Fear of death leads to Obituary obsession

Obituary enthusiast used hobby to overcome fear of death

By Jaana Laitinen

Hannu Luntiala, 55, suffered long from a fear of death. It started to eat at him already in his youth, when he found tobacco.

"The pleasure of smoking was combined with a sense of guilt. It became a dilemma. I stopped smoking later, but the fear was there and it stayed."

Soon he found himself reading death notices in newspapers. Reading between the short lines he tried to guess what the cause of death might have been. He did not get much out of the texts, he noticed. The pieces were narrow and dull, and repeated the same verses. He moved on to obituaries. He says that they revealed a world that he had never experienced before.

"They had fascinating life stories, hilarious narratives and unintended drama. An entire life condensed into 30 to 40 lines."

It was apparent in many of the obituaries that the deceased person had not quite lived life to the full. The life might include "huge amounts of work", and not much else. From time to time there might be a story about a person who dared to live as he or she wanted. Such lives are often short and hard, but by no means empty. Luntiala admits that he admires people who dare to live the kind of life that results in a good obituary. "They are bohemians, who do not care about education or careers. The obituary of author Kari Kontio was magnificent." Luntiala began to start writing obituaries himself. He wrote them about both imaginary people, as well as celebrities, from popular singer Sammy Babitzin to French President Charles de Gaulle. Some described people who kept their noses to grindstones, but there was also dark humour about a memorial service at the crematorium next to "the Mega Burn furnace". The stories have now been published in a book called In Memoriam. Luntiala has yet to write his own obituary. "Actually, everybody should write his own obituary once every ten years after reaching the age of 40. It is a way to see if one's life has gone as one would have liked." If someone else writes an obituary for Luntiala some day, he has a request. "I hope that it says that he saw that there is more to life than just work." For Luntiala, jazz and writing help him unwind from his job. He has previously published a collection of short stories as well as a text message novel. Luntiala nevertheless enjoys his work as director-general of the Population Register Centre. "I once saw a movie where a police officer was told that if you screw this one up, we'll send you to work at the population registry", Luntiala laughs. "People have an unbelievable image of the work that we do here. This is a vantage point into society. I enjoy this job, and now that I am boss, I can pretty much decide how to do this thing." Luntiala's fear of death is easing. Writing obituaries helps. He also stopped trying to run away from death. "I ran around in the forest like crazy for ten years. Then they measured that my oxygen intake is at the same level as that of a man lying on the sofa. I stopped right there." However, he is still not on completely good terms with death. "Death is a great injustice. It comes so soon. Life could be twice as long, or at least half of life could be free time. Now people are allowed to do what they want to do for five per cent of their lifetime. "I've been expecting people to rise to the barricades to shout that death is wrong. Who they would be protesting against, I don't know." Luntiala has two adult sons - both of fans of heavy metal music. He met the two recently, and was startled when he saw the back of one of them as he was walking away. The black T-shirt had just one word: "Kuolemanpelko" - "fear of death". "I thought that it must be in the genes. Now my son has it."

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.3.2008