• Coffin with built-in sound system lets you rock out, even after you're dead

    Ints Kalnins / Reuters

    Fredrik Hjelmquist shows the CataCoffin in Stockholm Jan. 18. Music and video equipment store owner Hjelmquist said his hi-fi coffin would entertain the dead and provide solace for grieving friends and relatives by making it possible for them to alter the deceased's playlist online.

    Ints Kalnins / Reuters

    The coffin, which retails for about $30,000, boasts two-way front speakers, 4-inch mid bass drivers, a wide range tweeter with external cooling, an 8-inch sub bass element and more.

    NBCNews.com's Dara Brown gives you a look at the CataCoffin in action.

    Stephen Colbert takes a look at the CataCoffin

    PhotoBlog: Take your passion to the grave in a Crazy Coffin

    Learn more about the CataCoffin at the official web site

  • Spanish woman climbs into coffin to keep a promise

    Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

    Emilia covers her face from the sun with a fan while she is carried in a coffin during a procession through the village of Santa Marta de Ribarteme, Spain, on July 29, 2012. Emilia climbed into the coffin to keep a promise made to her 76-year-old father, Jose Manuel, after he survived a difficult medical procedure.

    Every year one of the most curious pilgrimages in Spain is held in the small village of Santa Marta de Ribarteme in Las Nieves municipality, Getty Images reports.

    Starting after a mass at the village's parish church, believers grateful for the miracle of being saved from death go on a pilgrimage in a procession of coffins. Carried by friends and relatives singing 'Virgin Santa Marta, star of the North, we bring you those who saw death', the pilgrims process to the cemetery and back to the church, ending at a statue of Saint Marta de Ribarteme, the patron saint of resurrection.

    Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

    A believer waits to receive a devotional that has touched the statue of Saint Marta de Ribarteme during a mass given by father Don Alfonso.

    Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

    Emilia is helped out of the coffin at the end of the procession.

    Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

    Emilia is embraced by her father Jose Manuel after she took part in the procession to keep a promise she had made in aid of his recovery.

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  • Take your passion to the grave in a Crazy Coffin

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors photograph various custom designed coffins, during the "Death - Festival for the Living" exhibit, at the Royal Festival Hall in London, on Jan. 28. Crazy Coffins, an offshoot of a Nottingham-based traditional coffin and urn maker which took on a new identity in the 1990s when people began asking to customize their final resting places, presents uncanny coffins as part of the exhibit. The "Death - Festival for the Living" exhibit is open from Jan. 20-29.

    If you're wondering how much a Crazy Coffin will set you back, the Nottingham, England based company's site offers the following on their pricing:

    A coffin shaped like a particular motor car may set you back four or five thousand pounds. But a simplified football boot may cost you only eight hundred pounds.

    Crazy Coffins has yet to fill an order outside the United Kingdom, but waits in anticipation to do so:

    The time between death and the funeral is sometimes short and can prohibit an order from abroad. A better idea is to buy now and die later!

    Learn more about their work: Crazy Coffins

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors look at a sled coffin made for Richard Mullard. Mullard plans to be buried wearing his skis and commissioned this replica of a Laplanders sled, with boots to fit, so that his funeral resembles a final expedition to the frozen north.

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors listen to a talk by former Concord engineer Malcolm Brocklhurst, top right, as they look at his airplane coffin.

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Railway enthusiast Brian Holden, 83, poses for a photograph with the Orient Express Railway Carriage coffin he commissioned.

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors look at a corkscrew shaped coffin.

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors look at a ballet shoe shaped coffin commissioned by ballet fan Pat Cox.

     

  • Soldier killed in Afghanistan

    By Mish Whalen

    According to the Department of Defense, Cpl. Loren Miles Buffalo, 20, of Mountain Pine, Ark, was a 101st Airborne Division soldier who died from wounds he suffered when an improvised explosive device went off while he was on dismounted patrol March 9 near Haji Rahmuddin, Afghanistan. He was a cavalry scout assigned to Bravo Troop, 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, according to a Fort Campbell news release. He joined the Army in May 2009 and arrived at Fort Campbell in October 2009. A memorial service will be held for Buffalo in Afghanistan. Fort Campbell holds a monthly Eagle Remembrance Ceremony to honor fallen Screaming Eagles.

    Steve Ruark / AP

    A transfer case containing the remains of Army Cpl. Loren M. Buffalo sits on a loader, Friday, March 11, 2011 at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

    Steve Ruark / AP

    An Army carry team marches away after placing a transfer case containing the remains of Pfc. Kalin C. Johnson into a transfer vehicle, Friday morning March 11, 2011 at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

    Steve Ruark / AP

    An Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Cpl. Loren M. Buffalo, Friday, March 11, 2011 at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.