The Science of Exploding Bodies | Mortician Explains

[00:00:00]Glasses are good. Imagine this. You are attending a funeral. Everybody's dressed in black. The organ music is playing.

[00:00:08]Someone's aunt is fake crying louder than everybody else for attention. The funeral potatoes are waiting in the church basement. And suddenly, pop.

[00:00:18]Immediately, half of you just clenched your butt cheeks because you think I'm about to tell you that dead bodies can explode like overfilled water balloons.

[00:00:27]And honestly, kind of. Hi, I'm Lauren the mortician. Yes, a real mortician.

[00:00:33]And welcome back to another morbid Monday where today we are discussing something that sounds fake. Sounds horrifying and honestly sounds like something your cousin's friend's uncle would post on Facebook with zero context at like 2:00 a.m. Can dead bodies explode? Now, before you panic and refuse to attend another funeral for the rest of your life, let me clarify something. Dead bodies are not out here spontaneously combusting and launching through caskets like haunted confetti cannons. Okay. But decomposition, oh, decomposition is dramatic because once the body dies, bacteria inside of us basically clock in for their shift.

[00:01:14]Organs begin breaking down, gases start building, pressure increases, fluids move, skin weakens, things swell, sometimes aggressively. And when you combine heat, time, pressure, and the horrifying creativity of mother nature, the human body can do some things that would absolutely get a funeral director fired if we warned families about them during arrangement conferences. Today we're talking about decomposition, gas buildup, exploding caskets, mausoleum leaks, and yes, the worst decomposition rupture story. I have personal stories.

[00:01:51]I know you guys love the personal stories. So, buckle up and let me just tell you right now, there are smells in this world that change you as a person.

[00:02:00]This is going to be sciency. This is going to be a little gross. This is going to be very educational. And unfortunately for all of us, this is also completely normal human biology. So without further ado, it's just another morbid Monday. Wo wo wo. Wish it was Friday.

[00:02:19]Death, dying, and decay. Wo wo. It's going to be a great day. Cha cha cha.

[00:02:27]Cue the intro.

[00:02:39]I love my job. All right, before we can answer whether or not dead bodies can explode, we need to first talk about what actually happens to the human body after death. Because contrary to what television has taught everybody, death is not a peaceful little Disney princess nap where somebody just magically stays perfect forever. No. The second the heart stops, the body immediately starts changing. And honestly, the human body turns into a giant science experiment shockingly fast. Now, first things first, your cells still need oxygen to survive. So once blood flow stops, cells begin dying almost immediately. The brain is one of the first organs affected, which is why brain damage starts within minutes without oxygen.

[00:03:29]But then the real chaos begins because inside your body right now, yes, you you watching, congratulations. You have trillions of bacteria living in your intestines right now, helping digest food and keeping your gut functioning normally. But once you die, those bacteria basically lose adult supervision. There's no immune system controlling them anymore. No circulation, no oxygen movement, no organ function. So bacteria begins spreading throughout the body and literally digesting tissue from the inside out. And this is where decomposition gas enters the chat. As bacteria break everything down, they release gases, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide. Which, by the way, hydrogen sulfide is part of what gives decomposition that horrific rotten egg smell that permanently alters your personality after you experience it.

[00:04:28]those gases begin building up inside of the body. Now combine that with fluids breaking down, tissue weakening, skin slipping, and internal pressure increasing and the body starts swelling.

[00:04:43]This stage is called bloat. And bloating during decomposition can become extreme depending on temperatures, body size, humidity, clothing, cause of death, how long somebody was left before they were discovered, and whether or not they were refrigerated. Heat essentially speeds everything up. That's why funeral directors, medical examiners, and removal teams all collectively panic just a little bit when somebody says, "Hey, you have a death call." and they've been dead in the house for several days and the air conditioning was off because heat turns decomposition into a horrifying fastforward button.

[00:05:24]Take it from me, bodies can literally double in size. The abdomen swells, the face swells, the neck, the tongue can protrude and also swell. See a trend here? The skin stretches really tight and gets really thin. Fluid begins purging from the mouth and the nose. And unfortunately gravity also plays a role in all of this because after death blood settles downward in the body due to gravity. This is called liver mortise or levidity. So depending on how somebody is positioned after death, certain areas may become darker, more swollen or experience more pressure buildup than others. And actually, quick side note, because I think this is something a lot of families quietly wonder about after funerals, but nobody explains it to them. If you have ever attended a viewing or a visitation and you noticed your loved one's face looked dark purple or was deeply discolored, there's a chance they may have been found face down after death or their head wasn't elevated once they were brought back to the funeral home. Because as blood pulls downward after death, that discoloration can sometimes become fixed in the tissues and that is called postmortem staining. And once that staining becomes fixed, even imbalming can't always completely reverse it. Which is why funeral directors sometimes have to use cosmetics. That's why we have an airbrush machine. Airbrush the makeup on if you're that discolored. We can also use different lighting, body positioning, and some other restorative techniques to help soften the appearance of that color discoloration as much as possible because again, biology is still biology even when we're doing everything we can to create a peaceful viewing for the family. Side note, done. But here's the important takeaway. Most people imagine decomposition as a dry skeleton slowly turning into dust. That is not reality. Decomposition is active. It's wet. It's gassy. It's messy. It's biological pressure building inside a body that no longer has functioning systems regulating anything. So, can bodies build enough pressure to rupture tissue? Absolutely. So next, naturally, we need to talk about the difference between Hollywood exploding bodies and what actually happens in real life, which I find the best way to do this is to tell you personal stories of me.

[00:07:58]Stories by Lauren, which then brings us to the most unforgettable removal I've ever been on. We got called to an unattended death in the middle of July.

[00:08:08]I don't know, but it was really hot, middle of summer. We're talking over 90° temperatures every single day. No air conditioning, hoarder house conditions, trash everywhere, and the smell hit us before we even fully opened the door.

[00:08:23]This gentleman had been deceased for several days, and the swelling of his body was unlike anything I had ever seen before in my life. He was completely naked because, of course, he was. I don't know why. Probably cuz he had no air conditioning. His entire lower half was massively swollen. His body was actually on top of this mountain of empty Mountain Dew leader. Those plastic containers of Mountain Dew he was laying on them. Upper body elevated, lower body not. And his scrotum was literally the size of two basketballs. I am not exaggerating. I wish I was. And I specifically remember the male police officers on the scene continuously looking over at me and asking, "Is that normal?" And honestly, I think they were all silently panicking, wondering if someday after they die that their baskets were going to swell up to the size of these proportions, which unfortunately for all of us, decomposition does some wild things to the human body. But wait, it gets worse.

[00:09:30]Because during the transfer when we had to place his body inside of the body bag, those basketballs I mentioned, they ruptured. Exploded. I maybe exploded isn't the right word to use, but they went pop. Yep. It got on me. No, I've never emotionally recovered from that.

[00:09:47]And that is the reality of decomposition people don't see in the movies. Not haunted funeral homes, not zombies, not bodies magically looking peaceful forever like Sleeping Beauty. just heat, bacteria, gas buildup, pressure, fluids, and time doing exactly what biology naturally does after death. Yes, I'm still scarred. All right, moving on.

[00:10:09]Let's clear something up right now because I know half of you are still watching this video sitting there thinking, "Okay, Lauren, should I be worried about my loved ones casket exploding underground?" That's normally the next question. And my answer is probably not. I would not lose sleep over that. At least not in this dramatic way people might imagine. Now, can decomposition gases and pressure build up inside of a casket? Absolutely. But underground burial usually allows decomposition and pressure changes to happen much more gradually. Where things historically became more problematic was above ground crypts and mausoleums.

[00:10:50]Because unlike underground burial, mausoleiums trap heat much more easily.

[00:10:55]And before modern ventilation systems existed, there were historical reports of mausoleiums developing horrific odors, leaking fluids, and even crypt doors cracking or pushing outward from that internal pressure buildup and decomposition gases. And this is exactly why modern mausoleums now typically require imbalming and include ventilation and drainage systems because funeral professionals learned very quickly that decomposition does not just stop because somebody is sealed inside a marble building. And if you're wondering what a mausoleum drainage system even looks like, it's usually not some giant dramatic piping system. Many modern crypts are simply designed with subtle drainage channels you can't even see or small collection areas to help manage any fluids that may naturally escape the casket over time as decomposition occurs because you cannot stop biology forever.

[00:11:58]Unfortunately, sometimes I wish I could but biology is still going to biology.

[00:12:03]Now, unfortunately for humanity, exploding dead body stories are actually not new. People have been freaking out about decomposition for centuries.

[00:12:14]Because before modern mortuary science existed, people did not understand what happened to the body after death. They just knew weird things were happening, right? Like, yeah, the bodies are swelling, their skin is darkening, fluids are leaking, mouths may open.

[00:12:31]Sometimes the bodies can make noises as those gases escape. And honestly, if I lived in the 1600s and opened a crypt to find a bloated corpse leaking fluid and making sounds, I too probably would have started accusing somebody of vampirism, which is exactly part of where vampire folklore actually came from. Did you know that? But no Edward Cullen moment here, unfortunately. Glitter, glitter, sparkle, sparkle. In many cultures, when graves were reopened during outbreaks of disease or famine, people would find bodies in the bloated stage of decomposition. And because those decomposition gases cause swelling, the bodies often looked larger, fuller, and strangely alive. Sometimes dark purge fluid coming from the mouth was mistaken for fresh blood, which led people to genuinely believe the dead were feeding on the living. Meanwhile, decomposition was just doing decomposition things.

[00:13:34]Science was losing badly to superstition. And honestly, people are still fascinated by decomposition pressure today. If you've spent more than 12 seconds on Tik Tok lately, you've probably seen videos of bloated whales washing up on beaches. Those videos are real. And marine biologists actually warn people not to get too close to the whale carcasses because decomposition gases inside the whale can build up massive amounts of pressure, which means yes, they can rupture violently. Now, thankfully, I could not find confirmed cases of somebody actually dying from a naturally exploding whale. Yes, I checked. But people have absolutely been injured by debris and flying tissue from whale ruptures and disposal attempts over the years. The most famous example happened in Oregon in 1970 when officials decided the best way to dispose of a massive dead whale on the beach was apparently what if we use dynamite and absolutely no critical thinking skills cuz why not?

[00:14:44]Which somehow did not go well. They packed the whale with explosives, detonated it, and launched whale chunks all over the beach, nearby cars, and spectators, which honestly feels like the exact kind of idea a group of men in the 1970s would confidently approve while smoking cigarettes around explosives. And the reason whales rupture is actually very similar to what happens during human decomposition. gas pressure bacteria heat time just on a much larger scale. Because as decomposition gases build inside the whale, pressure increases inside the tissue and body cavities until eventually something gives. And honestly, watching these bloated whale videos online is one of the closest visual examples people can see of just how dramatic decomposition pressure can become in organic tissue. Nature is horrifying. Educational, but horrifying.

[00:15:42]And I don't know about you, but when I see those whale videos, I cannot look away. Humans have been disturbed by decomposition pressure for centuries. I of course had to look into the history to see if I could find any famous cases.

[00:15:56]One of the most infamous historical examples happened during the funeral of William the Conqueror in 1087. Now, apparently after his death, political chaos delayed the funeral long enough for decomposition to become a serious issue. And because refrigeration and modern imbalming did not exist yet, his body had significantly swollen by the time of his burial, which became a problem when the attendants attempted to force him into a stone sarcophagus that was reportedly too small. And according to historical accounts, the pressure that they put on his body caused his abdomen to rupture during the funeral ceremony inside the church in front of the congregation, which released an overwhelming odor that reportedly sent people fleeing. Now, the same thing happened in later historical accounts involving King Henry VIII, whose coffin reportedly leaked decomposition fluids during transport after his death. And then there's also like a sidebar where dogs were like licking up the remnants on the street. I don't know. I hope that's not true. Now, centuries later, people interpreted stories like this as divine punishment, bad omens, or supernatural signs. But realistically, this was advanced decomposition, heat, gas buildup, delayed burial, and bodies that were no longer physically stable.

[00:17:22]But what's even wilder to me is that William the Conqueror died again in 1087. That was nearly 1,000 years ago.

[00:17:32]And out of everything people could have remembered about this man's funeral for almost a millennium, what survived history was basically, yeah, the body burst open and the smell was horrific a thousand years later. And that's what people remember because humans really have always been disturbed by body decomposition and they love turning these stories into mythology. But most of the time, the explanation is just biology. All right, so I know you're dying to know. What do funeral directors actually do to prevent human decomposition from turning into a full biological horror movie? I'm so glad you asked. A huge part of modern funeral service is simply slowing nature down long enough for families to say goodbye safely and respectfully. Because contrary to popular belief, imbalming does not preserve someone forever. I wish it did, but it doesn't. I know Hollywood loves making imbalming sound magical and like it's an eternal preservation potion. It is not.

[00:18:36]Inbalming is temporary. Preservation temporary class. Say it with me.

[00:18:42]Inbalming is temporary. Its main goals are sanitation, slowing decomposition, reducing odor, disinfecting the body, and creating a more peaceful appearance for viewing and visitation. Because decomposition starts immediately, especially with heat. Don't forget the heat, which is why one of the most important tools in funeral service is refrigeration. Refrigeration slows bacterial activity significantly. Heat speeds decomposition up. Cold cools it down. Simple. I love it. And this is also why funeral homes move quickly when someone has been deceased for a period of time in a warm environment. I scarred you with my story earlier, didn't I?

[00:19:23]You're always going to remember heat bad, cold good, basketball's bad, or exploding basketballs no good. Now, during inbalming, funeral directors use preservative chemicals and arterial injection to help slow bacterial breakdown and reduce some of the internal decomposition happening inside the body. Now, another thing imbalmer pay attention to is pressure and purge.

[00:19:46]Why do I keep counting with my fingers?

[00:19:48]It is what it is. Because decomposition gases and fluids continue developing after death, which means we imbalmer sometimes have to aspirate those gases out. We have to treat those areas of swelling. We have to manage leakage and monitor the body really closely before the funeral. Now, I know there's somebody here who wants to know what aspirating means. So, I'm going to tell you. It basically means we use a special imbalming tool called a troar. I know it looks scary. I promise it's not. It's essentially a long suction instrument to remove gases and fluids from inside the abdomen and in your organs. And I guess it can kind of sound scary, but I just want you to know the purpose is to reduce that pressure buildup. We have to get rid of the gases. We need to slow internal decomposition and help prevent any further swelling and purge. Because if you leave all of those gases and fluids building inside the body unchecked, nature will eventually come back to bite you in the butt. And trust me, we funeral directors prefer to stay ahead of that situation. Basically, mortuary science is part chemistry, part anatomy, part art, and part dear God, please don't let anything leak during this visitation. This is why I have anxiety issues. Ah, and I truly believe people would probably respect funeral directors a lot more if they understood how much behind the scene problem solving goes into making funerals peaceful for families because families deserve to remember their loved ones with dignity, not the realities of active decomposition. That is a burden funeral workers quietly carry for people every single day. And despite all of the dark humor we use to cope in this profession, at the center of it is still care. Care for families, care for the deceased, and sometimes care for ourselves. Because once you've had decomposed scrotum juice hit you during a removal right in the face, you realize therapy should probably be included in mortuary school tuition. All right, class. So, after all of that horrifying science talk, let's answer the question one final time. Can dead bodies explode?

[00:22:04]Technically, yes and no. If by explode you mean some giant Hollywood style detonation where a corpse suddenly bursts across a room like a horror movie, no. That is not typically how human decomposition works. But if by explode you mean pressure buildup, rupturing tissue, gases expanding, caskets failing, crypts leaking, organs breaking down, fluids escaping, or body parts literally bursting under decomposition pressure. Then yes, absolutely. Because death is physical and I think that's the part people struggle with the most. We want death to feel peaceful, clean, still, this beautiful thing. But the human body after death is still and will always be biology. And biology can be messy. And honestly, decomposition is one of the most brutal reminders that humans are still animals. Very intelligent animals with taxes and anxiety disorders, but animals nonetheless. The body follows chemistry, not human feelings. And weirdly enough, I think understanding decomposition actually makes death less scary. Do you think so? I do. Because once you understand the science, you realize these changes are not supernatural. They're not signs somebody is suffering. They're not paranormal.

[00:23:26]They're not punishment. They are simply the natural processes that happen after life ends. Funeral service exists because humans deserve dignity while nature does what nature does. That's really what mortuary science is. Helping families navigate the biological realities of death with as much care, respect, peace, and love as possible.

[00:23:49]Even when behind the scenes were fighting decomposition gases like underpaid biohazard cowboys. Yeehaw.

[00:23:56]Now, I want to know in the comments, what is the weirdest decomposition fact you have ever heard? I love reading your questions. I have a like a running list saved in my phone. And now we're going to move into the Q&A of questions I've read from you guys that you're dying to know. So, first one, this is actually a really sweet question. Is it safe to kiss your loved ones goodbye after they've been imbalmed or when they're frozen? And the answer is generally yes.

[00:24:25]If your loved one has been prepared for a viewing by a funeral home, they have usually been disinfected, bathed, cleaned, and cared for before you ever see them. Now, are they going to feel cold to the touch? Absolutely. And I think that that can be really shocking for people if they've never experienced it before because our brains associate warmth with life. I still remember the very first time I touched a dead body as a child. Now, I grew up in a funeral home, so I was always around death constantly. I saw my dad working as a funeral director. I saw removals, funerals, visitations, all of it. Well, mostly all of it. I was definitely not allowed in the imbalming room. But the first person I ever physically touched after death was actually my great grandma. And I remember leaning down to kiss her goodbye and being caught completely offguard by how cold she felt. And it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it yourself. It doesn't feel like a sleeping person. It just feels different. And as a child, I remember that moment sticking with me because it was the first time my brain fully understood, oh, she's really gone.

[00:25:36]Now, from a safety standpoint, funeral homes are taking precautions to make viewings as safe as possible for families. And I actually remember inbalming with a man during my internship who had been inbalming for decades. An old-timer, if you will. We had just finished imbalming and washing the body. And suddenly he just rips his gloves off. And I looked at him and I said, "What are you doing?" And he goes, "Well, the body's sanitized now. We've imbalmed him, so I don't wear my plastic gloves after imbalming." Sir, I kept my gloves on. And listen, maybe he was technically comfortable with that after years in the profession, but I personally was not trying to raw dog imbalming chemicals and bodily fluids with my bare hands. Absolutely not. And I also think there may have been a reason this man could barely fully open and close his hands anymore after decades of imbalming because inbalming chemicals are literally no joke. So yes, funeral homes absolutely sanitize and care for the body, but funeral professionals themselves are still using supposed to be using universal precautions and protective equipment while preparing someone behind the scenes. And if kissing your loved one goodbye brings you comfort, you should never feel weird about that. Humans have cared for and physically touched their dead loved ones for thousands of years.

[00:26:56]Holding their hand, brushing their hair, kissing their forehead goodbye. That's not strange. That's human. Okay, this next one is another really good question. Are body bags flame resistant or do they cremate with the body inside of the crematory? For the most part, yes. The body bag cremates with the body. The plastic material itself does burn during cremation. Now, there can be small metal remnants left behind afterward that were attached to the plastic body bag. Usually, things like zipper pieces or the metal fasteners that attach the handles to the body bag.

[00:27:36]They look like large metal coins and they attached the handles to the bag. So after cremation, we sort through the bones and remove those metal remnants during processing just like we would remove medical hardware or other non-combustible materials. Now, one thing people may not realize is that crematories also have to think about airflow and smoke production very carefully when we're cremating somebody because if too many synthetic materials, maybe fluffy fabrics, pillows, or certain items go into the crematory chamber, you can end up producing thick black smoke that can come and shoot out of the top of the stack, the retort stack on the roof. And trust me, nobody wants to see black smoke shooting out of the stack because then poor little old Mildrid driving by is going to have a heart attack and think the funeral home is actively on fire. So guess what she'll do? She'll call 911 and then the fire department will show up and yes, these big hunky men will show up and they're not going to be very happy because there will be no fire for them to put out. So So crematories try to limit extra materials that create excessive smoke or residue.

[00:28:47]So, if you've tried to put things in with your loved one before they're cremated and the funeral director says, "I'm sorry, we can't cremate that."

[00:28:53]There's a reason. Leather especially is one of those materials that we avoid at all costs because it does not burn well.

[00:29:00]It doesn't cremate. It actually leaves this like green residue on the bottom of the retort floor. Am I getting off topic? But anyways, standard body bags themselves, yes, absolutely they cremate. All right, guys. That's all the time I have. So, if you learned something new today, please like and subscribe. Turn on that notification bell because apparently my coping mechanism is turning decomposition trauma into educational content for the internet. Yay. And before you leave, it is officially time for your weekly mangle kisses. Because after discussing exploding bodies, ruptured scrotums, leaking crypts, exploding whales, and nearly 1,000 years of decomposition horror stories, we all deserve emotional support from our favorite pug. Let me go find her. Hold on. She's dying to see you.

[00:29:49]And a Lola. Oh my goodness. Double the loves. Oh no. Lola dipped. Oh my goodness.

[00:29:57]Ma'am, kisses, love, affection.

[00:30:01]Say thank you for watching. We love you.

[00:30:05]Okay. Ow. We'll see you next week. Bye.

[00:30:09]All right.