Cremation fee rethink after £666 bill seen as a bad Omen

PLANS to increase the cost of cremations have been changed – because the new price would have been £666.

Council bosses feared the figure – identified as the ‘number of the Beast’ in the New Testament – could be ‘upsetting’ for mourners, so have agreed to reduce the charge by a pound.

A report submitted last week to councillors in Argyll and Bute states: ‘As part of applying the standard inflation increase of 3 per cent to fees and charges for 201819, the cremation charges for adults aged 16 and over has increased.

‘It’s unfortunate that the inflation has meant the charge is £666 [from £647], which could be upsetting for some people.’

Unease around the number 666 stems from the 13th chapter of the Book of Revelation, which describes a horned beast.

Horror movie The Omen helped cement the number’s satanic links by portraying

‘Could be upsetting for some people’

it as a birthmark on the son of the devil. Former US president Ronald Reagan even changed his address in Los Angeles in 1988 from 666 to 668.

And in 2015 US representative Joe Barton had the number of a legislative Bill he had introduced changed from 666 to 702 because ‘the original bill number carried many different negative connotations’.

A spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council said: ‘Crematorium charges were amended after applying a standard inflation increase of 3 per cent to fees and charges for 2018-19. It was agreed by councillors to adjust the charge for cremation to £665 [from £647].’

Last year, a report by Citizens Advice Scotland found that the cost of a basic funeral was £3,716, including an average of £1,363 for a burial charge and £669 for a cremation charge. It also noted that since 2004, funeral costs have increased by 91 per cent in Scotland.