak dot com. People now want humor with death, they want to celebrate more. I am part of a group called Farewell Innovators. Two of our members are women up north who have a Volkswagen Beetle they use for coffins. We are looking to do our own website where people can find information on how to arrange certain things for a funeral that aren't so common now, say a comedian. Also, things like cemetery open days are becoming more popular. People get to look at remains and see the crematorium. It takes the mystery out of it. When you're buying a car you go and look at it and check the mileage and the price. Why not do that with cemeteries?

Other Great Reads: How to plan your own funeral

Have you had success landing clients amongst other cultures?

I was recently at a funeral and there was a Chinese funeral going on across the way. They were standing at the grave with white bandannas on and doing this ritual dancing. It looked a bit like a tai chi class, it just looked fantastic. I had a small camera in my bag and I was thinking I want to go over there and take some pictures. But I didn't. Some cultures will be slower in coming forward, I think. I am trying to get into the gypsy community. There is a massive one here and they know how to party and celebrate. There is a show now called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. The main character is called Paddy Doherty. I bumped into him on the way back from Manchester. We spoke and I told him what I do. They're talking about doing a My Big Fat Gypsy Funeral and I am trying to get on with that.

Why are funerals so much better than weddings?

Most weddings are the same. Everyone dances, the bride and groom probably do some dance they learned on YouTube and wow people. With a funeral you never know what's going to happen. Someone might jump up and leap on the coffin. Emotions are real, they're raw. Often you see men kissing each other, it's one of the only times you see that. I have even had a couple arguments break out, not many, but you do find that some people might not like each other. It all comes out at a funeral, but usually they keep the bad stuff at the door.

Inquiring minds want to know, will you bring Funeography to America?

This is a perfect opportunity for a franchise, and I am kind of surprised funeral photography hasn't come to the U.S. I would have expected it to be there in at least some states but it isn't. I am particularly shocked that it is not in New York, that is one of those places that is supposed to be very on top of things.

Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro was posting details about drug traffickers to Twitter and a social media website called “Nuevo Laredo en vivo”. Her body and severed head was found last September, one of 46 journalists killed in 2011 according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Mukarram Khan Atif was number two. The second journalist killed so far in 2012, that is. He was gunned down while praying at a mosque in Shabqadar, in northern Pakistan. A terrorist group called the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility. Atif worked for a Pakistani TV channel and served as a stringer for Voice of America. “We have been warning him to stop his propaganda against us in the foreign media,” said a TTP spokesman. “He did not include our version in his stories.” The spokesman warned there were several more journalists on their hit-list.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 895 journalists have been killed since the group began counting journalist deaths in 1992. In 2011, 46 journalists were killed, including the well-publicized deaths of two of the West's most talented war photographers, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, killed while covering the uprising in Libya. But amidst the barrage of deaths occurring each day across the world's hot spots, many journalist deaths go unnoticed. Here are some of the more haunting ones from 2011...

Rafiq Tagi, freelance journalist in Azerbaijan – On November 19 Tagi was returning to his home in Baku, the capitol of Azerbaijan, when an unidentified man ran up behind him and without saying anything stabbed him seven times. Tagi underwent surgery for a damaged spleen but was recovering well and in stable condition when on November 21 he suddenly died. He was 61. Just ten minutes before his death doctors had checked on him and found him to be fine. His colleagues suspect foul play. In May 2007, he was convicted of inciting religious hatred and sentenced to three years in prison in connection with an article he published in an independent Azerbaijani newspaper. It stated that Islam was hampering the country's economic and political progress. Last October, he published an article criticizing Iranian authorities for their theologically based policies and suppression of human rights. The Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan denied involvement in Tagi's death. But the Iranian cleric, Mohammed Fazel Lankarani, published a statement saying that Tagi had received a “just sentence”.

Other Great Reads: What's the proper etiquette for a funeral?

Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro, social media user in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico – Castro's headless body was found along a road near Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican city on the Texas border and drug trafficking hot spot. She worked at a local newspaper there but also posted details about drug trafficker movements and drug gang lookout locations to Twitter and a social media website called “Nuevo Laredo en vivo”, using the pseudonym, “La NenaDLaredo” (The girl from Laredo). Her severed head was found on a large stone piling, with a note beside it that read: “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo and social networking sites, I'm The Laredo Girl, and I'm here because of my reports…” It is uncertain how her killers discovered her identity. According to CPJ, it is the first time a journalist has been killed directly because of something published to a social media site. She was 39.

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Hadi al-Mahdi, Iraqi radio host – Al-Mahdi was shot in his Baghdad home by an assailant using a pistol with a silencer. He had spent 18 years in exile and returned to Iraq in 2008, to live with his wife and three children. He hosted the show, “To Whomever Listens”, which aired on independent Radio Demozy. The show covered social and political issues and he often criticized politicians, including the former prime minister Ayad Allawi, and the current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Mahdi regularly organized pro-democracy demonstrations via Facebook and publicized threats that he received. During Arab Spring protests Al-Mahdi and four other journalists were picked up by security forces and driven to the headquarters of the Iraqi Army's 11th Division, according to a Washington Post article. There they were beaten, given electric shocks and threatened with rape, then asked to sign a statement saying they were not tortured.

Growing fearful of his safety, about two months ago Al-Mahdi stopped his radio show. He told a friend that he believed Prime Minister Maliki had assigned mercenaries to stab him on the street. The week he was killed he had been preparing for a pro-democracy protest in Baghdad's Tahrir Square. “I will take part in the demonstrations,” he wrote, in a post on his Facebook page left just hours before he was killed. “The political process embodies a national, economic, and political failure. It deserves to change, and we deserve a better government. In short, I do not represent any political party or any other side, but rather the miserable reality in which we live.”

Susan Atkins, part of the murderous Manson Family, was sentenced to life in prison. She was denied parole 18 times and after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer she was denied a compassionate release. “She will be set free when judged by God,” said a family member of one of her victims.

Diane McCloud was freed from jail earlier this week, but only so she could die. McCloud, 48, was in Nassau County jail for shoplifting more than $3,500 worth of goods from Target. “She's terminal,” said her lawyer. “It's just so she can die easier and pain-free.” McCloud's case was unusual, usually dying prisoners end up dying in prison. Many large correctional facilities have nursing homes, and some, like Louisiana State Penitentiary, in Angola, the largest maximum security prison in the United States, even offer hospice care—the program was recently highlighted in a documentary shown on the Oprah Winfrey Network. According to a 2005 New York Times article, the number of lifers has almost doubled in the last decade. In 2005, some 132,000 prisoners were serving life sentences, according to the article; for murder, burglary, drugs and other crimes. Many prisoners will die without anyone noticing. But not all. Here are a few of the nation's most famous prison deaths..

Susan Atkins, member of the Manson Family – Manson and his followers murdered nine people in California during the summer of 1969. Atkins, known within the family as Sadie Mae Glutz, later said that she believed Manson to be Jesus. She bore a son by one of the group's members that Manson named Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz. Atkins was convicted for her participation in eight of the killings, including the murder of Sharon Tate, the wife of famous French-Polish film director, Roman Polanski. Tate was eight months pregnant at the time. Atkins received the death sentence but it was commuted to life in prison. She became a born-again Christian, taught prison classes and received a commendation for assisting officials in a suicide attempt.  Yet she was denied parole 18 times, becoming the longest-incarcerated female inmate in the California penal system.

Other Great Reads: The sad slow death of female serial killers, from “Monster” to Mary Ann Cotton

In April 2008, it was revealed Atkins had terminal brain cancer. One leg had already been amputated and she was given less than six months to live. Her lawyer said she could barely speak and that she couldn't sit up in bed without assistance. He requested a “compassionate release”, something that many in the prison reform community, who regarded keeping Atkins in prison as akin to torture, supported. But the victim's family members reacted strongly. “She will be set free when judged by God,” said Debra Tate, a relative of Sharon. “It's important that she die in incarceration.” And she did, on September 24, 2009, at a nursing center in the Central California Women's Facility, in Chowchilla, California.

Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer and cannibal – Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. The twisted details, which involved dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism, made him one of the most famous, and ill-liked American serial killers. Dahmer was found guilty on 15 counts of murder and sentenced to 15 life terms, a total of 957 years in prison. He served his time at Columbia Correctional Institution, in Portage, Wisconsin. In July of 1994 an inmate attempted to slash Dahmer's throat with a razor blade while he was returning to his cell from church service in the prison chapel. Dahmer escaped the incident with superficial injuries, but in an attack later the same year he was not as lucky. While doing janitorial work Dahmer was attacked by a prisoner who beat him to death with a 20 inch steel bar he'd taken from the prison weight room. “God told me to do it,” the man told a guard. “You will hear about it on the 6 o'clock news…Jeffrey Dahmer is dead.” In 1996, Dahmer's possessions were purchased by a Milwaukee civic group, destroyed and buried in an undisclosed Illinois landfill.

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John Gotti, mob boss – Gotti had two famous nicknames: the Dapper Don, for his penchant for expensive suits, and the Teflon Don, because he gained acquittals on three separate high-profile trials during the 1980s. But in 1992, after his underboss, Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano testified against him, Gotti was convicted of five murders as well as racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion and loan sharking. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and transferred to the United States Penitentiary, in Marion, Illinois. He spent most of his time in solitary confinement, allowed out of his cell for just one hour each day. In 1998, Gotti was diagnosed with throat cancer and sent to a prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri. The tumor was removed but returned two years later. On June 10, 2002, at the age of 61, he died in the Springfield prison hospital. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn ruled that Gotti would not be permitted a Christian burial. His funeral was held in a non-church facility, the procession included helicopters, a stream of black limousines and nearly two dozen cars containing cigar, royal flush and martini glass shaped floral arrangements. “Some might say he was notorious, law enforcement might say he was infamous,” said his lawyer, Bruce Cutler. “I say he was a sincere man, a remarkable man, an extraordinary man.”

The freemasons are a secretive organization with obscure origins and mysterious symbols. Norman Miller is 93 years old and has performed more than 1,000 masonic funerals.

Norman Miller fought in World War II then Korea and has been leading Freemason funeral services ever since. He currently lives in El Paso, Texas. Digital Dying spoke with him over the phone about how he got started, what a Freemason funeral is like and after seeing so many deaths, how he keeps going. The freemasons are a secretive organization with obscure origins. Sometime during the 15th or 16th century the first chapel, or lodge, was begun in Scotland. There are now an estimated six million Masons around the world, and just under two million in the US. Geographic regions are divided into jurisdictions, which are administered by Grand Lodges. El Paso, where Norman lives, has 10 lodges. A list of famous Freemasons includes the Italian President Silvio Berlusconi (he was expelled from the order in 1981), Nat King Cole, King Edward the VIII, Benjamin Franklin, J. Edgar Hoover, Meriwether Lewis, Harry Houdini, Mozart's dad Leopold, Arnold Palmer, Paul Revere, World War II General Douglas MacArthur, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and numerous US presidents, including the most famous Mason, George Washington.

How did you start performing Mason funerals?

When I was still a young man a lady came up to me and we had a really nice conversation. She said, ‘Norman, you ought to go into the ministry.' I never did but I went to the Lutheran church and sang in the quire. I joined the Masons in 1958 and retired from the Army in 1963. I did my first Masonic funeral in March of 1964. The job was given to me by the former secretary of the lodge. He just handed me this paper about Mason funerals and told me that I would now be leading them. I said, ‘Isn't this supposed to be done by the master of the lodge?' and he said, ‘Learn it, you have to do it.' So I did. I have done over 1,000 funerals since then. I have another one this Thursday.

Has it been depressing to lead so many funerals?

It has been not a pleasure for me but an inspiration, because the people you come in contact with appreciate it so much. It doesn't bother me, I have a firm belief in the deity. I have no fear of death. When the Lord wants me he can take me. Both my parents have passed away, and I just had a brother who passed away, he was 94. I have had very close friends in the masonry that have passed away. I have realized that they must be taken, earth to earth, ashes to ashes and dust to dust. When you come into this world you are a free born person and when you pass away, if you live the right kind of life, you are also a free person.

Other Great Reads: Funeral customs around the world

What's a Mason funeral ceremony like?

I wear a suit with a masonic apron over it, which is a white apron that we have worn for hundreds of years. They used to be made of animal skin but now are made by these companies that furnish masonic materials. You tie the apron around the back, and I have an arm band that I put on. I take a little sprig of evergreen and put it in my left breast jacket pocket. We deposit this sprig into the grave, or if it is a cremation we are dealing with, then into the urn. For it is our belief that within us there is an immortal spirit, and that our soul shall blossom in eternal strength. The sprig helps make that possible. The evergreen represents life everlasting. We commit the body to the earth and to the great creator.

How long are the ceremonies?

They used to be real long, sometimes 30 to 40 minutes, but it was too much. It distracted from things, so we shortened it down to about 12 minutes. I have done funeral services in chapels, and some right at the gravesite. The preacher does their part and if it's a military funeral there will be a salute and the folding of the flag, then we come in at the end of the service.

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Can you tell me a bit more about yourself?

I was raised in Wisconsin and drafted into the Army in January of 1942. I was in the Army for over 20 years and served in World War II and Korea. On my final tour I went back again to Germany. I was very fortunate, the Lord let me be, I came to no harm and here I am. I settled in El Paso because of my wife. We had gone to school together back in Wisconsin. She became sick with arthritis and I wanted to be in an area that was comfortable for her. El Paso is right on the border, it's really dry. She enjoyed being here. I followed in the footsteps of my brother, and my mother and father and lived a good life, a God-loving life. I think that's what I owe my longevity to. I am 93 years old, you know. Really, 93 years young. I still drive my own car.

Have you ever been to a Mason funeral? Leave a comment below and let us know more about it..

Planking is a trending internet craze where people take photos of themselves in Superman-like poses, lying flat on surfaces like railings, rooftops and police cars. A 20 year old Australian man recently fell to his death from an apartment balcony while planking.

It was a strange year for weather and perhaps an even stranger one for dying, here are some of the weirdest deaths of 2011:

Stabbed to death at a cockfight - Jose Luis Ochoa was attending an illegal cockfight in Tulare County, California when he was stabbed in the leg by a cock that had a knife attached to one of its limbs. Ochoa was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead. He was reportedly a regular participant at organized cockfights and had previously been fined for owning or training animals for fighting.

Fell from a balcony while planking - Acton Beale, a 20 year old Australian, fell from the balcony of an apartment in Brisbane while trying to plank on the railing. Planking is a trending internet craze where people take photos of themselves in Superman-like poses, lying flat on some surface, with arms at their side. Plankers then post the photos to social media websites like facebook and YouTube. Just weeks before, in Brisbane, another 20 year old was arrested for planking on the roof of a police car. Other plankers have been photographed lying on railroad tracks, in the middle of the road, and in trees.

Other Great Reads: The world's dumbest deaths, now on TV

Suffocating in a recycling bin - A 62 year-old Toledo, Ohio woman died from asphyxiation after falling head first into a recycling bin. She was discovered by her husband, upside down in the 65-gallon plastic bin, wearing pajamas. It is thought that she either lost her balance and fell off a porch into the bin or fell in while trying to retrieve an object. She died from positional asphyxia, which means because of the way she was stuck she couldn't breathe, the county coroner explained.

Mixed martial artist crushed to death by falling cow - A 23 year-old man known as McCrazy died from a heart attack after being crushed by a cow carcass at a slaughterhouse just outside Glasgow, Scotland. The man was a member of a group called the Dinky Ninjas Fight Team and was known as a prankster. Upon hearing the news, most of his friends assumed it was a joke. It is thought that the carcass, which weighed about a ton, fell off a conveyor belt hook and landed on him. He was a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and was also trained as a Thai boxer.

Other Great Reads: Dealing with grief after an accidental death

Elite German handball referee twins die in car crash on way to game – Bernd and Reiner Methe got married on the same day, lived in homes just 50 yards away from one another, both once worked for a Mercedes-Benz dealership and in 1987, took up handball refereeing together. By 1993 they were refereeing for the Handball-Bundesliga, the best professional handball league in Germany. Their highest profile match was the 2010 European Men's Handball Championship, in which Croatia played France. On November 11, 2011 they were on their way to a Bundesliga match between HBW Balingen-Weilstetten and SC Magdeburg, when their Mercedez-Benz E Class, a car they had gotten just one day before, collided with a furniture truck, killing them both. Together they had refereed nearly 700 Bundesliga matches. The game they were on their way to was canceled.

Suffocating in a clothes drying rack - A 38 year-old man from Bradford, England was hanging his clothes out to dry on a plastic clothes drying rack when he tripped over a stool, fell backwards into the rack and suffocated to death. His neck and chest became stuck between the rungs as the rack collapsed under his weight. He struggled to free himself but this further compressed the rack and only made the situation worst. The clothes on the rack were wet, which would have put even more weight on his neck, explained a detective who surveyed the scene. “I have never come across a case like this,” the coroner who handled the incident explained, adding that the chances of such an accident were less than that of being struck by lightning, or a meteorite.

Couple killed by a horny black bear that catapulted through their windshield - A man from Quebec and a woman from Ontario were killed when a 440 pound black bear smashed through their windshield on a highway in rural Quebec. The bear was struck by a separate car, catapulted into the air, and landed on their windshield, which it crushed. It  then swept through the car and exited through the back window, dead from its injuries. A local hunting guide instructed drivers to be careful during mating season. “What happens,” he said, “is these guys are roaming a little bit out of their territory, looking for sows in heat.”

A number of famous figures died last week, among the less well known famous that also died was a New Zealand drag queen named Carmen Rupe.

The past week saw the death of three very different famous figures: North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il; Czech playwright and president, Vaclav Havel and Cesaria Evora, a musical sensation from the Cape Verde Islands known as the Barefoot Diva, because she never performed in shoes. Of course, many less well known famous people died as well. Among them was a New Zealand drag queen, an early Soviet rocket scientist, a Japanese professional wrestler, an American rapper and a legendary British serial killer:

Umanosuke Ueda, Japanese professional wrestler - Ueda was famous for his bleached blond hair and handlebar mustache. He was born Yuji Ueda, but changed his name to Umanosuke, inspired by a famous late Shogunate Period samurai of the same name. Ueda fought in the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance through the 1960s. From June 11, 1976 to July 28, 1976 he was the International Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion. During the 1980s, he appeared as a henchman on a cult Japanese television show called Takeshi's Castle, about a count who owns a castle and sets up impossible challenges for players to get to him. Ueda died of respiratory failure on December 21, 2011.

Donald Neilson, British serial killer – Neilson was born Donald Nappey but changed the family name after his daughter was repeatedly bullied at school because her last name sounded like the word nappy. He worked as a builder but turned to crime when his business failed, committing house burglaries by the hundreds. He went by a variety of nicknames, including The Phantom and Handy Andy, but the most popular was The Black Panther. By the 1970s he was robbing small post offices and in 1974, he committed his first murders, shooting dead two sub-postmasters and the husband of a sub-postmistress. He became the most wanted man in Britain. In 1975, he kidnapped the heiress to a large bus transport company fortune and demanded a 50,000 pound ransom. Due to a series of police bungles he never got the money. The girl was later found hanging from a wire at the bottom of a drainage shaft. Neilson was finally arrested in 1975, convicted of murder and sent to prison to serve five consecutive life sentences. He died on December 18, 2011, after suffering from breathing difficulties.

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Slim Dunkin, American Rapper – Slim was a rising star in the Atlanta rap group 1017 Brick Squad, which is led by rappers Waka Flocka Flame and Gucci Mane. He featured on several tracks by Waka Flocka and had recently released a 20-song mixtape which featured Gucci Mane and Roscoe Dash. Last Friday, December 16th, Slim was preparing to record a video in the studio when an argument broke out. The man he was arguing with produced a handgun and shot Slim in the chest. Waka Flocka Flame and Gucci Mane are covering funeral expenses, an elaborate ceremony that will include a white horse-drawn carriage, massive white floral arrangements and a white dove release ceremony.

Other Great Reads: The etiquette of funeral flowers

Carmen Rupe, New Zealand drag queen – Rupe was a drag queen, brothel owner, wannabe politician and cultural identity. She was born in 1935 as Trevor Rupe, into a family of 13 children on a Taumarunui farm. Trevor trained as a nurse in Auckland and Wellington then moved to Sydney's notorious Kings Cross district in the late 1950s. Here, he became a she, taking the name Carmen and becoming Australia's first ever Maori drag performer. She got a breast job, worked as a prostitute and danced with snakes. She spent many nights in prison. In 1968, she returned to New Zealand and opened up her famous, Carmen's International Coffee Lounge, which doubled as a gay brothel. The lounge had red walls, purple carpets and drag queen and transgender workers. Rupe ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1977, promising the legalization of gay marriage and brothels. Just three years ago she appeared on a motorized scooter at Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, completely topless. She died on December 15, 2011, at the age of 75.

Boris Chertok, Soviet rocket designer – Chertok worked on the control systems for the world's first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. He was born March 1, 1912, in Lodz, Poland, and moved to Moscow where he was trained as an engineer. His first work involved developing electronics for Soviet polar expeditions. In 1940, he began work on ignition and control systems for one of the world's first rocket planes, known as the Bereznyak-Isayev-1. He also worked on the control systems of the first manned spacecraft, the Vostok. He wrote the definitive history of the Soviet space program, a four-volume book entitled, Rockets and People. Chertok died on December 12, 2011, at the age of 99.

People come to Paris to shop and eat but also for the cemeteries, such as the Montparnasse Cemetery in the south of the city. Cemetery visitors may not know it but they are part of a growing movement known as grief tourism. (Photo by Justin Nobel)

People come to Paris for the food, the museums and the shops but also for the cemeteries. There is the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, which opened in 1804 and receives more than a million and a half visitors a year, many of them coming to see the grave of legendary rock singer Jim Morrison. At Montparnasse Cemetery, a grid of mossy tombs and stark stone crosses, are literary luminaries such as Susan Sontag, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Baudelaire and Jean-Paul Sartre. And in Saint-Denis, on the northern outskirts of the city, are buried many of the most famous kings and queens of France, including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who were reinterred here after being removed from their mass grave near the Madeleine. Few people would admit to having come to Paris to see cemeteries but dark tourism, also known as grief tourism, is a very real phenomenon. Each year people travel far and wide to see sights linked to some of the world's greatest massacres. Here are just a few.

Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany – Between 1933 and 1945 more than 31,000 people were murdered at Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp. It is located near the medieval town of Dachau, in southern Germany and is now a memorial site. Visitors can see several rebuilt prisoners' barracks as well as a number of chapels. Dachau is only about ten miles northwest of Munich and several local tourist outfits run tours of the camp. “Join us to explore the dark side of Munich's history,” reads one. “We take you to the site of mass party rallies at Königsplatz and stop in the Hofgarten to talk about The White Rose resistance movement. The tour covers all important facts and sites that played a role in the origin of this black chapter.”

Other Great Reads: Good grief – The path to healing from a loss

Pablo Escobar's Compound, Colombia – In 1989, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, then in his mid-thirties, was ranked among the world's ten richest men by Forbes magazine. He was also one of the most murderous, supposedly responsible for more than 4,000 deaths. His massive estate, known as Hacienda Napoles, lay just off the main road between Medellin and Bogota. It had a bullfighting ring and a private zoo with giraffes, elephants, kangaroos and hippopotamuses. On an arch above the entrance was one of the small planes Escobar used to run drugs into the US. In 1993, US Drug Enforcement Agents helped Colombian police gun Escobar down on a Medellin rooftop. After his death, his estate was looted by locals and torched. Convinced gold was hidden around the compound, locals dug up floors, knocked down walls and even burrowed into the concrete dinosaurs. Doors, window frames and bathroom fixtures were carried away. Escobar's collection of vintage cars was set on fire and many of the exotic animals starved to death. Recently, the provincial government turned the estate into a theme park. His collection of burnt-out vintage cars are still there, as are an entire pod of giant concrete dinosaurs and what has grown into the largest collection of hippos outside of Africa.

“This place is really nice and tranquil,” a 24 year-old university student recently told the BBC as she took a dip in one of the compounds' two pools. “If one judges him by the estate, you have to say that he was a really intelligent guy.”

Other Great Reads: Narco lives means narco-wives and narco-tombs

Poenari Castle, Romania – The castle was ruled during the 15th century by the murderous Vlad III the Impaler (Vlad Tepes), who was said to have been responsible for more than 80,000 deaths and was the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. It is perched on a cliff along a steep river valley on the edge of the Fagaras Mountains, near the village of Arefu. The castle was erected in the 13th century but abandoned during the 14th century. In the 15th century, Vlad III moved in. His father, Vlad II, was a member of a group founded to protect Christianity in Europe called the Order of the Dragon (Dracul). As the son of Dracul, Vlad II was also known as Dracula. He was famous for his excessive cruelty, burning entire villages to the ground and torturing and often impaling his victims. According to one story, an invading Ottoman army turned back in fright when it encountered thousands of rotting corpses impaled on the banks of the Danube.

Sometime during December 1476 Vlad III was assassinated and his head taken to Constantinople as a trophy. His castle fell into disrepair and by the 17th century was in ruins. In 1888, a landslide brought a portion of it crashing down into the river below but most of it remained intact. To reach it today, visitors must take a bus along the Transfagarasan road and ask the driver to stop in a certain spot. One Dracula enthusiast named Manning Krull recently did that and posted about the experience on his blog: “I rode through 20-some kilometers of beautiful hills and farms and tiny villages, going basically in a straight line the whole time, then we reached a point where the bus was going to make a left, and the driver pulled over and gestured to me to get out and walk straight down the road…Soon, on my right, I saw a small house with a carved wooden image of Vlad Tepes!”

Brendan Foster, dying of leukemia, chose as his last wish to feed the homeless. His story inspired sister movements across the country.

“On June 12th 2011, I'm turning 9 and I found out that millions of people don't live to see their 5th birthday,” Rachel Beckwith, of Bellevue, Washington recently wrote on a donation webpage she set up with the aid organization, charity:water. “And why? Because they didn't have access to clean, safe water. I'm asking from everyone I know to donate to my campaign instead of gifts for my birthday.” Rachel's goal was to raise $300 by her birthday, she hit $240. A month later she was killed in a horrible chain-reaction car crash on Highway 90, in Washington. Her mother was driving and her younger sister was in the car too. A semitrailer jackknifed into a logging truck and rear-ended Rachel's car. Her mother and sister were fine but she was put into a coma. Several days later she was taken off life support and died.

Other Great Reads: How to deal with the death of a child

Local newspapers and radio stations ran stories about Rachel's unfulfilled final wish and the actress Alyssa Milano and a Seattle Seahawks player tweeted about it. The national media picked up the story and by the Tuesday after the accident her contribution page had attracted more than $200,000 in pledges. In September, her church held a benefit concert that helped raise more than $300,000. The money goes towards bringing clean water to the Bayaka tribe, in the Central African Republic. “I am in awe of the overwhelming love to take my daughter's dream and make it a reality,” Rachel's mother exclaimed to reporters. “In the face of unexplainable pain you have provided undeniable hope.”

Another selfless last wish story is that of Brendan Foster, a cheerful curly-headed 11 year-old from the suburbs of Seattle. He was dying of leukemia, but had one final wish: feed the homeless. “I should be gone, in a week or so,” a sad but still sprightly Brendan told CNN, in 2008. Coming home from a cancer treatment appointment he noticed an area of grass covered with red tents, filled with homeless people. “I thought, I should just get them something,” said Brendan. “They're probably starving.”

Other Great Reads: Dying wishes of the rich and misogynistic

Brendan was too sick to deliver them food himself but local and national newspapers publicized his message and volunteers flocked to his side. They prepared more than 200 sandwiches, half ham and cheese and half peanut butter and jelly. “He said he didn't want to do just all peanut butter and jelly,” said one volunteer, “because what if somebody was allergic to peanut butter.” Such thoughtfulness seems remarkable for an 11 year-old, as are his views on death. When asked if he felt sad to be dying so young, Brendan responded: “I had a great time, and until my time is done I'm going to keep having a good time.” He died on November 21, 2008. The Seattle Seahawks paid for his funeral. His story inspired feed the homeless movements in Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles and Pensacola, Florida. A Vietnam vet who had lost his legs in the war was so moved by the story he gave Brendan his Purple Heart.

Both Brendan's and Rachel's last wishes were rather unusual. Most dying children want to meet a famous person or go to Disney World. In fact, final wishes have become big business, with philanthropic organizations that cater to fulfilling last wishes springing up around Orlando. Kids come from across the USA, and Europe. The first organization to grant terminally ill children last wishes was the Sunshine Foundation, founded in Philadelphia in 1976. When hotel owner Henri Landwirth first founded Give Kids the World, in 1989, an Orlando-based last wish organization, they brought about ten kids a month to the Orlando area to visit Disney World and Epcot Center. Now they bring about 100 children a month. “I never expected in my wildest imagination that this would get so big,” founder Henri Landwirth recently said in a newspaper article.

But not all last wish stories have storybook endings. Earlier this year, a six year-old with acute lymphoblastic leukemia named Enzo was denied his last wish, to cook with the famous Food Network chef, The Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten). Enzo's mother loved the show and they frequently watched it together. Garten rejected him once, saying she was busy with a book tour, but rather than choosing another wish, as some advised him to, Enzo waited and tried again with Garten. He got rejected again, this time for good: “[Ina] participates and helps as many organizations as she can throughout the year," replied her spokesperson. "Unfortunately, as much as she would like to, it's absolutely impossible for her to grant every request she receives.”

Have a last wish story you want to share with us? Leave a comment below..

In 1854, Balthasar Gerard assassinated the popular Dutch independence leader, William the Silent. City magistrates decreed his flesh be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places and his heart ripped from his chest while he was still alive.

Last week marked the 38th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an event that only grows more epic with time. Several new books address the assassination, including one by horror guru Stephen King, entitled, 11/22/63, about a Maine school teacher who travels back in time in an attempt to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing Kennedy. While JFK's death still burns bright in the mind of Americans it is only one in a long list of historic assassinations. Some of them are even more complex and vicious than the simple case of a “lone gunman.”

Other Great Reads: The history of manhunts, from Sabbah the Assassin to Yahya the Engineer

Ehud ben-Gera and King Eglon - In the year 1200 B.C., according to the Book of Judges, an Israelite named Ehud ben-Gera was sent by God to assassinate the Moabite King Eglon. Ehud had blacksmiths craft an 18 inch long double-edged sword which he concealed under his clothing, strapped to his right thigh. He traveled under the pretext of delivering the Israelites' annual tribute. Upon meeting, Ehud told the king he had a secret message for him. Eglon dismissed his attendants and Ehud drew his sword and stabbed him in the abdomen. The blade tore out Eglon's intestines and caused him to leak excrement. He was so fat the sword actually disappeared in the wound. Ehud left it there, locked the door to the king's chamber and escaped to the town of Seriah, where he sounded the shofar and rallied the Israelite tribes for an all-out attack against Moab.

Cassius Chaerea and Caligula – Cassius Chaerea was a professional soldier in the Roman Army and bodyguard for the lascivious emperor Caligula. Although Caligula built several important aqueducts and expanded the Roman Empire into Mauretania he was considered by many to be a self-absorbed braggart and insane. He slept with other men's wives and wasted money on useless bridges and personal statues while his people starved. Once, at games at which he was presiding, he ordered an entire section of the crowd to be eaten by animals during intermission because there were no criminals to be prosecuted and he was bored. Such ineptitude angered Cassius, who was also mad at the constant jokes Caligula made about a wound he suffered to his genitalia while serving Caligula's father, Germanicus. At games held in Rome in late January Cassisus murdered Caligula. Conspirators in the Roman Senate killed Caligula's wife and daughter. Unfortunately for Cassisus the entire family was not exterminated, Caligula's uncle, Claudius, became emperor and had Cassisus killed. He requested to be executed with his own murder weapon, a wish that was granted.

Balthasar Gerard and William the Silent – No assassin suffered a more gruesome fate than Balthasar Gerard, who on July 10, 1584, shot and killed the popular Dutch independence leader, William the Silent (William I of Orange). Gerard had snuck into the royal chambers and hid in a dark corner. As William's sister attended to her dying brother Gerard fled through a side door and ran across a narrow lane towards the palace walls. His plan was to jump into the moat, using a pig's bladder wrapped around his waist to keep him afloat but he stumbled over a pile of trash and was caught by one of William's servants. Gerard underwent a preliminary examination before the city magistrates, who decreed his right hand should be burned off with a red-hot iron, his flesh torn from his bones with pincers in six different places, that he should be quartered and disemboweled, then, while still alive, his heart ripped from his chest and flung in his face.

Other Great Reads: Funeral customs in Shakespearian Times

What actually happened was even worst. He was hung from a pole and lashed with a whip. His wounds were smeared with honey and a goat—the animals have sharp tongues—was brought in to lick the honey off. Gerard was left the night with his hands and feet bound together in a ball, making sleep impossible. Over the next three days, he was repeatedly hung on a pole in this manner. Then a weight of 300 metric pounds was attached to each of his big toes for half an hour. After this, shoes made of raw well-oiled, dog's leather, two sizes too small, were put on his feet, which were then put before a fire, causing the shoes to warm up and contract even further, reducing his feet to useless stumps. His armpits were branded and he was dressed in a shirt soaked in alcohol, then doused with burning bacon fat. After four days of torture, he died. All the sudden Oswald's fate, killed by a gunshot to the abdomen fired by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, doesn't seem so bad.

Disgusted by what they did to Balthasar Gerard? Remember where you were the day JFK was assassinated? Leave a comment below..