A Stylish Send-Off

This is a fun story, in a weird sort of way. It seems that the African Nation of Ghana has a few, well, odd funeral customs. One of these is burying the dead in outlandish custom coffins. Brightly painted and lavishly decorated, Some are shaped like fish, Coke bottles, chickens, cars, cameras, birds and bibles.

First popularized in the 1950s, the coffins cost between $300 and $800 in a country where many live on barely $2 a day.

Some say the coffin represents an aspiration, or pride in the achievements of a short earthly stay in a poor country.

"If you can't acquire it, you can at least be buried in it," said Kwame Labi, a research fellow at the University of Ghana's Institute of African Studies.

"It is born out of economic crisis, out of trying to build confidence and pride in what life you have."

Heck, there have been people buried right here in the USA in cars. Nothing wrong with it.