The Hanging Coffins of Sagada
Atlas Obscura on Slate is a blog about the world's hidden wonders. Like us on Facebook, Tumblr, or follow us on Twitter.
For 2,000 years, the Igorot people of Sagada in the Philippines have laid their dead to rest by jamming their bodies into compact wooden coffins and hoisting them up to rest on brackets driven into the side of a cliff. The practice protects the dead from floods and animals, and, according to Igorot beliefs, allows for easier passage to heaven.
Rows of pine caskets, some hundreds of years old, hang high from the bluffs of Echo Valley in Sagada. The Igorots embrace and actively prepare for death—elders, if physically able, carve their own coffins.
Advertisement
More tales of unusual coffins: