Hearse

Hearses are cars that are occupied for funeral homes and are also excellent vehicles for Halloween.

Hearse Structures[]

The traditional hearse consists of an elongated wagon-like chassis with enough space to house a coffin and the accompanying flower arrangements. The front end, including the cabin, are much like a limousine with seating for the driver and one or two bier companions.

Rear (wagon) of a hearse The rear part of the hearse is specially designed to house the coffin, equipping the floor with metal frames provided with locks that serve both to stabilize the drawer (if activated) and to allow it to slide. The rear car can be covered entirely in clear glass - allowing a full view of the coffin - or covered by metallic bodywork with tinted or semi-tinted windows. Hearses equipped with horns, bells or sirens are still common in certain regions of the world. These artifacts are used to give greater solemnity to the ritual and were an almost obligatory accessory in the cars of the early and mid-twentieth century.

Hearses Style[]

The styles associated with hearses have varied from time to time being characteristic in the seventeenth century the use of carriages carved in wood with strong natural figures - especially leaves - and columns and ceilings in the Victorian style of the nineteenth century. This style was preserved in hearses well into the twentieth century. In America and Europe the style of the hearse is sober and elegant characterized by the use of dark colors, especially black and gray. In other cultures such as the Japanese, hearses are usually adorned with elements typical of the funeral vaults of religions such as Buddhism.

Horse-drawn hearses are classified into several types: 1 Stove Carriage. It was a carriage used since the 18th century by aristocrats. It is a type of luxury carriage. The box was closed by glass, allowing you to see inside. Santiago Rusiñol, Count Godo and Prat de la Riba were buried in this model of carriage in the 1920-1930s.

Stove float built in Barcelona by the coachbuilder Joaquín Estrada. Viennese style light float, is a luxury empire style float with Egyptian ornamentation. Carriage with a chassis independent of the box and a forging structure. The box is suspended over a gooseneck crossbow and the scaffold made up of Viennese-style columns and angels.

Renaissance-style imperial chariot, built for burials of glory. The scaffold is made up of four columns with capitals. The columns support a baroque entablature. In this type of carriage, Enrique Tierno Galván traveled through Madrid.
Grand Doumond, a model created by the French Duke Louis d'Aumont at the beginning of the 19th century, during the reign of Napoleon, adopted the draft with six horses led by two mounted grooms, called postillions, to eliminate the coachman's seat and have more visibility.

The bullfighter José Gómez Jaselito was buried in this model of carriage. White hearse or white spider, model used for children. Used from the middle of the 19th century to 1950.

Respect car or widow's car. It was used to take relatives to the cemetery. Accompanying saloon. Carriage that was used on large journeys, with capacity for 4 people and luggage. It owes its name to the Berlin coachbuilders. Phaeton. Its name comes from a mythological god.

It is of English origin, it is accessed from behind the cabin which is covered and glazed, with 2 seats for four people, parallel to the direction of travel. Coupe. Name of French origin, which means "cut", it is a saloon, to which the seats opposite the direction of travel have been eliminated, making it a light and fast vehicle. Among the car models, the following stand out: The Hispano Suiza, model T16, manufactured in Barcelona in 1920, was one of the first mechanical traction vehicles to perform a funeral service, being used as a transfer vehicle.

Buick Riviera Special, 1958 American car, model 49D.
Buick Riviera Special Studebacker Six, made in Indiana, USA. Currently there is a trend marked by social groups to create versions of hearse that represent their lifestyle

History[]

The first horse-drawn hearses were used in funeral rites in England since the 16th century, with records of use in America around the end of the 17th century. The first motorized cars date from May 1907 according to Scientific American magazine, being fossil fuel-based vehicles built since 1909 in the United States. However, it was not until the 1920s that its use began to spread to replace the traditional hipomobile.

From the early years of the 20th century and well into the 1930s, motorized hearses were manufactured emulating Victorian hearse with a large number of exterior ornaments (in some models, such as Leo Gillig's from 1913 included lanterns and dumb bells) and headdresses in the coffin area2 After the Second World War, a more sober style began to be used, gradually replacing the use of carved cars and the smooth metallic chassis began to predominate. Elegance was the point to continue imposing the limousine style.

Movies Adaptations[]

Hotel Transylvania
The Addams Family
The Hearse 1970 horror movie
Dumb and Dumber 2 (2014 movie)

TV Shows Adaptations[]

Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc.
The Simpsons
The Munsters

Music[]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: The Hearse Song.

Trivia[]

Also sometimes the hearses are the transports. where monsters travel.

Sometimes hearse has a bad reputation for some people who suffer from necrophobia for fear of death because these cars are related to it as well as tombstones, coffins, crypts and graveyards.