- [Caitlin] Caitlyn's father
passed away two years ago,
but that wasn't the end of the story.
Caitlin had his head removed
and de-fleshed and dried,
and now his skull is just as
important a part of her life
as her dad once was.
You can do the same with someone you love.
Call 1-800-MY-SKULL today
to find out why we're
a-head of the competition
for your skull de-fleshing
and display needs.
That's 1-800-MY-SKULL.
(subtle music)
- Can I keep my parent's
skull on the mantle piece
is one of our most popular
questions of all time,
but I was always like,
we've answered it before.
We don't need a whole new video.
But it's come to my attention
that that video was eight years ago
when I was still recording
on the web cam on my Mac book
and not filling in my eyebrows
and my answer was about 30 seconds long.
So yes, we can do better.
♪ Mad science ♪
Some people asking this question,
may be looking for a spooky
Macabre paper weight, so goth.
But I think most folks are
looking for a tender keepsake
of the person they lost.
After all, keeping the skull
is just leveled up cremated remains.
Cremated remains, ground up bones.
Skull, not ground up bones.
And historically, human
skulls have been used
across a wide range of
cultures as memento mori,
reminders of our mortality.
Being able to have your morning
coffee with your mom's skull
sort of bridges that gap
between death acceptance and immortality.
As always though, what we run up against,
in the Western world especially,
is the legality of keeping mom's skull.
Here's the question.
Is mom's dead body a thing?
An object like a car or
a couch you can just own?
Or is she still a person with rights?
This has been a centuries long
philosophical and legal debate.
As it stands, legally
nobody owns a dead body.
Not you, not your family,
not the laboratory that
your dad donated his body to
for scientific research,
not even the cemetery where he's buried.
Corpses are called quasi property,
quasi meaning sort of, or almost property.
So, a corpse is an object, it's a thing,
but it's not really property
and no one can own it,
but that doesn't mean you
can just do whatever you want
to a corpse either.
Most US states have what's
called Abuse of Corpse Laws,
which are kind of exactly how they sound.
These are laws put into place
to keep the dead protected
and stop weirdos and criminals
from doing things to the bodies,
like the thing that
rhymes with gecko philia,
or from stealing bodies or body parts
to sell them for financial gain.
We've covered quite a few
scandals, like the one at UCLA,
where that guy was stealing
organs and body parts
and selling them to the highest bidder.
That's what we call abusing a corpse.
Now, that's what I call
a abuse of a corpse.
That's not a good joke.
The legal definition of abuse of a corpse
is going to vary from state to state
and those definitions can
be frustratingly vague,
things like abuse of a corpse
is treating a dead body
or remains of any person
in a way that would outrage
normal family sensibilities.
Now you might be saying,
"Okay, but keeping my mom's skull
wouldn't outrage my family.
That's just like your opinion, man.
So give me mom's skull already."
But this is going to be
your first huge obstacle
in getting mom's skull,
finding a funeral home
willing to separate
mom's skull from her body
and give the head back to you in,
I don't know, a Yeti cooler
and not be terrified about
breaking abuse of corpse laws.
Listen, my funeral home is known
for being one of the most chill vibes,
whatever the family wants funeral homes
in the entire country,
but I still one, don't even
know how to remove a head.
I mean, I get it logistically
and structurally,
but we don't just have hacksaws
lying around the funeral home and two,
removing heads is the kind of stuff
unethical body snatching morticians do.
Not really trying to
pick up that reputation.
And three, I don't want
me or my funeral director
to be brought up on
charges of corpse abuse,
even though I want you all to achieve
your dearest post-mortem wishes.
There's just not a lot of
pros for a funeral home,
willing to sign on to
do this for a family.
Even if a funeral home did say,
"I do not fear the government
or their unjust laws,
I will pop mom's head off for you family."
Okay, who's going to get all
that pesky flesh off her skull.
Again, abuse of corpse laws
are like do not pass go.
When I asked our resident
corpse legal expert
and friend of the series, Tanya Marsh,
if there is any way to get
and keep mom or dad's skull,
she said, quote,
"It isn't legal in any
state in the United States
to reduce a human head to a skull."
Not to mention, even if through
some wacky twist of events,
like, you know, the domestic
beetles skull cleaning guy
at the local museum
and can get your dad's
skull squeaky clean,
not putting it in a cemetery
and just keeping it at home
would leave you guilty of a
misdemeanor in most states.
Of course, the laws are always changing,
although maybe not always in our favor.
In April of 2020, Colorado
passed a house bill
that changed the penalty
for abuse of a corpse
from a class two misdemeanor
to a class six felony,
which is great to stop
unethical body brokers,
but bad for your skull dreams.
Okay, what if you just
want like any skull?
Doesn't specifically
have to be dad's skull.
Buying, selling, and owning human remains
is not technically
illegal under federal law,
unless the remains are found
on federal or tribal land,
but it's also very much in a gray area.
You may have tried
shopping online for skulls
and notice that the sellers
put the responsibility on the buyer,
making them liable for
any fines or litigation
and a lot of sellers in the
UK won't even ship to the US
because our laws are so darn vague.
Of course, human bones obviously
still make their way
into shops and markets
and private collections all the time.
But that doesn't mean they were acquired
in the most ethical or legal way.
Studies show that that skull
or femur you got your eyes on
was likely harvested from an
individual in China or India
who couldn't afford a burial or cremation.
Skull model, by the way, not
a Chinese political prisoner.
Nope, nope, nobody nope.
Long story short, the bone sellers
can say their bones are ethically sourced
and like totally legal,
but I can also change my Twitter bio
to say I won the national
taco eating championship
eight times, even though
I've only won it four times.
(cheering)
Whether it's your dad's
skull or that cool tibia
you've been eyeing on buycooltibias.net,
for now, it's generally best
to leave the bones alone.
But what about skin?
No, I'm not talking about
making a kicky new vest
from dad's hide,
though there was that human leather place
that we mentioned in a
video a couple of years ago.
Still not sure what's going on with them.
I'm talking about the viral concept
of preserving a person's
tattooed skin after they die.
You may be asking how can
keeping my dad's skull be illegal
while keeping my dad's
enormous back tattoo
of a dragon pirate ship is fine?
The truth is,
we're still waiting to see
how this one shakes out.
It's probably not a hundred percent
free and clear and legal,
but right now the process of
post-mortem tattoo preservation
is being offered as a service
rather than the skin being property
that's being sold back to family members
and maybe it stays in the realm of legal,
at least the most prominent
tattoo preservation company
claims that it is legal.
Save My Ink Forever is a company in Ohio
run by the father and son
embalmer/funeral director team
of Michael and Kyle Sherwood.
To get them the tattooed skin to preserve,
first, you need to find a
funeral home in your area
willing to do the removal.
Again, possibly running
into the same issue
of your local funeral director saying,
"Not for me, thanks."
If a funeral home does agree,
they will get a recovery
kit from Save My Ink Forever
with paperwork, an instructional video,
which I'd like to see.
- I would like to see it.
- And materials used
in recovering the skin.
Kyle Sherwood calls it a very
simple subdermal procedure
that involves cutting a
border around the tattoo,
keeping the blade at a 45 degree angle
and placing the recovered
skin in a container
with a dry preservative to be shipped
to Save My Ink Forever.
Sherwood emphasizes
that Save My Ink Forever
doesn't cost funeral homes a dime,
and it's a way for funeral homes
to make up for revenue loss
because people just aren't
buying expensive metal caskets
like they used to.
Why aren't people buying
expensive metal caskets
like they used to?
Apparently, the process
of preserving the skin
and framing it under UV protective glass
takes about three months and
then it's shipped back to you.
Fun fact, Kyle's grandfather,
a trade embalmer,
was known as "Mean Gene
the Embalming Machine"
and embalmed Chef Boyardee.
Yes, that Chef Boyardee.
So that's quirky and fun.
Now jokes aside, I wish no
ill will to the Sherwood's.
They're obviously providing
a service that people want.
Dad had some sick ink after
all and tattooing is an art.
I'm not sure that I'm going
to be the first to sign up
as a preferred funeral home provider,
but if it gets people involved
in making choices about
their loved one's corpses,
you know I'm all for it.
The point of this whole video
is that the ownership of human remains
is one big foggy gray area,
which in some ways is good news.
It's not a forever solid, no
on the skulls or the tattoos,
it's just an evolving situation.
Hello?
Did you enjoy that video?
Interested in answers to
even more morbid questions?
Well, I recommend "Will
My Cat Eat My Eyeballs:
And Other Questions About Dead Bodies"
by me, Caitlin Doughty.
You may have been interested in reading,
"Will My Cat Eat My
Eyeballs" for some time now,
but thought this book is just
too expensive and too hard.
Well, now you can read this
Goodreads Choice Award winning book
for less money and it's floppy.
Cause that's what paperbacks are.
It's a pandemic.
I think it's time you treat yourself.
As for a book tour,
I'm coming to your town
to hug you and touch you.
No, I'm not doing that.
They're not going to let me do that,
but I can do an online book tour,
which means any one of the world can come,
Five events, five
totally different topics.
If you want to support
the amazing independent
bookstores we're partnering with,
order the book directly from one of them
and your copy will come signed by me
with this stamp we had made it my face
because you like my face on things
and this fabulous laptop or bumper sticker
by the book's artist, Dianne Ruz.
All the links you'll
need can be found below.
Thanks to me for sponsoring this video.
Support yourself ladies.
This video was made
with generous donations
from death enthusiasts, just like you.
Thanks for the career advice, dad.
At the end of the day,
my passion is to raise
free range succulents.
It's always been my dream.
What do you think?
I get it.
You think that I should do something
more practical with my life.
Like make eight dollar Turmeric
adaptogenic mushroom lattes
for tech bros, right?
It's hard to hear,
but I always appreciate you
being honest with me dad.
I have a surprise for you, dad.
Are you ready?
It's one of my succulents.
Do you love it?
I worked so hard on it.
It's a really good
succulent, everybody says so.
♪ Mad science ♪
