Britons have spoken of their fascination for the morbid with a recent public poll revealing one third of those surveyed admitted to have seriously wished death upon someone with no regrets for such thoughts. However, people were not asked why they wished someone dead.

The extensive survey conducted by YouGov sought to unravel tabooed attitudes toward death, reports the Guardian UK. “The survey illustrates the misconception that the public doesn’t want to talk about death or dying. People really do – this is a topic people care about,” said John Troyer of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath.

More than half (56%) said it was acceptable to celebrate or rejoice at someone’s death, with young men significantly more likely to think cheering someone’s demise is OK than any other group. Almost one in four people said someone’s death could never be a cause of celebration.

According to the poll, almost three-quarters of Britons said they were comfortable talking about their own death.

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Almost one in 10 people said they think about death every day, while 20% said they harbour such thoughts several times a week. Only 4% say they never think about it. Two-thirds said living in pain, or with a “serious incapacitating illness,” being tortured, or losing a loved one, particularly a child, was worse than death.

When it came to the fear of dying, 41% said they were fearful, while 43% said they were not.

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Almost half (49%) have pictured their own funeral, with 8% thinking about it in detail. Cremation is the preferred option for 45%, with only 15% saying they want to be buried and one in eight (13%) saying they would like to donate their body to research.

A third of Britons believe in an afterlife, but a majority of those questioned (54%) do not believe in heaven or hell.

The COVID-19 pandemic, surprisingly, seems to have had no impact on a large majority (69%) of people’s perception of death.