Dead People Get Life-Like Poses at Their Funerals

The belle of the ball wore a pink feather boa and held a glass of champagne at a party earlier this week, never mind the fact that she was dead.

Mickey Easterling, a New Orleans socialite who passed away at the age of 83, was feted one last time at a grand memorial service, where the flamboyant philanthropist went out the way she would want to be remembered.

Easterling is just the latest in a series of people who have been posed in life-like situations at their funerals. In New Orleans, jazz musician "Uncle" Lionel Batiste's body was propped up at a funeral home as mourners said goodbye.

The Marin Funeral Home in Puerto Rico has created thematic wakes for several funerals, including a slain boxer and a deceased man who loved his motorcycle.

Caleb Wilde, a sixth-generation mortician in Parkesburg, Pa., who tweets and blogs about the industry, said "extreme embalming" is on the fringe of the industry.

"Most funeral homes, the most extreme thing they might do is dressing the deceased in shorts," he said, "so it’s a very rare thing."

If asked, it's something he would be willing to consider to help someone fulfill their final wish. However, Wilde estimated it would take "quadruple" the typical number of hours to prepare such a unique funeral experience.

"It would mean we would have to change how we embalm a person. We would likely have to use a harder fluid so the body would stay stiff in that position and [the person would] have to be embalmed in the position they would be viewed," he said. "If we were given that request, it would certainly be something we would take a hard look at."