Thad Holmes and Clem Parnell are Alabama conservation enforcement officers . . . and part-time human ballistic burial experts. Holmes and Parnell have founded Holy Smoke, LLC, a company that loads the ashes of your fried or loved one in shotgun shells, and rifle and pistol cartridges to be used in one last hunting trip or just target practice. For a small sum, it is resurrection and reload . . .

It appears that you do not need a special license once the body is cremated. You are not legally performing a funeral service. Nevertheless, they assure customers: “This is a reverent business. We take the utmost care in what we do and show the greatest respect for the remains.” A reverent business of stuffing your loved one into shotgun shells to use during duck season.

As explained on My Holy Smoke, this is a dream for many hunters: “How perfect to have my family and friends honor me by using shotgun shells with a little bit of my ash in each one. Whether my shells get shot at sporting clays or live birds or put on the shelf, even in death I could be ecologically sound and useful.” They will load 250 shotgun shells or 100 rifle rounds, or 250 pistol rounds for $850. They will return any extra ashes to you.

In the article below, Robert Chapin, a toxicologist, is quoted as saying people should be sure to kill the animal quickly if it is still living after being shot — to avoid the ashes spreading in the animal’s blood and the area around the shot should not be eaten.

They insist that you do not have to worry about eating an animal shot with the remains of your loved one. It is just carbon and any residue . . . well . . . this too shall pass.

Source: WTSP