Crematorium

The Crematorium is a creepy story about a young man who gets a part-time job working in his uncle’s funeral home. All goes well until a body is brought in to be cremated, and he has a very unnerving and unsettling experience.

Years ago, my uncle owned a funeral home and I got a Summer job, working part-time in the crematorium. It wasn’t a lot of fun but it certainly paid well and, being a poor student, I definitely needed the money. Dealing with dead bodies was very creepy at first, but after a few days, you kind of got used to it… Kind of…

One morning, I was sweeping the floor of the crematorium when a black hearse pulled up in the parking lot outside. A man in a black suit stepped out and my uncle went over to talk to him.

After a while, he called me over and told me to help him carry the coffin into the crematorium. I thought this was strange, because usually they brought the coffins into the funeral home next door first, but I didn’t ask questions.

We set the coffin down on the ground and my uncle went over to prepare the oven for cremation. For a few minutes, I was left alone with the man in the black suit. There was an awkward silence. I didn’t know what to say. I assumed that it was his relative who had just died and was lying in the coffin, but he didn’t seem all that upset.

When the oven was ready, my uncle and I picked up the coffin and brought it over to a metal bench. We took off the top of the casket, I saw that the corpse inside was a man who looked to be bout 30 years old. Ususally the dead bodies were very pale, but this one looked pink in the face.

My uncle stoked the fire, then pressed a button to start the conveyor belt. The coffin was moved slowly into the oven. When it was all the way inside, my uncle closed the door and I just stood around, waiting. It usually took an hour before everything was burnt and reduced to ashes. After that, I would have to collect the ashes and put them into an urn, so they could be given to the family.

My uncle and the man in the black suit went into the funeral home next door.I assumed they were filling out all the usual paperwork. I was left alone in the crematorium, to continue sweeping up.

After about 10 minutes, I heard a strange noise coming from the oven. It was like a faint knocking sound. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but then it grew into a loud banging. I tried to tell myself it was just the metal warping from the heat.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was the unmistakable sound of someone frantically banging on something, desperately trying to get out.

A chill went down my spine and the brush fell from my hands. I was sure the man inside was still alive. Terrified, I ran into the funeral home and, shaking uncontrollably, I told my uncle what I had heard.

Leading them back into the crematorium, I told them to listen.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“I don’t hear anything,” said my uncle.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Me neither,” said the man in the black suit.

I looked at them, shocked and stunned. I even began to doubt my own sanity. My uncle and the man in the black suit shrugged their shoulders and went back to the funeral home. I just stood in the middle of the crematorium, listening intently.

I didn’t know how to open the oven door safely and, even if I did, I was terrified by what I might find inside. After 10 or 15 minutes in the furnace, could someone still be alive?

Gradually, the banging noise became weaker and weaker until it finally faded away altogether. All I could hear was the hiss and crackle of the flames. There was no more noise.

An hour later, my uncle came back to turn off the oven. Together, we collected the ashes from the tray underneath and poured them into an urn. The man took it and with a broad smile on his face, he got back into his car and drove away.

At closing time, my uncle gave me an envelope full of money and told me not to mention what I had heard to anyone. We never spoke about it again and business went on as usual.

Even today, I still have nightmares about that hideous banging sound I heard coming from inside the oven.