Folks, Venture Crew 410 held its annual Halloween Party at Robber Baron Cave in San Antonio, Texas on Friday night, October 30. It was well attended with members of various Venture Crews from around the area showing up and participating. Vickie Smith brought her air brush and performed her excellent gruesome body painting. We had a number of ghouls and maimed folks walking around. Some even walked up to the local grocery store where they received quite a welcome. This year, we really wanted to do the haunted cave theme so we were able to rent a real live dead body from the Cash for Corpse program from Miller's Funeral Home. We placed Barney (the stiff), in the sinkhole by the entrance as we couldn't get him through the gate without possibly damaging his face. Since I had to sign a contract and leave a damage deposit, I wanted to make sure I got my money back ($1,000 on my credit card). Barney really helped set the mood at the entrance to the cave. One of our crew members made a sign that read "Abandon Hope, All Who Enter Here" which Barney held all night (without complaining) The whole event was a major success with numerous venture groups entering the cave. We used a sign in sign out sheet which tracked everyone going into and out of the cave (Honey Creek cavers take note, this process really works). We hid candy in three locations and the scouts had to navigate with the cave map to find the treasure. We cleaned up the cave, removed the candy, and Barney and left the property by 10 PM with everyone agreeing it was the best haunted cave ever - I really think Barney helped. For those who are not familiar with the Cash for Corpses program, I found out about this from a friend of mine whose family owned a funeral home. There are families of deceased individuals who can not afford the up front costs for a funeral or cremation. Most funeral homes have a policy to never bury the collateral (the body) until payment is received from the family, life insurance policy or third party payer. To raise money for the funeral, some families will allow the corpse to be rented out for parties or shows with the money going to help cover burial costs. (For folks looking for more information on cheap cremations, check out www.nationalcremation.com/ ). The national policies on the use of human remains requires that the bodies must be embalmed and must have passed away from natural causes. In addition, you are not allowed to perform any religious rituals with the body and must return it in the same condition it left. Generally, they come frozen and with a modest suit (for males). Most places will only rent for a 24 hour period. Also, if you are not going to rent a casket with the corpse, I would recommend you also rent the boots with the rollers on the soles; it makes moving the body much easier. Cost for the night was $150 and we'll worth it. We returned the body by 11:30 PM after lots of pictures and got my deposit back. If you're throwing a Halloween Party tonight, you may want to call you local funeral home and ask about availability. Geary
