Human Taxidermy

A recent article in the Phoenix New Times describes Phoenix-based Preserve A Life, a company that specializes in Humidermy... a.k.a. Human Taxidermy. If you can't stand the idea of cremating or burying your dearly departed, then Preserve A Life will freeze-dry and 'mount' them for you. Bring Granny back home and have her on display in the living room. You can pose the body in any position you want: "Children have been posed on bicycles and skateboards, grandmothers in rocking chairs, and grandfathers playing boccie ball." As I was reading the article, I kept thinking this CAN'T be real, but some of the links mentioned in the article seemed authentic, such as this one to a Pet Preservation Clinic (and this link to Summum, the world leader in modern mummification, also seemed real, though it doesn't seem that Summum has had a lot of clients yet). What finally convinced me that the article was nothing more than an elaborate joke was the discovery that the Preserve A Life website is registered to the Phoenix New Times itself. But I have to admit, it had me going for a while. I was almost ready to believe that Preserve A Life was real.

Death

Posted on Tue Nov 02, 2004


Comments

Does Ted Williams' nephew want to move his body there if the freezer thing doesn't work out? Hey, Harry Carey could still be in the booth with this service!(Sorry - distasteful, I know)
Posted by Legbo  on  Tue Nov 02, 2004  at  03:43 PM
:blank: wow... if that were real, it would have been pretty disturbing. i mean, imagine old Granny Florence's eyes protruding out of her head in a blank stare, her cane raised in a threatening manner. along the lines of those eyes, they'd probably follow you wherever you go: kitchen, living room, BATHROOM?? :wow:

eheheheheh... *twitch*
Posted by Sango-chan  on  Tue Nov 02, 2004  at  08:15 PM
If it were true, who would want their beloved 'frozen' in a glass tank forever staring. I tell you, if this comes around once I've doed, I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck there either...'corse, I'd be dead...

Anyway that would make it even harder to get over someone if you saw them every morning.

Similar to stuffed animals maybe? Can't stand them either 😉
Posted by Amy  on  Wed Nov 03, 2004  at  04:47 PM
There is a place in New Guinea where funeral customs normally include smoking the loved one's body until it's preserved, then propping it up in the family's house so the ancestors can continue to take part in various celebrations and occasions. Or at least, they used to do this: the book I have with photographs of this was published in the 1980s.
Anthropologists used to say that such people had only a weak sense of the reality of death, but it's debatable whether such practices are really all that different from (for example) bringing flowers to the grave of someone who can't see them or smell them.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Wed Nov 03, 2004  at  06:55 PM
This is ineteresting because I have always told my family that I want to be stuffed when I die, preferrably with flex wiring in my limbs so that I can be placed in any position. I for one, would pay handsomely to be taxidermed once dead. Too bad this was a hoax
Posted by Ed Ible  on  Mon May 30, 2005  at  01:15 PM
The Humanistic Taxidermy Society of America was highlighted on the Howard Stern Show in 2000. America's Number one Taxidermied Girl, Calistra, was Mr. Stern's guest. See http://www.craigcalman.com and click on the HTSA page for further details.
Posted by Craig Calman  on  Wed Aug 30, 2006  at  05:21 PM
It is real one of the most fascinating or crazy things ever. go to Histroy channel.com and they did a special on it wens march 7th they will replay the show again.
Posted by Valencia  on  Wed Mar 07, 2007  at  12:10 PM
I would very much like to have my therapist stuffed so that I could visit her to talk to any time I wanted to in the future.
It's a great idea 😊
Posted by Elvira  on  Thu Aug 05, 2010  at  10:21 AM
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