Victor M. Sweeney, a licensed funeral director and mortician, answers the internet’s burning questions about burials and the interment of dead bodies. What’s the difference between a casket and a coffin? Why do cemeteries appear to never run out of space? What are sky burials and green burials? Can you really hire professional mourners? Victor answers these questions and more—it’s Burial Support.
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Rahil Ashruff
Editor: Richard Trammell
Talent: Victor M. Sweeney
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Eric Martinez
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Casting Producer: Nicole Ford
Camera Operator: Cloud Corredor
Audio: Gabe Quiroga
Production Assistant: Caleb Clark
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Paul Tael
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
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48 comments
Hes so attractive. I have a bunch of pickup lines YouTube would not be comfortable with xD
11:47 Another reason is sort out all the costs of the funeral and to not leave the financial burden to your loved ones
When I was in 1st or 2nd grade one of my class mate's baby brother Died and she didn't knew what was death none of knew much either. She played and laughed with us at the funeral. Be cause her parents told her that brother was in a deep sleep!!!!!!!!😭😭
imma just say, this guy would play a absolutely wild viktor von doom
Victor is the best guest I’ve seen on this channel! So empathetic and yet matter of fact. Please have him back more often!
7:24 is it just me who thinks the idea of being above the ground is way better than underground? I’d rather be above ground for eternity
"Cremation or burial or maybe a mix between the two"??? so what's the deal there? my bottom half is cremated, and top half is buried?
It's extremely nice to hear someone with no background in Norse studies correcting misunderstandings regarding Viking funerals and the idea of the "burning boat at sea". He's absolutely right; most Norse funerals were land funerals. Some were as he says buried on land in boats that were then turned into mounds (famous example worth googling would be the "Oseberg ship burial"), but of course not every grave mound has a whole ship inside it. You're not going to spare a ship for every random dead Norseman, so that would've been more a status thing.
Some were instead buried in a more symbolic 'stone ship', which is a stone monument where boulders are placed evenly spaced in the shape of a pointed oval (a ship outline, if you will), often with larger stones at the bow and stern.
Beyond that, ship-less mounds were also a common practice, and in those instances the deceased was usually first cremated on a pyre and their ashes were then interred in the mounds. Mounds of that sort are often found in clusters, today often marked as grave fields. These grave fields end up looking like large, hill-y fields and they're dotting the Scandinavian landscape to this day
in youtube lore he's married to Ask a Mortician
In my family, we dont wear black to funerals. We dress as we normally do, maybe closer to business casual. "Come as you are, because we don't put on airs".
In some areas, I believe it's the law to pull over for a funeral procession. I do it anyway as a show of respect to the loved ones.
Luncheons after a funeral are a good way for everyone to gather and share fond memories of the one who has passed, and to also visit amongst ourselves, especially if we don't get to see each other often due to distance or scheduling conflicts.
Too upbeat and flippant it freaks me out tbh lol
profiting off of the dead and grieving is and always will be deplorable. attempts to justify or rationalize it make it even worse.
9:31 I love Catherine Keener!
4:11 Is that how Tibet is pronounced in the US?
he can put something 6 inches in me
I dunno how I feel about pictures taken of the deceased at the funeral. I feel like I shouldn't get to judge because it's opposite of what is generally appropriate in my culture. If their people generally don't consider it to be a harmful practice to their mental health then I shouldn't judge them.
8:38 most of my living family is some form of Irish or Scottish American. One of the most stereotypical things I've seen my family do is sneak in booze during the sermon part of an Irish-Catholic wedding. Juuuuuuust to get through it.
Moore Susan Wilson Brenda Robinson Joseph
We need to talk about how funeral homes are going corporate.
That’s disturbing for me
For kids on death sesame street has helped i grew up when mr hooper passed, so when a family friend died an overheard my dad on the phone, i knew something was wrong and my dad didn't want to even care to be honest with me, i was young but i understood
Wanna know if he ever got a Walter Sobchak as a customer 😁
5:53 Im never eating roast beef again, sorry Arby's.
Pretty sure the photos on social media are for the insurance company. So they chill when their doppelgänger appears a few years later.
So, Mad Sweeney is helping Mr Ibis now. Is it season 4?
My utmost respect to Mr.Undertaker.
I love how he reads out some of the names and looks sttaight at us as if we are supposed to say "oh, it's HIM/HER again having another question!"
I thought everywhere pulled over for processions. I grew up in Tennessee and you were considered a jerk if you didnt pull over. Also if you drive by a burial, it was always respectful to slow your car down as you pass.
It’s normal in the UK to have food after a funeral and, honestly, it’s the best bit. The funeral itself is so emotionally and mentally draining and there’s a catharsis in eating together after synergy that hard. It’s like reconnecting with those that are still here and, more often than not, ends up being a sharing of good stories and memories of the deceased.
Why does anyone want a picture of a dead body??
The thing that doesn't get talked about enough is orphan deaths, or people who die without anyone tontake care of things. Unless something drastically changes in my life, I will die alone. My grandmother is the last of the family I talk to and I'm fairly sure I'll outlive her. I have no friends and I don't date. There will be no one close to me to attend to me after I'm gone.
I have three half sisters and 15 or so nieces and nephews. But I haven't seen or talked to them since 2016, except when my mother died in 2023. Haven’t talked since.
Those of us who know we're going to die alone are in a bit of a pickle. Who takes care of us when we're gone? Who takes care of our estate? Who gets an inheritance? Who cries when we're gone?
Great video, educational and really well done.
zamn
Most suicides happen in the spring and summer for some reason
Corporate funeral homes? Oh heeeeeeeeck no
We do live in a dystopia
So if I scatter someone's remains on the white house garden, am i allowed to visit the White House Garden as I please?😅
In Sweden you also "rent" a grave space. You're first buried for 25 years, after that you can extend the burial right for 15 years for a fee, and you can do that as many times as you want. As long as there is a burial right's holder alive and the burial right period is currently updated, after every 15 years you can pay to keep it until there's no one alive anymore to continue to pay for it. (People have kept graves for generations going)
Funeral pyres are very common in Asia still. India, Pakistan, Indonesia
When I first started working at a vet's office, seeing euthanized animals was hard. But as time has gone on, it's become a part of the job. However, there always is a bit of remorse.
Y’all should look up Baquiné (Puerto Rican tradition).
You’re welcome.
Do you think it would help a person's loved ones after they die, for them to already have a plan for the funeral and burial? It is a very difficult time for the survivors, would it be better if they don't have to plan out and take care of everything themselves?
Some vikings also killed a servant girl to be buried with the dead person. Pretty rough
I lived in Kentucky for a short period of time and when I was there I was taught it was etiquette to not only pull over for a funeral procession but to get out of your vehicle, take your hat off and put your hand over your heart or to give a salute if it was a soldier or police officer. I no longer live in Kentucky, but I still do this because I believe it shows respect and I hope that when I pass others would do the same for me.
For great music or great funerals, visit Emerson Lake, embalmer.
1:09 does this mean if i throw a little bit of dad onto someone else’s private property, i automatically get access to it?
The person asking whether cemeteries run out of space most definitely hasn’t played Cities: Skylines.
One thing I've heard about scattering ashes in public places, depending on the place, and how often it gets cleaned, your relative may end up getting wiped/vacuumed up and dumped in the garbage.
14:32 I told my family don’t waste other peoples time with a procession. It’s an out dated custom that doesn’t fit in major metropolitans.
Some people are such self-absorbed losers. You can't be bothered to get out of the way for a couple minutes while a family safely gets their loved one to their final resting place? News flash, the public roads aren't there for only you. You share them with a society that recognizes this is the respectful and courteous thing to do. It's just a shame we have to share our oxygen with you also.
he's like an american Richtofen
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