After the death of her father-in-law, journalist Erica Buist decided to travel to seven death festivals around the world, in an attempt to understand how different societies deal with grief, and how people are able to move past the knowledge that they're going to die in order to live happily day-to-day. In the course of her journey, Erica explores both fundamental and unexpected questions around death anxiety, including: How does knowledge of our mortality make us act like jerks? Do you need to be religious to reduce mortal terror? Why is this New Orleans voodoo priestess talking to a doll thirty seconds into our interview? Why did a man in Derby keep his wife's corpse in the bedroom? Does death anxiety really make us more racist, and men more amenable to violence against women? Is it OK to take a selfie with a skull? Do older people in California really believe an $8,000 injection of teenagers' plasma will re-colour their grey hair?