How is this for ya.
According to a firm engaged in the marketing of a device to stop the leakage of bodily fluids from caskets, the adult human body contains approximately 10 to 25 gallons or more of liquids, depending on the body size. This liquid ultimately consists of water, locked inside the body's various soft tissues (muscles, organs, and fat). It is said that perhaps 75% of our body weight is actually just water.
Upon the death of an individual, there is virtually zero change in the amount of water locked into the body's tissues, whether the dead body is embalmed or not.
All bodies, living or dead, contain certain aerobic bacteria, anaerobic bacteria, and enzymes. These begin to break down and digest the tissues of the remains immediately upon death.
Depending on certain circumstances related to the cause and type of death, degree of embalming, and the ambient temperature, these enzymes and bacterial agents may cause an embalmed corpse to enter a putrifying, so-called "liquifaction" stage during the decomposition process, usually between one and three months after death. An unembalmed body may begin to liquify within a week or so, after it's entombment or interral.
When a corpse enters this liquifaction stage, the organs within the thorax, abdomen and skull will turn into viscous, foul- smelling liquid "goo". The water locked in muscle and fat tissue will also be released. Any embalming fluid in the body's veins and arteries will also leak out. When this happens, these liquids will be released into the casket, due to the decomposition of the epidermis (skin), which normally keeps the body's liquids within the body during life. If one were to disinter a casket from a grave or mausoleum several months after burial or emtombment, it is possible that perhaps 10 to 25 gallons, or more, of liquids could be sloshing about in the casket. Not a very pretty mental picture, is it?
Typical American embalming usually modifies the decomposition process; it delays and slows the decay, and may, if thoroughly and correctly done, "lock in" the corpse liquids via saponification (the conversion of body fat into essentially a kind of soap), of the epidermal and fatty tissues by the formation of adipocere. However, if embalming is not done properly, almost no amount of embalming will prevent a body from entering a state of putrifying liquifaction (though adipocere may still form on obese bodies).
When this happens underground, as in an interment (burial), these natural enzyme and bacterial activities have no noticeable effect to observers in the cemetery. No one smells any offensive odors; no one sees any leakage of decomposed body fluids.
However, when a corpse liquifies in a mausoleum crypt, ANYONE may encounter a horrific sight and smell.
The specific circumstances which may favour problem-causing liquifaction within a crypt are:
* Warm temperatures;
* A sealed crypt environment which does not allow for the ventilation and evaporation of decomposition moisture and gases, and/or the drainage of corpse liquids and embalming fluids leaking through corroded or decayed caskets.
So-called "sealer" caskets, when sealed as designed, may act as a sort of "pressure cooker" upon the remains locked inside; thus the body may bloat, burst open, and spew liquified organs and tissues into the casket.
Occasionally, the above situation may result in the phenomenon informally known within the Death Care Industry as "Exploding Casket Syndrome". This is due to a buildup of extreme pressures within the sealed casket. When this happens, the casket may quite literally blow up, spewing corpse liquids and body parts throughout the mausoleum crypt. This may result in serious damage to the crypt itself; obviously the casket and the body are extremely damaged or destroyed by the explosion. The decorative marble fronts of the crypts may even be blown out; thus, foul-smelling liquids, semi-solids, and casket pieces may be thrown into the public area of the mausoleum. This is not only a traumatic incident; nearby people could be injured or killed by pieces of mausoleum marble and concrete acting as shrapnel!
Sometimes, the casket's seals will by design "burp", before an explosion can take place. Occasionally, these kind of seals may fail themselves, thus discharging corpse liquids in a rather aerosol-like manner.
The liquified substances of a decaying body are highly volitile, chemically speaking. They are highly acidic. The acids can eat through wood or metal caskets. The wood rots, while the metal corrodes or rusts. Even copper or bronze caskets are subject to eventual failure, due to these acids.
The liquids leak out the bottom of the casket and into the mausoleum crypt, which may cause problems. These mausoleum problems include:
* Foul odors;
* Seepage of body and embalming fluids out of the mausoleum crypt, and into the public viewing area, where people may encounter them;
* Unpleasant experiences for mausoleum visitors, and cemetery employees;
* Possible litigation against cemeteries and funeral homes, and employees of said organizations, by those traumatized by such experiences.
Mausoleum Leak Mystery Solved
Strange Liquid Oozing From Local Mausoleum
The mausoleum mystery has been solved!
We now know that a dark liquid at a crypt has been leaking from a corpse.
A disturbing possibility -- decomposing body builds up gas. It has nowhere to go. You're going to see what may have happened over 12 years in three seconds. The pressure over time could be great enough to crack the casket.
It's called "exploding casket syndrome," a phenomenon so rare that most morticians have only heard of it. And that's what may have happened at the sierra view cemetery in Olivehurst.
"It sounds to me like there's an expansion of gases within the remains," said Greg Fitzgerald, mortician.
Greg Fitzgerald has seen a lot in his days as a mortician, stories so unsettling that they're more like trade secrets -- like what can happen after a body is buried.
"It will continue to expand until it breaks apart, which is grisly," said Fitzgerald.
There's another possibility. The copper casket could've corroded from highly acidic decomposing body parts, just like battery acid, says Fitzgerald.
A faulty seal also might've allowed fluid to flow through a tiny hole and right through a sealed crypt.
"Decomposition frankly is not a pretty sight," said Kevin Flanagan, Department of Consumer Affairs.
After seeing our stories earlier this week, the state cemetery and funeral bureau inspected Sierra View today. Cemetery workers cleaned the vault, covered the casket with plastic, and resealed the crypt with caulk.
"I think it would be pretty surprising if there were any further problem," said Flanagan.
California inspectors found the cemetery did nothing wrong and fixed the problem quickly.
Sierra View operators never reported the problem to the state but that's because they don't have to.
The secrets of a cemetery usually stay six feet under where no one can see. This time the sights and smells of death and decomposition are discovered in public in plain view -- and it will happen again.
"We come from the earth and we do go back," said Fitzgerald.
