 Dying without a family is not as unusual as you may think it is. Most people like to think that after they die, they will be memorialized, surrounded by grieving family and friends. But that's not the case for everyone. In the United States alone, tens of thousands die each year and no one claims their bodies. Imagine how many cases of this count around the world. What Happens to Unclaimed Bodies The award-winning documentary A Certain Kind of Death from 2003 answered this question. Although it's a grisly subject, the filmmakers hide nothing from the audience. They never sugarcoat the process. Dead bodies and various stages of decomposition are seen. But not played for shock factor. Instead, you learn to understand and appreciate the work of police officers, morgue officials, and other public employees who handle the bodies with dignity of those who have died alone. Hello. How are you? Wrapping up a body. What are you doing? The film showcases three cases of deaths. These people who once lived their lives as loners and were detached from society. Ronald Tanner, who died from rectal bleeding. Donald Wright, a man who fell in the bathroom of a motel. And Tommy Albertson, who was the machinist who died alone in his tiny apartment. Tanner, a 63-year-old gay man, was found unresponsive lying on the bedroom floor in a resting position. He was hugging a comforter towel. Dark stains appeared to be blood or fecal matter, were observed on the carpeting below his buttock area. Also, more dark stains leading to the bathroom and on his bed, too. The premises were unclean with no apparent signs of foul play. Investigation revealed that Tanner died caused of rectal bleeding. He might have suffered from hemorrhoids and fissures, inflammatory bowel disease, or colorectal cancer. Poiment information. Upon digging into his history, investigators found out that Tanner was once a vibrant person. He was a senior spotlight in his teenage years. And in his 30s, he was a theater actor. Tanner was living together with his partner James Fuller, who died of AIDS in 1993. Tanner outlived his family. His mother died when he was young. His father died in 1991. His brother died in 1963. He had a stepmother who died in 1999. At the time he knew he was about to die, he put all his personal documents on the dinner table. He left a note stating about his wish to be buried next to his family. He also left a bank statement with a balance of $61,000. Wright, a 61-year-old transient type person, was checking in the hotel for one evening and was found unresponsive the following morning. Investigation revealed that he died of an accident. He slipped on the bathroom floor and hit his head. Wright was originally from Missouri. Public employees tried to find his family, but they have no leads to follow up. Albertson, 54, who was once a hoarder at the time of his life, he was living in a tiny apartment with a lot of tools. He probably loved his tools so much that they consumed the space of his apartment. However, he was a very generous man. Every week he donated to homeless shelters with an amount of $135, even though his weekly paycheck was just only $271. The building management called out because of the suspicious odor located at his unit. The field workers found him inside lifeless and suspected him to be dead for weeks. He probably died of autoerotic asphyxia. If you are interested to know about autoerotic asphyxia, I have a video about this and you can check the link in my description. The coroners investigate the manner of death. Crap workers enter the premises to remove the bodies, hold away all properties, even the personal knick-knacks of the dead end up in the county warehouse. While office workers examine the deceased's personal papers in an effort to find family members and friends, it's incredible how much time and effort goes into during investigations. Sometimes we'll get a response within the hour and unfortunately a lot of times we don't get any responses at all. I can just imagine if we do find a relative, the response is going to be probably non-emotional. There's a, oh, okay. Well, we always wondered what happened to them along those lines. I could probably put a paycheck on it that they'll both be on county display within two or three months. If they can't find the necks of kin, they have no choice but to send the bodies to a crematorium. Crap workers break the body down to bone fragments, including their skulls, which are a glow in the flames of the cremator. The bone fragments are then ground to ash and the cremains are stored in small metal boxes for at least two years until finally they are buried in a mass grave. And mark, except for a small plaque showing that dissidents shared the year of death. Public employees view this as a last resort, but even with their best efforts to find their necks of kin, this is often the end result. The unclaimed properties will be put on auction sales where buyers who knew nothing of the prior owners, the government will collect the remaining bank balance in case the dissident has. Albert's tools were sold out at a net value of $795. Tanner, who left a huge amount in his bank account, but didn't have any living necks of kin, but because he put together all of his documents and wishes on a table before he died, he was able to get a proper embalming and burial. Though he was never buried on the spot he wanted, but at least he's buried near to his family. From unknown dead man lying on his living room floor to a complete human being. Without his detailed documents, he would just become another pile of rushes along with those other lonely souls in a noun mark grave.