Caitlin Doughty
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
  • Advocacy
  • Books
  • Videos
  • Events
  • Contact & Resources

Videos

In this episode of Open Door, we step inside the brutalist Moscow home of the corpse of Vladimir Lenin. Designed in collaboration with Joseph Stalin, Lenin’s space blends city living with a touch of mold and structural issues. With pops of red (socialism’s favorite color) and numerous homages to cult of personality, the great leader's home will make you wonder, "does he even want to be here?" 

Support our team and the production of these videos through PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

The Books I Wrote: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

Course on Facing Your Death: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

The Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegooddeath

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host & Writer: Caitlin Doughty (@thegooddeath)
Research: Louise Hung (@LouiseHung1)
Editor & Graphics: Andy Windak
Production Coordinator: Sarah Chavez
Outro Songs: performed by DARRENCORP (@darrencorp)
Is it Time to Bury Vladimir Lenin?
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLk15N01oZEdqTHpv
It's the future of death, boys!

Support our team and the production of these videos through PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

The Books I Wrote: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

The Course I Created: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

The Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegooddeath

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host & Writer: Caitlin Doughty (@thegooddeath)
Researcher & Writer: Louise Hung (@LouiseHung1)
Editor & Graphics: Andy Windak
Production Coordinator: Sarah Chavez
Outro Songs: performed by DARRENCORP (@darrencorp)


SELECTED SOURCES/FURTHER READING

Troyer, John. Technologies of the Human Corpse. The MIT Press, 2020. 

Scandura, Jani. "Deadly Professions: 'Dracula,' Undertakers, and the Embalmed Corpse."  Victorian Studies , Autumn, 1996, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Autumn, 1996), pp. 1-30. Indiana University Press.  

Podgorny, Irina. "Modern Embalming, Circulation of Fluids, and the Voyage through the Human Arterial System: Carl L. Barnes and the Culture of Immortality in America." Nuncius 26 (2011) 109–131

Barnes, Carl Lewis. The Art and Science of Embalming. Barnes School of Anatomy, Sanitary Science and Embalming, 1927.

Randolph, Vance. Ozark Magic and Folklore. Dover Publications, 1964.

Farrell, James J. Inventing the American Way of Death, 1830–1920. Temple University Press, 1980.
The Weirdest Corpse in Funeral History
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLnRNRWZWZkh3RHgw
Tahlequah carried her dead calf for thousands of miles. Many of us understood why. 

Support the production of these videos through our Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

More information on the J-Pod and Southern Residents: https://www.whaleresearch.com/

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Writer & Host: Caitlin Doughty
Writer & Researcher: Louise Hung 
Editor: Timothy Meier
Producer: Sarah Chavez
Thumbnail: Landis Blair 

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

Read My Books: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

Face Your Mortality Course: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

Podcast: https://apple.co/2yK6c6G
Spotify:  https://spoti.fi/2QZEVEM

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegooddeath

WAYS TO SUPPORT THE NONPROFIT

Donate and become a member: https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate

Advocacy Wear: https://the-order-of-the-good-death.myshopify.com/
The Death Rituals of a Grieving Mother Orca
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLmswOUNVdWpjQlFj
Was this a story of graverobbing or gravedepositing?

Support our team and the production of these videos through PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

The Book I Wrote: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

The Course I Created: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

The Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegooddeath

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host & Writer: Caitlin Doughty (@thegooddeath)
Researcher & Writer: Louise Hung (@LouiseHung1)
Editor & Graphics: Andy Windak
Production Coordinator: Sarah Chavez
Outro Songs: performed by DARRENCORP (@darrencorp)


SELECTED SOURCES/FURTHER READING

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm-Where the Dead Do Tell Tales
Bass, Bill; Jefferson, Jon. Berkley Books, New York, 2003

"Bill Bass Wants Your Body"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1999/07/04/william-bass-wants-your-body/73b45d8e-c94e-453a-90d4-1ee945816ae8/

"What happens to bones from UT's famous 'Body Farm'? They're cleaned, boxed and studied"
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/life/2018/11/14/university-tennessee-body-farm-william-bass-donated-skeletons-forensic-science-corpse-research/1918243002/

"The mystery of Col. William Shy’s burial in a cast iron casket"
https://www.williamsonherald.com/features/w_life/the-mystery-of-col-william-shy-s-burial-in-a-cast-iron-casket/article_11504706-e487-11ed-947c-3b074a653e2d.html

"Unearthing Stories for 20 Years at the ‘Body Farm’"
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/body-farm-20th-anniversary-032019

"If These Bones Could Talk: The Stories Human Skeletons Can Tell"
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/08/23/412923674/if-these-bones-could-talk-the-stories-human-skeletons-can-tell

"BODY FARMS UNRAVEL MYSTERIES OF HUMAN DECOMPOSITION"
https://themobmuseum.org/blog/body-farms-unravel-mysteries-of-human-decomposition/
Who Hid a Fresh Body in a Civil War Grave?
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLmF6WW1lNkR4czc4
The brutal sinking of the pleasure boat Marchioness was only the beginning for the families and friends of the victims. 

Support the production of these videos through our Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

Thank you to the @OceanlinerDesigns team (Jack Gibson, Liam Sharpe, and Michael Brady) for creating the animations of the accident.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Writer & Host: Caitlin Doughty
Writer & Researcher: Louise Hung 
Editor: Timothy Meier
Producer: Sarah Chavez
Thumbnail: Landis Blair 

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

Read My Books: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

Face Your Mortality Course: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

Podcast: https://apple.co/2yK6c6G
Spotify:  https://spoti.fi/2QZEVEM

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegooddeath

WAYS TO SUPPORT THE NONPROFIT

Donate and become a member: https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate

Advocacy Wear Store: https://the-order-of-the-good-death.myshopify.com/

SELECTED SOURCES/FURTHER READING

Marchioness Inquiries https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2001-03-23/debates/e8424dd7-c246-442d-ac9d-0b298f9becfe/MarchionessInquiries

"The Marchioness nightmare" https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/the-marchioness-nightmare-7285588.html

Thames Safety Inquiry https://www.jesip.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Marchionness-Bowbelle-Incident-Thames-Safety-Inquiry.pdf

"How to identify a body: the Marchioness disaster and my life in forensic pathology" https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/18/how-to-identify-a-body-the-marchioness-disaster-and-my-life-in-forensic-pathology

"Dredger captain says saving victims from Marchioness 'not top priority'" https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/oct/04/jeevanvasagar

"Sank in 30 Seconds: The Marchioness Disaster 1989" https://youtu.be/wwXKSVDRfoM?si=dMLP0Jjp6hLSxSst

"Coroner review ordered after hands severed" https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/mar/24/jeevanvasagar

"Marchioness victims had hands severed" https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/dec/01/taniabranigan

"Marchioness disaster: Thames historic vessels 'still not modernised'" https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-49346082

"Tragedy on the Thames: 30 years on, remembering the Marchioness disaster" https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/marchioness-disaster-victims-london-boat-crash-thames-bowbelle-a8953251.html
Did the Coroner Make this Disaster Worse?
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLnhuemQ5aEctQjY0
Oliver Cromwell lost his head but only after he died in his bed. 

Support our team and the production of these videos through PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

I Wrote Books: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

Face Your Mortality: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegooddeath

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host & Writer: Caitlin Doughty (@thegooddeath)
Researcher & Writer: Louise Hung (@LouiseHung1)
Editor & Graphics: Andy Windak
Production Coordinator: Sarah Chavez
Thumbnail: Landis Blair (@LandisBlair)
Outro Songs: performed by DARRENCORP (@darrencorp)


SELECTED SOURCES/FURTHER READING

Fitzgibbons, Jonathan. CROMWELL'S HEAD. Bloomsbury Academic, 2008. 

"Cromwell's Death and Funeral Order" https://www.british-history.ac.uk/burton-diaries/vol2/pp516-530

"The Trial of Charles I" https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trial-charles-i/

"The Execution of Charles I" https://www.hrp.org.uk/banqueting-house/history-and-stories/the-execution-of-charles-i/#gs.eckadk

"Cromwell's Dust" https://erenow.org/biographies/cromwellourchiefofmen/27.php

"Cromwell's Body" https://www.olivercromwell.org/wordpress/cromwells-body/

"What happened to Cromwell's body after his death?" https://www.olivercromwell.org/wordpress/what-happened-to-cromwell-after-his-death/

"Cromwell in Ireland" https://www.olivercromwell.org/wordpress/ireland/

"The Strange Saga of Oliver Cromwell's Head" https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/585591/oliver-cromwells-head-history

"Flagellum, or, The life and death, birth and burial of Oliver Cromwel faithfully described in an exact account of his policies and successes, not heretofore published or discovered / by S.T., Gent." https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A43211.0001.001/1:4?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

"George Bate–Cromwell's Devious Physician" https://www.reformation.org/dr-george-bate.html

"Oliver Cromwell and Family" https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/oliver-cromwell-and-family/
What Did Cromwell Do to Deserve This?
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLjJDOWpad1NYbmww
A Civil War submarine powered by hand cranks and lit by candlelight. What could possibly go wrong? Meet the HL Hunley. 

Support the production of these videos through our Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

Thank you to Nick DeLong from Clemson University and Kellen Butler from Friends of the Hunley at Warren Lasch Conservation Center.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Writer & Host: Caitlin Doughty
Writer & Researcher: Louise Hung (@LouiseHung1)
Editor & Graphics: Timothy Meier
Producer: Sarah Chavez
Thumbnail: Landis Blair (@LandisBlair)

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

Read My Books: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

Face Your Mortality Course: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

Podcast: https://apple.co/2yK6c6G
Spotify:  https://spoti.fi/2QZEVEM

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ordergooddeath/

WAYS TO SUPPORT THE NONPROFIT

Donate and become a member: https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate

Advocacy Wear Store: https://the-order-of-the-good-death.myshopify.com/

SELECTED SOURCES/FURTHER READING

Chaffin, Tom.The H. L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy
Hill and Wang, 2010.

Hicks, Brian. Sea of Darkness: Unraveling the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley
Spry Publishing LLC, 2015. 

Hicks, Brian, and Kropf, Schuyler. Raising the Hunley: The Remarkable History and Recovery of the Lost Confederate SubmarinePresidio Press, 2003

Lance, Rachel. In the Waves: My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine. Dutton, 2020

The Friends of the Hunley https://www.hunley.org/

"H. L. Hunley: Recovery Operations "https://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/ship-wrecksites/hl-hunley/recovery-report.html

"H.L. Hunley Site Assessment "https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/maritime/hunley.pdf

"Humanitarian Exhumation at the Citadel's Johnson Hagood Stadium" https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1091&context=sciaa_staffpub

"HUNLEY (C.S.S)"https://numa.net/expeditions/hunley-c-s-s/

"Crewmen of Recovered Confederate Sub Are Honored at Burial" https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/national/crewmen-of-recovered-confederate-sub-are-honored-at-burial.html

"Putting a Face on Storied Subs Crew" https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2004/04/17/putting-a-face-on-storied-subs-crew/516a24dd-e157-49fa-a601-2d1dc7571daa/
This Civil War Submarine Vanished for 136 Years
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLnlpRFRodmhhZHNz
I love it when we're cruising together (until my husband of 55 years dies and the cruise company puts him in a drinks cooler.)

Support our team and the production of these videos through PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

Read My Death Books: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

Face Your Mortality: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ordergooddeath/


PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host and Writer: Caitlin Doughty (@thegooddeath)
Editor: Timothy Meier
Production Coordinator: Sarah Chavez
Thumbnail: Landis Blair (@LandisBlair)
Thank you to Tanya Marsh and Paul Koudounaris for your assistance.


SELECTED SOURCES/FURTHER READING

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA MIAMI DIVISION
MARILYN JONES, et al Plaintiffs v. CELEBRITY CRUISES, INC., A FOREIGN PROFIT CORPORATION, Defendant.

Bluebook 21st ed. Tentative Draft No. 2 1 (March 2023) Sepulcher (Interference with Human Remains) The American Law Institute

Death at Sea: Passenger and Crew Mortality on Cruise Ships
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/45cb/ae8cf0a4fbfdb3212c2c27b8c2cfec570a41.pdf

Peru Man Found With 800-Year-Old Mummy In Bag
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/around-800-years-old-mummy-found-in-mans-bag-in-peru-3823286
Cruise Ship Accused of Keeping Dead Body in Beverage Cooler
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLkhWamhKN0ZyV3Rn
Don't sell stolen body parts, friends. It seems obvious....AND YET.

Support our team and the production of these videos through PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath

MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

Read My Death Books: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

Face Your Mortality: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ordergooddeath/


PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host and Writer: Caitlin Doughty (@thegooddeath)
Researcher and Writer: Louise Hung (@LouiseHung1)
Editor & Graphics: Andy Windak
Production Coordinator: Sarah Chavez
Thumbnail: Landis Blair (@LandisBlair)
Outro Song: performed by DARRENCORP (@darrencorp)


SELECTED SOURCES/FURTHER READING

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. CEDRIC LODGE, KATRINA MACLEAN, JOSHUA TAYLOR and DENISE LODGE, Defendants. CR. NO. 4:23-CR-159

"Six Charged With Trafficking In Stolen Human Remains"
https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/six-charged-trafficking-stolen-human-remains 

"Harvard's morgue scandal is part of ‘a much larger story' in trading human remains"
https://www.nbcboston.com/investigations/harvards-morgue-scandal-is-part-of-a-much-larger-story-in-trading-human-remains/3136374/

"Feds: Human brains, skin stolen from Harvard morgue, sold on black market"
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/reaction-to-disturbing-scheme-involving-sale-of-stolen-body-parts-from-harvard-morgue/3068742/

"Human body parts stolen from Harvard morgue. What we know about the ‘disturbing' scheme"
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/reaction-to-disturbing-scheme-involving-sale-of-stolen-body-parts-from-harvard-morgue/3068742/

"HMS Anatomical Gift Program & Federal Investigation"
https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/anatomical-gift-program-resources/frequently-asked-questions#Former-Employee-Cedric-Lodge

"Harvard Medical School morgue manager accused of stealing, selling human body parts as part of 'nationwide network'"
https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/06/14/cedric-lodge-massachusetts-nh-harvard-morgue-cadavers-indictment

"Man pleads guilty to trafficking stolen human remains from Harvard Medical School"
https://www.wwlp.com/news/crime/man-pleads-guilty-to-trafficking-stolen-human-remains-from-harvard-medical-school/

"Cumberland County man takes plea deal in federal human remains trafficking case"
https://www.abc27.com/local-news/cumberland-county-man-takes-plea-deal-in-federal-human-remains-trafficking-case/

"Businessman found guilty in UCLA’s willed body-parts program scandal"
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-15-me-willedbody15-story.html

"Inside UCLA's Cadaver Scandal"
https://www.newsweek.com/inside-uclas-cadaver-scandal-95785
Harvard's In Trouble for Selling Body Parts
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLmJaYmwydDRoQVRj
CLICK HERE to submit your thoughts as a consumer or organization directly to the Federal Trade Commission: https://www.regulations.gov/document/FTC-2023-0034-0001

INSTRUCTIONS- Click blue COMMENT button in top left of screen, leave your thoughts on the topics: Should Funeral Homes Have to Post Their Prices Online? (And if so, how should that be regulated? Feel free to share your own experiences with this issue!), Should the Required Embalming Disclosure be Made Clearer? (And if so, how? Feel free to share your own experiences with this issue!)

SUPPORT the Order of the Good Death Nonprofit by becoming a member: https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate

SUPPORT the production of these videos through the Ask a Mortician Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/thegooddeath


MORE CAITLIN DOUGHTY

Read My Books: http://caitlindoughty.com/books

Face Your Mortality Course: https://www.mortalcourse.com/

Podcast: https://apple.co/2yK6c6G
Spotify:  https://spoti.fi/2QZEVEM

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ordergooddeath/


PRODUCTION CREDITS

Your Host: Caitlin Doughty
Editor & Graphics: Timothy Meier
Thumbnail: Landis Blair 

Special thanks to Tanya Marsh & Louise Hung, and the consumer orgs like the Funeral Consumers Alliance and National Home Funeral Alliance working with us to advocate for these changes.
Why Are Funerals So Expensive?
YouTube Video VVVpNWlpRXlMd1NMdmxxbk1pMDJ1NWdRLmktdHFibnN3UHBv
Load More
Follow
Copyright Caitlin Doughty © 2021