What Happened to the Mushroom Death Suit?

In 2019 a new green burial method captured public attention when Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills 90210 and more recently featured in Riverdale, suddenly died of a massive stroke. It was later revealed—and widely reported—that, in accordance with his final wish, he was buried in a Mushroom Death Suit, a product created by Jae Rhim Lee as part of her Infinity Burial Project and sold through her startup, Coeio.

According to Lee and Coeio, the suit was designed to do three things: decompose the human body, neutralize toxins that would otherwise leak out of the body and into the environment, and transfer the body’s nutrients back to plants. It promised not just a reduction in the environmental impact of burial, but a way for people to give back to the Earth once they're gone.

I’ve never been a fan of mushrooms, so my initial reaction to the thought of my dead body feeding a colony of mushrooms was of horror and disgust. But then I wondered: What if this actually works? What if this suit lets us return to nature in a way traditional burial, cremation, or even the standard ‘green burial’ can’t?

Could I overcome my mushroom-phobia to give my body back to the Earth as a final, selfless act?

The Rise of the Mushroom Death Suit

Jae Rhim Lee introduced the concept in a 2011 TED Talk, where she described how her “pollution-gobbling” suit could revolutionize green burials. She shows pictures of the experiments she's conducting while developing the suit: Petri dishes with samples of her hair, skin, and nails. She's feeding them to mushrooms and selecting the best eaters to become part of her suit. The audience’s reaction moved from nervous laughter to a standing ovation in just seven minutes—a testament to the power of the idea.

And for a while, it seemed like the Mushroom Suit was gaining momentum. Coeio received a surge of media attention after Perry’s burial, and it appeared to be at the forefront of the eco-friendly burial movement.

But when I started looking for more information—past the TED Talk, past the Luke Perry articles, past the surface-level enthusiasm—I found something strange.

The Vanishing Act

There’s no longer a website for Coeio. No marketplace selling the Mushroom Death Suit. No posts on Coeio’s Facebook or Instagram past 2019. And my email to the company bounced back with a 550 No Such User Here error. According to her LinkedIn, Jae Rhim Lee still works for Coeio, yet there’s no sign of the company’s continued existence.

So what happened?

Some articles over the years raised concerns about whether the suit truly did what it claimed, but they were easy to dismiss at the time due to a lack of hard evidence. However, looking back, I realized something unsettling: there was never much evidence to begin with.

Did the Suit Actually Work?

The only known test of the Mushroom Suit that I could find was shared in a Facebook post by The Modern Mortician, a well-known figure in the alternative funeral space. She described how she was approached to conduct a test burial using the suit.

At first, everything seemed promising. But after months of waiting, the results came in:

No growth. None. The shrooms did not grow. Perhaps it was the Texas soil... we may never know. Emails to the creator go unanswered and the science behind the shroud’s claims was never made public.

Now, one failed test doesn’t necessarily disprove the concept. Fungal decomposition depends on environmental factors, and it’s possible that the conditions in this particular case weren’t ideal. But scientific principles laid out by Billy Campbell, a medical doctor and founder of Memorial Ecosystems, also suggest that the suit was flawed from the start.

In a 2016 blog post, he shares a couple of insights as to why mushrooms aren’t well-suited for human decomposition:

1. Fungi prefer to consume dead plant matter, not fresh animal remains. The type of mushrooms used in the suit—saprophytic fungi—are designed to break down wood, leaves, and organic plant waste, not human tissue. Specifically, multiple studies have suggested that these mushrooms don't have the mechanisms for breaking down keratin (a key component of hair, nails, and skin), which means Lee's experiments wouldn't have worked.

   
   

2. The human body decomposes in an anaerobic (low-oxygen) environment, which fungi don’t thrive in. Once buried, a body doesn’t provide the right air circulation or surface exposure for mushrooms to grow and actively break down tissue. The natural microbial processes of decomposition, dominated by bacteria and insect activity, would overpower any fungal growth.

Put simply: Mushrooms are great at breaking down dead trees, but they’re not equipped to break down dead people, especially when those people are buried. The science doesn’t support the idea that they could significantly speed up human decomposition or remove toxins as claimed.

The Bigger Issue: Trust in the Death Care Industry

It’s admirable to try to find ways to combat the very real environmental impact of the death care industry and to help people make peace with dying—both of which I believe Jae Rhim Lee was honestly trying to do.

But the funeral industry already struggles with public trust. Many people fear being misled or taken advantage of, especially in vulnerable moments of grief. It’s hard enough for the many death care professionals acting in good faith to earn the trust of families and communities they care for when a few bad actors fuel distrust.

The Mushroom Death Suit wasn’t just a product—it was an idea that resonated with people who wanted a greener way to say goodbye. If it didn’t work, consumers deserve to know why.

And if it did work, but the business simply failed, the science behind it could still be shared to help develop better and more effective alternatives.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Shortly after his death, Luke Perry’s daughter said in a People Magazine article that seeing mushrooms after her father’s burial made her think of him and how beautiful they were. “Now, mushrooms hold an entirely new meaning for me.”

I hope she still feels that way.

Because even if the suit didn’t work exactly as promised, the desire for meaningful, sustainable death care solutions remains. The lesson here isn’t just about one product disappearing—it’s about the need for accountability, scientific validation, and honesty as the industry continues to evolve.

If the Mushroom Death Suit was a step in the right direction, we should learn from its shortcomings—not bury them.