In the spirit of Halloween, I share this personal story:

A couple of years ago, my father died unexpectedly. While arranging the funeral, my brother and I found ourselves in a casket showroom adjacent to a funeral home. (My dad’s family favors caskets over urns.)

If you’ve never shopped for a casket, trust me — it is an experience both sad and surreal. Despite the funeral director’s (read: sale representative’s) efforts to make the event comforting and meaningful, a casket showroom is not a place you ever want to be.

I didn’t see that I had a choice, so I bucked up and tried to imagine the type of casket Dad would have preferred.

Wood or metal? The funeral director implied that the (more expensive) metal models last longer in the ground. (Is that the goal? To keep your loved one’s physical remains in as near to natural a state as possible? What about flooding? What about earthquakes? Just imagine the problems caused by seepage, rust and corrosion? See? Sad and surreal.)

My dad enjoyed working with wood, so, despite the advantages of metal, I was leaning toward the wooden models. But which one? Cherry, walnut, mahogany?

Then we turned the corner in the showroom and I saw it. The Last Race Casket by F&F Metal Products. A casket for car-racing fans! A casket shrinkwrapped in an auto-race mural, like a city bus.

“The checkered flag, the trophy, and the roar of the crowd all serve to insure that every auto-racing fan will enjoy the high performance look of the casket.” Really? From … (gulp) … inside?

“Do you sell many of these?”

“Oh, yeah! NASCAR’s huge!”

Turns out specialty caskets have a niche. F&F Metal Products also offers caskets themed for golfers, hunters, fishers, and bikers.

My mind raced. How about a casket featuring the deceased’s favorite brand? Of course, someone had already thought of this.

Eternal Image has a licensing agreement with Major League Baseball to feature your favorite team’s logo and colors on caskets and urns.

And university teams? The Memorial Licensing Company already makes caskets available in your alma mater’s colors. See Clemson’s casket here (or search for yours).

Was your loved one a Trekkie? How could you not send them off to the great unknown in the Star Trek casket, “inspired by the popular ‘Photon Torpedo’ design seen in STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Khan.

It was tempting, but I couldn’t do that to Dad. My brother and I settled on pecan. Dad grew up in North Carolina where they pronounce the word  pee’-kan not pi-kahn’. Correcting the pronunciation of the wait staff when he ordered pecan pie at restaurants never failed to amuse him. I thought he might appreciate this little joke.

Which brands do you think would make good casket themes? How would you theme your casket? Share your ideas.