Mummy Musicals & Million-Dollar Messes | 4M #187

Welcome to the hundred-and-eighty-seventh edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #187, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!

CEO cited

More charges have been announced in the embalming “experimentation” case in Austin, Texas. In addition to the abuse of a corpse and record tampering charges against the mortuary owner who allegedly performed these acts, abuse and perjury charges have been lodged against the CEO of a “medical innovation” firm who allegedly requested the experiments. The CEO is denying these allegations. 

Ritual ricochet

A cemetery caretaker in Ohio recently dodged a bullet — literally — by inadvertently mowing over a live round that had been left on the grave of a young man who loved deer hunting. The ritual of leaving a bullet on a grave is a gesture of respect for the deceased, but leaving a live round rather than a spent shell can lead to accidental injuries like the one the caretaker narrowly escaped.

Awards for outlaw

In last week’s 4M, we recommended the new Broadway show “Dead Outlaw,” which is based on the true story of bank robber Elmer McCurdy, whose over-embalmed corpse traveled across the country as a carnival sideshow for decades. Well, you might have a hard time finding tickets, as “Dead Outlaw” might be sold out after receiving seven Tony Award nominations. One announcement about the show quips that, “Dying is no reason to stop living life to its fullest.” Amen to that.

Actions, meet consequences

Family members who placed their loved ones in the care of a shuttered Maryland crematory have launched a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the owners. This is just the latest repercussion stemming from the horrific violations uncovered at Heaven Bound Cremation Services by state investigators. First, the operation was shut down; then, the governor ordered a review of the mortuary board, which led to several members stepping down. This probably won’t be the last we hear about this awful situation.