EXCLUSIVE: Yahoo Canada speaks to a mortician to get the dirt on working in the death industry

Facebook/The Order of the Good Death

With skeletons and ghosts about to roam the streets for Halloween, Yahoo Canada decided to reach out to a mortician, someone who makes a career out of death, to get the dirt on what it’s like to work in this “creepy” industry.

Caitlin Doughty is an author, blogger, YouTube vlogger and mortician at alternative funeral home, Undertaking LA, who answers pressing questions about death. We chatted with her to find out what exactly a mortician does and asked her to dish out some of the weirdest questions she’s been asked over the years.

Can you tell us a bit about how you came to be a mortician?

Death was always an academic thing for me. I was a medieval history major in college and I studied medieval death rituals and the witch trials. When I was 23 and living in San Francisco I thought I would get job at a crematory to see what real death looked like. That was almost nine years ago and I’ve never looked back.

For those who might not know, can you describe exactly what your job entails?

I just opened my own funeral home in Los Angeles called Undertaking LA. These days more of my time is spent doing logistical boss stuff than actually working with the dead bodies— I have a funeral director and crematory operator who do most of that. But, I miss it big time, the bodies and the families are way more engaging than financial statements.

Do you need to go to school to be a mortician?

Totally depends what state or province you’re in. Each one has their own set of rules. I did go to two years of mortuary school, even though where I live (California) allows you be a funeral director if you pass a licensing test. If you want to be an embalmer through, you’ll definitely need school and an apprenticeship.

Doughty’s book, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory”

Are there certain skills that are invaluable to the profession?

Willingness to engage with death, obviously. You have to be able to read people and their emotions. Families will turn on you, get angry, because they are upset that someone they loved has died. You have to not take it personally and be able to set it right for them.

Do you think there is a “type” of person that’s typically drawn to this profession? Is there a stigma that most people are goths or loners?

Definitely not. I know young goth women in the industry, I know old alcoholics, I know cornballs making dad jokes, I know mothers with four children, I know people with dark, morbid senses of humour. It attracts all types.

What do you like best about your job?

My funeral home offers alternative options like home funerals and natural burials. I love exposing people to things they didn’t even know were possible, like keeping the body in the home for a private wake, or refusing a chemical embalming treatment, or being present for the cremation. When I get emails saying people have advocated for themselves after reading my book or hearing an interview with me, that keeps me going.

Facebook/The Order of the Good Death

Is there a particularly busy time of year for you? If so, why?

It always seems like the holidays, especially Christmas, are the busiest. I can’t prove it, but I think it has something to do with people waiting for family to come in to town to die, or even more depressing, realizing their family isn’t coming and just giving up.

Can you describe an average day on the job?

I’m not a typical mortician, so there is no average. I’m constantly traveling, whether to give talks or being on a book tour or doing research. Just in 2015 I’ve been to London, Paris, Scotland, Tokyo, Sydney, and Indonesia. It’s been a crazy year. I’m very lucky to have such an amazing funeral director to cover the day–to-day workings of the funeral home on the ground in Los Angeles.

Why the Youtube channel?

Anytime someone found out I was a mortician, I’d get question after question. I was a hit up at dinner parties, let me tell you. I knew people really wanted more honest, behind the scenes information about death and part of my advocacy from the very beginning was that people feel better about death the more they know. So Ask a Mortician on YouTube was born.

What are some of the most common questions people have about the profession or death?

They want to know how they can work in death. They want to know what goes on behind the scenes of a funeral home, what embalming looks like, what a cremation looks like. They want to know what it’s legal to do with their bodies (no Viking funerals guys, sorry).

Any really weird questions?

People always have really specific questions about the state of a certain body. Like, “if my mom died 12 years ago in upstate New York and she was embalmed and buried in a wooden casket, what does she look like now?” I don’t know, man! There are so many variables when it comes to decomposition, not even a forensics expert could give you a solid answer.

Have you ever had a question you didn’t feel comfortable answering through your vlog?

I didn’t want to answer anything about necrophilia for the longest time, but I finally did an episode. It ended up being one of my favorites because I filled it with research and information that went way beyond the yuk-yuk jokes about being “stiff” or what not.

Can you describe any interesting requests you’ve had dealing with different customs and cultures?

We always try to accommodate requests. Some Buddhists like to stay during the whole cremation. Jewish people need to be buried in 24 hours. The North American funeral system tends to swallow up religious and cultural differences, which I think is a bad thing. So we try to make every effort to let people engage in what is meaningful to them.

Is there a part of the job you don’t like to talk about?

No, I think the death industry should be an open book.

Why do you think people are so interested in death?

It’s the fundamental fact of human existence. We’re all moving toward it. It influences every choice we make, our business decisions, our decision to have children, our decision to marry, our creative decisions, death is behind all of it.

What do you find most interesting about death?

The way it affects people in different cultures differently. The rituals and customs people have. I find everything about death interesting, really.

What are your thoughts on Halloween?

It seems like the only time of year that it’s socially sanctioned to engage with death. It’s a shame that people don’t always relish the opportunity it presents.

Do you like to dress up?

Sometimes. One year I went as “normal.” I wore sweatpants and a sports team shirt with a baseball cap and pink nails and sneakers. No one recognized me.

Do people send you more questions around this time of year?

I don’t know about more questions, but I’m certainly more in demand. Everyone loves a mortician around Halloween.