Go out with a bang!

[flo]

Alabama company turns gun lovers' ashes into ammunition

MOBILE, Ala - There's something to be said for going out with a bang.

Two Alabama game wardens have devised a smoking send-off for avid hunters and gun enthusiasts: For a small fee, the pair will turn cremated ashes into ammunition that the deceased's loved ones can fire at will.

Holy Smoke LLC has serviced only two clients since launching in July, but founders Thad Holmes and Clem Parnell said they have seen an uptick in prearrangements thanks to word-of-mouth and a recent flurry of international press.

"It's about celebrating life," Holmes, a 16-year state conservation officer, said on Friday. "We know how strange it sounds to people who aren't comfortable around guns, but for those who are, it's not weird at all."

Four years in the making, Holy Smoke was born during a late-night stakeout to thwart illegal hunting. Parnell had recently lost a family member, and the conversation shifted to their own reservations about traditional methods for disposing of the departed.

Parnell and Holmes dreamed up a company that would fill shotgun shells and rifle or pistol cartridges with ashes, allowing gun enthusiasts to spend eternity the way they lived their lives.

"People take ashes and spread them across lakes or forests or throw them in rivers, and nobody thinks twice about that. This is no different," said Holmes, who noted that a pound of ash fills about 250 shotgun shells.

Costs start at $850. In addition to handling the ashes of one client each from Kentucky and Florida so far, the Stockton, Alabama, company has received inquiries from members of law enforcement, fire departments and the military who wish to have their service honored in that way when the time comes.

Other clients have requested the service be carried out for their pets, particularly bird dogs who have remained faithful companions throughout the years, Holmes said.

Joyce Harrison of Spanish Fort, Alabama, said she understood why some people might recoil at the concept. But she wishes the option had been available seven years ago when her husband of 42 years died of cancer.

"Toward the end he wasn't able to spend as much time hunting as he liked, but he took off any time he felt strong enough to get through, and he always came home so relaxed and at peace with everything," Harrison said. "This would have been perfect for him."

1 Pound of ash is enough to produce 250 shotshells (one case).

Now, you can continue to protect your home and family even after you are gone.

Holy Smoke!

[Play The Man]

I am horrified by some of the things people come up with to do with the ashes. I have seen stories of the ashes being formed into a synthetic diamond to wear as jewelry, family members tattooing the ashes into their skin in the form of a portrait tattoo, and there was a story a couple weeks ago about gangster rappers smoking marijuana laced with the ashes of a dead "homey".

Bury me in a pine box, 6 feet under.

[VCURamFan]

Originally Posted by Play The Man

I am horrified by some of the things people come up with to do with the ashes. I have seen stories of the ashes being formed into a synthetic diamond to wear as jewelry, family members tattooing the ashes into their skin in the form of a portrait tattoo, and there was a story a couple weeks ago about gangster rappers smoking marijuana laced with the ashes of a dead "homey".

Bury me in a pine box, 6 feet under.

Yup, Tupac is buried in the cancerous growth in the lungs of his boyz.

[TexasRN]

Originally Posted by Play The Man

I am horrified by some of the things people come up with to do with the ashes. I have seen stories of the ashes being formed into a synthetic diamond to wear as jewelry, family members tattooing the ashes into their skin in the form of a portrait tattoo, and there was a story a couple weeks ago about gangster rappers smoking marijuana laced with the ashes of a dead "homey".

Bury me in a pine box, 6 feet under.

I don't care what happens to my body when I'm dead. I am pretty serious about donating my body to science. That's what we are doing with my dad after his brain autopsy (for Alzheimers research). After the science folks are done with him, he will get cremated and his ashes buried with full honors in Arlington for his service to these most wonderful United States of America.


~Amy

[Play The Man]

Originally Posted by TexasRN

I don't care what happens to my body when I'm dead. I am pretty serious about donating my body to science. That's what we are doing with my dad after his brain autopsy (for Alzheimers research). After the science folks are done with him, he will get cremated and his ashes buried with full honors in Arlington for his service to these most wonderful United States of America.


~Amy

I have signed up on my driver's license to be an organ donor. I am conflicted about body donation. You should read the book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. She describes the fate of bodies donated to science. Some are left out to rot at the "body farm" in Tennessee in forensic experiments, some are used as crash test dummies to see how different bones are broken in car crashes, some are beheaded and the heads are used for suturing practice by physicians taking weekend courses to improve their income by learning cosmetic procedures, etc., etc., etc. In some sense, it doesn't matter; we all turn to dust anyway. Still, I think I'd rather be buried.

[Tyburn]

Believe me, thats better then the newest thing in England. In England we are concerned about the environmental effects of burning bodies and there isnt a lot of room left for burrial

So...why not be disolved in a vat of Alkaline solution....I kid you not. Melt the body away in a completely ozone friendly way

[TexasRN]

Originally Posted by Play The Man

I have signed up on my driver's license to be an organ donor. I am conflicted about body donation. You should read the book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. She describes the fate of bodies donated to science. Some are left out to rot at the "body farm" in Tennessee in forensic experiments, some are used as crash test dummies to see how different bones are broken in car crashes, some are beheaded and the heads are used for suturing practice by physicians taking weekend courses to improve their income by learning cosmetic procedures, etc., etc., etc. In some sense, it doesn't matter; we all turn to dust anyway. Still, I think I'd rather be buried.

I am an organ donor. I feel very strongly about that. I truly don't care what they do with my body when I'm done with it. If my dead carcass can help someone learn something, then have at it.


~Amy

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

Yup, Tupac is buried in the cancerous growth in the lungs of his boyz.

Pac lives!!!!!!

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by rearnakedchoke

Pac lives!!!!!!

like an uncontrollable metastasis!

[flo]

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

Yup, Tupac is buried in the cancerous growth in the lungs of his boyz.