Dead body smell <<GRAPHIC>>

[theweakerbrother]

In the cool trashy novels I've read, I heard about the Vicks thing. Fact check your novels before applying real world application. Also, this thread makes me want to vomit.

 

[jason867]

True...went from "Hmm... what's this, Oh guy blew his brains out" to "and now I want a BLT with a side of bacon" only 2 pages later.

PS: Love the Slinkies!

actually I read it like this:

I had to go in and figure out how much repairs would cost from his guts that splattered all over the wall from his body bloating to about twice it's normal size and popping after being dead in the summer heat for two weeks (no AC).

I guess you can read it different ways though...

 

[Lex Concord]

Thanks for the reminder to drop some Vick's vapo rub into the BoBs

 

[TiminMishawaka]

You got it Jason. Figured I'd leave a little to the imagination...lol

He was what we call a "popper".

 

[jason867]

So do you know if it's like a violent "KURSPLAATT!" or more of a "pssst...."

 

[Joe Williams]

So do you know if it's like a violent "KURSPLAATT!" or more of a "pssst...."

Take note of the spots all over the walls where "stuff" had to be cleaned off in the photos. Then picture a balloon popping. A body balloon.

 

[jason867]

lol

 

[NordicHeathenVinlander]

Best bet is to flee the cities... They will be a central hub for violence, dead bodies and the spread of diseases at a rabid pace.


Think Black plague of Europe

 

[longbow]

I've smelled alot of dead animals that were bloated.

Sadly I have smelled several fresh dead and crushed people

 

[Greenmonsta79]

Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust who knew talking about bloated maggot infested corpses smell like could be so much fun! Just hope I never have to smell any, I remember watching the movie Jarhead and the part when he sits down around with the charred corpses and just vomits yeah that would probably pretty much sum it up!

 

[E5RANGER375]

burnt flesh smells is even worse and makes me wanna puke. its like a sweet burt smell that wants to stay in the top of your throat and the smoke will make you cough forever and a day. ive smelled lots of dead bodies and the fresh burt ones were the worse for me at least. You do get a tollerance to it, but it still sucks.

either smell you'll never forget thats for sure. and it just soaks into anything in the general area.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I was in an apartment where someone had been for a few days and the body was gone but the smell was something else. IMO, it was nothing like I have really smelled before or since and have no desire to do again. Also, in a real SHTF scenario you will want to avoid all dead bodies for fear of disease and if they happen in your area then you need to find a way of disposal soon.

Which diseases can be spread by dead bodies? Virtually all normally transmissible human diseases, particularly the especially virulent ones, die within a short period of the host dying.

I'm not trying to be flip here, I know that intestinal flora and fauna are potentially dangerous from both living and dead animals/people, and water contamination from decaying corpses can be an issue, but other than that a decaying body laying in the street isn't especially dangerous from the standpoint of disease that I know of. Living people who are sick are far more dangerous than dead ones as far as I know, but if someone knows different I'd love to further my education on it. There have been situations where some pathogens can survive in human hosts for several days after death in situations of low temperature, but generally once putrefaction occurs those organisms are gone.

Natural disasters, corpses and the risk of infectious diseases

 

[E5RANGER375]

i think a bigger threat would be eating the animals who are feeding off of the dead bodies. if you can avoid the dead bodies then thats your best bet. i certainly wouldnt be burying them or letting them sit close to my bug out location, or else you could taint your water supply.

 

[ihateiraq]

burnt flesh smells is even worse and makes me wanna puke. its like a sweet burt smell that wants to stay in the top of your throat and the smoke will make you cough forever and a day. ive smelled lots of dead bodies and the fresh burt ones were the worse for me at least. You do get a tollerance to it, but it still sucks.

either smell you'll never forget thats for sure. and it just soaks into anything in the general area.

i always heard that was the worst smell imaginable, but ive smelled it on a few occasions, and it wasnt all that bad. i actually emailed the company that makes those little trees and asked for a "burnt human corpse" scented tree. i still havent heard back from them.

 

[irishfan]

Which diseases can be spread by dead bodies? Virtually all normally transmissible human diseases, particularly the especially virulent ones, die within a short period of the host dying.

I'm not trying to be flip here, I know that intestinal flora and fauna are potentially dangerous from both living and dead animals/people, and water contamination from decaying corpses can be an issue, but other than that a decaying body laying in the street isn't especially dangerous from the standpoint of disease that I know of. Living people who are sick are far more dangerous than dead ones as far as I know, but if someone knows different I'd love to further my education on it. There have been situations where some pathogens can survive in human hosts for several days after death in situations of low temperature, but generally once putrefaction occurs those organisms are gone.

Natural disasters, corpses and the risk of infectious diseases

I am not a professional that deals with these situations as you have knowledge but the way I have read about death in large amounts in a confined area leads to the spread of disease. I am not saying that somebody being dead in an area 10 blocks away is harmful but several in the same area can cause problems. Also, the infestation of rats and other animals to me would increase to eat on the dead bodies which also increases the spread of disease because of contact with these animals. You are correct about the dead bodies themselves not causing the passing of disease unless direct contact occurs.

 

[shibumiseeker]

i always heard that was the worst smell imaginable, but ive smelled it on a few occasions, and it wasnt all that bad. i actually emailed the company that makes those little trees and asked for a "burnt human corpse" scented tree. i still havent heard back from them.

The first time I ever smelled it it triggered vague hunger reactions because that was before I saw the victim and it has that slightly sweet smell of roasted pork. Now it's the opposite way around: burnt pork kills my appetite, especially if I am looking at the carcass. Smell is a powerful trigger. Luckily pulled pork and BBQ don't trigger that reaction, cuz I loves BBQ!

As far as people go, I stopped most of the black humor a long time ago. Some deaths I've witnessed bother me, most don't unless I think too hard about them. Professional detachment gets more professional and less of an act the more you deal with it.

 

[ihateiraq]

As far as people go, I stopped most of the black humor a long time ago.

if you cant laugh at a fried human being, what can you laugh at?

 

[E5RANGER375]

if you cant laugh at a fried human being, what can you laugh at?

see im the opposite of you. id rather smell a non-burnt corpse than a burt one. different strokes for different folks i guess

 

[shibumiseeker]

if you cant laugh at a fried human being, what can you laugh at?

Eh, I don't begrudge other folks their humor, but for me the dead fall into 5 general categories: The truly stupid whose deaths were the result of their own stupidity. I find that pathetic but not humorous. The better off dead. These are folks like drunk drivers, an enemy who is trying to harm me, or truly evil people the world is much better off without. I get a grim satisfaction that they are dead. Then there is the folks who've lived a good long life and their deaths are part of the natural progression. If I'm close to them, I mourn. If I am not, then I sympathize with the families and friends who have lost. Then there are the innocent who are struck down by whatever long before their natural life would have ended. Those I mourn or sympathize with families even more. Then there are those whose passing is little noted or mourned by anyone. I don't really think much about those except in the abstract about how sad it is to have lived life in such a manner.

I can have dark humor moments in a general sense, but anymore when I'm confronted with it I don't have much humor about it. But like I said, I don't begrudge other folks theirs, we each deal (or not deal) with death in our own way.

 

[Angie]

I remember going to the wild cat rescue a couple of years ago.As we were leaving a farmer had just brought in a cow that had died.They started cutting it up and it had been dead for awhile.Holy Cow!! That was the worst smell ever! I still remember it like it was yesterday!