That Smelly Mausoleum

9/10/2014

I like to go on field trips to photograph images for the blog and seminars for Midwest Green Burial Society. Recently, I took a trip to a local mausoleum to snap a few pictures. I had never been inside this particular mausoleum, and was curios.   When I worked as a family service counselor we took a trip to a mausoleum that doubled as the cemetery’s offices. That mausoleum did not have an odor, but we were all told not to bring in coffee because of the crypt flies. When I wandered into that local mausoleum recently, I did not necessarily expect an odor. At first I thought it was nice small mausoleum with good light. I noticed right away that the ventilation system was on and it was very breezy. As I walked deeper into the room, I began to notice a pungent and unpleasant odor. It was not until I walked back through, that I noticed the variety and the number of air fresheners stashed throughout the mausoleum. They were tucked everywhere and some just out in the open.

Discussing the burial spectrum is one of our favourite topics we cover in our seminars. Some practices are greener than others: ideal green burial on one end and a mausoleum entombment on the other. When you consider the amount of natural resources used to build and maintain a mausoleum, it easily takes the honors as the least green option. If a mausoleum is not engineered properly and the requirements for caskets do not aid in dehydrating the body, then a mausoleum might just start to smell. People imagine that if they are embalmed, their bodies will remain intact forever like the pharaohs of old. In the first place, Egypt is a dry and arid land.   In the second place, even the ancient Egyptian preservation process used salts to dry the body before it was entombed. We do not live in Egypt and our embalming is not like the ancient Egyptians. We live in a relatively humid climate with our Great Lakes, and farmland requiring a good amount of precipitation each year. A mausoleum here does not make good sense.

This mausoleum is particularly sad, not just because of the environmental impact it makes, but because a mausoleum is the most expensive form of disposition at a cemetery. People have put a great deal of personal resources into this kind of burial plan, and if someone were to go visit their tomb, it would not be a pleasant experience.   I wonder, if people who choose this as their final wishes understand all the implication a mausoleum has. I wonder if they really understand just what embalming and entombing means for their remains. I wonder if we as a society, could only accept the fact that we are organic beings created from the stuff of this earth and that our physical bodies return to nurture that same earth when we die. We could cease building these large monuments to our existence, and start to live our lives in such a way that our words and actions live on instead.

29 Comments

Bob W.

5/6/2015 02:44:38 pm

I agree I have only been inside one indoor mausolium , I could not stand to be inside for more than a few minutes.
The smell was sort of a sweet putrid smell it just hangs inside the nose.
they also have outdoor mausoleum cripts but they don't smell at all due to the fresh air..
They should do away with the indoor type.
personally I think we all should be cremated, graveyards. Make no sense to me.

barry waterfield

4/3/2016 04:42:08 pm

I have been looking into cremation and oddly enough it can be less green than burying, it just depends. If you use a standard wooden coffin then cremation works well, but, if you use a cardboard one, the ovens have to work harder. This is because there is no residual heat from the cardboard and it is soon gone so the gas burner has to be turned up considerably to tackle the body directly.

Perhaps the ultimate way forward will be the new steam and water based distructors. I don't think there are many available at the moment.The body is put into a steel basket with perforations and either steam or water, or perhaps both , are directed through the holes under high pressure . This dissolves the body in a very green and ecological fashion.

D link

4/6/2017 11:25:37 am

I was near an outdoor masoleum last spring or summer and when I came to a tomb that was obviously the last one due to the date, then there was a smell like you smell in your house when a mouse has died some where

Assena V

6/11/2015 12:00:01 pm

Wow. Super, super gross. How disrespectful of them to not even seek to fix the problem, to just put out fresheners like road signs to a bad time.

BTW, found this page because I was wondering if mausoleums ever smelled. Answers my question. Thanks for this!

Assena V

6/11/2015 12:00:33 pm

barry

7/23/2015 02:38:47 pm

Some well run mausoleums are quite pleasant , but it is true that others are not so good.When anything dies, it is built into the design that it will decompose, this is true right through from plants to animals to human beings, and decomposition does smell. I think it might be a good idea to build these places in the open, where the air can get at them, but then I prefer cremation, so perhaps it's not really right for me to say.

Fran King

1/15/2016 08:58:55 am

I suggest that the keepers keep it clean.
Mostly granite. Can get granite cleaner,
and clean floors .

4/3/2016 03:58:22 pm

Nothing is pleasant about deaths

Julie

8/6/2016 08:11:50 pm

My daddy passed 5 months ago. the mausoleum that he is in stinks too. It grosses me out AND upsets me! they need some major Yankee Candles in there. My father in law is in the same one and I remember it smelling ten, 11 yrs ago!!
gross and pisses me off that they don't address the issue!

Kelly

12/4/2016 08:05:02 pm

I agreee they should have open ventilation so it won't smell they charge soo much and the least they could do is fix the issue about the smell my mom passed 8 years ago and it smells bad I also want to be in a moseleum but I purchased an outdoor one better it's scary and gross to smell discomposition that's the last thing you want to smell when you visit someone Well dying is horrible but the moselum sits well except for the smell it's a bit gorry scary horrible .

Chuck Pasternak link

8/14/2021 06:04:40 pm

Mausoleum are supposed to be designed where the casket is at angle, where bodily fluids drain away from the body, eliminating odors. As far as dying is concerned , just imagine how crowded the p!anet would be, let alone the egoes to deal with.

barry waterfield

12/7/2016 10:05:35 pm

The trouble is, once built these places are not easy to alter,respectfully. They really need to be emptied out, the problem corrected and then the residents taken back. Putting the problem right is a big job.

Nevaeh link

3/22/2017 11:30:30 pm

I am happy to read your article.
Thanks for share the article.
Thank you so much.

Cindy Peters Stirgill

7/1/2017 09:35:06 am

My 20 yr. old son told me about one of our upper priced cemeteries that also has several Masoleumes. He said on a hot day in the summer if your windows are down you can smell the smell of death from that Cemetary. I didn't believe him. Well I owe him an apology and it saddens me to know that there are people buried in those Masoleumes that I've known and their families paid a fortune to place them there. How very,very sad😞

Cynthia Sturgill

7/1/2017 11:00:09 am

Reenie

10/30/2017 08:36:58 pm

Thanks for writing this. I recently went into 2 small mausoleums in the same cemetery for the first time and the smell in both was very noticeable. One had the doors open on both ends and still it smelled terrible. I had no idea that was a common problem. I don't think I will be able to bring myself to go into another one.

Joan

7/21/2018 04:06:48 am

I was at one yesterday and my eyes and my head hurt all evening from the smell.

Leigha

8/5/2018 12:51:23 pm

We are meant to return back to the earth. Our actions are left, and our souls are lifted (if you’re spiritual). I understand the attachment and the idea of cremation makes the deceased feel even more gone. The smell is Mother Nature’s telling us to let nature take its coarse.

Brian

8/7/2018 05:13:36 am

Sooner or later these places become full. If the company has financial problems the mausoleum falls into disrepair. When a graveyard falls into disrepair the graveyard gets overgrown with long grass and weeds. It is much worse if a mausoleum falls into disrepair.

Julia Aussenard

10/12/2018 08:03:06 pm

I went to my first Mausoleum yesterday with a friend and it was a huge place and very beautiful. But I did notice a sweet Dusty smell that was very unusual. It made me feel very uncomfortable and I was perplexed by it but now reading what I have read I understand it is just the smell of decay

Susan

3/15/2019 09:15:56 pm

I was visiting my grandparents grave when I noticed a open mosaleum. I had never saw the inside of one so I was curious. When I leaned in I almost past out. The smell was so bad I could not breath. I never found out why the body was removed. I don't know what the smell was but I will never do that again.

Jey Portuondo

6/19/2019 11:42:30 am

The smell that you all encountered is the stage of decomposition in the departed called Indole...it's a musty...sweet..moth ball like smell. I first smelled it when i went to my grandmother's graveside...and went over to see Lou Rawls in the Mausoleum he was in...and it hit me...all the certain death smells never leave you...some stomachs are stronger than others...I guess

Senika L

8/24/2019 11:23:04 am

My daughter is in the mausoleum. It does have a very distinct smell but I’ve grown used to it. I can sit there for hours and it doesn’t bother me. I wanted her remains to be somewhere I could visit rain or shine. She is in Rolling Hills Memorial Park in Richmond, CA and in my opinion, it is pretty well kept.

TheMadEmbalmer

5/18/2020 01:32:58 pm

It is NOT rocket science to locate the source(s) of the problem, respectfully open the offending crypt(s) while minimally, if at all, disturbing the resting place of the deceased(s) and place dessicant powders around the casket of the departed, and reseal the crypt THOROUGHLY. Anything less is willful negligence in my opinion.

Monessa Erenbo

10/25/2021 08:57:07 am

How does Forest Lawn Glendale Mosuleum works, does it smell there? and if not why?

3/11/2022 09:53:13 pm

Been there a couple of years ago and didn't notice any smell. Was kinda surprised. But then again, many people, who died a long time ago.

Benjamin

1/30/2023 12:23:50 pm

This is all interesting. Burial in the ground with a wooden casket is what my wishes are. This is what the vast majority of burials throughout the history of our country have been. The body and casket break down returning to Mother Earth and that's just fine with me. Yes that takes decades but that's just fine. I don't accept or agree with cremation as it takes a lot of gas energy to burn a body and the air pollution is not good for the environment. I am fine with certain traditions wherein cremation is a part of the culture; but in the USA I think it is most often a form of sweeping death under the rug and not wanting to deal with it directly with the body present and a place of burial. Cremation in the US culture is also most often just another quick fix that cannot deal with death directly. If you want to understand a culture take a look at how that culture treats their dead. A cemetery is a library of lives, a place of memories and so much more.

ALLEN CHILDERS

8/15/2023 04:00:19 pm

ARE BODIES ARE MERELY VESSELS FOR US TO REACH OUR DESTINATION. PERSONALLY IT DOES NOT MATTER TO ME IF I AM EMBALMED OR NOT. AS A MATTER OF FACT I HAVE GIVEN A LOT OF THOUGHT TO HAVING MYSELF CREMATED. BUT REGARDLESS RELIGIOUS SERVICES ARE EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN. GOD AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST WHO DIED FOR MANKINDS SINS ARE IN MY HEART, MY MIND AND MY SOUL AND THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS. DEATH MUST HAPPEN IN ORDER FOR LIFE TO GO ON. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE DO NOT GET THAT. BUT I DO. IT IS THE ONLY THING ON THIS PLANET AND IN THIS UNIVERSE THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE. DEATH THEREFORE IS PERFECTION.

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Caroline Vuyadinov

I graduated from St. Vladamir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York with a Master of Divinity. I trained as a chaplain following graduation and worked with a wide variety of people.

When I moved to Canada, I began work in a women's halfway house in Hamilton, Ontario which worked with women in conflict with the law on a federal level. I became the program manager and loved working alongside the women, creating their plans for their reintegration back to the community. I also worked as a liaison with the parole board, parole officers and other community service providers.

Upon my return to the United States, I worked in the Death Care Industry as a Family Service Counselor, which lead me to become a green burial advocate. I co-founded Midwest Green Burial Society with Juliann Salinas. I speak to community groups and have developed practical seminars for a variety of audiences. I have been interviewed on a national podcast and was featured on a WGN spot dealing with green burial.

That Smelly Mausoleum

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