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Eyes Included: Myths and Realities of Organ Donation
8 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of The Glam Reaper Podcast, our host Jennifer sits down with Heather Taylor, a mortician with a wealth of experience in the funeral business.
Heather shares her journey from Pittsburgh to Seattle and eventually settling in Michigan, recounting the pivotal moment that led her to make these life-changing moves. She also spills the tea on her experience with dating in deathcare!
Heather reflects on the versatility of a degree in the mortuary field, emphasizing the diverse interests and skills that draw individuals to the funeral industry. Jennifer adds her unique perspective on different aspects of deathcare, highlighting the importance of continuous learning and knowledge-sharing within the profession.
Tune in as they navigate the intricate world of dating, deathcare and beyond!
Key Topics:
-Dating and catfishing in the deathcare business!
-Insights into Eye Recovery and Organ/Tissue Donation
-Impact of Social Media on the Deathcare Profession
-Continuous Learning in the Funeral Industry
-Challenges in Finding Qualified Personnel for Mortuary Positions
-Autopsy and Anatomic Age Learning
Quotes From The Episode:
Be careful what you put on the internet because you never know what's gonna go viral.
- Heather Taylor
We're all learning, we're all humans, we're all subject to imperfections
- Jennifer Muldowney
Timestamp:
[00:00] Podcast Intro
[00:01] Jennifer and Heather discussed Heather's experiences as a mortician in the United States.
[01:17] Jennifer and Heather discuss her recent move from Pittsburgh to Seattle and then to Michigan.
[02:51] Heather shares her story of meeting someone he admired and moving to Michigan.
[04:45] Heather recounts the unexpected and challenging aspects of his long-distance relationship.
[06:15] Heather describes her work in Michigan, specifically in eye recovery for transplants.
[08:09] Jennifer and Heather conversation shifts to the challenges of online dating and the curated image people present on social media.
[10:29] Heather provides insight into the process of organ and tissue recovery after clinical death.
[13:22] Heather reflects on the versatility of a degree in the mortuary field.
[14:35] Jennifer discusses her perspective on different aspects of the funeral industry and how it attracts individuals with diverse interests and skills.
[16:36] Jennifer and Heather discuss the importance of individuals in the funeral or deathcare space being eager to learn and share knowledge.
[18:26] Jennifer and Heather discuss the various facets within the deathcare profession.
[22:09] Heather delved into her journey from using social media for fun to becoming a professional content creator.
[24:42] Jennifer discussed her frustration with online negativity towards influencers.
[27:33] Jennifer and Heather discusses their desire to explore spooky places in the US, including a potential road trip to Poughkeepsie, New York, and mentions the infamous Poughkeepsie tapes.
[32:19] Jennifer shares her idea for a TV show exploring the history of cemeteries.
[34:37] Podcast Outro
Connect with Heather Taylor:
Website - https://linktr.ee/beforethecoffin
Instagram - instagram.com/beforethecoffin
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSHafduJWhCBzxjnJpVVddQ
Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@beforethecoffin
Connect with Jennifer/The Glam Reaper:
Facebook Page - Muldowney Memorials:
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of the podcast and guest
00:00:00
Speaker
So I would visit every funeral home, every morgue, hospitals, and take the donor, recover the eyes, sometimes full enucleations, which is the entire eye.
00:00:23
Speaker
Hi, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Glam Reaper podcast.
00:00:28
Speaker
Well, we are glamming it up today because I have the very, very beautiful Heather joining me from before the coffin.
00:00:36
Speaker
I have followed Heather for quite a while on Instagram.
00:00:39
Speaker
I'm not sure about on TikTok and all the others, but definitely on Instagram.
00:00:42
Speaker
So she's super fascinating.
00:00:44
Speaker
We're going to get into a great conversation here.
00:00:46
Speaker
She does all sorts of things and she's going to tell us all about it.
00:00:48
Speaker
But she's just definitely for somebody who's new to the business.
00:00:53
Speaker
I think a lot of people, a lot of non-funeral people follow her.
00:00:56
Speaker
And it's just she gives really interesting insights into the business.
00:01:00
Speaker
And also she visits some great
Heather's journey and viral story
00:01:02
Speaker
haunted places.
00:01:02
Speaker
areas in the US which always has me fascinated and she's just glamorous to a T. I mean I really should just donate the Glam Reaper title to her because I really don't feel like it suits me.
00:01:12
Speaker
But anyway without further ado let's welcome Heather.
00:01:15
Speaker
Hi Heather.
00:01:16
Speaker
Hello thank you for that intro.
00:01:20
Speaker
A little bit wild a little bit all over the place but it's true you're like definitely the Glam Reaper.
00:01:26
Speaker
I think we're going to have to live up to the hype.
00:01:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:28
Speaker
Well, I'm loving this purple streak.
00:01:30
Speaker
This is very cool.
00:01:31
Speaker
Thank you.
00:01:32
Speaker
It's a new addition.
00:01:34
Speaker
When you don't see the sun often and you're in the prep room, no one really cares about what all your hair is.
00:01:39
Speaker
Always a bonus.
00:01:40
Speaker
So tell us.
00:01:41
Speaker
So you're a mortician and where exactly are you in?
00:01:45
Speaker
You're in the US.
00:01:46
Speaker
We do have people from Ireland, England.
00:01:48
Speaker
Obviously, that's where I'm for.
00:01:49
Speaker
Well, I'm from Ireland.
00:01:50
Speaker
So we have people from all over the world that tune in.
00:01:52
Speaker
But you're in the United States.
00:01:54
Speaker
But whereabouts?
00:01:55
Speaker
We're just saying you've just moved.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, so I was a mortician in Pittsburgh, and I just recently moved to Seattle.
00:02:04
Speaker
I spent a few years there, and now in a series of unfortunate events, I ended up in Michigan, but I am actually loving it now.
00:02:13
Speaker
Well, hey!
00:02:14
Speaker
what they're worth down very cool well i i've never been to pittsburgh or seattle not gonna lie pittsburgh not on my to-do list but seattle definitely is i believe the climate is very irish like as in a lot of rain and so i think i like climatized there really well but it's definitely um on a list to go to and one of my best friends is from michigan so tell us or if you want to share why you moved to those particular states or was there a story or you don't want to share that's okay too but
00:02:41
Speaker
I have a habit of sharing too much on the internet, so a lot of people know anyway is what happened to me.
00:02:47
Speaker
I actually knew another mortician.
00:02:49
Speaker
We were both in school around the same time.
00:02:52
Speaker
I knew him for about 10 years.
00:02:54
Speaker
I found myself in Seattle, and I found myself single in Seattle.
00:02:58
Speaker
Not sleepless in Seattle, but... Single in Seattle.
00:03:01
Speaker
I honestly watched that movie, but the single, that was probably first.
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:05
Speaker
And I was like, you know what?
00:03:07
Speaker
I'm going to go meet this guy that I always wanted to know and seems like they have a lot in common with me.
00:03:13
Speaker
They say don't meet your heroes for a reason.
00:03:16
Speaker
Oh, no.
00:03:16
Speaker
I see.
00:03:17
Speaker
Because I ended up in Michigan totally by myself.
00:03:20
Speaker
The first two weeks I came here, I shared my story with the Internet.
00:03:25
Speaker
I think it had almost a million views and I became a meme.
00:03:29
Speaker
So occasionally, still, my friends are tagging me in there.
00:03:32
Speaker
Like, instead of feeling like a randomized sim because you just broke up, whatever it says, they scratch out Michigan and they write like Oklahoma or here and people are just making it kind of making it to their their state.
00:03:46
Speaker
But it's funny.
00:03:46
Speaker
And I don't mind sharing with the
Professional work in organ recovery
00:03:49
Speaker
Internet.
00:03:49
Speaker
Once everything's, you know, in the clear, I'm like, OK, we can joke about it now.
00:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, well, you met in Seattle, you moved to Michigan together, and Slid Up is the general... The general... No, we were long distance.
00:04:03
Speaker
Oh!
00:04:03
Speaker
Doing a little flying back and forth thing.
00:04:05
Speaker
I never really knew a lot about him.
00:04:09
Speaker
I actually never did a story time about this, so...
00:04:12
Speaker
Here's the thing.
00:04:12
Speaker
I can tell you right now because I know who some of my listeners are.
00:04:15
Speaker
They're going to be here for this tea because which is so funny because it's spill the tea apparently.
00:04:20
Speaker
But I always used to say we'll spill spill the beans in Ireland.
00:04:23
Speaker
I don't know.
00:04:23
Speaker
Apparently it's tea now.
00:04:25
Speaker
Anyway, so the tea.
00:04:26
Speaker
OK, well, we'll spill the tea.
00:04:28
Speaker
So because I'm single and in the business and I think it's a very interesting space to be single in.
00:04:35
Speaker
And so and I know a lot of people who follow me, especially there's a lot of female morticians in Ireland.
00:04:41
Speaker
I only met a load of them when I was home there last month.
00:04:43
Speaker
So if you want to share, you're more than welcome.
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah, it was just it was just a crazy one of those crazy things, a long distance like internet talk forever.
00:04:53
Speaker
He lived in Michigan.
00:04:54
Speaker
And when I lived in Pittsburgh and when I worked at the mortuary school, when I went to the mortuary school, everything, we just like always kind of talked and stayed in contact.
00:05:03
Speaker
We were friends.
00:05:04
Speaker
We were like, you know, one day we're going to be together.
00:05:05
Speaker
This kind of like spooky, romantic thing.
00:05:08
Speaker
Yeah, I came here and we'll call him John Doan.
00:05:11
Speaker
Because on brand old John only told me what he wanted me to know for the past 10.
00:05:17
Speaker
So like I come there and I have all my things.
00:05:19
Speaker
And the first week it's kind of like surprise.
00:05:21
Speaker
I'm a total slob.
00:05:23
Speaker
This trash can is like filled to the brim of these like really dark beers.
00:05:26
Speaker
And I'm like, John, I talk to you every day.
00:05:29
Speaker
When were you drinking all these beers?
00:05:31
Speaker
It was just a...
00:05:32
Speaker
shocker all my friends were warning me they were like don't do it um don't go and i'm like you know i wouldn't have done half the things i did my life or my career had i not gone just one dude did it so yeah we're spontaneous out here and well what was uh hello irish living in new york i i moved here on my own i'm setting up a funeral bye
00:05:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:56
Speaker
So it was just a disaster scenario.
00:06:00
Speaker
And it was kind of a catfish, I guess.
00:06:03
Speaker
That's like that.
00:06:04
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like I'm not cool.
00:06:05
Speaker
I never know what any of these things are anymore, but kind of like that.
00:06:08
Speaker
So you had this idea of who this person was and then it was not.
00:06:12
Speaker
And they were totally not.
00:06:13
Speaker
So, yeah, it was just it was pretty crazy.
00:06:18
Speaker
I decided to stay.
00:06:19
Speaker
I got another job.
00:06:20
Speaker
I was doing eye recovery.
00:06:22
Speaker
So I was doing eye removal, cornea removal for transplants for surgeries.
00:06:27
Speaker
So I would visit every funeral home, every morgue, hospitals, and take the donor, recover the eyes, sometimes full of nucleations, which is the entire eye, snip the optic nerve.
00:06:39
Speaker
We put it into a case.
00:06:41
Speaker
And I would be transporting these organs by myself all over Washington and then all over Michigan.
00:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, I just, I always have some type of random death job that has kind of sweeped me off my feet.
00:06:52
Speaker
No matter where I go, even if I had some type of disaster scenario again, I'm always going to have a... Yeah.
00:06:59
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:59
Speaker
Now, to close the John Doe case, so do you see him ever?
00:07:04
Speaker
No.
00:07:05
Speaker
So you're... I mean, these states are... Yeah, we're still in the same state.
00:07:09
Speaker
A part of the T, the biggest part, I just keep forgetting.
00:07:12
Speaker
I think I'm trauma blocking...
00:07:15
Speaker
It was the only reason he didn't have social media.
00:07:18
Speaker
And I wasn't tagging him or anything else like that.
00:07:20
Speaker
He was canceled before I even came here.
00:07:22
Speaker
He was like totally canceled.
00:07:25
Speaker
And I was asking Miss John Doe, oh, I want to like see the area.
00:07:30
Speaker
Like show me local bars.
00:07:31
Speaker
I'm like kind of like a food travel thing.
00:07:33
Speaker
Let's go look at some locations.
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah, but I was kind of like, well, I've seen the area.
00:07:38
Speaker
Like I've seen it all.
00:07:39
Speaker
Like I don't need to go to do that.
00:07:40
Speaker
No, you didn't just see the area.
00:07:43
Speaker
you were cancelled from it.
00:07:44
Speaker
You can't show your face.
00:07:45
Speaker
Oh my.
00:07:46
Speaker
So it was just so crazy.
00:07:49
Speaker
And how would I know that from another?
00:07:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:51
Speaker
I mean, and that's, that is the scary thing though, about online dating and the apps and all of, all of the stuff.
00:07:57
Speaker
And it's friendship.
00:07:58
Speaker
It's not necessarily always romance, but like you can be putting your best foot forward.
00:08:02
Speaker
I mean, sometimes I laugh at how people are just like, oh my God, Jen, your life looks this or it looks that.
00:08:07
Speaker
And I'm like,
00:08:07
Speaker
What?
00:08:09
Speaker
Literally 90% of the time I'm my hair is scraped up.
00:08:12
Speaker
I'm in my sweats.
00:08:13
Speaker
Like I'm stressing about doing X, Y, and Z. You know, even like the fabulous memorials I do.
00:08:19
Speaker
Like sometimes we're setting up for a client to walk in and be like, oh, oh, yeah, because I'm at the prep stage where I'm running around like a headless chicken.
00:08:27
Speaker
And then I get changed and somehow make the hair look OK and for guest arrival, you know, but so yeah.
00:08:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's wild.
00:08:34
Speaker
Oh my God.
00:08:34
Speaker
Well, I'm sorry that happened to you.
00:08:37
Speaker
Not that I have anything to do with it, but I'm sad that that even happened.
00:08:40
Speaker
But you landed in Michigan.
00:08:42
Speaker
And so now I'm, okay, we've closed the case of John Doe.
00:08:46
Speaker
Now I'm fascinated with this transplant thing.
00:08:49
Speaker
Somebody's passed away because I'm actually an organ donor, but I think I'm everything but my eyes, which is a lot of people, I know, because we're all a bit weird like that.
00:08:57
Speaker
You're an organ donor.
00:08:59
Speaker
Your eyes are 100% in there.
00:09:03
Speaker
with the overall donation process.
00:09:07
Speaker
If you're an organ donor, and this again depends on, there's all these different state laws, but it's even if you don't get a hold of the next to kin, we can go and take those tissues.
00:09:17
Speaker
Wow, so you can come in and take my eyeball.
00:09:19
Speaker
I will come there and, you know.
00:09:22
Speaker
Don't care.
00:09:22
Speaker
You're just taking them.
00:09:23
Speaker
Take care of the bike.
00:09:24
Speaker
It's just the very top.
00:09:25
Speaker
You don't need all of it.
00:09:26
Speaker
Your eyes are closed in the casket anyways.
00:09:28
Speaker
Nobody can do it.
00:09:29
Speaker
Yeah, you're like, girl, you don't need where you're going.
00:09:31
Speaker
You're fine.
Career diversity in mortuary science
00:09:32
Speaker
No.
00:09:32
Speaker
No, it does correct blindness.
00:09:34
Speaker
Every one person corrects blindness in two people.
00:09:37
Speaker
And I have removed corneas from about a thousand donors at this point.
00:09:42
Speaker
I've been dispatched to so many places.
00:09:46
Speaker
And that's just corneas.
00:09:47
Speaker
I removed skin, nerves, bones, tissues.
00:09:52
Speaker
Costal cartilage, sternum, sternums, so many different things that we use for transplant just for tissues when I did organ recovery.
00:10:00
Speaker
Oh my god.
00:10:01
Speaker
I've worked with so many different things.
00:10:04
Speaker
So I actually know none of this and this is so fascinating.
00:10:08
Speaker
So the person is clinically dead, medically dead.
00:10:13
Speaker
And but but still, you know, still warm and that their tissues and organs can be taken.
00:10:18
Speaker
So you you and now have you trained as a mortician?
00:10:21
Speaker
Did you have to have extra other training or it's just or is that state by state?
00:10:26
Speaker
Because that's one of the things that I'm always talking about here on my podcast is being from Ireland.
00:10:32
Speaker
The most ironic thing about America is it's called United States of America.
00:10:36
Speaker
And I'm like, there's nothing united about you guys.
00:10:39
Speaker
Like every state has an entirely set of different set of rules.
00:10:42
Speaker
So if you can tell me, yeah, like what extra training you got or to be taking people's eyeballs.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:49
Speaker
So most places, most states in Seattle where I was where I started doing my recovery, they honestly look for people with science degrees.
00:10:59
Speaker
That's the usual must.
00:11:02
Speaker
Sometimes people don't even know that the job exists.
00:11:05
Speaker
It's hard to fill positions.
00:11:06
Speaker
They're bringing in EMTs.
00:11:09
Speaker
Basically, if you can stomach it and you've worked with the dead before, you can possibly get this job.
00:11:15
Speaker
But it's usually morticians or people in the medical field that know about it and are good at it.
00:11:20
Speaker
Yeah, because you can't be just taking, you know, you can't be just, I mean, they wouldn't let me in.
00:11:25
Speaker
I mean, I'm not a licensed funeral director or anything, but, you know, they couldn't just have any Tom, Dick or Harry taking an eyeball or heart out, obviously, to transport it, but...
00:11:35
Speaker
Sorry, I'm kind of making light of it just because it's like rubbing people's eyeballs left and right.
00:11:40
Speaker
No, well, yeah, it is pretty crazy.
00:11:42
Speaker
But the tissue, it's so minuscule and so thin.
00:11:47
Speaker
But it, you know, we can't correct original form born with blindness, but we can...
00:11:52
Speaker
can correct some corneal damage.
00:11:54
Speaker
That's amazing.
00:11:56
Speaker
So a thousand transplants you've helped with.
00:12:00
Speaker
That's just for corneas.
00:12:01
Speaker
And so there's a thousand people most likely walking around with eyesight thanks to your work really.
00:12:07
Speaker
Ew.
00:12:08
Speaker
Because per donor, wow, two.
00:12:10
Speaker
Usually they'll need two corneas.
00:12:12
Speaker
We've received thank you notes in a way that you do when you're a mortician.
00:12:16
Speaker
And then they'll usually forward it to who did the recovery because they usually do like overall blank this company or thank you.
00:12:23
Speaker
pretty cool you must sleep well at the ice knowing that no i do it's amazing especially if i'm ever feeling down i kind of feel like i'm a part of this greater yeah well because even if i'm yeah not a lot of morticians or funeral directors deal with you know while they deal with living people it's you you know it's usually like they're they're not part of a recovery or or sort of an illness getting turned around that's i mean that's amazing
00:12:47
Speaker
It's crazy what you could do with your degree in the literary field, especially because people think and like the students and they don't really they don't really tell us we could do other things with it.
00:12:59
Speaker
They don't.
00:13:00
Speaker
Didn't really promote that when I was in mortuary school.
00:13:03
Speaker
So when I was at the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science and when I was co-instructing the facial reconstruction class alongside the dean, the students would ask me what I do.
00:13:14
Speaker
And I said, you know, I got to do organ recovery right now.
00:13:18
Speaker
And there's just so many different things that you could do with your degree.
00:13:22
Speaker
And I don't understand why they don't necessarily tell them or it feels like they don't want to tell them.
00:13:28
Speaker
And I'm like, hey,
00:13:29
Speaker
you would think that it would bring people in more because they want to be able to do a bunch of different things.
00:13:35
Speaker
You could be
Future career considerations
00:13:36
Speaker
a deputy coroner.
00:13:37
Speaker
You could work in autopsies.
00:13:39
Speaker
You could do organ and tissue recovery.
00:13:41
Speaker
You could just do, be a mortician.
00:13:43
Speaker
But, uh,
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if that maybe would inspire them to try out different training courses.
00:13:49
Speaker
But for me, I was always like, hey, you can do this, this and this.
00:13:53
Speaker
I definitely.
00:13:54
Speaker
Keep a career.
00:13:56
Speaker
I definitely think so.
00:13:57
Speaker
I mean, I've gotten into arguments, very light arguments, discussions really with some people where because I would have liked to have licensed as a funeral director.
00:14:07
Speaker
I just embalming and sort of the physical start stuff is not really for me.
00:14:13
Speaker
But the arrangements with families and stuff like I do think there is it attracts the industry attract different type of people.
00:14:20
Speaker
There's people, people and those people are more into the physical and the science part of it.
00:14:25
Speaker
And I think having in certain states and having it being all in one course that allows you to be licensed.
00:14:31
Speaker
I think there should be different licenses.
00:14:33
Speaker
But to know, like, I never knew that that no clue that that was something that was possible.
00:14:39
Speaker
And not to be, again, a bit ignorant.
00:14:41
Speaker
And I hope I'm not the only person who's ignorant working in the space.
00:14:45
Speaker
But to even I guess I never even thought that anybody other than a doctor or a surgeon would do something.
00:14:52
Speaker
Really?
00:14:53
Speaker
And I guess that's a little bit Hollywood.
00:14:56
Speaker
You know, the medical shows I've seen, you know, it's usually the drama and stuff.
00:15:01
Speaker
So, yeah, that's wild.
00:15:04
Speaker
And so is that what you're doing currently?
00:15:06
Speaker
So I actually just started a new position as an anatomic aide.
00:15:10
Speaker
So I'm doing...
00:15:12
Speaker
autopsies it's just me one other person um at a hospital it is our office and yeah we're doing autopsies so i get to learn the brain saw which i've never used and i get to see actually the brain removal a lot of other things like that when i used to get cases and i would have to just clamp the internal carotids
00:15:33
Speaker
I never actually saw it done or I've never worked from the hospital.
00:15:37
Speaker
There's other things you could do after putting in a certain amount of time in a hospital.
00:15:41
Speaker
They're like, oh, well, you know, you can have this accreditation and things like that.
00:15:44
Speaker
And it's like, OK, well, I need that to you.
00:15:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:15:48
Speaker
But that's what I I feel like that's what that's what you need in general.
00:15:52
Speaker
But I do think the funeral space or death space needs that needs more people who are eager to learn different things and share that knowledge that across the board.
00:16:01
Speaker
I have somebody who only reached age to me very recently who was looking for somebody who was in the autopsy world.
00:16:08
Speaker
So I'm going to connect you with him straight away after this because I was like, oh, God, it was the first time I kind of was like, wait, do I?
00:16:14
Speaker
Who do I know?
00:16:15
Speaker
What's the, you know?
00:16:16
Speaker
And you're thinking through your little black buckles of people in the death space.
00:16:19
Speaker
That's super interesting.
00:16:20
Speaker
Now, do you think, Heather, you're going to stay in Michigan?
00:16:23
Speaker
Do you think this was in some way the universe working in mysterious ways?
00:16:26
Speaker
So I did meet someone else here.
00:16:30
Speaker
It is happy.
00:16:32
Speaker
I'm so lucky.
00:16:34
Speaker
He kind of said, you know, it's like you picked me up along your way to your next adventure.
00:16:39
Speaker
We plan to leave here together.
00:16:42
Speaker
He spent his entire life here and it's kind of like I like stopped here in an accident, found him.
00:16:46
Speaker
I'm taking him with me.
00:16:48
Speaker
So we definitely want to go somewhere else.
00:16:51
Speaker
And I definitely...
00:16:53
Speaker
Love the mortuary community.
00:16:55
Speaker
I love being a part of it.
00:16:56
Speaker
And I would like to return.
00:16:59
Speaker
So I don't know.
00:17:01
Speaker
Maybe I will go back to being a mortician.
00:17:03
Speaker
Maybe I'll be a coroner in another state.
00:17:04
Speaker
But I love just
The funeral industry community
00:17:07
Speaker
learning.
00:17:07
Speaker
Like, I want to know everything.
00:17:09
Speaker
I don't want to just get the body and be like, hey, well, why did they do this?
00:17:13
Speaker
I want to be like, oh, I know because I did that.
00:17:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:17
Speaker
And I could.
00:17:19
Speaker
Yeah, just it's really it's nice to have a total understanding of everything.
00:17:23
Speaker
And there's there is there's so many different facets to it.
00:17:27
Speaker
You know, like even when I was at home in Ireland there, I got chatting to a girl who they do the post cleanup when somebody dies in a hole.
00:17:35
Speaker
They're called in to sort of clean up the home and whether it's of natural causes or self-inflicted cause or whatever it might be.
00:17:42
Speaker
But.
00:17:43
Speaker
you know so many people don't even think of that that that exists and that that's a job there are just so many facets to this space I think because because it's it's usually about loss it's about you know we're sad because our loved ones are it's
00:17:57
Speaker
gone it but there's so much to it and that's one of the things I really wanted to do with this podcast because even for me when I entered the space like 15 years ago I'm still learning to this day like just chatting with you there's just so many things to learn it's just amazing it really really is well hopefully you come to New York at some point and we can meet in person
00:18:17
Speaker
Do you do you go to I know I've never met you in person, but do you go to like the annual conventions or are you not into sort of like the NFA's and the ICCFA's that are, you know, happening or how do you feel about all those sort of, you know.
00:18:32
Speaker
I was just I actually heard that one of the restorative art heads from pens and that's another tea was stolen.
00:18:42
Speaker
They were putting out a bounty for one of these heads.
00:18:45
Speaker
The heads cost a lot of money.
00:18:46
Speaker
They were made by a special effects artist Will Ritter.
00:18:49
Speaker
Will Ritter is awesome.
00:18:51
Speaker
He was actually my teacher at
00:18:53
Speaker
special effects school where i went for prosthetic appliance for film when i turned 18 so i was creating kind of special effects on the living and stuff and that's where i met him um when they commissioned him to make the busts and the heads for the kids to practice on i was like oh my gosh i love will he's awesome he's a great teacher he's a spectacular sculpture artist and um
00:19:17
Speaker
Yeah, someone stole one of the heads at one of the NFDA meetings.
00:19:20
Speaker
I do not know if they had recovered it or like who it was or how badly somebody wanted it after making me making all those viral videos of them.
00:19:29
Speaker
And it's kind of crazy because it's like, well, what are you going to do with it?
00:19:33
Speaker
You can't make a video of it to go viral because you stole it.
00:19:37
Speaker
And it's a one of the kind, like, copyrighted thing that they made the headsos for their students.
00:19:42
Speaker
So that's crazy for me.
00:19:45
Speaker
I couldn't believe hearing that.
00:19:46
Speaker
What's with a big handbag do you have to have to, like, sneak that in?
00:19:52
Speaker
God's also it's a big yeah these aren't just regular yeah so that it's just so crazy to me um my best friend funeral law lady oh yeah she always wants me to come out to a convention and I would love to go to one with her I just think it would be a lot of fun
Impact and challenges of online presence
00:20:08
Speaker
And yeah, I should go to conventions.
00:20:11
Speaker
I love funeral, funeral, like sweat.
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:13
Speaker
Well, there's a lot of your hearse.
00:20:18
Speaker
My favorite are always the hearse squishies.
00:20:21
Speaker
The like stress.
00:20:22
Speaker
They're like a stress ball, but they're in the shape of a hearse.
00:20:24
Speaker
They're always great.
00:20:25
Speaker
Now tell us about your online presence.
00:20:28
Speaker
So I follow you on Instagram.
00:20:31
Speaker
I'm not sure about TikTok, honestly, because I'm never really on TikTok.
00:20:33
Speaker
And I've had the youth of today tell me I need to make it a maybe 2024 will be the year I finally do TikTok a little bit more.
00:20:42
Speaker
But so how, what's that like for you?
00:20:44
Speaker
Do you feel pressure to have to content out?
00:20:48
Speaker
Does it feel like a job to you?
00:20:49
Speaker
Did it kind of happen organically?
00:20:52
Speaker
Give us a bit of the tea on that.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:55
Speaker
So at first, I mean, it was fun.
00:20:57
Speaker
I was just, I was my personal page.
00:20:59
Speaker
I kind of used like as a joke and I was just posting silly things.
00:21:03
Speaker
My, the people that I filmed with at the time, like love making videos and we just filmed things together and they were silly.
00:21:11
Speaker
I started to make some serious videos just to talk about myself and yeah.
00:21:16
Speaker
that it like broke the mortuary internet.
00:21:19
Speaker
A lot of the really young kids out there didn't know that being a mortician part of mortuary school or mortuary school even existed.
00:21:26
Speaker
And then I became a more professional page.
00:21:30
Speaker
And, you know, when I was working with the school, they're like, oh, like you can make videos with us and it'll be a lot of fun.
00:21:35
Speaker
And I was like, of course, I would love that.
00:21:38
Speaker
So I had sides.
00:21:39
Speaker
I had so much fun going to that school.
00:21:41
Speaker
So, yeah, I was...
00:21:43
Speaker
First, it was for fun.
00:21:44
Speaker
And then it was turning into a bit of a job.
00:21:47
Speaker
And then I made other things.
00:21:49
Speaker
that turned into a joke.
00:21:51
Speaker
I was sent some clothes by a clothing company that wanted me to make a video on them.
00:21:56
Speaker
And I did, I did that one.
00:21:57
Speaker
And then a trend comes along and I did the like the hip swing trend in the outfit.
00:22:03
Speaker
Well, that totally blew up and I didn't mean it for it to.
00:22:06
Speaker
So be careful when you put on the internet because you never know what's going to go viral.
00:22:10
Speaker
And at some point I just became the internet's monkey for a little bit.
00:22:14
Speaker
They were like, do the hip swing here, do it here, do it here.
00:22:17
Speaker
And I was like, okay.
00:22:18
Speaker
So I just kind of rode the wave.
00:22:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:22
Speaker
It was fun.
00:22:23
Speaker
I just had so much fun doing it that it didn't feel like work.
00:22:27
Speaker
And I could post like the internet was interested in all the things I did.
00:22:30
Speaker
I went to Salem.
00:22:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:32
Speaker
And I posted walk through the town, fire off video.
00:22:35
Speaker
People wanted to see the spooky places I was going to.
00:22:38
Speaker
And I was no longer categorized just some mortuary, which I never totally wanted to be.
00:22:43
Speaker
a mortuary count.
00:22:45
Speaker
I just graduated at the time when I started making videos and I didn't want people to think I knew it all.
00:22:51
Speaker
Especially the way the embalming Facebook pages go.
00:22:54
Speaker
I did not want to seem like I knew everything about the mortuary field.
00:22:59
Speaker
So
00:23:00
Speaker
I tried to pull back on that and just kind of like sprinkle it into my videos and be like, you know, I'm proud of it.
00:23:05
Speaker
This is what I do.
00:23:06
Speaker
Helped grow a mortuary class, let alone college, and became really viral on the internet for some of that.
00:23:12
Speaker
But it wasn't a part.
00:23:14
Speaker
It was just a small part of, you know, the process.
00:23:17
Speaker
Well, I mean, I do feel like it's interesting because most and I would I would absolutely say you're an influencer.
00:23:25
Speaker
Like most people who become influencers start in this really natural way.
00:23:32
Speaker
And it's just happens that, you know, a video or several go viral.
00:23:37
Speaker
And it's, you know, it's to no necessary like objective or goal that that was the case for you.
00:23:45
Speaker
And so it always frustrates me when I see people attack.
00:23:48
Speaker
Well, I can't stand people who are just keyboard warriors and attack people negatively anyway.
00:23:53
Speaker
And if you've got bad opinions, keep them to yourself.
00:23:55
Speaker
If you've got happy, grand, share and share like.
00:23:57
Speaker
I mean, there's enough badness in the world.
00:24:00
Speaker
Or just like write it all down in a pen and paper and keep it to yourself.
00:24:02
Speaker
Like if you want to just like Heather is whatever, just keep it to yourself.
00:24:06
Speaker
Heather doesn't need to know about it.
00:24:08
Speaker
But it's so important.
00:24:09
Speaker
It is.
00:24:09
Speaker
And it's just the way people tear down.
00:24:11
Speaker
And equally, while I absolutely understand people from the funeral profession being like, oh, but there's these death influencers or funeral influencers and they're spreading fake news or they're saying this or they're saying that.
00:24:22
Speaker
I'm like, you know, as you said, like, and it's one of the things I say as well.
00:24:27
Speaker
It's, you know, none of us know everything.
00:24:30
Speaker
Not one of us in this entire universe know every single thing.
00:24:34
Speaker
We're all learning.
00:24:35
Speaker
We're all humans.
00:24:36
Speaker
We're all subject to imperfections.
00:24:38
Speaker
And there's nothing wrong with passing information on.
00:24:41
Speaker
Now, if you pass fake information on, you know, either retract it, take it down, whatever, that's fine.
00:24:47
Speaker
But I just feel like, you know, attacking people for sharing their views, sharing their ideas and stuff.
00:24:54
Speaker
I just think it's like, I get it.
00:24:56
Speaker
You think you're better than her or you don't think you're better than her.
00:25:00
Speaker
Or, you know, but you never had the balls or whatever it is to to put something out there.
00:25:05
Speaker
And like so many people follow you that I guarantee you are going to mortician school because of you and because of you putting it out there that they feel comfortable with doing it and that they can ask you questions.
00:25:16
Speaker
I just feel like there's just so much judgment in the world and not enough encouragement to just rest me nothing.
00:25:21
Speaker
And as you said, like you're human and you want to share those other human aspects.
00:25:24
Speaker
Like I love personally love like the Salem and the like, I think I've kept or I've saved several of your posts as like Jen's to do list, like must do when when when a day off happens, would love to go to Salem or, you know, would love to go to like there's a house.
00:25:39
Speaker
There's a famous house.
00:25:40
Speaker
It's not far from New York here.
00:25:42
Speaker
And it's a beautiful, pretty house.
00:25:44
Speaker
And they have a Christmas and a Halloween, you know, and I can't remember the name of the house.
00:25:47
Speaker
Hence why I saved it because I'm a useless memory.
00:25:50
Speaker
But like I got them from you, you know, and I wouldn't have otherwise.
00:25:53
Speaker
So it's great to see all that.
00:25:55
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:25:55
Speaker
Have you ever, did you ever get to go?
00:25:57
Speaker
So I haven't, I actually haven't and I really wanted
Fascination with spooky places and history
00:26:00
Speaker
to.
00:26:00
Speaker
You're so close.
00:26:02
Speaker
So stupid.
00:26:04
Speaker
No, I really wanted to.
00:26:05
Speaker
This Halloween was the one time, the time I was going to do it and I just never did.
00:26:10
Speaker
And so I've, I'm in New York and I've said to everybody, so even though this won't be released for a while, this is, it's November that we're doing this, but
00:26:18
Speaker
I'm in New York now until the new year.
00:26:21
Speaker
So maybe I might do a little grab a car and do a few road trips.
00:26:25
Speaker
But I know it's so close.
00:26:26
Speaker
I'm visiting some friends in Connecticut for New Year's and we are going to, I've never been, I think I'm saying it correctly.
00:26:33
Speaker
Poughkeepsie?
00:26:34
Speaker
Yes.
00:26:34
Speaker
Poughkeepsie, yes.
00:26:36
Speaker
I love that you're asking me, an Irish person and a celebrant, the amount of times I have to grab a family and be like, sorry, how do we pronounce this again?
00:26:45
Speaker
Gatham-na-sush-what?
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:47
Speaker
So you're asking probably the wrong person, but I'm pretty sure, 99% sure it's Poughkeepsie.
00:26:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:54
Speaker
And I've never been to Poughkeepsie, New York.
00:26:57
Speaker
I heard of the famous Poughkeepsie tapes.
00:27:00
Speaker
Wait, what are they?
00:27:01
Speaker
Oh, you're going to have to go for that.
00:27:04
Speaker
They're horrifying.
00:27:05
Speaker
You know.
00:27:05
Speaker
It's not a true story.
00:27:08
Speaker
Oh, is it like movies and ghosts and stuff?
00:27:11
Speaker
No, it's just you'll see.
00:27:13
Speaker
Oh, God.
00:27:14
Speaker
No, but I don't want to go to bed now and have nightmares.
00:27:17
Speaker
I have wild dreams.
00:27:18
Speaker
Like last week, I...
00:27:20
Speaker
I was staying at my friend's house and I woke up and I said, oh my God, you will not believe the weirdest dream I had.
00:27:24
Speaker
I said, you know, those movies like those movies with I think it's Jared Butler, where he's like saving the president.
00:27:30
Speaker
They're like White House Down or something.
00:27:32
Speaker
I was like, I was Jared Butler.
00:27:33
Speaker
I was saving president of the United States.
00:27:36
Speaker
But it was Barack Obama.
00:27:37
Speaker
I don't know why.
00:27:38
Speaker
I'm really proud of you.
00:27:41
Speaker
You did the right thing.
00:27:42
Speaker
Yeah, I saved Barack Obama.
00:27:44
Speaker
but like and did it well apparently my friend was there too i don't know what she was doing but so if this is a crazy maybe i'll watch it in the morning i don't know if i should watch it tonight before i go to bed because if i have yeah if it's some exorcist stuff i don't know but there is um i do know poughkeepsie is is famous for something spooky um so maybe i do know what it is i just don't know it is poughkeepsie tape oh god no
00:28:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:09
Speaker
I'm scared just thinking about it because I did go see the exorcist steps.
00:28:13
Speaker
Wait, where are they?
00:28:14
Speaker
They're in Philadelphia, is it?
00:28:15
Speaker
No, D.C.
00:28:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:17
Speaker
We see.
00:28:18
Speaker
I believe so.
00:28:19
Speaker
I haven't seen those myself.
00:28:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
00:28:21
Speaker
I went to see those.
00:28:22
Speaker
I did go see those.
00:28:22
Speaker
That was many years ago, though.
00:28:24
Speaker
But I would love to, like, who was I talking to?
00:28:27
Speaker
Oh, God, it's terrible to find you.
00:28:29
Speaker
And I know people have introduced me where they forget my name and they just introduced me as the Glam Reaper.
00:28:34
Speaker
So, like, you get known as your handle.
00:28:36
Speaker
But the gorgeous girl, oh, my God, what is her name?
00:28:41
Speaker
Oh, totally brain farting on her name.
00:28:42
Speaker
Anyway, she was doing recipes off people's grave and
00:28:46
Speaker
Oh, I like her.
00:28:47
Speaker
She's lovely and she's the sweetest girl.
00:28:50
Speaker
Atlas Obscura ripped her off and I was going to say, you know, I usually like to use Atlas Obscura to find things that I didn't know existed myself.
00:28:59
Speaker
Or, you know, just to share with other people.
00:29:01
Speaker
They say, how do you find it?
00:29:02
Speaker
It's like, oh, it's super easy to find weird places.
00:29:04
Speaker
Go on Atlas Obscura and just look them up in your ear.
00:29:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:07
Speaker
But they did like a thing like this article about them.
00:29:10
Speaker
And I was like, hey, yeah, my friend films the videos.
00:29:13
Speaker
So you didn't mention her and you made it all about yourselves.
00:29:17
Speaker
But yeah, I was bummed to see Atlas do that.
00:29:20
Speaker
Not cool.
00:29:21
Speaker
Yeah, because she is super, super lovely.
00:29:23
Speaker
And I said to her, I was like, oh, my God, I think you should go back to each of the great meet the fact like bring the families.
00:29:30
Speaker
you know tell them about like what you did and try and connect because I mean there's so many of those TV type shows where you know it's just reconnecting with with your ancestors and stuff like that and then but like I would love to just take a year off to like visit all the spooky places in the US it'd be fascinating and like bring a TV crew because I just think it'd be just so fascinating and I also think I'd be hilarious like
00:29:53
Speaker
going to these places I have the heebie jeebies about anything but yes I love to be like I love I love that history so it's like I'm terrified but you know I'm like that idiot that's like terrified of heights but will still jump out of a plane you know it's fun when you're scared easily for things like that so yeah
00:30:12
Speaker
I don't know.
00:30:13
Speaker
I don't know.
00:30:14
Speaker
Oh, God.
00:30:15
Speaker
I actually had this great idea for a TV show that I think because I think the cemeteries, cemeteries in Ireland are amazing because they're so much older.
00:30:23
Speaker
But I do think cemeteries over here have such history as well.
00:30:26
Speaker
And it's such a huge country.
00:30:27
Speaker
So like I love that she was doing all the cookies.
00:30:30
Speaker
But I would love to explore like the history of some of the people in the graveyards because there's so many interesting people buried and we have no clue about them.
00:30:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:40
Speaker
How's that?
00:30:40
Speaker
But anyway,
Wrap-up and future aspirations
00:30:42
Speaker
we digress.
00:30:42
Speaker
And listen, I could probably chat to you all night, but I've clearly got to go and Google Pukipsy Tapes, as does everybody.
00:30:49
Speaker
Heather, it was an absolute pleasure to have you on.
00:30:51
Speaker
I'm sure we'll have you on again.
00:30:52
Speaker
I'd love to, like, we're going to have to get all the girls together because I've interviewed so many fabulous girls on this podcast that I feel like we need to get a gang together and just have maybe a general podcast or something.
00:31:03
Speaker
But good luck in Michigan.
00:31:05
Speaker
I hope to see you in New York soon.
00:31:07
Speaker
And wherever you go next, we'll be following.
00:31:10
Speaker
So you're at before the coffin.
00:31:13
Speaker
I also love that it's coffin.
00:31:15
Speaker
So in Ireland, even though even caskets, we would refer them to them as coffins.
00:31:19
Speaker
And it's just because even though I know the different shapes, it's just what we call it.
00:31:26
Speaker
My followers told me that.
00:31:28
Speaker
And I thought the coolest fact of all time, if it's all coffins, I'm
00:31:32
Speaker
Like, yep, there we go.
00:31:33
Speaker
And we even have a pub right beside a cemetery.
00:31:36
Speaker
It's called the Brave Diggers pub.
00:31:38
Speaker
You'll have to come to Ireland.
00:31:39
Speaker
Maybe that's what we need to do.
00:31:40
Speaker
I need to organize a tour for all the girls, mortician girls to come to Ireland.
00:31:44
Speaker
Well, listen, good luck in if you move again.
00:31:46
Speaker
And we're very happy that it's a happy ending.
00:31:48
Speaker
Fec John Doe.
00:31:49
Speaker
We don't care about him anymore.
00:31:50
Speaker
Case, we don't like him.
00:31:53
Speaker
Exactly.
00:31:54
Speaker
That's it.
00:31:54
Speaker
Fec off.
00:31:56
Speaker
Move along next.
00:31:57
Speaker
And thank you so much for being on the Glam Reaper podcast.
00:32:00
Speaker
And we'll have everybody reach out.
00:32:01
Speaker
We'll put all your links in, whether you're listening on podcast or on YouTube.
00:32:06
Speaker
We'll have all the links and you can connect with Heather directly.
00:32:09
Speaker
Have a glamorous Thanksgiving.
00:32:10
Speaker
Thank you.
00:32:11
Speaker
And you too.
00:32:13
Speaker
Cheers.