When we die, our bodies gradually decompose and return to dust, a process that varies in speed depending on the environment. A Reddit user known as iCremate shared a poignant account of exhuming a body from a traditional burial after 50 years.
The body in question belonged to a 12-year-old boy who had died in a car crash five decades ago. Following the boy’s mother’s passing, his father, who had relocated from California to Wyoming and was in hospice care with only weeks left to live, expressed a final wish: to have his son’s remains with him.
iCremate and his team exhumed the boy’s body, cremated it, and sent the ashes to the father. The images taken before the cremation reveal that the boy still had some of his hair, and remarkably, traces of hair gel remained.
It is hoped that having his son’s remains by his side brought some comfort to the father in his final moments. The story underscores the profound grief of losing a child at such a young age.
