How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Overwhelmed American Funerals and Cemeteries

In the fall of 1918, America faced a problem it had never faced on this scale: too many dead and too few people to bury them. The deadliest pandemic in history put every part of the death care system under pressure, and the stories from that time are still hard to read.

How bad was the 1918 flu in the United States?

It was the deadliest pandemic on record. History.com reports that it killed about 50 million people worldwide and about 675,000 in the United States. Nearly 200,000 Americans died in October 1918 alone, which made it the deadliest month in the country’s history. A Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond history says the 675,000 figure is likely a conservative estimate. A University of Puget Sound historian told History.com that the country was unprepared, partly because advances in bacteriology had led many Americans to think they could control infectious disease.

What happened to funerals?

Cities banned them. History.com says public funerals and wakes were banned in cities including Philadelphia and Chicago, and Iowa prohibited public funerals and even the opening of caskets. In Washington, D.C., a local history blog reports that public funerals were prohibited as a public health measure, so those who died did not get a proper funeral. Families lost the rituals that usually help people grieve, and that was part of the toll.

Why was there a shortage of coffins and gravediggers?

Because deaths came all at once. In Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, there were shortages of coffins, according to the Washington history blog. In Boston, gravediggers at one cemetery were seen dumping bodies out of caskets so that the coffins could be used again. The Richmond Fed history notes that gravediggers were also in short supply, and that prison inmates were ordered to start digging graves.

What was it like in Philadelphia?

Philadelphia was hit especially hard. Deaths approached 1,000 a day at the peak, according to History.com. A Rutgers historian writes that on a single day in October 1918 there were 759 flu deaths in the city, and that in all, 12,687 people died of influenza or the pneumonia that came with it. Some residents were buried in mass graves hollowed out with steam shovels. The city limited coffin prices, with at most a 20 percent increase allowed for carrying charges and profit, and volunteers helped dig graves.

How did cities cope?

With emergency measures. In Philadelphia, a streetcar manufacturer was ordered to build plain wooden boxes for burial, and city workers were assigned to dig graves, according to the History Collection. Public gatherings were limited to slow the spread. The pandemic faded almost as quickly as it had started, within weeks in some cities.

Why does this history matter today?

It shows how quickly the death care system can be overwhelmed and what people do when it is. The same pressures return in any large disaster, as explained in After a Disaster or Mass Casualty Event. It also shows how much funerals matter: even in a crisis, families grieved over the missing ritual. For the longer story, see How Have Funerals Changed Over the Last 100 Years?.