A man who was moving overseas asked that his mother's remains be unearthed and sprinkled in the ocean so he would no longer have to worry about maintaining her cemetery plot. When the patriarch of a family died, leaving a stipulation in his will that he be buried in the middle of the Atlantic, the family wanted to book the Queen Elizabeth 2 for the occasion. For those who literally want to go out with a bang, this spring Mr. Hald is planning his first Grucci-style sendoff. The family can watch from a boat or Jones Beach, and choreograph the sendoff to music. On board, Mr. Hald carries a line of pendants and lockets that can hold a small amount of ashes, geared for those who want to wear their dearly departed close to their hearts.
Hunters request to have their ashes packed into shotgun shells.
Sports fans want theirs seated into footballs or basketballs. Cremated remains are also placed in satellites and launched into space or incorporated in coral reefs. But the tale of the man who wanted his ashes put in a vacuum-cleaner bag so his wife could keep cleaning up after him when he was gone, Mr. Hald said, is a joke, not an option. Several times Mr. Hald has disposed of cremated remains over the ocean by plane. According to federal regulations, in the ocean ashes must be scattered at least three miles from shore.