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Death marks the end of life, but it doesn't signify the end of the body. While some view corpses with intrigue, others find them repulsive. Surprisingly, a deceased body can even foster new life.
10. Waxing of the Corpse
Adipocere, also known as corpse wax, is a fatty substance that sometimes forms during the decomposition of both humans and animals. When a body is left in damp, oxygen-deprived conditions, corpse wax can encase the remains in a fragile shell. For cemetery owners, this is troublesome as it complicates the reuse of grave plots. However, it can assist forensic experts and archaeologists in studying very old remains during autopsies.
In 1825, Italian doctor Augustus Granville performed an autopsy on the well-preserved body of a woman named Irtyersenu. His examination was as much a performance as it was a scientific endeavor. To set the scene, Granville illuminated the lecture hall with candles made from what he assumed was beeswax or bitumen used to preserve the body. Later, it was revealed that the wax was actually part of the deceased body itself.
9. State-Sanctioned Desecration
During the French Revolution, a decree was issued to destroy the tombs of French kings and queens, especially those at the Basilica of Saint Denis. On October 12, 1793, a mob determined to carry out the destruction stormed the basilica and other churchyards. However, one of the first coffins they found belonged to Henry IV. Henry, a well-loved king, was treated with a mix of curiosity, if not reverence, by the mob.
The body remained in excellent condition due to embalming. Even the stab wounds from his assassination were still visible. The intrigued crowd displayed the corpse, turning it into a spectacle for thousands who came to see the deceased monarch. For a brief moment, it seemed like the desecration would be called off due to the overwhelming demand from the public to witness the royal remains.
However, not everyone was moved by Henry's remains. One republican guard cut off the king’s mustache and wore it on his own face. Another took his beard as a souvenir. After a sarcastic remark by one of Henry's onlookers, suggesting the crowd should place the body on an altar for a miracle to occur, Henry was tossed into a mass grave. The desecration continued unabated.
Some of the bodies were centuries old and tightly sealed in tombs, which posed health risks. The stench from certain bodies was so unbearable that they resorted to boiling vinegar to mask the smell. Some individuals even contracted diseases and died before the task of eradicating the remains of the past figures could be completed.
8. Necrophilia
The Egyptian goddess Isis was believed to have used the severed penis of her slain husband, Osiris, to impregnate herself. Necrophilia was a prevalent concern among the upper classes of ancient Egypt. Embalmers were required to wait several days before embalming the bodies of noble women due to relatives’ fears that the embalmers might engage in such acts.
Those working in the funeral industry who have necrophilic tendencies often find it easy to indulge their desires. California, for a long time lacking laws against necrophilia, witnessed some bizarre cases. Karen Greenlee, a former apprentice embalmer, was believed to have had sexual relations with numerous corpses. She once took a body from a funeral procession, and was later discovered in the back of the hearse with it two days later. She was charged with unlawfully driving the hearse and disturbing a funeral. During her testimony, she admitted that the scent of freshly embalmed bodies aroused her sexually and she enjoyed blood occasionally flowing into the body’s mouth during intercourse.
7. Corpse Exhibitions
Around the world, several museums showcase the preserved, skinless bodies of human cadavers. These exhibits raise numerous ethical questions. While supporters tout them as educational, others deem them indecent. The archdiocese of Vancouver has condemned it as a disrespect to the human body. In response to planned field trips, the superintendent of Vancouver schools instituted a district-wide ban, questioning how skinless cadavers would impact children.
Despite the controversies, the body display industry is thriving. The exhibition “Body Worlds” has generated over $200 million in the past decade. However, the industry is mired in unsettling rumors. Over 10 Chinese “body factories” provide many of the display cadavers. With minimal governmental regulation, it’s uncertain where the bodies are sourced from. Museums displaying these exhibits are tight-lipped about their suppliers, and both police and universities are suspected of providing bodies. In response, the Chinese government has imposed new laws banning the import, export, and purchase of human bodies, except for research purposes.
6. Postmortem Photography
Postmortem photography became widespread during the Victorian era, just two years after the daguerreotype photography method gained popularity. The Victorians sought to capture a loved one’s “shadow” as a way of honoring their lives. It was common for these photos to include family members gathered around the deceased, posing as if they were still alive.
Initially, photography was a costly luxury accessible only to the wealthy. However, as the technology became more affordable, capturing images with the deceased became a widespread practice across all social classes. Families simply wanted a keepsake to remember their lost loved ones. The Victorians had frequent encounters with death, as infant mortality rates were high, and epidemics could easily devastate entire communities.
5. Posthumous Parents
Sperm banks have the ability to freeze sperm almost indefinitely, which opens up the possibility of having a child with someone who donated sperm and then passed away. However, sperm banks warn that the success rate of sperm frozen for more than 12 years is low. While sperm donation is widely accepted, reproductive material can also be taken from the recently deceased. Although it offers hope to some, this practice raises numerous ethical issues.
Since sperm can survive for 48 hours after death, both sperm and ovaries from the deceased are being used in infertility treatment research. The next step in this process is the potential harvesting of reproductive material from the deceased to have children with the dead. A few such births have already occurred. In one case, a Texas mother had her murdered son's sperm extracted to have and adopt a grandson through a surrogate. She received hundreds of volunteers. In another well-known case, a wife fought a protracted and highly publicized legal battle to impregnate herself using sperm taken from her deceased husband.
4. Exploding Coffins
As corpses decompose, they produce various gases due to the breakdown of the body by microorganisms. Some researchers suggest that these gases can be used to help determine the time of death. These gases accumulate inside sealed coffins. When enough gas builds up inside a sealed container, it can cause the container to burst.
Exploding coffins have been a risk ever since humans began placing their dead in caskets. While this is typically not an issue if the coffin is buried underground, numerous cases have been reported of caskets exploding when entombed in mausoleums.
In the past, London sextons would tap on coffins to help release trapped gases. However, this was not always effective. In one instance, corpse gases ignited a fire beneath St. Clement Dane’s and Wren’s Church of St. James. Corpses burned for days as a result.
Even modern mausoleums are not immune to the problem of exploding bodies, as seen when a Melbourne crypt experienced both an exploding corpse and a leaking one shortly after.
3. Severed Heads: Alive?
When the French introduced the guillotine as a method of execution, a new fascination arose regarding whether severed heads remained alive for a brief period after decapitation. Numerous experiments were conducted to find out. Researchers pricked the heads with needles, placed ammonia under their noses, and even applied solutions to their eyes to provoke a reaction. In one famous case, an executioner asked his condemned friend to signal him if the head showed signs of life after the beheading. The head was reported to have winked.
Such accounts are unlikely, according to medical experts. Even if the brain were to survive the decapitation, the sudden drop in blood pressure would induce a coma in the head.
More recent experiments on decapitated rats suggest that these animals lose consciousness about 3.7 seconds after being beheaded. But then, something unexpected happens. Approximately one minute after decapitation, the rats’ brains exhibit a phenomenon referred to as “the wave of death.” Some scientists conducting the experiment believe this is when death becomes irreversible, though others have different opinions.
2. Corpses Fly First Class
Airlines have various methods for handling in-flight deaths. Some, like Singapore Airlines, provide special cupboards for storing corpses, while others keep body bags on hand for such emergencies. However, most airlines lack dedicated facilities for handling deceased passengers.
Historically, British Airways staff would offer a vodka tonic, a newspaper, and sunglasses to a deceased passenger, pretending they were just sleeping to avoid alarming others. This practice of pretending the dead were asleep has since fallen out of favor. Instead, the deceased are moved to an empty seat with the fewest passengers nearby, often a seat in first class, due to the health risks of keeping the body close to living passengers.
In 2007, British Airways faced backlash when they apologized to first-class passengers after a corpse was moved to an empty seat while the deceased’s wife, overcome with grief, was seated beside him. Following the incident, the flight passengers were held for an hour by the police, and the airline did not offer compensation for the disturbance.
1. Public Dissections
Public dissections were a common practice in Europe, especially following the Murder Act of 1751, which mandated that all murderers be subjected to dissection after death. This act served as a significant deterrent against murder. At the time, public dissection was regarded as the ultimate disgrace. One condemned murderer, about to be dissected, remarked to a constable that his victim had fared better than he would. The constable agreed.
Because public dissection was seen as a form of desecration, friends of the condemned would often race to the gallows after a hanging. They would challenge the men tasked with recovering the bodies, sometimes leading to bloody confrontations between the two groups.
The dissection itself was a highly ritualized and theatrical event, carried out by three men. The highest-ranking doctor would sit on a raised platform above the body and read from an anatomical text to explain the process to the onlookers. The surgeon, who was responsible for the dissection, ranked second but was held in lower regard due to his direct contact with the corpse. A third man stood beside the body, pointing out various organs with a wand.
