Funeral Carriages at Shelburne Museum

Last weekend my husband and I visited the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. It's fascinating and if you get a chance to visit, I highly recommend it. Of course my eye is always open for the macabre and one of my favorite pieces there was a hearse carriage. (I'd show you a picture, but photos taken at the museum are only for personal use, so you'll have to come over to my house to see it.)

When you see a horse-drawn hearse you can't help but think "I want that." I don't know why, but even people not as interested in funeral arts as we are love them too. I started wondering where one could get a hearse and discovered  Todd Adler's American Carriage Company. Low and behold, they are still making horse-drawn funeral carriages! They're not inexpensive, but they'll cost you less than a new car. Here is a selection of what they offer.

These are absolutely beautiful! I'm sure if you have a few horses around, you could quickly start a business in your town and pay off your hearse in no time. Really, I should do that. Do you think six cats would be enough to pull one of these?

If you can't afford a real hearse, check out this DIY paper hearse from Ravens Blight. It's almost as good. 

DIY Paper Horse-Drawn Hearse