The Tribune

By NOELLE NICOLLS

Tribune Features Editor

nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

Conventional wisdom says the dead do not tell tales, but somehow they still have the ability to haunt, at least according to a young Family Island man, who came to New Providence looking for opportunity.

The young civil servant once worked as an assistant for a funeral home in New Providence, owned and operated by a man who sources claim is not certified. His stint in the business was short lived, because, as he said, he was exploited by his employer.

He once worked for almost three weeks without pay, spending hours setting up and attending to funerals. After provocation, his employer eventually handed him $70, he claimed.

"He ripped me off. Whatever the fact, I worked for him and he was supposed to pay me," said the civil servant. "To this day, we don't know how he get his license, and he still owes me money."

More than his disgruntlement over back-pay, the young man said he was haunted for months by the spirit of a woman, who he claimed died of AIDS. He assisted in preparing her body for an open-casket funeral.

"I bathed her with Joy and bleach. I was checking certain areas, and I remember when I was cleaning her, I came across maggots . . . She was decomposing in the smouldering heat," said the former employee, who claimed the body had been left unfridgerated for months.

"There is a lot of crookedness going on in the industry. It is true. A lot of people not being buried dignified. It is about money. A lot of people is in it because of money. They will treat you as a piece of meat to make a profit," he claimed.

To treat the maggots, he said he was given a black mixture, the colour of black crude oil, with a strong scent. Using a paint brush, he said he inserted the liquid in the various orifices of the body.

"When the maggots smelled it, they left her body," said the former worker.

The former worker claimed, he "was still 'bursing' the maggots" with his hands, even as he placed stockings on the woman and placed her in the coffin.

"He said don't tell anyone what I see in here, but what peeved me off is, he said don't say nothing, but he don't want to pay me my money. You can't have your cake and eat it too," said the former worker.

The Tribune spoke to a US trained and certified funeral director, about the black, tar-like substance, described by the worker, asking if he could identify the substance. He said: "I don't have a clue what that could be. If they don't know what it is, it should not be placed on people's loved ones."

Describing an incident at another funeral home, a certified embalmer told The Tribune they participated in the embalming of a severely obese man, who could not fit inside the King Copper casket ordered by the family.

"The instructions were to make him fit," said the embalmer, who has worked in the industry for more than 10 years.

The embalmer claimed they released the tissue gas which had accumulated "by cutting him open", and then proceeded to carve out three buckets worth of fat tissue, without the family's knowledge or consent.

Kirsch Ferguson, owner of Ferguson's Funeral Directors said a family would have to authorise a funeral home to reshape a body in the event that an obese person was unable to fit inside the largest coffin available, or in any circumstance that required reshaping.

He was speaking generally and not to the specific case reported to The Tribune. Generally speaking, he said, tissue fat should either be placed inside the coffin in an appropriate container or incinerated in a crematorium.

In the absence of regulation, in an environment where standards are not policed, funeral service professionals claim unscrupulous workers are able to thrive.

The concerns expressed to The Tribune are consistent with widespread complaints in the industry. In an ongoing investigation, The Tribune is backing calls for an overhaul of standards, and the implementation of government regulation.

IF you have any information or experiences to contribute to our series please call 502-2387 or email nnicolls@tribunemedia.net