Comments on: “A Day at the Spa”

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 17:37:39 +0000

Eeee. I posted a comment and I screwed up one of the tags. I meant to say…
Ew. When I was sitting here reading it felt like I was splashed in the face. Bah, the tricks my mind plays on me.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 02:30:51 +0000

Your story reminded me of an incident at the mortuary.
We had this lady that was as grey as clay. I had seen alot of
funky colors on bodies but this one was just grey. She was shiny
like a snail. Smelled not so good which was expected but it was to
be expected. Her face looked like it was melted and was the usual putrid
smell. She looked like she was slithering by the shape of her body. When I pulled her arm out of the area it had settled into it made the sound like a shoe sucking out of the mud. Got the rings off and I let go and it slid
right back into its formed chamber of mush all on its own. We took off our gloves and I zipped up the bag and when I did that a very large sample of the grey lady completely coated my finger. It looked like I dipped it into the frosting bowl.. (Funny thing a germ o phobe works at a mortuary..haha.)
I had grey lady finger syndrome for at least three weeks. I must have washed it a thousand times.

And I always loved the sloshy autopsied bodies at the morgue that are super wet and whenever someone would move them you could feel the little splashes on your face. Like you it was all about keeping the mouth
shut and the eyes closed. =)

By: Judy Chant

Judy Chant — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 09:06:51 +0000

What would be the effect, better or worse than a spa, on a cadaver in a shower that has been left running on tepid to cold temperature for say 12 to 24 hours? Besides rigor, would the purged bowel and bladder contents wash away (presuming the body did not block the drain) to make it more satisfactory for yourself and the funeral officers?

Judy:

Fortunately, “purged bowel and bladder contents” are more often the exception than the rule, so odds are good that there wouldn’t be either. In the scenario you present, I would expect them to wash down the drain. I’d also expect colder temperature water to preserve the body a little better and hotter water to cause skin slippage. Parts of the body located in any standing water would wrinkle up and the skin would slip more easily when moved. Choosing between a shower and a spa, I’d rather remove a body from a shower with fecal matter present than remove one from a hot tub without fecal matter present. The spa makes for a much nastier sight and smell and my gloves only go up to my wrist.

Thanks for the comment.

A Douglas

By: Brooke

Brooke — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 22:47:01 +0000

EEEeeeewwwwwww!!!!!! I can handle straight out blood, guts and ‘regular’ gore; but the idea of human soup splashing around and/or ON someone has definitely given me a strong case of nausea! Too bad you can’t carry around a full-sized shower stall w/hot water & a strong disinfectant-laden body wash. ;0p

By: Spike

Spike — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:43:04 +0000

Read your archives. Great blog subject and well written. Looking forward to more gruesome details and gallows humour.

By: Dot Bar

Dot Bar — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 03:45:10 +0000

And here I thought you were shunning me. You may be sorry to know you added to my pre-existing complex condition! But I forgive you now. Gruesome good fun here as per usual! Well, as long as I don’t actually know the ‘body’, that is! Then its goreous..I made that word up. Get it? gore–eous…a kind of take-off on “gloreous”…(You have to admit, I have one heck of a sense of humor!)

By: Terri

Terri — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 19:46:51 +0000

Mmmmmm… Human soup

I thought you were going to say you fell into the water face first (but getting splashed was gross enough)… I’m curious… What’s the most common cause of death for an adult in a hot tub?

Terri:

Ultimately the death is determined to be a natural event or drug/alcohol related after completion of an autopsy (to rule out drowning).

A Douglas

By: Anne Marie

Anne Marie — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 20:00:45 +0000

I was curious as how the adults drowned in the hot tubs? I wondered if they just had a heart attacks or did they get suctioned into the jets?

Anne Marie:

Usually just heart attacks. I’ve never noticed any areas of the skin or seen clothing that was pulled into the water inlet for the jets. That’s probably a greater risk for smaller children and hopefully one that has been anticipated by manufacturers.

A Douglas