Funeral Museum in Houston

The National Museum of Funeral History sits in a large, box-like, brick building across from a gas station in Houston and houses coffins, hearses from across the generations, embalming equipment, funerary art, as well as a full size replica of King Tut’s sarcophagus. In the words of one recent visitor, the place is “creepy groovy”.

The NMFH represents the best of roadside America, with all its loveable eccentricities. The visit with life-long friend Bryant provided a nice reentry from Peru into Atmosphere Norte Americano. It also reminded me that we probably need an exit strategy as we enter the middle period, and respectful humor (and I think that’s possible) seems to be at least a starter tactic for dealing with death.

One of the featured exhibits is a collection of Ghanian coffins, the largest outside of Africa, crafted by a local coffin maker with a sense of whimsy, humor and a broad color palette. He carved lobster, crab, jaguar, eagle, even fish shaped-coffins – and the best part isn’t the coffins – but rather the elementary signage created to explain them. Featured in this post is the famous shallot coffin; the description reads: “shallot coffin: this coffin was probably made for a person who liked shallots or sold them in the marketplace”. Other descriptions were similar: “lobster coffin: likely made for someone who was a lobster fisherman”.

Also on display was the three person coffin, constructed for a couple whose young child had tragically died. The couple was so depressed that they ordered a coffin for three people. They had concocted a plan to commit suicide in the aftermath of the infant’s death, and later changed their minds. Grim. Not to worry – am heading home now, fully awake, mentally designing my Chocolate Coffin.