Lawrence and Louis Schatz at the Schatz Brothers Funeral Home.
The Schatz Brothers Funeral Home, also known as the Couer d'Couers Funeral Home, is a family funeral parlor in Coeur d'Coeurs, owned by Lawrence and Louis Schatz. Charlotte "Chuck" Charles' funeral was to be arranged at this here, before she was brought back to life by Ned in the preparation room.
Prior to the deaths of Lawrence and Louis, the Schatz Brothers Funeral Home was the focal point of a police investigation looking into a string of robberies the brothers committed against the dead bodies.
History[]
Early business[]
The business is referred to as the Eternal Dawn Funeral Home in Lawrence Schatz's obituary, and some business signs have referred to it as the Couer d'Couers Funeral Home, but its official name is the Schatz Brothers Funeral Home.[1]
The business was first established in 1928 as a Schatz family venture. Lawrence and Louis Schatz inherited the family business at age 28, when their father passed away. The brothers changed the name of the business and ran it for 15 years, with Lawrence running the funerals and dealing with the customers, and Louis doing the behind-the-scenes business. As a result of this arrangement, Lawrence dressed far more formally than Louis.[2]
Grave-robbing scheme[]
Lawrence Schatz caught in the act.
The brothers frequently stole jewelry and valuables from the corpses, hiding the stolen loot in the basement, to profit from the dead, including accepting bribes from private investigators like Emerson Cod wishing to investigate dead bodies. This criminal activity ended one day when, prior to a viewing, a widower caught Lawrence stealing jewelry straight out of the coffin. Louis immediately pretended that he had nothing to do with it and acted like he was ashamed of his brother.[1]
Lawrence was maligned in the press and received 1,867 hate letters, several of which threatened his life. The police began investigating Lawrence and the home, suspicious that far more robberies had been committed than had yet been made public. Louis' ruse appeared to work, and he successfully hid his involvement in the grave-robbing scheme from the police, the press and the general public.[1]
Chuck's resurrection and Schatz deaths[]
Two days after Lawrence was caught robbing one of the coffins, the funeral and burial of Chuck was being prepared. Lawrence accepted a bribe from Emerson to allow Ned to investigate the body but, unbeknownst to Lawrence, Ned brought Chuck back to life. When Ned failed to touch her a second time within one minute, Lawrence's life was taken in exchange. Because he died on the toilet, his death was believed to be due to heart failure. Ned was witnessed fleeing the scene by Wilfred Woodruff, the grandson of one of the corpses the Schatz brothers robbed.[2]
Louis continued to feign innocence. He hired Emerson Cod to investigate the death, claiming he feared he could be the next victim. He did this in order to divert suspicion and keep the stolen valuables, but it is possible Louis genuinely believed Lawrence was murdered and that he was in danger. Louis provided Emerson with the hate letters and allowed the trio to investigate Lawrence's body, during which time Ned brought him back to life and learned that Louis was indeed his partner-in-crime.[1]
A few days later, Louis was eating a cow tongue steak in the funeral home when he was confronted by Wilfred. Surprised by the intrusion, Louis choked to death on a piece of the steak.[1]
Post-deaths and discovery of loot[]
An angry mob confronting Louis Schatz about the grave robberies.
Wilfred feared that his presence during both Schatz brothers' deaths would be discovered and that, in connection to a threatening letter he mailed Lawrence, he would be arrested for their deaths. To avoid this, he brought Louis' body to The Pie Hole and plant it in the kitchen cooler, then called the police so Ned would be framed for the murder.[1]
However, Ned brought Louis back to life, took him away from the restaurant and questioned him about his death. Ned, Chuck and Emerson brought his body back to the funeral home, where Ned was attacked by a sword-wielding Wilfred. Ned defeated Wilfred in the fight and discovered the stolen valuables hidden in the basement. The heirlooms were returned to their families, and Wilfred was arrested and charged for his involvement with Louis' death.[1]
Appearance[]
Chuck's coffin in the funeral home preparation room.
The Schatz Brothers Funeral Home is a three-story building with a completely brown exterior that includes a staircase leading up to a porch supported by pillars. A terrace is visible from the third floor and there are several windows with drawn curtains. A sign rests atop neatly trimmed green grass in front of well-groomed bushes and hedges.[2] Down the road from the funeral home is a garden, a red avant-garde statue and a green park bench advertising the funeral home, complete with photos of Louis and Lawrence.[1]
The interior of the funeral home includes a viewing room with a seating capacity of about 36. The rooms feature cream-colored walls, brown framework and a wood-paneled ceiling, and the carpets and curtains are brown with green patterning. The first floor also features a staircase that likely leads to ths Schatz's residential portion of the funeral home and a private room in which the deceased are prepared in their coffins and await a viewing.[2]
The stolen loot hidden in the funeral home basement.
The basement is where the bodies are stored and prepared for fitting into their coffins. The only light in the basement comes from the entrance door atop a staircase and from two very narrow windows on the wall. Several bodies are normally kept on slabs underneath white sheets. The Schatz brothers keep their stolen jewelry and valuables on a large desk with numerous display departments, concealed behind a crimson curtain.[1]
The home also includes a private office for the Schatz brothers. The large, high-ceiling room features two side-by-side oak desks, black chairs and lamps, as well as a handful of paintings mounted on the walls. It is in this room that Louis Schatz choken to death after being confronted by Wilfred Woodruff.
Bodies treated at the funeral home[]
Behind the scenes[]
In a contiinuity error, the sign outside the business read Couer d'Couers Funeral Home in "Pie-lette", but was changed to Schatz Brothers Funeral Home In "The Fun in Funeral". Because the sign is seen in flashbacks in the third episode, it cannot be explained that the sign was changed in the future.
Interestingly, the location of the funeral home is also the location (set) of the movie House II: The Second Story (1987) [1].