Article: Freaky Friday – Offbeat Florida: World’s first underwater cemetery – Neptune Memorial Reef (video) Publisher: Florida Traveler Examiner Author: Larraine Stacey

Article Excerpt:

…Instead of spreading ashes over ocean waters, at Neptune Memorial Reef the ashes of loved ones are mixed with cement designed for underwater use and fitted into a mold, [...]]]>

Just part of the underwater cemetery

Article: Freaky Friday – Offbeat Florida: World’s first underwater cemetery – Neptune Memorial Reef (video)
Publisher: Florida Traveler Examiner
Author: Larraine Stacey

Article Excerpt:

…Instead of spreading ashes over ocean waters, at Neptune Memorial Reef the ashes of loved ones are mixed with cement designed for underwater use and fitted into a mold, which a diver then places and secures into the reef. A copper and bronze plaque is installed with the person’s name, date of birth and death. There is also a line for a message.

Visiting a loved one is for divers, too, as families must charter a boat to the site and scuba dive down the reef. The man-made site is divided into sections so that as a diver swims down the reef pathways there will be themed areas done in sculptural elements.

The reef is designed to last forever and engineered to withstand the harshest hurricane that has hit Florida in the last 100 years. So if you’ve always wanted your final resting place to be serene, underwater and unique, then Neptune Memorial Reef could be just what you want.

Watch the video news story:

Read more about the Neptune Memorial Reef at www.nmreef.com…
OR
Read the article quoted above at www.examiner.com…

Article Excerpt:

… The vast majority of Japanese are cremated.

In a ceremony relatives collect the ashes, picking up pieces of bone with chopsticks, and placing them in a ceramic urn.

The remains are then buried, usually under a family tombstone.

But in the high-rise graveyard, the urns are stored [...]]]> Publisher: BBC News, Tokyo
Author: Roland Buerk
Publish Date: October 13, 2009

Article Excerpt:

… The vast majority of Japanese are cremated.

In a ceremony relatives collect the ashes, picking up pieces of bone with chopsticks, and placing them in a ceramic urn.

The remains are then buried, usually under a family tombstone.

But in the high-rise graveyard, the urns are stored on shelves instead.

One half of the building is a warehouse for the dead, filled from the ground floor to the shadows high above with row upon row of rectangular metal boxes.

“You can put ashes for two people in one box,” said the monk. “So 7,000 people maximum in this space, [when] for a normal graveyard you would get 100 graves in this area [of land].”
A key selling point of the graveyard is that the ashes can be retrieved for loved ones to honour the departed.

Visiting bereaved families swipe a card in a reader attached to a computer to activate a robotic arm in the darkness of the vault…

Read the whole story at news.bbc.co.uk…
OR
Read a similar story at www.pri.org…

Article Excerpt:

LONDON – A survey has revealed that most Brits do not wish to be buried in a traditional plot, choosing unusual places such as a favourite holiday destination, a place from their childhood or even their own garden.

Age Concern said being laid to rest in churchyard or garden [...]]]> Publication: Breaking News 24/7
Date: Oct 10, 2009

Article Excerpt:

LONDON – A survey has revealed that most Brits do not wish to be buried in a traditional plot, choosing unusual places such as a favourite holiday destination, a place from their childhood or even their own garden.

Age Concern said being laid to rest in churchyard or garden of remembrance was rejected by 55 percent of 2,068 people, who also fail to tell their loved ones about their choice.

And some of their more bizarre choices of where to be buried included a council tip, the desert, the start or finish of the Le Mans race track or a scrap yard.

…Read the Full Story at blog.taragana.com