Why do People Look Different In the Casket?

When attending a funeral for a loved one, it is not uncommon for people to think that the body in the casket looks a bit different from their loved one. The reason for this is both real and psychological. Below, we will break down where this feeling comes from.

The Real: Embalming and Preservation

In funerary practices, the body of the deceased is treated to be temporarily preserved for the course of the viewing. This can entail treatments with embalming fluids, makeup, and reacting to how the body acts after death. A loved one’s body weight, medications before death, cause of death, and more can affect how they look in their casket. During the funeral, the body is likely stiff. The goal of an embalmer is to make the deceased look as good as possible and to hide the rigidity as best as they can. It combines art and science, and everybody reacts slightly differently to treatments. Attention to detail is an important skill for embalmers.

The Psychological: Perceptions of Death

Humans have perceptions of death that can influence how we perceive a loved one in a casket. Our brains are hard-wired to understand a dead loved one as different. Humans have a primal fear of death ingrained in our subconscious. We expect them to look different after death, so they do.

The Practical: The Body Feels Cold

After death, your body’s internal temperature drops. It makes sense, your body’s internal functions are no longer warming the body. But we also expect a body to be cold. Funeral homes are often perceived as colder places. But not for the reason you think. It is simply because we anticipate crowds, which can make rooms warm. We do not crank the thermostat down for the bodies, but for the grieving loved ones. However, at the start of a viewing session, the body may feel a bit colder than expected, as some cold storage is used to aid with the preservation.

Death Can Be Scary, Understanding Helps

Our goal with articles like this is to dispel misconceived notions about death and grief. Death is a scary thing. Facing mortality is never easy. We hope that by helping people understand more about the processes involved, it becomes easier to face these fears.

For over 50 years, Matthew Funeral Home has been serving the Staten Island community. We can help with almost every aspect of your loved one’s memorial service. Our family is here to serve yours, every step of the way.