The Funeral by Richard Matheson

Matheson, along with Robert Bloch and the Twilight Zone really ruined it for us later writers: the twisty, unexpected ending. Unless you’re M. Night Shyamalan, the twist is something to stay away from, because of stories like Matheson’s The Funeral.
There’s a fascination with death in this story, and of the “proper” rites needed for a soul to attain peace, even if that soul is still up and walking around. Ludwig may be outside of normal human society, but he still feels compelled to observe the rituals of it. Partly because that’s where the punchline of the story comes from, but also because it humanizes him a bit and makes the reader feel they can be on his side.
If this story reads to you, like an episode of the Twilight Zone, well it’s not. It’s a Night Gallery, and one very typical of the sorts of stories that ended up on that series. It almost makes a better teleplay than it does a story, the actors add a dimension that not everyone’s imagination can live up to.
The story is full of little gags, from the funeral director’s last name, Silkline, to the hairy handed man running off into the night and the strange baying noise accompanied by the sound of four running feet across the carpet.
So what does the story specifically say about monsters? Well, Ludwig Asper, despite being already dead, wants what every living person dreads: A funeral. And it doesn’t even go that well, at the end, the witch and the Count start fighting and ruin everything, but Ludwig is happy anyway that at least now he can say he’s done it. Matheson manages to humanize Asper with his crazy need to be eulogized. He gives him a recognizable human quality, that of wanting something, beyond blood or flesh or killing. And not only does he want it, he demands it be perfect. While Asper’s friends don’t seem to understand the importance of it to him, the reader cringes with Silkline as things start to take a turn for the worse.
The clues presented in the beginning that lead the reader to believe that Ludwig is something more than human are subtle. Him wanting the mirror gone, the references to never having done the funeral right the first time. It becomes sort of a parody of weddings. Ludwig could become something of a FuneralZilla if things don’t go his way.
That everything goes right up to a certain point and then falls apart is another way to make Asper and his crew more like real people.
A “special day” no matter what it is, is never entirely free of bad or wrong things happening, and that’s where the humor comes in. Matheson also plays up the monster tropes to add humor to an already odd situation.
The great thing about this story is that there’s no mention of the words ‘vampire’ ‘witch’ ‘werewolf’ or any kind of identifier, though most of the types are clear from the description of the characters and their actions.
There are other really good stories in this particular collection. ‘In Shadowed Places’ is my favorite, though the other, much shorter, funeral story is excellent as well.