Story Archive

Odd Fellows

Membership in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows has been dwindling recently. Now, the chapter has just three members: Dave Burgstrum, his wife, and his brother. The organization owes property taxes on the organization’s hall, so Burgstrum is selling a piece of Odd Fellows’ history on Craigslist: an antique coffin, complete with skeletal remains. The coffin was used as part of the group’s initiation ritual. “All men are made equal,” Burgstrum said. “Rich man or poor man, everybody will eventually die. So the lesson was to do as much good as you can while you are alive.” But the police intervened because it’s illegal to sell unidentified human remains. The bones will be sent to the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Laboratory for identification. Burgstrum is fine with that. “What do you do with them? You can’t throw them in the trash or bury them,” he said. The medical examiner “can keep them, and I’ll be done with them.” The coffin, sans occupant, is valued at between $12,000 and $15,000. (MS/Omaha World-Herald) ...Smart: they’re using one sure thing in life to pay for the other.