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Ways People Have Disposed Bodies
The Infographics Show
Overview
This video explores various methods people have historically and hypothetically used to dispose of human bodies, ranging from traditional burial and burning to more extreme measures like acid dissolution, woodchippers, ocean dumping, feeding to animals, molten metal, and a modern process called promession. Each method is discussed with its practicalities, potential pitfalls, and effectiveness in concealing evidence, often referencing pop culture examples. The overarching theme is the challenge of completely and permanently eliminating a body to avoid detection.
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Chapters
- Disposing of a body presents a significant challenge due to the need to avoid detection by law enforcement.
- Various scenarios, from accidental death to foul play, necessitate body disposal.
- Effective disposal methods must overcome evidence of identity and prevent future discovery.
Understanding the fundamental challenges of body disposal highlights the importance of forensic science and investigative techniques in solving crimes.
The hypothetical scenarios of cloning mishaps or dealing with a deceased boss set a relatable, albeit dark, context for the problem.
- Burying a body six feet deep is a traditional method aimed at preventing discovery by scavengers or accidental digging.
- Burying on private property offers control but carries risks if ownership changes.
- Alternative burial sites include utility ditches or reusing existing graves to avoid fresh digging.
- Methods to deter detection include scattering natural debris, burying decoy animals, or placing the body deeper than a new grave.
This chapter illustrates how common, seemingly simple methods like burial require careful planning to be effective against modern investigative capabilities.
Burying a body in a freshly dug utility ditch is a concrete example because the danger of severing vital lines deters excavation.
- Burning can destroy identifying characteristics but is fraught with practical difficulties.
- Uncontrolled burning produces noticeable smells and smoke, attracting unwanted attention.
- Human bodies contain significant water, making complete cremation difficult without extremely high temperatures, often leaving bone fragments.
- Teeth are particularly resilient and can survive burning, posing an identification risk.
This section demonstrates that even methods that seem destructive, like burning, have inherent limitations that can leave crucial evidence behind.
Crematoriums require temperatures of a thousand degrees to ensure full cremation, highlighting the difficulty of achieving this with makeshift fires.
- Acids like hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acid can dissolve flesh but are slow, produce dangerous fumes, and require large quantities that raise suspicion.
- Over-the-counter drain cleaners, containing sodium hydroxide, are presented as a more accessible alternative for dissolving organic matter.
- Dissolving a body with chemicals often leaves behind a skeleton that may still require further disposal.
- Acquiring large amounts of potent chemicals can be a significant red flag during investigations.
This chapter explores chemical methods, showing how readily available substances can be potent but also how their use can create its own set of investigative leads.
Using drain cleaner with sodium hydroxide is a concrete example because it's an accessible product designed to break down organic waste.
- Woodchippers can reduce a body to small pieces but create a high-speed aerosol of blood and DNA evidence, making discovery likely.
- Dumping a body at sea is preferred over freshwater due to less activity, but buoyancy can cause bodies to resurface.
- Proper ocean disposal involves tightly wrapping the body with heavy materials (like wire) to prevent decomposition and ensure it stays submerged, ideally far offshore.
These methods highlight the challenges of physical destruction and the environmental factors that can thwart even elaborate disposal plans.
Wrapping a body with metal wire to prevent limbs from separating and to add weight for sinking in the ocean is a specific technique discussed.
- Pigs have a powerful appetite and can consume a human body, but bone fragments and teeth may remain and can be found in their waste.
- Molten metal in industrial smelters or lava from active volcanoes can completely incinerate a body, leaving no trace.
- Transporting a body to a volcano might involve chopping it into smaller, manageable pieces and freezing them for easier transport.
This section examines disposal through consumption by animals and extreme heat, illustrating the effectiveness of natural processes and extreme industrial applications.
The example of an Oregon farmer being eaten by his pigs, leaving only dentures and small bone fragments, illustrates the effectiveness and limitations of this method.
- Promession is a modern process that reduces a body to a freeze-dried powder.
- The process involves freezing the body in liquid nitrogen, vibrating it into fragments, and then freeze-drying the material.
- The resulting powder is easily disposable and virtually impossible to identify.
- This method requires specialized industrial equipment.
Promession represents a futuristic, highly effective method of body disposal that aims for complete obliteration and anonymization.
Freezing a body in liquid nitrogen and then vibrating it until it disintegrates into powder is the core technique of promession.
Key takeaways
- Traditional burial methods require careful consideration of depth and location to prevent discovery.
- Burning a body is difficult to do completely and can leave significant evidence, such as teeth and bone fragments.
- Chemical dissolution can be effective but often requires large quantities of substances that attract attention or produce dangerous fumes.
- Aquatic disposal requires overcoming the body's natural buoyancy and ensuring it remains submerged in deep water.
- Animal consumption, like feeding to pigs, can be thorough but may still leave behind hard evidence like teeth and bone fragments.
- Extreme heat, such as molten metal or lava, offers complete incineration but requires access to specialized or dangerous environments.
- Modern processes like promession aim for complete physical disintegration into an unidentifiable powder.
Key terms
Body DisposalSix Feet UnderCremationHydrofluoric AcidHydrochloric AcidSodium HydroxideBuoyancyPromessionLiquid NitrogenForensic Evidence
Test your understanding
- What are the primary challenges associated with burying a body to prevent its discovery?
- Why is simple burning often an insufficient method for complete body disposal?
- How do chemicals like sodium hydroxide differ from strong acids in their effectiveness and risks for body disposal?
- What specific measures are necessary to ensure a body remains submerged when disposed of in the ocean?
- What are the potential drawbacks of using animals, such as pigs, for body disposal, even if they consume most of the body?