A visit to the Ohio museum that documents death and its traditions

Bill Peoples is not your average vintage car collector. Sure, he’s got Packards from the '40s, a ‘34 Studebaker, but they’re not made for a leisurely cruise.

“The pallbearers would bring the flowers out and put them on this rack up here,” Peoples said, gesturing toward the back of the elongated vehicle. “And it’s got little rollers in here for the coffin.”

Peoples collects hearses. There’s a horse-drawn one from 1895 on display with faux fillies pulling on the reins, complete with sound effects. A couple of the hearses are affixed with sirens so they could double as ambulances.

But the 1927 Henney Hearse, affectionately called “Miss Henney," is the showstopper. Its shiny black hood has made it to Hollywood to star alongside Bill Murray and Robert Duvall in the 2009 drama film “Get Low”.

“Miss Henney," and the six other vintage hearses, are the centerpiece of Peoples Mortuary Museum in Marietta. But they are surrounded by dozens more funerary artifacts, including coffins from the Civil War era and antique burial gowns from the Great Depression.

Death in demand

Learning about death is in demand, People said. When he first opened, he gave just a couple of tours a week. Now, he gives around two tours every day.

“There is still a lot of the mystique about funerals, and I think a lot of people don't know what we do or what we did and do today,” Peoples said.

For Peoples, funerals are more commonplace. Before retiring, Peoples worked as a funeral director at Cawley and Peoples Funeral Home in Marietta for over 50 years. He grew up watching his father in the same profession.

“I began to realize what my dad was doing was helping families through a difficult time. It wasn't just making a sale or selling them furniture,” Peoples said. “He was really helping them when someone died in their family.”

The history of grief

The mortuary museum sits in an unassuming garage near Peoples’s funeral home. As you walk through the small space, you can trace how funeral practices have changed and evolved since the early 1800s through antique embalming equipment, casket catalogs and fashionable visitation furniture.

It’s a testament to how the long tradition of grieving has changed throughout the centuries, Peoples said.

“This is called a mourning pillow,” Peoples said, picking up a small plush cushion. “The widow, when she's greeting people in her house all day and she starts to cry, she could catch all of her tears in one place.”

Many of the funerary practices – like making jewelry out of lost loved ones’ hair – have long been abandoned. But remnants of them live on in our culture, Peoples said.

He points to a device used to transport corpses before funeral homes existed.

“This is what they would use to remove the person. We’re looking at a basket. And that's where the term basket case originated,” he said.

Tackling the taboo

Often, the macabre nature of the memorabilia can attract what Peoples calls “the gothic crowd” – but that’s not his intent.

“They want to do a seance in here or something for ghosts. We're not here to scare anybody,” he said. “And people enjoy the fact that we're collecting these things and then maintaining them.”

Instead, he wants the free museum to encourage people to talk more openly about death. For life to go on, Peoples said, you have to acknowledge the other half of the coin. He hopes his collection can help people take that first step.

“[The museum] helps us explain to people about death and dying. And it's all part of life,” he said. “It's brighter on the other side after you get through a period of mourning and honoring the person's life.”

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