SUBMITTED BY Scooby

May 17, 2001 — For $70,000, you can be. Here's a clip from the...ummm...interesting article:

...[the company performing the mummifications] has signed up more than 100 would-be immortals, not to mention a heavenly choir of once-frisky family pets (pet mummification starts at $14,000, depending on the size of the animal). All of them will eventually have their organs removed, washed and replaced; then their bodies will be dipped in chemicals and encased in an amber-filled bronze or stainless steel outer shell, known as a mummiform. As you'd expect, the process isn't cheap: After tallying up transportation, preparation, burial and an artfully designed mummiform, you're looking at a minimum of $70,000. Insurance companies do offer payment plans -- called pre-need policies -- and many of them allow for mummification.