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You can hire a mysterious stranger to mourn your passing

Séamus Bellamy
Jul 08, 2026
∙ Paid

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There’s nothing new about hired mourners. The practice of paying folks to pretend to care about someone’s passing goes back thousands of years, crossing cultural divides, from east to west. Moirologists, wailers, keeners—call them what you will. For the vain or the superstitious, there’s comfort in knowing that someone will be th…

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