Some Weird Death Facts You Didn't Know

We start counting down from the minute we are born until the moment we die, which is one of life's few certainties. For practically all living creatures, death is a given, but there are still a lot of unknowns. Get ready for fifty crazy facts about dying and death.

#48. Death at First Sight

It might be difficult to discern when someone passes away, especially if they haven't been aware for a time. However, there is one method to verify it: look at your eyes. One of the earliest indicators of passing away is when a person's eyes begin to fog over when the body ceases functioning and the oxygen supply to the eyeballs is cut off. This can happen as soon as ten minutes after a person's death if their eyes are still open. The body's strange after-death effects don't end there.

#47. Growth in Death?

People claim that their loved ones' nails and hair continue to grow even after death, which is one of the oddest things they've ever observed. Is it feasible that these bodily components made of keratin continue to operate even after all life processes have ended? Simply put, no. The body really begins to dry out as a result. This lengthens the appearance of the hair and nails by causing the skin to retract and tighten. And immediately following death, the body undergoes a number of profound alterations.

#46. Unlucky Stiff

Severe mortis is one of the most well-known stages of dying. The entire body seems to constrict, harden, and become rigid. Although it is merely a short-term condition that starts a short time after death, this makes the body difficult to move. The body will become more pliable within a day to five days, making funeral preparation considerably simpler. Having funerals a while after death has occurred has this advantage. Yet some outcomes are considerably...creepier.

#45. A Ghostly Noise

Consider yourself a mortuary employee who is in charge of the most recent bodies to arrive. A horrifying wail then abruptly emanates from the enclosed area where you are the lone person working. Is it time to contact the exorcist? Perhaps not. The vocal cords vibrate because of the release of gases from the body through orifices. This can have the eerie, but very natural, effect of sounding like a dead body is groaning or moaning. However, if nothing is done, the body will look for itself after death.

#44. Eating at You

You may be surprised to learn that, in actuality, humans contain more non-human organisms than human cells. Bacterial cells are always present in us, but they are kept at bay by our body's defense mechanisms. It's banquet time for all those typically beneficial germs the moment we pass away and our bodily functions stop. In order to reproduce more quickly and begin the breakdown process in earnest, they will begin to gnaw at the body. And there are many distinct ways that decomposition occurs.

#43. Wax On, Wax Off

Although grave wax may seem like a substance cemetery managers employ to maintain things in good condition, it is a natural product. The body produces a waxy substance called adipocere, which is known clinically. It occurs on the skin as a result of the breakdown of body fat and frequently gives the body a wax-like appearance. Bodies that decay in this way are rare and very seldom seen in museums. It only occurs when a body is in moist circumstances with little oxygen. Based on the environment, decomposition varies.

#42. A Grave Timeline

How much time does it take for a body to decay? According to the circumstances. It usually takes a corpse approximately a year to decompose to little more than a skeleton when it is buried normally, without being preserved. However, studies have shown that a body reduced to its skeletal components in just four months when held in constant temperatures of fifty degrees or above. But in some circumstances, decomposition might not take place at all.

#41. The Bog Bodies

Due to their extreme cold, lack of oxygen, and strong acidity, European peat bogs are among the most unusual environments on earth. This implies that since they don't naturally disintegrate there, bodies found there might appear perfectly preserved for hundreds of years or even thousands of years after being removed out of the bog. When the Iron Age artifact known as the Tollund Man was discovered in a Danish bog, its finders believed they had located a body of a lost individual. And in the worst of circumstances, bodies may turn become monuments.

#40. A Frozen Warning

The area of Mount Everest above a particular altitude is referred to as the "death zone," and it has one of the most inhospitable climates on Earth. Therefore, it is not surprising that many individuals pass away there; most of them stay in the higher portion of the mountain where it never drops below freezing. Most bodies can't be brought down due to cost and safety concerns, and they don't decompose when frozen solid, so markers like the fabled Green Boots are left for incoming climbers to view as they progress up the mountain. However, there are now simpler methods to prevent human decomposition.

#39. Pickling a Person

You'll probably have to decide whether to embalm your loved one if you've selected the whole funeral package for them. The corpse is preserved using a combination of chemicals, making it more resistant to decay. Although it won't stop decomposition permanently, it's a popular option for people who want an open casket funeral so that everyone may gather and comment on how natural the body appears. Now that we've covered the body after death, let's talk about how to get there.

#38. Running Out the Clock

Therefore, how long do people truly live? Although the average lifetime in the United States is in the 70s, premature deaths are a major contributor to this. Most people who survive to reach 70 years old live longer, and a tiny number live to be 100 years old or beyond. Jeanne Calment, a French woman who has lived to an astounding 122 years old, is the honorary queen of this small club of centenarians and super-centenarians. How many individuals have perished over the years?

#37. It’s Crowded Down There

Although the globe is more populated than it has ever been, we still make up a very small portion of those who have previously died away. Though there are presently over seven billion people on the world, there have always been more than 108 billion individuals living there. That indicates that 100 billion individuals have already passed away, which is probably not good news for the living if zombie conflicts ever occur. But what drives them underground in the first place?

#36. Common Cause

The most frequent causes of mortality in the US have been monitored for a while, and the trend is largely stable. The most frequent reason of all? Heart disease, which naturally kills many older people. Accidental injury is the leading cause of mortality for all age groups between one year old and forty-four, but cancer isn't far behind. The likelihood of your own body failing you increases as you age. However, one cause of death isn't necessarily a cause of death.

#35. No Exit

An elderly person passes away from old age is a common occurrence. People may say that, but a death certificate will never include it. This is so because no one has ever passed away from old age. Actually, as people become older, their immune systems start to deteriorate. They are more susceptible to sickness, and their body can't heal itself as rapidly. As a result, while old age won't take them away, it becomes a game of attrition to see which disease will do them in. But can water make you die?

#34. Too Much of a Good Thing

Yes, drowning claims the lives of many individuals, and scalding water can result in catastrophic burns. However, merely consuming too much alcohol can sometimes be fatal. To win a contest, a woman drank six liters of water in three hours; she passed away from water overdose or hyponatremia. This overdose, however, is not poisoning like some others. Actually, what occurs is that you consume more water than your body can absorb, which causes the salt levels in your blood to fatally liquefy.

#33. A Wet Reveal

It might seem shrewd to dispose of someone's body in the ocean if you intended to kill them. After all, everyone would automatically conclude that they had drowned. Not if forensic experts are involved. Detectives can tell if someone was dead before they entered the water by looking at their lungs since the body ceases to function after death. A person who drowned would have had their lungs filled with water, but a body dropped in the water would still have its lungs full of air. But not all techniques for resolving homicides have stood the test of time.

#32. The Eyes Have It

In the 19th century, when someone was killed, detectives would take the victim's eyes out and analyze them. This is because they thought that the eyes were like cameras that captured images, and the last thing they ever saw was the image of their murderer. As expected, they never did figure out where that image was kept, and this became one of many strange scientific theories that perished with the march of time. Some types of fatalities are much less common than you may imagine.