The Hearse Throughout History

The hearse has been an attractive vehicle choice to many of the more eccentric lifestyles over the years; but it was not originally intended for the use of scene kids, transportation to and from haunted houses, or other creepy individuals with images to maintain. That’s not to say that driving around town in a hearse isn’t a great way to make your way through the world, but it does have more significant roots. The name originally comes from the Old French term “herce”, which was a type of from over a funeral bier that held candles, or banners, or an epitaph. As the carriage and funeral transportation became more of a public tradition, the term was applied to banners, and epitaphs attached to the carriage or other transportation. Some modern hearses still have banners and writings attached to them.

Motorized hearses were first used in Paris, but up until then, carriages were the main mode of hearse transportation, –large, hulking black carriages, usually, the more opulent, the richer or more notable the family of the dead. Horses were plumed, and usually black, while the carriage sported funeral garlands, and its footmen wore black formal funeral wear. If the family was poor, the hearse may have been a simple horse or mule drawn cart.

After the first motorized hearse peaked as preferable transport for the dead in 1907, the trend caught on in the United State, as well, in 1909. Petrol-fueled hearses, and antique American vehicles became more popular throughout the 1920’s, and began being more widely produced as well. Since then, the hearse began being manufactured with larger framework, and many as luxury vehicles, such as Mercedes-Benz throughout Europe. As the hearse grew in popularity, it also became a figure in pop culture, –horror films, and other entertainment venues often feature the vehicle as the quintessence of funereal gloom.