If a body is that bad we'd usually try to get the family to go for a closed casket. Some people won't cremate for religious reasons. But then you have some really hardcore Italians, who expect miracles, and want an open casket no matter what. In that case you do the best you can, but you make it clear in no uncertain terms that it was the family's call, not the funeral home's.

And yeah, I saw some pretty horrific shit over the years. People hit by subway trains, people that died on the crapper (not at all uncommon, I pulled at least a dozen people off the throne over the years), plane crashes (TWA flight 800 was horrible because a lot of body parts were found).

But nothing was worse than September 11th. We buried as little as fingernails for at least two years after the attacks. That's the main reason I have zero tolerance for left wingers who cry about Guantanamo and whatnot. I was there. Water boarding is too good for those animals.