(slow haunting music)
- [Kal] Death, it's the final destination for all of us,
and it's a real money maker.
(moves into up-tempo riveting music)
The average American funeral costs
between eight and 10,000 bucks.
That's a $20 billion dollar a year industry,
and that's just for funerals.
There's also a huge underground industry
made up of lawyers, corporations,
government officials, and some not so official people.
Hey, are you the hit man?
- Who the fuck are you? - (mid-tempo lively music)
- Who all get paid to put a price tag on your toe tag.
They decide how much it's worth to preserve your life,
to end it, or what it's gonna take to pay off
your next of kin once you're outta here.
So how much is my life worth?
How much should I spend on a coffin?
And how much sex should I be having
to maximize my return on dying.
These are just a few of the questions
we're going to lay to rest.
Welcome to The Death Episode.
Whether you like it or not, we're all connected by money.
I'm Kal Penn exploring
This Giant Beast That Is The Global Economy.
(slow uneasy music)
First of all, don't worry,
I know a whole show about the death economy
might make you a bit nervous.
Heck, I don't even like to think
about the possibility of me dying,
so let's have a safe word
just in case things get uncomfortable.
How about puppies?
(mid-tempo cheerful music)
(puppies bark)
(mid-tempo rock music)
So how much is a life worth?
I could ask a million people this question,
and get a million answers.
But I've decided to start by asking a person
who's schooled in the practice of ending lives.
- Hey, are you the hit man? - Who the fuck are you?
- I'm Kal.
All right.
I guess I don't need my seatbelt
if we're not going anywhere.
Um, I mean, we-- I-- I sorta wanted--
- First of all, don't stutter. - Yeah.
- Okay. All right. - You nervous?
- I'm a little nervous. - Okay, just relax.
- [Kal] Okay. - Okay?
- Yep. - Okay.
- So how do people find you
when they're looking for a hitman?
- I'm not in the fucking Yellow Pages, believe me.
- Right, that's what I'm saying, how--
- Okay, I was the fucking hitman to go do something, okay?
- Does the cost of the hit change if people have kids?
If they live in an apartment building instead of a house?
- What are you, a fucking cop?
- Are you a cop? - Yeah, I'm a fucking cop.
- I knew you were a cop. - Yeah?
- Okay. - Good, get the fuck out.
- From the '80s through the early 2000s,
Dominick Polifrone used to hold meetings just like this
in out of the way parking lots with desperate people
willing to pay big money to have somebody whacked.
They thought Dominick was a contract killer
ready to commit murder on their behalf,
but he was actually an undercover ATF agent.
His work was dangerous, but it helped convict many people
looking to take human lives.
Including in 1986,
when he helped catch serial killer and mob hitman,
Richard Kuklinski, known as The Iceman
for his method of freezing his victims after death.
Going undercover as a hitman in order to nail a real hitman
was all just part of the job for Dominick.
He's an expert on the economics of extermination.
How does this actually work?
- What you're trying to do is say,
"Hey, listen, I got this problem that I gotta take care of."
- Yeah. - My wife is cheatin' on me,
or I met somebody, I gotta get rid of my wife.
- Okay. - How do you want it done?
Do you want it clean? Do you want it to look like an accident?
There's various options--
- So even, even with a hit,
you have like a menu of choices.
- (chuckles) Menu? - That's how I'm envisioning it, right?
- Kinda like you're-- - A menu, well, I wanna know,
do you want it to look like an accident?
Or do you want it to, you know, you wanna make a statement?
- [Kal] Can you talk to me about how much it will cost
to have somebody killed.
- Well, the price isn't written in stone.
- Let's say you have two clients.
One is the CEO of a big company,
the other one is a carpenter.
How do you tell them how much it's gonna cost.
- I get a read and a feel from that individual.
- Okay.
- Now, if you come from a wealthy family,
I can tell you it's 10,000.
- So let's say somebody's a carpenter,
somebody's, you know, somebody's working as a mechanic, so--
- Yeah, okay, it's five grand.
- Having never known what it costs to have somebody killed,
five grand seems low.
- Look, if you're gonna do a hit for made people
for organized crime, it could go anywhere
from 10 grand or more.
- Okay, tell me if this is right.
The price of a hit is not like the price
of a slice of pizza.
It's not two or three dollars depending on where you go.
It depends on who is asking for the hit,
and how much you think they can reasonably afford.
- That's correct. - Okay.
Do people always pay in cash,
or can they transfer money?
Is it digital? Do you take Venmo?
- Who do I look like, a fucking bank?
- Well, I wonder in terms of--
- You gonna give me a credit card or what?
- (laughs) Do people try?
- No, cash. - [Kal] It's always cash.
- You know, if you brought me a credit card,
- I'd have to kill you. - (Kal laughs)
- Okay, so what's the value of a human life
in the hitman world?
- Nothing.
- It's nothing, interesting.
- Life in that type of business, you kiddin' me?
- How much would it cost for a hit on me?
- I'd do it for nothin'.
- Well, that's good to know. - Hey, no problem.
(slow reserved music)
- [Kal] In Dominick's world, the price to end a life
is pretty much whatever the market will bear.
Whoever wants the hit has got to pay upfront.
But what happens if the equation is the other way around?
Who decides the cost of death after the dying's done?
(mid-tempo rock music)
If you happen to die, and it's someone else's fault,
it could be classified as a wrongful death,
and your next of kin might get a big payday.
Exactly how much is decided by guys like this.
Allen Hurkin-Torres is a retired New York judge
who managed one of the largest caseloads in all of the U.S.
with more than 15,000 settlements.
But in his past life, Allen also rocked the shit
out of some New York punk clubs
with his power pop band, The Speedies.
- Everybody always sees you in a suit and tie.
- [Kal] Uh-huh. - That that's who you are.
- But that's the band shot. - Oh, dude!
- [Allen] And I'm gonna give you a hint, stripes.
- No way!
Allen now works as a private mediator,
helping settle lawsuits before they reach a courtroom,
and has secured more than $2 billion worth
of successful settlements.
How do you want me to cut these, by the way?
- What does your heart tell you?
- My heart tells me-- All right, I got it.
Allen's life is a little bit rock and roll,
little bit wrongful death, and a whole lot of food.
- Well, my job in the courthouse was
a little bit different than most judges,
'cause my job was to get rid of the cases by settlement.
Because essentially, in Brooklyn we probably had thousands of cases.
- [Kal] And what kinds of cases did you work on?
- Personal injury cases, wrongful death cases,
so all I did was mediate cases every single day.
Somebody asked me one day
how personal injury differed from wrongful death.
I told them it is a personal injury case,
except the injury is the worst kind you can have, you're dead.
- (Kal laughs) - I think the death cases,
they pose whole different hurdles
about, you know, right and wrong,
and what we appreciate in society.
- A wrongful death case is very different
from a criminal case, no one's going to jail.
Instead, justice is dispensed as a financial transaction.
It's like how O.J. Simpson wasn't convicted of murder,
but was found to be responsible for two deaths.
The justice system told him
to fork over more than $25 million.
Or when a man died from injuries he suffered
after dodging a flying shrimp at a Benihana restaurant
which required surgery.
His wife sued the restaurant,
claiming she was owed $10 million
for the loss of her husband.
Unfortunately for her, the jury didn't see it that way.
Who typically sues who, like, for a case?
- Very often it's the husband who's making more money.
And he's been killed,
and the wife is suing for wrongful death,
saying she should be compensated.
- How do you determine the value of a life?
- Well, the statutes vary from state to state,
but with states like New York,
the damages are considered just pecuniary.
- So what is that? What does that mean?
- You're worth, what you're worth
as far as how much money you generate,
you're viewed as an economic engine that throws off money,
and very often, who you're throwing the money to, who you're supporting.
But part of the problem is with the way that the death statutes are made is
that basically the death of a kid is not worth anything.
- Why? - Kids or the elderly,
they're not economic engines,
they're not throwing off money, they're not supporting anybody.
So the question is what's the value of that child,
that value of that elderly person?
The answer is very, very little.
- [Kal] Wow, that seems crazy.
- So the only component that they really have is
pain and suffering for that limited time
before the death and when it was about to happen,
and pre-death terror.
So if you got a guy in the street, and you heard him scream.
He said, "Oh, my God! The car's barreling down on me.
He's gonna hit me! This is gonna hurt so much."
Pre-death terror.
So unless there's some pain and suffering before the death,
they have a very limited value.
- [Kal] So why sue then?
- Well, look, in death cases,
very often they're missing somebody,
and the real problem is there's nothing our system can do
- to give them back their loved one. - Right.
- Usually, they're coming in, basically, for catharsis.
- So it's a therapy session. - Oh, wow.
- You talk to them and the biggest problem they have
is putting a settlement number on the case.
Because they feel that by saying, "Yes, $400,000,"
- that they put a number on their loved one. - Okay.
- The best way that I try to do it is this,
I say, "Look, nothing will ever bring your loved one back.
"However, the money can be used for good purposes,
for your other child, for college."
After they're done talking to you, they sort of feel like
they've had their therapy session and catharsis,
so you feel like you did something.
- If you were to have to value yourself,
how would you go about doing that?
How would you run your own numbers?
- I'm a high wage earner, so automatically
that's calculated in the mix.
I'm 55, so the question is what's my work life expectancy
'cause there's pecuniary damages.
Lawyers, or judges, we die at our desks.
Most lawyers work into 70s. Put me up to 70, say.
Fifteen times the present income,
that's pretty much what I'm worth.
- [Kal] So, if Allen's time comes in an untimely manner,
he'll have high value due
to his work as a judge and a mediator.
Though I doubt his time will come soon,
the man survived the '80s as a drummer.
(slow mellow music)
I guess it makes sense,
the law can't give you your life back.
Maybe all it can to is give your loved one some cash.
But I'd like to think I'm worth more
than just my lost income.
How can I maximize my return on dying?
- I need my death to payoff huge.
- Are you assuming you're going to die tragically?
- Well, I'm kinda-- I'm kinda dead set on it.
- Okay, so, I'm assuming you
don't have any substantial income?
- You have guessed correctly. - Can you just?
- Yes, sorry. - Thank you.
Okay, well, other than lost income,
there isn't a set price for wrongful death.
It kinda depends on who you are, how you died,
what poor family you leave behind?
- You mean rich family, don't you?
- Ah, that depends on your story. - Huh (chuckles).
- The average jury award for wrongful death suits
is slightly over $2 million.
- (laughs) That'll work!
- Even more if you have a compelling and tragic tale.
- Like "Scarface"? - More like "Steel Magnolias."
- I've never seen that movie.
- In 2001, a 22-year old Mets prospect died
from a car defect before he signed his big contract,
and that family was afforded 131 million.
- Woo hoo hoo!
- Your death needs to be Oscar bait.
- Like Michael Shannon in that sex fish movie
or something like that?
- You know what? Let's just focus on what you're gonna
leave behind, shall we?
- Are you married? - (sighs)
Well, my wife and I don't like to put labels on it.
- Well, juries do.
Marrying someone could add a couple million to your value.
- Hmm.
- Another factor is that some states award
for hedonic damages, which means they could
financially compensate your widow
for losing the pleasure of having sex with you.
- She doesn't have to prove
the pleasure part, right?
- No. Okay, do you have
any sort of community involvement,
- you know, charity work?
- I volunteer-- - Great.
- ...my opinions online about anthem kneeling.
- Right.
I'm gonna be honest with you,
I'm starting to think your death is sounding
a little less wrongful.
Why do you want it to pay off so well?
- Well, I've always wanted to be wealthy, I mean--
- How exactly were you intending
on collecting the money after you die?
- Okay, clearly there are some elements of this scenario
I haven't completely thought through.
Maybe you could recommend a medium
or some other interdimensional specialist,
perhaps the person that gave you those magic balls?
- Get out of my office.
- Do you validate parking? - Not for you.
- But you do. - I do for others.
- Yes, my cousin drove me.
- There is another way to go at all of this.
(slow reserved music)
Like instead of asking
what's the cost of a wrongful death,
asking what's it worth to prevent a death?
Governments and companies have
to ask that question all the time.
Mike Gatto is a personal injury and malpractice lawyer.
When an action or lack of action by the government
or company leads to injury or death,
Mike's the man on the case.
So, why are we here?
- Sometimes as little as a safety sign,
very inexpensive, can save lives.
Yesterday, I took depositions in a case
where two motorcyclists died because the city failed
to alert motorcyclists that a roundabout was raised.
They hit it and died.
- Whoa.
Safe word, puppies.
(mid-tempo cheerful music)
(mid-tempo unsettling music)
So the cost of something that simple
can have serious ramifications.
I would imagine whatever legal actions you're pursuing
are far more than the cost of a couple of street signs.
- Many, many times over.
I mean, a street sign, what can these things cost, 40 bucks?
- In the wrongful death claims,
behind the scenes, was there a calculation made
as to what the payout might be
from a corporation or a government?
- We absolutely believe that occurs.
We rarely find out about it,
but there are a couple of historical cases
that provide us some perspective.
Many people know of Ford Pinto.
This was the early '70s.
They wanted to bring the Pinto to market
at a low enough price,
and they wanted to sell it for $1,999.
And somewhere along the way,
they realized the gas tank was vulnerable
to explosion and fire.
- And the fix was $11. - Whoa.
- Ford made calculations and estimates
about the value of human life
and injuries that would stem from the dangerous gas tank,
and they chose to go forward all for the sake of money.
- So, in corporate settings, is that common
that people are sitting around a boardroom making
a calculation about whether they should
pay out somebody's death that will result
from something they're doing?
- Sadly, I think yes.
We only learn of it when there are lawsuits
and corporations are forced to reveal it
or when there's some whistle-blower.
But rarely are these things discovered.
- Are those boardroom conversations part
of the normal process of doing business,
coming up with those calculations for any company?
- I think it's kind of prudent business.
The question is what do you do with the information at the end.
- Government agencies make similar calculations using
a metric called the value of a statistical life or V.S.L.
Using a mix of scientific studies and market analysis,
different agencies decide on their own VSLs.
Here's how VSLs are used.
In 2007, the Department of Transportation
considered a rule forcing automakers
to install rear seatbelt reminder systems in cars.
They estimated it would save at least 44 lives each year.
But installing it would cost the auto industry 325 million.
At a cost of 7.4 million per life, that amount was higher
than the Department of Transportation's VSL at the time.
So the safety precaution wasn't installed.
Putting a price tag on death incentivizes companies
and government agencies to be responsible.
But that price is determined for us
by outside institutions like judges, juries, and mediators.
But what if we could set our own price?
Would we use the same cold, hard logic as the professionals?
(mid-tempo vibrant music)
Have you ever asked what's your life worth to you?
How much would you charge to risk death?
Abrahan and Francisco make that calculation everyday.
(tense dramatic music)
They harvest goose barnacles from razor-sharp rocks
in the open waters of the Atlantic
off the country's northern coast.
It's a dangerous job that claims lives and pays well
because those barnacles are a delicacy
that are sold at a premium price.
Gourmet diners can pay as much as 100 euros
or nearly 120 American dollars per portion.
How often are there injuries and deaths?
Is it common or?
- Every year there are incidents.
Broken ribs, and unfortunately people dying also.
Two years ago, a barnacle fisher went down to the rocks on his own,
and when he turned up several days later,
he was dead.
(tense dramatic music)
- This looks crazy to me, right?
- Even if the sea is calm,
you are always looking for the worst places to go.
in order to get the best barnacles.
- Where is he putting them when he gets them?
- He puts them here inside the t-shirt with a belt.
- That's a lot to pay attention to.
- My mom almost cried when I told her I was getting my barnacle license.
"That's really dangerous!"
- Yeah. Oh, wow. - (speaking in foreign language)
- There's a little panic in his voice.
- (speaking in foreign language)
This is crazy by our standards,
but how does this compare to what you usually deal with?
- Today is a very, very good day. - Okay.
- The sea is calm, you seldom find it like this.
- Would you like to try one? - Sure.
You have to show me how to eat it.
- You just have to suck it. - Just bite it off?
I like this when it's raw.
- It's the consistency of boogers
with the taste of an incredibly clean ocean.
(Abrahan laughs)
I've never eaten a booger!
- I mean neither have I?
(all laugh)
Most people might not quit their day job
to do something that looks this dangerous.
I wonder what the incentives are for these guys?
So what do you usually get? What's an average?
- About 500 Euros with conditions today, yes about 500 Euros.
- And then that's split between you two?
- Each one. Each one. - 500 each, holy shit!
So, like $600 for each of you.
So, talk to me about what this place is.
You guys actually come here before you go out on the boats?
- Yes, many times when it's bad and you can't go on a boat,
here there's a path down.
- Oh, you go down this way? How? It's a steep drop.
- Yes, sometimes you can use a rope for the most dangerous places.
(slow reserved music)
A couple of years ago, one of our co-workers was climbing down the cliff,
and he fell between two rocks.
and they had to do a rescue with a helicopter.
- I mean it sounds like the money's really good,
but it also sounds like you're putting yourselves
in pretty serious danger. Is that worth it?
- There is an added value, which is the passion you have for this.
This is an addiction. It's a drug.
- What do you love about it? - The ocean.
- Fishing.
Working for myself.
- Yes. This...
you have to feel it...
to be able to explain it.
(up-tempo lively music)
- [Kal] Just like certain people have decided that gooseneck barnacles are
a delicacy worthy of a high price,
Abrahan and Francisco have decided
the money they're paid is enough
for them to risk their lives.
Here's a look at the invisible calculations
we all make everyday
from a totally different vantage point.
- Ugh, most people don't realize how their decisions
place a value on their own life,
like taking a raise to do a more dangerous job.
Roofers make $4,000 more than other construction workers
because they're five times more likely
to die at work, it's true.
- [Director] And cut, everyone take five.
- Ugh, these choices reflect a cost benefit analysis
of what we're willing to risk to have a life worth living.
I mean the government, they estimate how much money it costs
to prevent a death before putting up street signs
or making people wear a hardhat.
So even if you don't do the math,
you make intuitive calculations
about risk in your life all the time.
Hold me.
I mean, no idiot would play Russian roulette,
not even for a million dollars.
It's not worth the one in six chance of dying,
so you should probably shell out that $6
for a smoke detector to eliminate
the one-in-a-million chance that you're gonna die in a fire.
Put these in my kid's room please, thanks.
Take former 49ers linebacker Chris Borland, for example.
He retired after playing just one season in the NFL
to avoid potential brain injury.
He gave up a three-year, $2.3 million contract
to eliminate that 40% risk.
To him, a brain that can still do math
is worth more than that money.
What's your brain worth, Randy?
- Uh...
- Quick thinking there, pal.
But avoiding risk in life isn't always easy.
I mean, no one is gonna tackle you at a desk job,
but sitting in a chair all day actually
doubles your chance of death by increasing your risk
of diabetes, stroke, cancer, and dementia.
So someone get this murder machine away from me.
Of course, no one would want to eliminate all danger.
I mean, staying in a bubble,
yeah, it might mean you value your life at a billion dollars,
but you couldn't pay me to do that.
Because eliminating risk also means eliminating fun.
I'd have to give up headphones, selfies, escalators,
hot dogs, hot water, Christmas trees, and bed frames,
all known killers.
Falling out of bed kills one in 700,000 Americans every year.
That's more than terrorism.
But I'm not gonna put my mattress on the floor
because I'm no longer 25.
I just look it.
(bell dings)
(slow chiming music)
- Regardless of the price you're willing
to pay to have a full life,
there is one bill that always comes due.
When you die, you may be technically gone,
but there's still a whole financial system built
around what remains, as in your literal remains.
And the Cemetery Church of All Saints is one
of the earliest examples of a corpse economy.
(bell rings)
Wow, how many bones are here and skulls?
- Thousands of them.
About 100,000 long bones,
and about 60,000 skulls.
- [Kal] Filip Velimsky is an archeologist
who works with the church.
According to him, the monastery became
a 14th century sensation, after a monk returned
with a jar of holy soil
from the site of Christ's crucifixion,
and sprinkled it over the cemetery.
It's a legend that made for a powerful sales pitch.
When you're searching for an eternal resting place,
it's all about location, location, location.
- This area was connected
with Jerusalem and Golgotha,
the holy places of Christianity.
And there were some miracles in this area.
So, for Christians,
this was some special place
with some special sense.
- Were they able to charge what they wanted,
or was it a place that was affordable?
- They really must pay quite a lot of money
to have a chance to be buried here in this area.
- Easy resurrection, that's a deal at a steep price,
and that's what the monks charged.
But in the 14th century, the Black Plague decimated Europe.
To make burial room for the millions who perished,
many of the older bodies at the cemetery were dug up,
and the bones repurposed into the very unique decor
now adorning the church,
including a human bone chandelier.
You know, to spruce things up.
This place may look like the predator's house,
but turning these bones into Erector sets
helped keep the vacancy sign lit for new arrivals.
(slow uneasy music)
It seems like the monks who built this place
understood that anxieties about what happened
to bodies and souls after death are powerful
and difficult to cope with.
Like, maybe they knew hundreds of years ago,
anything that helps people deal with those feelings
can be sold, and at a high price.
There was no funeral industry 200 years ago.
Back then, your family dropped you into the ground
at a cemetery or in the backyard, as is,
just like a beloved hamster.
(gun fires)
But when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated,
he became the first president to be preserved
with an update of an ancient technique now called embalming.
So many mourners witnessed Lincoln's shiny preserved body
on its farewell tour, that embalming went viral.
Undertakers capitalized on the trend.
Mortuaries popped up across the United States,
and funeral directors started charging
for coffins, viewings, and headstones.
Before long, postmortem makeovers became the norm.
And if you were a political heavyweight
like Vladimir Lenin or Eva Peron,
it became an absolute must.
As for the common folk,
they soon realized they were having
to buy their dead loved ones back at a premium.
They weren't cheap, but they were pretty.
(bell dings)
(slow subdued music)
While America might be in the pocket of big funeral,
the death industry was nearly unknown in Malaysia
until just 30 years ago.
Before then, the Malaysian government
operated the cemeteries,
usually run-down with unprofessional services.
Families had to choose between that
or burying their loved ones on their own land.
But Frank Choo's father had a vision
to build a business model around burial.
I understand that it's a relatively new idea
in Malaysia that there's a place that you can go
for funeral services.
Can you talk about how it started?
- Well, we started probably in the early 80s.
In Malaysia then, all cemeteries belonged to government.
They actually designated land for burial sites.
My late father thought,
"Let me see what happened to the rest of the world."
And he would take us all over the world for holidays.
And part of the itinerary was to look at,
to visit cemeteries or memorial parks.
And in the mid-80s, he decided,
"Okay, I want to bring this back to Malaysia.
We have got all aspects from
mortuary with professional embalming,
we have funeral halls, where people can actually do the wake,
crematory, and finally we've got parks.
- [Kal] Frank's family imported all these
Western style funeral options,
but his success is built on offering
localized cultural premiums and a personal touch.
- This building is where we house ancestral tablets.
And we actually offer prayers by the monks
twice a month.
I'll take you to
where we store the cremated remains.
- [Kal] There are also temples here,
catering to a mix of Buddhism, Christianity,
Hinduism, and traditional Chinese beliefs.
For Malaysia, this is a whole new death economy
with price tags of up to 40,000 ringgit,
or 10,000 U.S. dollars.
No matter where you believe that you'll travel to
in the afterlife, this place is a port of entry.
- [Frank] Hi.
- [Kal] Wow.
- This is where they're going to put their photos.
- Okay. - And the inscriptions.
- And then the urns are inside there?
- Yeah, there will be urns, and these are for couples.
Initially, people were a bit still skeptical
and because most of those people had never experienced
a good sendoff and what is a good
way to memorialize loved ones.
And now, after 30 years,
we have over one hundred memorial parks in the country now.
- Wow. - It popped up everywhere.
- [Kal] Frank's dad proved that funeral services,
just like most successful businesses,
can be tailored to specific markets and people.
But just how specialized will the death market get
in its quest to attract customers?
(lively electric guitar music)
In Hamburg, Germany, HSV football fans,
the U.S. calls it soccer, are total fanatics.
At this giant stadium, rabid sports fans
don't just mourn the loss of a game,
but also their loved ones,
because it's situated right next door
to a cemetery tailored to its unique fans.
Lars Rehder is the grounds keeper.
- The entrance, it's a soccer goal
with the original measure.
- Oh, cool. - Yeah.
People buried here
have the symbol of the club.
- [Kal] How much does it cost for somebody to be buried here?
- Yes, it's about 4,000 dollars
if you want a grave like this behind.
There are twenty people buried in one grave.
- Oh, wow, okay.
And so it's a little bit cheaper.
- Yeah. - Or, if you want
some grave with only two people
for a couple, costs
up to 15,000 dollars.
- [Kal] So, you said the big plot, the big grave,
- 20 people are buried there? - Yes.
- Is that a family? - No, it's not a family.
They could be a fan club, but they share the cost.
- Is this where you wanna be buried?
- Yes. - Yeah?
- Yes. I think it's a very nice place.
(upbeat lively music)
- This cemetery gives new meaning
to the term die-hard fan.
Look, I'm a Yankee fan,
but I don't wanna get buried in the Bronx next to Yankee Stadium,
which means I don't love the Yankees as much as I thought I did.
Yes, I understand. But I guess the idea of tying death together
with something you love makes sense.
After all, you can't take it with you.
Or can you?
(traditional Asian music)
Everything in this shop is meant to be taken
with you after you die.
If you need some cock in the afterlife,
you can take that with you.
All of this is made entirely of paper.
Aw, here's what's up.
It's all meant to be burned.
Part of the Taoist religious belief
that you can send material goods to your loved ones
in their afterlife if you burn paper versions of them,
so death doesn't have to be dull.
It's an ancient Chinese ritual,
updated for the modern economy.
This is obviously the tightest one, 'cause it's old school.
It's "Marlbero."
This stuff is fine if you want some
off-the-shelf accessories for eternity,
but if you want the custom goods,
there's only one man to see.
(slow gentle music)
Mr. Ha is known as the king of paper offerings.
I'm here to learn from the master
about the economy of shopping for the recently departed.
- Observing from the angle
of Chinese Taoism or Buddhism,
there's a belief that "valuable things
must be passed down generation to generation."
The idea is that when you burn
these paper offerings in this life,
your beloved ones will receive them in their afterlife.
- When somebody burns a paper good
for their loved one who's passed away,
is the idea symbolic or is it literal?
- These offerings target both the living and the deceased.
For instance, a son who has not yet
burnt a paper house for his dead father,
won't be able to get any sleep at night for months or years,
since he cannot help wondering whether his father
has a house to live in over there in the nether world.
- So, can you give me an example
of what people would ask you to make?
- I remember one such case in which the deceased person
turned out to be the head of Mafia organization.
For his funeral,
we were requested to make many offerings
which resembled his henchmen,
holding either a gun or a broadsword,
for the sake of showing his power and authority.
- So the mafia guy could take
all of his boys with him into the afterlife.
- Exactly.
- Do people ever ask
for things that they haven't had?
Like, is it ever aspirational?
- Yes, it is.
That is the true meaning of paper offerings.
If the deceased person has not ridden a Rolls-Royce
or a spacecraft when they were alive,
their family would order paper offerings resembling these articles.
It's like fulfilling the deceased person's dreams.
- If you have a tough financial situation,
is there still an expectation that you buy
the paper goods for your loved one for the ceremony?
- Right. The worst case in China mainland is that
in order to fund an extravagant funeral,
the family of a deceased person would borrow so much money
that they will have to work as long as 8 or 10 years to repay it.
- Wow, so now I see what you're saying,
that's a huge burden on families.
- That's why they sell the house.
- So they'll sell their house in order
to pay for the funeral expenses?
- Correct.
- Some people are willing to make
quite a sacrifice just to make a sacrifice.
Since I'm not sure anyone is going to shell out
big bucks for my afterlife needs,
I've asked Mr. Ha to make me some of my favorite things,
so I can burn them in advance.
It can't hurt, right?
Oh, this is my dog.
(Mr. Ha growls and laughs)
So, she's still a-- You got it right.
She's still alive, and will be forever,
otherwise I would be a mess.
And I associate people qualities to her,
obviously, 'cause she's my dog,
so I shouldn't burn this, right?
- It is not a taboo to burn animal-shaped offerings.
Because they are just animals, not human beings.
It's okay to burn the dog-shaped offering before you leave this world.
You will be reunited one day.
- Oh, okay, so it does work that way. Sweet.
Great, awesome.
So this is so that I have Wi-Fi.
- [Mr. Ha] Mm. - Do you have the password?
- Figure it out by yourself.
- (both laugh) - All right.
Ah, tacos and beans!
- These will fill you up, down there in the netherworld.
- Over and over again, I hope.
That's nice.
This is a tracksuit.
- It looks quite nice on you.
- And then for all of these four things, what do I owe you?
It took us more than 3 days to make all these things.
So, the total fee is $11,000 HKD.
- So it's almost $2,000 which I will give you
on the way out, thank you.
I appreciate it.
(mid-tempo mellow music)
I just paid $2,000 for paper mache.
That's a lot of money to burn through,
like, literally set on fire.
People spend all kinds of money on death,
and since none of us know for sure what's on the other side,
it's hard to argue with any amount someone wants to lay out.
Still, I wonder, are the economic choices
we make around death based in any kind of reason?
Why do we think we need to use money
to say goodbye to our loved ones anyway?
(slow tranquil music)
Caitlin Doughty makes her living on death.
But for a mortician, she has some radical views
on what drives the funeral economy.
Just the idea that you've gotta take your loved one
to a funeral home and, like, not be involved
in that process except for showing up to the funeral,
that's, I just always thought, well,
- that's just what you have to do. - Yeah.
- But legally, you don't even have to do that, right?
- No, part of what I do now
in sort of a public advocate sense
is tell people you can be involved.
There are other options for your funerals.
They could be less expensive.
They can be more meaningful.
And there are a ton of things
that are safe and legal for your dead bodies
that you may have no idea are out there.
I think what's so interesting
about death around the world is
that we've really kind of exported the worst parts
of American culture around the world.
- Even in death? - Even in death.
- Okay. - The death we export is capitalistic death.
It's saying that the more that you buy for your loved one,
the more that you care about them.
And we really need to do a better job
of divorcing those things.
- Can you talk me through just the basic sort of
what drew you to this career, and what you love about it?
- Absolutely, I have been in the funeral industry
about 10 years, and I started as a crematory operator.
I started as the person in the back
with the big industrial machines cremating the bodies.
The first thing I noticed is
that I was usually the only one there.
There was no family.
It was just me cremating Mom or Dad or your sister,
and that was shocking to me.
Why am I the only one here?
I came to understand over time
that it's really because our society doesn't tell us
we're supposed to be involved with death and with funerals.
That we're supposed to show up,
or that we even are allowed to do that.
150 years ago, the American way of death
was completely taken care of by the family.
Someone dies in the house,
they're taken care of in the house.
Your neighbor makes the wooden casket.
You carry it on your shoulders to the grave.
It's completely family and community involved.
Turn of the 20th century,
you have these guys who come in and are like,
oh, interesting, we can make money doing this.
We can actually it's more safe and sanitary
if we take your bodies,
and we take care of them
and you just pay us to do it.
And over the last 100 years,
we've all kind of been a little brainwashed into thinking
that's what's the safe and legal manner of doing this.
And that's just not true.
You don't have to hand over the body
to a funeral director to chemically preserve
and essentially sell back to you as a product.
- [Kal] Yeah. - You can have a natural burial,
which is just a simple wicker casket
or shroud in a shallow hole.
And you really can decompose into the earth around it,
and grow into a tree or grow into a shrub,
or a flower bush, something lovely.
- [Kal] Okay, so this is a shroud.
- This is a shroud. You wanna try it out?
- [Kal] Yeah, I do. - [Caitlin] You wanna lay back?
- Sure. - Let the adventure begin.
- All right. - We just bring the side around like so.
I'll leave your head exposed.
- [Kal] This is like camping.
- (laughs) It is a little bit like camping, you're right.
Okay, we're tying you in here.
- [Kal] Nobody tucks you in like this.
- Hi, I'm your camp monitor,
hope you're enjoying your time at Camp Death.
- I'm telling you, I could pass out for the night like this.
- (laughs) Wait till we put it over your face.
We'll see how you feel about it.
- Okay, you ready for this? - Yep.
- This is a big moment. - Bye, guys.
- If you can't breathe, you have to let me know.
- [Kal] Oh, I'll let you know.
- "Local Mortician Kills Man" is not a headline that I want.
- [Kal] Well, I guess if I die, we're all set, right?
But I mean there's nothing left to do, you've done it.
You can just dig the hole.
- Okay, you, my friend, are shrouded.
How are you feeling?
- [Kal] Not bad.
- You look good. You look gorgeous.
- [Kal] Yeah, thank you.
I get it. I mean, if this is an option,
why would you wanna be stuck in a box?
(slow delicate music)
Grief can lead us to some radical choices,
and a lot of them are less than economical.
There's no arguing that there's a booming economy
built around every side of death.
Mourning our dearly departed loved ones will cost us.
Meanwhile, losing someone to unexpected circumstances
could lead to crazy compensation.
And if I wanna take out my enemies,
I now know that I'd better bring cash.
Making the calculations for these choices
can often be messy,
but spending money in the death economy seems
to buy relief from the existential dread
that arises with the knowledge that death is coming
for all of us.
And now, puppies.
(upbeat cheerful music)
- [Man] Down mark. - Get out of my office.
- Do you validate parking by chance?
- Nope. - Okay.
- Have a good Easter.
- Yep. - (door thuds)
(all laugh)
- Please leave. - Thank you,
Do you know of any good attorneys?
- I'll call the police.
- Do you know Sting?
- (all laugh) - (door thuds)
- [Client] The worst joke.
- Compensate your widow if she loses
the pleasure of your sex.
(all laugh)
- Would you like to have the pleasure of my sex?
- It sounds like a fuckin' weird Victorian novel.
- I have to say that to my wife tonight.
I have to write it down, 'cause I'm gonna say that to my wife.
Would you like the pleasure of my sex tonight?
(all laugh)
- [Attorney] Oh, shit.
(laughing) Shit.
(whip snaps)