Funeral Consumers Alliance

As a funeral director for many years, I am very familiar with problems that arise in mausoleum crypts. Occasionally there will be an explosive event, but most problems involve leakage of body fluids from caskets. In a properly constructed crypt, which would have an adequate ventilation system and drainage provisions, no problems occur IF the casket itself is not sealed. Inside a sealed casket, temperature changes draw moisture from the body and as vapor it condenses on the lining of the casket. When the temperature cools, the moisture drops down, usually pooling around the body. That's why most sealed caskets give off the sound of swishing water when removed from a crypt. However, if the casket is not sealed, and especially if the lid is propped open an inch or two, the moisture escapes into the crypt and is wafted away by the ventilation system (if it is working properly). Over time, the body decomposes naturally. Few families are told about this. The mausoleum salesmen want to push the "clean and dry" concept many people have about entombment. Greedy (and sometimes just plain ignorant) funeral directors promote socalled "protective" sealed caskets as being the best type of container, when the truth is that these sealed caskets often cause these awful problems. So, some mausoleum operators secretly prop open the casket lids to head off any problems. Some funeral directors will just not seal the caskets. In most cases, the families are not told this little secret. No ethical funeral director is going to tell a family that any casket (or burial vault) is going to preserve the body.