Can Your Cemetery Really Bury You Forever? | Planet Money | NPR

If you die in America, chances are the cemetery is going to promise to maintain your grave forever. Americans take this for granted, but it is a whacky, wild promise that we maybe should not be making.

In a lot of other countries, you basically rent a grave unil they dig up your bones to make room for the next guy. And yet, in America this forever-grave thing is actually in most states' law. With the exception of religious cemeteries (which often do this anyways), the state regulates how cemeteries save to ensure, theoretically, that they can maintain a grave forever.

It's a weird country to die in. So, we made a weirder video about it.

Host
Jacob Goldstein

Producers
Bronson Arcuri
Ben Nadaff-Hafrey

Editor
Bronson Arcuri

Audio Engineer
Josh Rogosin

Assistant Producers
Dani Lyman
Adrienne St. Clair

Illustrations
CJ Riculan

Cast
Ben De La Cruz
Kara Frame
Maria Godoy
Nick Michael
Khalon Richard
Emily Sullivan
Maia Stern

Series Creative Director
Mito Habe-Evans

Consulting Producers
Alex Goldmark
Bryant Urstadt

Executive Producer
Keith Jenkins

Special Thanks
Tregaron Conservancy

Archival Media
Howard Lewis
Jessica Mullen
Prelinger Archive

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[BETTERWORLDSGT]

I have a great, great great grandfather that's been in the same place since 1882, behind an old church.

[OgbaOgheneOzoro]

Love how Planet Money/NPR highlights the weirdest but most interesting subjects.

PS - Thanks for helping me find my WCW!

[akampfer]

Won't be a problem for me. I opted for cremation.

[sfbluestar]

Can I buy an X-acre country property, setup a trust fund to pay the property taxes, and have myself buried there?

[Sadboy]

imagine paying for a cemetry plot and just making a tiny little house inside while your alive and never putting your dead body inside then renting it to low income family members

[thenoicemango]

A better idea would be to stop putting dead bodies in useless caskets and instead turn it into fertilizer.

[madcat]

They can if they don't know I'm there.

[toddmaclean]

I work in the industry (in NY) and there are some things that this video definitely leaves out. The picture it paints is not completely accurate (though it does touch on some issues with small rural cemeteries and perpetual care)... butt it is weird, as advertised...that I will give you

[RobertLink]

Why am I reading the Planet Money Big Book o' Law? Because I figured it would be amusing, and it did not disappoint. Must have been a pain to have to turn it end to end every other page though.

[bergfish]

Couldn't care less -just chuck me in the nearest ditch. ♨

[eliron]

0:34 that is not even close to being true you are just saying that to make "America" sound better!

[Denver]

if i am dead, just throw me in the trash!

[Rudster]

That's not true for Jewish cemeteries. I have found the Graves of my ancestors from a long time ago

[riceire]

😂 I'm in Ireland and that doesn't happen