Bizarre: Airplane coffin at the Smithsonian

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I’m not sure how KLM feels about this, but a coffin in the shape of a plane, painted in the Dutch airline’s colors, is (was?) apparently on display in the Smithsonian.

What kind of person would want this to be their final resting place? An aviation buff? A person with a penchant for irony, making a statement about airline safety? Richard Branson’s Dutch equivalent?

UPDATE: In comments, Mike points out that this is a coffin from Ghana. (More links to similar coffins in the comment section below.) In fact, if you look at the top left of the image, you’ll see the word Ghana on the wall of the museum display.

Bonus: Here’s a video from a German news report (transcript / auto-translation), showing how they make these. In German, obviously, but you can get the gist.

(image)

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2007 at 2:14 pm and is filed under bizarre, KLM. You can subscribe to the comments left on this individual post through this RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Bizarre: Airplane coffin at the Smithsonian”

1. Mike says:
   February 2nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm |

   This is coffin is most likely from Ghana. Coffins are sometimes shaped after an object that relates to the deceased’s life. For example a cab driver being buried in a coffin that looks like a car, or a fishermen buried in a coffin that looks like a fish. Probably this person was a frequent flyer, who knows. There is more at http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/photo.day.php?ID=52081

2. Mark Ashley says:
   February 2nd, 2007 at 2:58 pm |

   Thanks, Mike. That’s really fascinating. Here’s another example: Same plane shape, different airline. And yes, made in Ghana.
   http://www.spikedhumor.com/Article.aspx?id=26372

   A San Francisco Chronicle article on the practice includes this:

   One of Ata Owoo’s most talented young apprentices, a fellow named Kane Kwei, was powerfully inspired by the chief’s cocoa-pod coffin. When Kane’s grandmother died in 1951, he built a coffin just for her — shaped like an airplane. The old lady had never been in a plane, but she’d seen them in the sky and longed to fly. Thanks to her grandson, she finally got her airplane ride.

   People loved that airplane coffin so much that Kane Kwei understood that he’d found his true calling. He opened his own shop and started making custom coffins symbolic of the deceased’s status and worldly occupation: boats for fleet owners; fish or crabs or lobsters for fishermen; cows and bulls for breeders; lions and leopards for hunters; cocoa pods, peppers, green onions or corn cobs for farmers.

   http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/30/HO134013.DTL+

3. S A says:
   February 2nd, 2007 at 3:20 pm |

   Certainly not a nitpicker for aircraft design… There are no aircraft with five engines…

4. Tim says:
   February 2nd, 2007 at 5:28 pm |

   Fascinating, indeed!

   More info here:
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4196011.stm

5. Oliver says:
   February 3rd, 2007 at 11:52 am |

   > Certainly not a nitpicker for aircraft design…
   > There are no aircraft with five engines…

   On your last voyage, better be safe than sorry…

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