Irish undertaker offers webcasts of funeral services

Using gadgets to listen in on the graves of your deceased family and friends must have really caught on, because northern Ireland undertaker Jim Clarke has added a macabre new feature to their funeral services: webcasting. The bereaved now have the (thankfully free) option of enabling live streams from a network of webcams and mics recently installed by S Clarke and Son Funeral Directors in local funeral homes and churches. "Our internet option means [mourners] get to become part of a grieving process they might have missed out on. ... The pictures are so clear that people watching can see the faces of everyone in the crowd, and hear everything clearly, so they can spot relatives they might not have seen in years." We weren't aware the grieving process required physical presence, and we'd imagine with images that clear you'd probably want to get the consent of mourners to be filmed while so vulnerable, but hey, if watching bitstreams of inexpressible sorrow helps give some closure to a loved one's death, who are we to judge?

[Via TG Daily]

[jharcnc @ Mar 14th 2007 8:40AM]

Sign o the times; people have dying for a service like this...

[apothus @ Mar 14th 2007 10:26AM]

It would be important for those of us in Australia with relatives over seas.

If i remeber correctly though, this is not a new idea, i rember seeing adds or these in aus at least a year ago.

[Chuckles McGee @ Mar 14th 2007 10:59AM]

Finally, I can grieve for a loved one from the comfort of my own PC. Oh look, new mail!

Hopefully the undertaker will offer some director's commentary when the cast hits DVD.

[Cody @ Mar 14th 2007 11:29AM]

This isn't new at all... I'm in the military and was very happy to be able to "attend" my father's funeral six years ago via webcast. This was in a little West Texas town too. I'm sure pretty much all the funeral homes here in the states offer something like this by now.

[Magallanes @ Mar 14th 2007 11:34AM]

Youtube funeral services.. coming soon.

[jonny @ Mar 14th 2007 12:32PM]

g'on ye boy ye. that's my mates dad and granda. 'tis a small world. who'd o' thought someone from loughries would get on engadget?

[Ian @ Mar 14th 2007 10:06PM]

There's been plenty of webcam-equipped funerals before, but this does appear somewhat of a step up from a 640x480 5fps picture of the eulogies!

I do hope that there's at least an option of restricting the access to the feed. I'd be happy to share with absent love ones but not to have our greif on totally public display.