Fears of being buried alive have prompted an increasing number of people to take their mobile phones to their graves, according to an Irish undertaker.
Many believe modern technology could save them from dying if they have been mistakenly pronounced dead.
However, relatives are encouraged to turn the phone off or put it on vibrate mode in case it goes off during the funeral service.
Some people, who are superstitious, insist the phone is turned off so that if they do wake up they will have battery power when the phone is turned on again.
One undertaker said: "This is despite the fact that there is more chance of them being taken up into space by aliens than waking up."
Dominic Maguire of the National Association of Funeral Directors said he believed it was somewhat of "an urban myth".
"Mobile phones are a huge part of the lives of young people these days, particularly young girls"
A young man in Glasgow had recently been buried with his mobile phone "but that was because he had taken his mobile phone with him everywhere he went".
"This had given the family a sense of consolation - but there is certainly no trend," said Mr Maguire.
He said it would not make much sense for people to be buried with a mobile phone if they were to be cremated.
Funeral directors in the Republic of Ireland believe the phenomenon is symptomatic of a massive market for mobiles in the country, with more than 3.83 million in the country.
Peter Flanagan of Kirwan's funeral homes in Dublin said: "People will sometimes leave mementos in coffins with the deceased and nowadays it is happening that people are taking their mobile phones with them.
"There is a fear that some people have that they will be buried alive. They have contact with the outside world if they have a mobile phone with them."
'Very upsetting'
Mr Flanagan said he asked anyone wishing to leave a mobile phone in the casket to turn it onto vibrate or turn it off.
"Obviously you don't want a phone ringing inside a coffin during a funeral," he said.
Another funeral director, Keith Massey, said the trend of burying phones was more common with young people.
"There is a fair bit of it. When a young person dies, as opposed to as old person, it is very upsetting for most people.
"There is still the old thing that families want their mother's Bible buried with her, but not mobile phones or pagers - it might be that we are a bit more conservative up here"
"You find the coffins are stuffed with the personal belongings of the deceased including, increasingly, their mobile phones.
"Mobile phones are a huge part of the lives of young people these days, particularly young girls.
"If they are fans of a sport there might also be a scarf in the coffin or some other memento."
However, funeral directors in Northern Ireland said they had not detected a similar trend for mobile phone burials.
Belfast funeral director James Brown said: "We haven't come across any changing patterns in that regard.
"The big change over the past five years has been the increasing requests for secular music in religious funerals.
"Some clergy are in favour of it, but others do not permit it.
"There is still the old thing that families want their mother's Bible buried with her, but not mobile phones or pagers - it might be that we are a bit more conservative up here."
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