Enterprising coffin maker Stepan Piryanyk, from the Ukraine, is offering living people the chance to lay down in one of his comfortable coffins in order to get used to the afterlife. After all, death is always so sudden, so why not take some time to get used to it…

Lying down in a coffin as therapy is not unheard of. Just a week a go we posted an article about a special Chinese psychotherapy clinic where patients lay down in a coffin and have the lid shut over them, in order to experience death and rebirth. A Taiwanese professor also buries his students alive in a coffin in the floor of his classroom, to make them appreciate every second of their lives. But Stepan Piryanyk, from the Ukrainian town of Truskavets, has found a new way to use his spooky wooden boxes as a form of therapy. The owner of a large coffin-making business, Stepan decided it would be a good idea to set up a special room where people could just lay down in one of his comfortable coffins, and experience being dead. Ironically enough, some people actually took him up on his creepy offer and said it was a very relaxing experience.

“When you lay in the coffin, it feels just like a bed,”Piryanyk says. “It’s the same sheets, the same pillow… a wooden coffin has its own aura inside.” His company, Eternity, employs 150 workers and produces about 1,000 coffins per month, so it wasn’t hard for Stepan to spare a few of them for his offbeat idea. “Patients” can choose from a variety of coffin models, all lined with lace and featuring silk pillows. After a hard day’s work you can come in and just relax, it’s great!” says one lady lying in a coffin, but not everyone seems to think it’s a good idea. Some wouldn’t dream of lying in a coffin before the time comes.

While some media outlets say Stepan Piryanik is currently offering 15-minute coffin therapy sessions for free, others say he’s found a way to make some money off the living, as well, charging $25 per session. If only it could make some people more at ease with their inevitable demise, that money would be well spent.

via ITN