#Jim Underdown
Link
By: Jim Underdown
Published: Jan 11, 2023
Ask the Atheist
Is it true the late pope was buried in multiple caskets?
R. Tarsi,
Egg Harbor, WI
No one who’s ever been to – or even seen pictures of – the Vatican should be shocked that former Pope, Benedict XVI, was buried in three (that’s right three) different coffins. St. Peter’s Basilica, with its gold accoutrements, bronze columns and doors, and priceless art is the very definition of excess, so why chintz on the pope’s funeral? Vows of poverty be damned!
[ Inside St. Peter’s ]
Jesus (had he ever lived) would have been appalled at the garishness of it all, I’m sure.
When I first heard about the triple coffins, I was incredulous. What? They’re going to chop this guy up and spread him around?! Holey moley! What kind of messed up ancient ritual is this? Are they punishing the guy for resigning before the Grim Reaper could get him? Is he finally going to get his just due for being in the Hitler Youth in the 1940s?
[ List of popes in St. Peter’s ]
I grew up Catholic for a bit and have heard plenty of their wacky ideas over the years – transubstantiation, limbo, the trinity, to name a few – but hacking a guy up seemed extreme even for the Catholic Church. They must be splitting the body up to send it on tour to raise money was one of my early thoughts.
Then I read that the coffins would be nested inside each other like those Russian Matryoshka dolls – which is a bit less gruesome but still excessive. Ok, that does make more sense… than dismemberment.
Here’s how it went.
The first box was made of cypress and, along with the pope’s body, contained bags of gold, silver, and copper coins. The cypress symbolizes humility – you know, of the guy who’s being buried in 3 caskets as a part of a multi-million dollar funeral.
I’m not making this up.
The second box was made of lead and had a skull and crossbones carved into. Ok, that’s actually kind of cool. But lead? The guy who carved the decorations into the lead will no doubt soon follow the pope to the pearly gates… or at least have some cognitive issues. I’d bet Superman sleeps in a similar sarcophagus – probably with his “S” logo on it instead of the skull and crossbones.
The third box was made of elm which evidently represents dignity, and housed the other two caskets. To reinforce the humility theme from box #1, the elm coffin was sealed with gold nails, which any carpenter – even Jesus – would tell you won’t do jack to hold it shut. Gold has terrible tensile, compressive, and yield strengths compared to a common steel nail. Not to mention they’re expensive as hell…
Each of the coffins was sealed with wax and wrapped with silk ropes. Surely the wax will keep grave robbers from all those coins. Again… tensile strength people! Are there no engineers on the Vatican payroll?
If they actually told us about the 3-casket extravaganza, what are they not telling us?
I wonder…
Was he buried in three pairs of underwear under his robes – one Jockey™, one Mormon, and one Orthodox Jewish – just hedge his bets to get into heaven? Those ought to help him get through the pearly gates, though St. Peter will ask him about the Hitler Youth thing. And God is very detail-oriented, you know.
Did each of his hands have 3 pinky rings on it – all perhaps donated by guilt-ridden Mafiosi over the years?
How many of the 135 Swiss Guards will it take to carry that heavy-ass triple load down to the catacombs?
I also wonder if the money bags made it all the way to the tomb. I sorta hope one of the workers palmed the coins before that casket got sealed up. Seems like a waste to bury perfectly good money with a guy dressed in silk and ruby slippers.
==
Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin was far less obscenely ostentatious. And the UK is actually real. For a former CEO of a corporation selling imaginary treatments for imaginary diseases, and imaginary travel to imaginary destinations...?
#Jim Underdown#Ask the Atheist#Center for Inquiry#pope#Pope Benedict XVI#Benedict XVI#catholic church#catholic#catholicism#roman catholic#christianity#ostentation#St. Peter’s Basilica#obscene wealth#religion#religion is a mental illness
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965) - Episode 59 - Decades of Horror: The Classic Era
“I sometimes foretell things that are frightening.” Please, tell us more! Join this episode’s Grue Crew - Whitney Collazo, Chad Hunt, Jeff Mohr, and special guest host Doc Rotten - as they take a deadly train ride with Dr. Terror who manipulates the cards in the tarot deck he refers to as his house of horrors in the aptly titled Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors.
Decades of Horror: The Classic Era
Episode 59 – Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965)
Five strangers board a train and are joined by a mysterious fortune teller who offers to read their Tarot cards. Five separate stories unfold: An architect returns to his ancestral home to find a werewolf out for revenge; a doctor suspects his new wife is a vampire; an intelligent vine takes over a house; a jazz musician plagiarizes music from a voodoo ceremony; a pompous art critic is pursued by a disembodied hand.
IMDb
Director: Freddie Francis
Writer: Milton Subotsky
Featured Cast:
Framing Story
Peter Cushing as Dr. Schreck/Dr. Terror
Segment: “Werewolf”
Neil McCallum as Jim Dawson
Ursula Howells as Deirdre Biddulph
Peter Madden as Caleb
Katy Wild as Valda
Edward Underdown as Tod
Segment: “Creeping Vine”
Ann Bell as Ann Rogers
Bernard Lee as Hopkins
Alan Freeman as Bill Rogers
Jeremy Kemp as Jerry Drake
Sarah Nicholls as Carol Rogers
Segment: “Voodoo”
Roy Castle as Biff Bailey
Kenny Lynch as Sammy Coin
Harold Lang as Roy Shine
Christopher Carlos as Vrim
Segment: “Disembodied Hand”
Christopher Lee as Franklyn Marsh
Michael Gough as Eric Landor
Isla Blair as Pretty girl
Judy Cornwell as Nurse
Hedger Wallace as Surgeon
Segment: “Vampire”
Max Adrian as Dr. Blake
Jennifer Jayne as Nicolle Carroll
Donald Sutherland as Dr. Bob Carroll
Al Mulock as Detective
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors is the first of seven portmanteaus produced by Amicus Productions. It has long been one of Doc’s favorites and he enthusiastically explains exactly why that is. Whitney is taken by the hand makeup in the “Werewolf” segment and also appreciates the disturbing art of Dr. Terror’s tarot deck. Jeff reveals that not only is “portmanteau” one of his favorite words but it’s also one of his favorite film structures. Chad reiterates his dread for disembodied hand scenes and manages to make a connection to the sinking of the Titanic. If you haven’t seen this Freddie Francis directed Cushing/Lee vehicle, your Grue Crew highly recommends you rectify the situation immediately!
The Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Grue Crew plan to release a new episode every other week. Hey, where else will you hear podcasts on films ranging from Dead of Night (1945) to The Hideous Sun Demon (1958) to Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)? The next episode in our very flexible schedule will be The Cat and the Canary (1927), Paul Leni’s silent classic of the “old dark house” subgenre.
Please send us feedback on the films we cover, ideas for future films, or the podcast itself. After all, without you, we’re just four horror freaks talking about the films we love. Send us an email at [email protected] or leave us a message, a review, or a comment at GruesomeMagazine.com, iTunes, the Gruesome Magazine Horror News Radio Facebook group or your friendly neighborhood podcast aggregator.
To each of you from each of us, “Thank you so much for listening!
Check out this episode!
0 notes
Link
Welcome to the eighth installment of my series that directly addresses the hate and harassment we have been seeing in our community.
Today, I bring you the words of Jim Underdown. Jim Underdown has been the Executive Director of the Center for Inquiry Los Angeles since 1999. He is the founder and chair of the Independent Investigations Group.
Jim calls for a cease fire.
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
