The Body Basket or Wicker Casket

For those folks who are interested in the paranormal, most usually develop an interest for things that are paranormal or darker in nature.  Things that the average person might not collect or even think about.  I happen to be one of the former, and sometimes things migrate into my life without my even trying.  Take the Body Basket...or Wicker Casket as it's also known.  There isn't much history on them, but what little I do know I will share here.

The earliest records of them being used that I can find is during the Civil War.  They were used as temporary caskets for the many, many soldiers that died every day.  The wicker was a cheap material to use in large quantities as compared to the cost of wood, and wicker was lighter to transport.  After the Civil War, and during the Victorian era, wicker caskets were used in the funerary business, mostly for viewings, and occasionally for funerals.  They were popular for children.  In the early 20th century, up until the 1930's, body baskets were used routinely by police and coroners to remove bodies from crimes scenes.  After that, I wasn't able to really find any more information on them being used commercially any more.  However, I did stumble across a message board a few years ago where a person posted that they'd seen about a half dozen or so of these wicker caskets in a dumpster behind a mortuary in their neighborhood!  Such is the way of life and death, and as an antique collector and history buff (especially Civil War and Old West), it hurt to hear about those antiques and bits of history being discarded in such an awful manner.  However, as luck would have it, a different wicker casket literally landed at my doorstep out of the blue one day.  Here is a photo of my wicker casket:

It's actually reinforced with metal ribbing spaced throughout.  It also has metal hasps to lock the top and bottom together.  Metal handles, covered in wicker, are attached at the top and bottom for lifting and carrying.  The wicker is wrapped over a wooden slat and metal ribbing frame and is very sturdy.  I can stand it up on its' end to display it, provided that I lean it against a wall.  The bottom isn't flat, but slightly rounded and it will rock because of its' own weight.  But it will support its' own weight to stand up for display.  Anyway, this was what I felt like blogging about today...just the paranormal history lesson for the day.  Thanks for reading this far.  Happy Hauntings.