What’s growing on the Body Farm?
Danielle L Korgenski
SLCC Introduction to Mortuary Science
I chose to write my paper on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Forensic Anthropology Center known to many as “the body farm.” The program began with the arrival of Dr. William M. Bass in 1971 to The University of Tennessee Knoxville. He oversaw the development of the discipline at UTK, which culminated with the creation of the Forensic Anthropology Center within the Department of Anthropology, and many resources for students, researchers, and law enforcement agencies.
Human identification services have now been provided through the State Medical Examiner System for the District Attorney General's Office, arson investigators, and various states, local, and national law enforcement agencies and county medical examiners for almost thirty years.
What’s growing at the Body Farm?
One would expect a strolling group of students to demonstrate elated displeasure stumbling upon a human corpse in the woods; especially a decedent as fragrant and festering as that which was found on a hot August afternoon in Knoxville, Tennessee. From a short distance away the male figure appeared to be sleeping among the flowers and squirrels, draped over shrubs and rocks on the ground. However, something about his unconventional pose recalled a sense of hopeless finality in the body language of the deceased. (Andrews, 1986)
The body Farm where the air smells sickeningly sweet and heavy with the scent of honeysuckle and death. Where corpses rot in the open air to advance human knowledge is located on a wooded hillside an easy three minute walk from the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. The facility was founded in 1981 by Dr. Bill Blass, a professor of anthropology at the university. Anthropology is the study of humankind, culturally and physically, in all times and places. Forensic Anthropology is the application of anthropological knowledge and techniques in a legal context. This involves detailed knowledge of osteology (skeletal anatomy and biology) to aid in the identification and cause of death of skeletal remains, as well as the recovery of remains using archaeological techniques. (Andrews, 1986)
Before the Body farm was established, information on human decay was astonishingly unsubstantial, leaving criminal investigators unable to determine an abandoned body’s time of death. During his time as an anthropologist in Kansas, Dr. Bass examined many human remains in skeletal form, but when he arrived in Tennessee in 1971 and was asked to serve as the forensic anthropologist for the state medical examiner’s office, he saw mostly decomposing bodies. The police wanted him to tell them how long the remains had been at the crime scene. He claims he didn’t know anything about maggot-covered bodies and was unsuccessful in locating any information that had been written in books or literature. Confounded, he decided in order to assist the law effectively, especially in criminal investigations he needed to educate himself about how bodied decompose. (Service, 2000)
In the language of forensics, decomposition transforms our biological structures into simple organic and inorganic building blocks that plants and animals can use. (Scientific American, 2005, Page 36)
Four main factors affect the pace and completeness of decay. The most important is temperature: the rate of chemical reactions in a cadaver doubles with each 10 degree Celsius rise. Humidity or water from the environment buffers those reactions, slowing their effects. Extreme acidity or alkalinity hastens how quickly enzymes degrade biological molecules—although again, the presence of ample water can mediate the effects. Finally, anything that blocks exposure to oxygen, such as burial, submersion or high altitude, will slow decomposition. Depending on the interplay of these four factors, the body can turn into a skeleton as rapidly as two weeks or take more than two years. (Dust to Dust, Scientific American Magazine, 2005)
Dr. Bass convinced the University Administration to set aside over an acre of woodland for his research. Many anthropology students at the University of Tennessee have been fascinated with the decay research conducted at the Body Farm. A large amount of bodies occupy the facility due to unclaimed remains from the nearby medical center, as well as those from persons who have donated their bodies to science in the name of forensic research. (Andrews, 1986)
When the deceased are enshrined into the fields, each is assigned an anonymous identification number. Some are placed to provide interesting decomposition trajectory, while other bodies are used to reconstruct specific situations for police investigations. At any given time, numerous bodies are strewn around the farm within cars, cement vaults, luggage, plastic bags, shallow graves, pools of water, or simply placed directly upon the earth. Most of the bodies are disrobed except when clothing is a required part of the investigation and frequently certain factors such as chemicals or fire is introduced to measure effects. The students and instructors periodically check on the subject’s progress and there are occasional visits from police officers or FBI agents in training. (Service, 2000)
When a human victim is found within the first 24 hours, the time of death or TOD can be determined by checking the potassium level in the gel of the eyes, or by taking a temperature reading if the liver. Beyond that time frame it is the job of forensic anthropologists to examine the body and its bug collection for clues. Technically decomposition begins at four minutes after death, when the cells are deprived of oxygen and other supplies of nourishment. Digestive enzymes begin to corrode and consume the cells themselves in a process known as autolysis. Within several hours the chemicals that allow for muscle fibers to slide freely are metabolized, causing a temporary sagacious stiffness known as rigor mortis. The body pales in color as its blood pools in the lowermost portions. (Scientific American, 2005)
When a human immune system is permanently disrupted and has failed, digestive bacteria in the bowels cause an upset in the already uneasy intestinal alliance, these bacteria begin to feast on the body itself. As the host’s cells self destruct from autolysis, their membranes rupture, spilling the nutrient-rich cell filling into the tissues. The bacteria thrive and multiply on this food source and soon there is decay in every extremity. On the surface of the body hundreds of flies are drawn to the rotting scent from up to a mile away. They lay their eggs in every exposed opening and soon maggots are eating away of the bodies subcutaneous fat. Forensic Entomologists can measure the size of these developing fly larvae to determine “time since colonization.” Over several days the once resilient brain will liquefy and leak from the ears and mouth, while blisters form on the skin resulting in large peeling sheets. Skin from the hand will often molt in one piece, in an affect known as “gloving.” Researchers at the Body Farm have discovered that this skin can then be soaked in warm water to restore flexibility and then placed over the hand of an investigator in order to obtain fingerprints for assistance in identification. (Andrews, 1986)
By day four rigor mortis has diminished and rapidly reproducing anaerobic bacteria have eliminated enough gas that the skin becomes slightly green tinged. The air is ripe with the scent of decay as bacterial byproducts known as putrescence and cadaverine become concentrated. The abdomen, groin and face begin to noticeably swell. As the tenth day of decay approaches a lot of this built up pressure is released through post-mortem flatulence, occasionally an over distended abdomen will rupture. The soil beneath the body is wet with liquids and the skin has become mummified and draws in close to the bones. Also present may be a natural build up of soap type substance due to the interaction of body fates and acids known as saponification. After about twenty days hundreds of maggots have eaten, matured and dried out as the remains become ridden with mold. Even after a couple months when the flesh is gone the juices from the remaining maggots can be expelled and studied. Most toxins will linger in the larvae helping investigators detect the presence of poisons, drugs and other chemicals. Sometimes based on the amount of melanin skin pigment remaining in the soil a victim’s race can be identified. (Andrews, 1986)
Many factors such as predators. Toxins, age, injury and weather conditions may cause variations from the typical decay progression. Most bodies found in the wild are skeletonized or mummified according to the scientific formula y=1285/x, where x is the average temperature in centigrade, and y is the total number of days. When the decomposed bodies of donors have completed their task at the Body Farm, their bones are then steam cleaned and added to the University of Tennessee skeletal archives where they can be reused if necessary. (Service, 1986)
All of these advanced are made possible by information obtained from research done at the Body Farm. Any forensic entomologist can now determine time of death-sometimes in as fast as an hour. Forensic entomology is not limited to just the insects that feast up on the decedent. Certain insect species can be highly particular to a certain localized area. So an automobile used in connection with a crime can be traced back to the scene of that crime by examining the bugs smashed on the grill. Parasites such as mosquitoes can also provide DNA by taking tiny blood samples from unsuspecting perpetrators. The corpses are teaching scientists how to reconstruct the circumstances in unexplained deaths. Above one body is a mechanical device that represents a nose of sorts, with 32 separate chemical sensors that take in noxious fumes in the air. Back at the lab the scented compounds are washed from the “nose” into a vial from which they are fed into a gas chromatograph to identify each component. A network then compiles unique patterns of chemical data that correspond with exact times of death –patterns that might be detectable above other corpses. (Andrews, 1986)
Despite the unique scientific work it accomplishes, a facility like the Body Farm does not exist without some controversy. Some are concerned that the work does not show proper respect to the dead, although the bodies have always been given to the research with full consent, and are solemnly buried after the conclusion of observations. In the early days, it was local residents who objected to the existence of the Body Farm. If they got close, they could see the bodies decomposing. However, the local community came round when the scientific importance of the work was publicized. (Service, 2000)
There have also been misunderstandings and protests, as well as negative press. Yet Dr. Bass was able to find supporters as well. Since it has been made clear that this type of study benefited law enforcement. He was able to expand his work and offer what was learned to medical examiners, police officers, FBI agents, physicians, and anyone else who is interested. Within years a tremendous amount of people wanted to donate their body to science specifically to the body farm. (Service, 2000)
Dr. Bass has since retired from teaching but continues to head the Forensic Anthropology Center. He has written a number of books about his experiences at the facility. Through the research he was able to pioneer the fruits of his research have assisted in solving countless crimes. He continues to stress need for similar facilities elsewhere. In 2006 another Body Farm was established at Western Carolina University, but numerous efforts elsewhere have been halted to controversy and objections from the neighboring residents. (Service, 2000)
The work at the Body Farm is immensely important to forensic investigations. The research that has been done there helps establish time of death more accurately, although it is still hard to be exact. With a time of death, witness and suspect alibis and statements have much more meaning. Further work at the Body Farm, and elsewhere if the facilities can be established, can help set the forensic clock for any body that is discovered under suspicious circumstances.
While the contemplation of having one’s naked, lifeless body flung into the woods lacks general appeal-most people opting to decompose with dignity in the privacy of an overpriced crate-there is nerveless an long waiting list of eager and fascinated, not-yet dead Body Farm volunteers. Dr. Bass himself has stated that his hatred of flies constrains him to decline the opportunity to rot for the benefit of science; but for some people, the idea of wasting a perfectly good corpse is just too awful to contemplate. (Andrews, 1986)
Bibliography
My Body, My Property
Lori B. Andrews
The Hastings Center Report
Vol. 16, No. 5 (Oct., 1986), pp. 28-38
Published by: The Hastings Center
Where Dead Men Really Do Tell Tales
Robert F. Service
Science
New Series, Vol. 289, No. 5481 (Aug. 11, 2000), pp. 855+857
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
The Body Farm
Donna Trustwell
Vol. 18, (September, 2005)
Published by: Scientific American