French Wed the Dead

You probably knew the French eat horses, frogs and snails, but did you know they can and do marry dead people?

Forget the fuss about same-sex marriage, and we're tired of spam from the pro-polygamy people. "The real story is out of France," columnist Craig Wilson writes in USA Today.

"There are rules, of course. It wouldn't be France without rules. Anyone wishing to marry the dead must send a request to the president, who then forwards it to the justice minister, who then sends it to the prosecutor in whose jurisdiction the surviving person lives.

"If it's determined the couple planned to marry before the death, and if the relatives of the deceased approve, the prosecutor sends a recommendation back up the line."

A highly publicized wedding took place last month in Nice between Christelle Demichel and her former fiance, killed by a drunken driver in 2002.

"I had what you can call a perfect wedding," she is quoted as saying.

About 20 marriages between the living and the dead take place annually in France, according to the British newspaper the Guardian.

Wilson notes: "It certainly solves a multitude of problems. There's very little arguing, your mate never grows old — or complains about you growing old — and you don't have to pick up after him."