What happens to cremated remains after cremation? At the end of the cremation process the cremated remains are removed from the cremator in their entirety and transferred to a separate treatment area. Once the cremation process is complete all the remains are removed before the cremator can be used again.

Open-air cremations, known as funeral pyres, are uncommon and even illegal in some countries, particularly in the Western World, because it is considered taboo. In the U.S., a group in Crestone, Colorado, a part of the Crestone End of Life Project, obtained legal permission to perform “open-air cremations”.

The operators at crematoriums heat bodies to 1,750 degrees Fahrenheit for two to three hours; they liken the smell close-up to a burnt pork roast. The smell can be so thick and rich that it’s almost a taste. (Anthropologists and journalists have written about what it’s like to eat human flesh.)

Open-air cremations, or funeral pyres, are mostly illegal in the USA. For the most part, they are considered taboo, however, Crestone, Colorado is the only place where open-air cremations are legal in the United States.

Real Viking funerals, however, are perfectly legal. You can be cremated properly – though your crematorium of choice might have restrictions on what items you can have with you at the time, so maybe not with sacrificial animals!

Vikings did not have to die with a sword in hand to reach Valhalla. But only warriors killed in battle would be selected by Odin and his Valkyries to join them in the great halls of Valhalla, where they would spend the afterlife training by day and feasting by night until the arrival of Ragnarok.

ship burial

Did Vikings Really Burn Their Dead in Boats? Although there is some evidence a few very high-ranking individuals were burned in their boats, many more were simply buried in them. Still, a ship-grave was about as common to Vikings as a specialized memorial chapel is to modern Christian burials.