The burials
Just a quick thought….dont know if its been posted before but i think richard and the others know that a body has to be buried in order for the Man/smoke monster whatever you want to call him to not be able to take the form of the dead….which is why richard insists that the bodies be buried

i like your thinking here henry gale. could be a possibility. back in season 3 (i think) when jack and co were caught by the others. sun shot one of the others on desmonds boat. well anyway they had a berial 4 her late one night at the beach. they all whore strange outfits, and there was a lot of fire 2 do with it if i remember correctly?looking back it was like some kind of richual. maybe 2 keep smokie/monsters the evil or whatever it is at bay?very good dude
Very interesting. Maybe thats why in season 5 Horace’s wife (amy) told Sawyer that he had to make sure he buried the body of the two men he killed while trying to rescue her and her ex husband during the picnic.