Mysterious Universe 35.10 - MU Podcast - Jarring Death Rituals
Mar 13, 2026
A macabre tour of strange funeral customs from around the world. Topics include living-care corpses, cliff and tree burials, endocannibalism, sky burials and towers of silence. They also cover Egyptian mummification, canopic jars and tomb curses, underwater cemeteries, sati history, and legends about the possible resting place of Jesus.
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Toraja Families Live With Their Dead
- The Toraja people of Sulawesi keep corpses at home, dress them, feed them, and change their clothes until an elaborate funeral called manini.
- Brandon describes families saving lifetimes to pay for grand funerals and regularly tending corpses to remove insects and clean them.
Hanging Cliff Coffins Keep Ancestors Close
- The Igarot hang small coffins on cliffs in fetal position to keep the dead close to ancestral spirits and avoid subterranean water damage.
- Brandon explains the fetal pose reflects belief everyone should leave the world as they entered it and coffins are nailed to cliffs for millennia-old practice.
Some Tribes Eat Their Dead To Absorb Wisdom
- Endocannibalism in groups like the Fore and Wari involves mourners consuming the flesh of deceased relatives to absorb wisdom or transform bodies into spirits.
- Joe and Brandon note rules (women eating certain parts) and anthropologist Beth Cochlin links the ritual to processing grief.
