A body feels hard at a funeral primarily due to rigor mortis, the natural stiffening of muscles after death from a lack of ATP, and often due to embalming, a process using formaldehyde that hardens tissues to preserve the body, making it feel firm, sometimes waxy, and difficult to move, creating a tactile and visual difference from how we remember the living person.
Embalmed bodies feel hard because chemical fixation replaces or cross-links the soft, water-rich tissues that normally give the body a pliant, elastic texture. Key mechanisms: Protein cross-linking.
Rigor mortis generally disappears 36 hours after death, followed by a phase known as secondary flaccidity. The late post-mortem phase is when the body tissue starts disintegrating and is primarily describable as decomposition or putrefaction, adipocere formation, mummification, or skeletonization.
“There's a common misconception that dead people are very stiff,” says Amy. “But actually embalming stiffens people. If you are dressing someone who has been cared for naturally, they don't feel stiff.”
Cremation turns the body of someone who has died into ashes. This is only done after a person has died, so they do not see or feel anything.
“The Lazarus Syndrome.” This can happen, but this sort of thing is REALLY rare, but if you read the article, the family just placed her in a coffin with no medical personnel actually pronouncing her before the brother brought her to the crematorium.
While some DNA may remain in cremated ashes, the intense heat of the cremation process typically destroys most genetic material. As a result, the amount of DNA present in cremated remains is minimal and may not be suitable for genetic testing or analysis.
The Real: Embalming and Preservation
This can entail treatments with embalming fluids, makeup, and reacting to how the body acts after death. A loved one's body weight, medications before death, cause of death, and more can affect how they look in their casket. During the funeral, the body is likely stiff.
These results have shown that the liver decomposed faster than the stomach. This differential decomposition rates between the two gastrointestinal organs avail more insights to a forensic anatomist to carry out a more accurate PMI using soft tissues.
Facial features are set by putting cotton in the nose, eye caps below the eyelids, and a mouth-former in the mouth, with cotton or gauze in the throat to absorb purging fluids. The mouth is then tied shut with wire or sutures. Glue may be used on the eyelids or lips to keep them closed in an appropriate pose.
The stages of death include: Pallor mortis: The main change that occurs is increased paleness because of the suspension of blood circulation. This is the first sign and occurs quickly, within 15-30 minutes of death.
Your muscles loosen immediately after death, releasing any strain on your bowel and bladder. As a result, most people poop and pee at death. Your skin may also sag, making it easier to see your bone structure beneath.
It's Cornea of the eyes. The cornea of the eye can remain viable for up to 7 days after death.
Natural Changes: After death, the body goes through various natural changes. The lower extremities, particularly the legs and feet, may show signs of swelling or discoloration that are harder to address through embalming. Covering these areas helps maintain a more peaceful appearance.
Before embalming the body, it is washed in a disinfectant solution. The embalming solution is itself a disinfect as it is made with formaldehyde-based chemical solutions. All of the body fluids are also removed in the embalming process. This, according to the director, drastically reduces the smell factor.
No, eyes are not removed during the embalming process. Instead, the eyes are typically closed and often small caps that fit over the eyeball are used beneath the eyelids to maintain the natural curvature and appearance of the eyes as the body dehydrates.
For the first few minutes of the postmortem period, brain cells may survive. The heart can keep beating without its blood supply. A healthy liver continues breaking down alcohol. And if a technician strikes your thigh above the kneecap, your leg likely kicks, just as it did at your last reflex test with a physician.
Everyone will die at some point. But there is no certainty as to when or how it will happen. A conscious dying person can know if they are on the verge of dying. Some feel immense pain for hours before dying, while others die in seconds.
These unpleasant odors increase during active decay, which typically begins seven to 10 days postmortem. In this stage, also called putrefaction, bacteria and other microbes multiply and break down the body's tissues. As tissues liquefy, fluids escape and bacteria produce gases that cause pungent odors.
People nearing death may report encounters with people who are already deceased or describe having been places or seen things not visible to others. These experiences, often referred to as visions or hallucinations, are not typically a drug reaction or mental illness.
The hardest deaths to grieve often involve a child, a spouse/life partner, or a loss due to suicide or homicide, as these challenge fundamental beliefs about life's order, shatter primary support systems, or add layers of trauma, guilt, and unanswered questions, leading to potentially complicated grief. However, grief is deeply personal, and the "hardest" loss is ultimately the one that feels most significant to the individual.
Generally, the body is dressed in clothing before being placed in a casket or cremation container for the cremation process. Families often include items in the cremation container, such as religious objects and flowers.
Human teeth resist burning during cremation because of their calcium phosphate composition, requiring extremely high temperatures for full incineration. Teeth and some bones often remain intact. Cremation starts with soft tissues burning, and the entire process lasts about 2-3 hours.
Sulfur and most carbon are lost as gases although a relatively small amount of carbon may remain as carbonate. The actual ashes are thus useless as they will not contain DNA. It is the bones and teeth that could potentially hold some DNA viable for analysis.
Taking ashes abroad
Some countries are making it easier than others to travel with ashes, there are several steps you can take to ensure that you will not experience any issues when travelling: You should obtain a special Overseas Certificate from the crematorium. Bring a Certified Copy of the Death Certificate.