“Coming out of the coffin” is a term used by necrophiles who sit down to finally tell their family members their sexual orientation: why their mum found stacks of Funeral Service Journal under their bed rather than the usual porn, and why they’ve been purchasing shrouds rather than sexy underwear. Well, maybe not.
Some people do like to get in coffins to carry out their sexual fantasies and usually this type of behaviour is referred to as ‘Thanatophilia’ rather than necrophilia: an obsessive fascination with death and its accoutrements. Unfortunately this Chinese couple who decided to have sex in, and surrounded by, coffins didn’t realise they were being filmed and now they’re all over the internet.
However, some people DO realise they are being filmed having sex inside a coffin and these people are members of the Six Feet Under Club. The 6FUC which is a project of Monochrom, an “art-technology-philosophy group” is actually more of a comment on corporate data mining than any kind of real necrophilic activity. The theory is that our sex lives are probably less embarrassing than our web search histories (given the topics I blog about I can guarantee that!) yet our sex lives remain secret but our data is shared with millions. 6FUC attempts to turn this on its head by asking couples to be filmed by a night-vision camera having sex inside a coffin , and allowing these images to be projected to spectators above ground. It is interesting, however, that one of their logos is an upside-down heart, long used by necrophiles as a symbol for what they believe is love “turned upside down”.
You can read more about the 6FUC project here if you’d like to get involved, but if you’d rather do it in the privacy of a coffin which isn’t being filmed (and you don’t want to break the law like the above Chinese couple) then you could head to the Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin, Germany. This unusual hotel, which is said to be like living in art, has a room called the “Gruft Room” (‘gruft’ translated means grave, tomb or crypt). This room features two white coffin beds, lined with red velvet, as part of its decor, the whole vibe reputedly like a German Expressionist film, with many added touches to keep you in a Gothic mood. The shower is covered in slate which smells exactly like turned earth when it gets wet, and there are animal skulls in a labrynth beneath the floor. There is a small sign which says “No sex in coffins please” so if you’re thinking of going and getting jiggy with it then do be careful. Perhaps it’s better to simply lie in the coffin and ‘meditate’ on death like Nigerian rapper Charly Boy is reputed to do, or simply sleep in it like the actress Sarah Bernhardt used to.
Or just buy your own coffin bed and do what you want in it. Even buy one for your pet.
It seems that coffins and sex do go hand in hand for some people and no-one knows this better than the Polish coffin maker, Lindner, who advertises his wares with a calendar featuring scantily clad, beautiful women, much to the fury of the Church. I can certainly see why his coffins are popular!
The pictures really are fascinating and an absolute joy to ‘Google’ – some of them are quite artistic (like the below) but others (above) are just gratuitous. But should sex sell death? What are your thoughts?
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