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¿Question #807?
EndersGame: Why do they nail down the lids of coffins?

ocdspectrum: Just in case....
Woelf: Keep stuff out.
Felimid: Just in case someone got accidentally buried alive by accident. Same reason burial vaults are locked shut. Not that ghosts have any trouble escaping coffins or vaults, of course.
zemus: Are they nailed? I never knew. I suppose one reason might be in case the pall bearers trip and drop the funerary box.
tennispl: Zombies.
Cthulhu1: This is because modern food safety regulations require tamper-proof packaging on all snack foods.
Larry Welborn: Zombies
Jayolas: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!
Rygel: They don't. They are bolted down. Much stronger
DasViktor: Good God, man! Have you never heard the word, "zombies"!
Polgara: to keep the zombies in.
Kobold Curry Chef: To keep the worms out.
Zarion of Arabel: harder for graverobbers
Numskull: To keep the dead from walking the earth, to discourage grave robbers, and to jack up the price of the funeral.
cgund: it's symbolic
MotUfan: To prevent zombies from rising from the grave.
DHEK: So that the tops don't slide off when they're transporting the coffins, of course.
Royalflush: Just in case the person's not dead...
themagni: Because nailing down the bottom is silly.
Eric Haas: Because there is a surplus of coffin nails.
aleo09: so no one gets out
chockle: So they don't slide off
Chris Page: To embed cold iron inside the wood, to ward the deceased against the depradations of the soul-stealing fey.
Meisterchow: To keep the vampires in.
hacksword: To lock in the flavour and seal in the juices.
lyrad: to keep the nail makers in business.
thirtyseven: To keep the lid from shifting while it's being buried. I can't see it as a deterrent for grave-robbers, who will have done the hard part just getting to the coffin. Yes, I'm aware this was most likely a cute "dead guy isn't going anywhere" question, but why not answer it seriously if there's a real answer?
Asmoridin: To keep me from robbing them?
tomlynch: How else do you keep necrophiliacs out?
bwildrick: Just in case. Zombies, you know.
Nef_: To keep the worms out.
dictator555: So animals can't open them and eat the bodies? Just guessin'.
dmomo: Do they?
lone: If they didn't, we'd be overrun with zombies.
Cromaa: They don't...not anymore anyways
Reloaded: duh... ever heard of Zombies?
dragonewtking: because some people can't just say no to necrophelia
herman_the_german: One word: undead.
jasta6: So the living can't get out............................................
Shotmagnet: screws would take to long, and the pounding will wake up the heavy sleepers being prematurely interred
jellospike: zombies, duh.
WatchmanX2000: keeps them from falling off.
Dhunam: Good question
scriptorum: So the body doesn't roll out if the coffin gets dropped, but groovy question.
Unitbuster: To make grave robbery that much harder. Either that, or they don't want the dead guy coming back after he's been buried.
crimsonlady: They ran out of scotch tape
bigbadsteve: in case the person is still alive, it keeps them from coming back
Tamsmo: So you can't get out.
javelin98: That's a very good question.
Redneon: To slow down the grave robbers.
ctalbot: So the zombies don't get out.
Yollege: Zombie threat, duh!
brainrob: Because of the smell
Null Signature: so the zombie/vampire/llama/skeleton/alien has a secure board infront of it which it can break through at the most oppertune time eliciting screams of horror and elation from its unsuspecting victims.
GrandpaDave: So that animals can't get in
michaeldavidcox: In case the dead rise again
gt8595b: To stop the dead from getting out, duh
POvidiusNaso: They don't do that any more.
GuyHill: 42
2amp: do they?
Lord_Prussian: Why do they bury them 6 feet deep?
Mease19: If they didn't then the coffins wouldn't float...
Megadev: just to make sure....
dakarp: You can never be too careful.
StormKnight: Well, you sure don't want them getting out do you?
Gecko23: Because they don't have latches.
Snappatoon: Now that's just creepy
leece: Why do you thiiiiiiiinkkkk.........brains....oh hang on these are baked beans.
The Unbeliever: 42
darthcliff: To make worms buy hammers?
puffinge: Scotch tape doesn't hold.
Musti: So they don't slide off
Sceadeau: To keep you from escaping, obviously
dpuskas73: To keep the oncologists from trying one more dose of something.
MisterCranky: Spite
skrutsch: I don't think they use nails any more.
HappyProle: Just to maintain the relevance of that old cliché
heli: so they don't shift off when the earth quakes
Windopaene: To keep "problems" from arising should a mistake been made...
RandallPeek: To keep the dead from rising and stalking us through the endless night in their unholy quest to consume our brainflesh. Geez, EVERYONE knows that.
xlorp: If you buried Uncle Frim by mistake, do you think after he digs his way out that he'll be in a mood to listen?
isolated: To keep you out.
Ebonwoulfe: Well they tried using duct tape, but it didn't look very good
Oborro: I would assume to form some sort of seal
AlorielLelyn: Probably because of legends of vampires. They're afraid the dead will get up afterwards.
ensor: Just in case.
tragicpoet: In case the pallbearers trip.
gnomehome: I thought they used screws.
Blackwind: to deter grave robbers
CDRodeffer: Zombies don't like cold iron.
thoia: They don't anymore. Pretty sure most have locking mechanism and then go into concrete vaults that are burried.
Grimwold: just in case you rise from the dead too early!!!
m_r_tyler: Umm, so the lids don't fall off. Clever folks, those coffin nailers.
onky: Do prevent the wurms of escaping the odour.
djflippy: I don't actually think they do...
P.O.G.G.: because its cheaper than glue
Ludocrazy: To keep out vermin and grave robbers
geberus: so they don't fall off when being placed in the ground
haraggan: To make it harder for the zombies to get out, man - don't you ever watch movies?
BobDodgerBlue: So they don't come open
Blindsun: To keep the zombies and vampires in?
rickkeuler: To keep out unexpected visitors.
fsumarc: so you cant get out and sue.
Flyspeck23: Because they care.
netfilterz: So the lid doesn't accidentilly falls off I guess...
Shakar: Because it's easier than the other way around.
chaddyboy_2000: To vent frustration.
ValJor: Grrr...
Pseudo Nymh: Because they hate you.
Komodo: So that when people are scratching at them from the inside thay don't come off.
snoozefest: so the moles don't get in
CortexBomb: Probably to prevent sod from covering the body and spoiling the nice, cleanly pressed clothes of the corpse. Honestly, I don't understand it either
skelebone: They don't, most US coffin lids are held down by clips, and then are sealed in a vault. It keeps liquids out and in.
djlg: So it doesn't fall off and reveal the body at an unexpected time.
jttm: In case the bearers trip?