Cannibalism - #26: Decomposition

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TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE: Cannibalism (munching) “could you eat a whole human being? With the help of a doctor, a scientist and a chef, I set out to see if it’s possible. Cannibalism: part twenty-six – decomposition”. (burp)

As very few cannibals are qualified chefs or butchers, they’ll be unaware how fast a body rots. 

Across 1998 and 1999 in Venezuela, homeless man José Vargas Gómez nicknamed ‘The People Eater’ hunted at least 11 passersby using a spear and rocks. Burying the hands, feet and heads, he only kept the pieces he could eat, and (he claims) was forced to kill often, as the flesh would decompose quickly.

It is said that, in the 1930s, Chicago crime boss Al Capone lobbied for sell by dates to be added to milk. By the 1950s, Marks & Spencer’s were using them n their storeroom, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that they were added to the products in their store and saving lives. But cannibals don’t have that luxury.

A human body doesn’t decompose at the same rate, as every part degrades at different speeds.

Upon death, the brain (being high in water and needing a supply of oxygen) decomposes first, followed by the heart within minutes, the liver as it’s full of enzymes, followed by the liver, kidneys and pancreas after an hour, with the skin, corneas, tendons and heart valves surviving a day after death, and owing to the level of its fibromuscular tissue, the uterus and prostate is the last body part to fully decay.

Although each human in 99.9% genetically identical, we decay at different rates, as a smaller, skinner person – left in the same room - will decay faster than those with higher mass and body fat, but one which is badly burned will decompose significantly slower as oxygen and flies has less access to it.

Decomposition begins about 4 minutes after brain death. With the cells deprived of oxygen, the acidity increases, waste product can’t expel, excess carbon dioxide causes the cell membranes to rupture, and the digestive enzymes of the liver and stomach begin the process of autolysis, or self-digestion.

When a pig (being 87% genetically similar to humans) is slaughtered, its meat is not immediately safe to eat, as this lack of oxygen causes anaerobic glycolysis, a state which in humans we call rigor mortis. Therefore, until the meats pH level drops, it has to be hung before it can be butchered. Local butchers do this in 5 to 6 days, or as much as 3 weeks, with industrial meat production done in 24 to 48 hours.

As we die, our body temperature drops, acclimatising to its surroundings, which increases the bacteria.

When police entered the apartment of Jeffrey Dahmer, they found a waist-heigh 100-litre fridge, just big enough for the food of a single man who lived alone. But with the volume of the average human male 62,000 cubic centimeters roughly 62 litres, it wasn’t big enough for one corpse, let alone four.

The second stage of decomposition is bloating, as self-digestion causes the gases to accumulate, which occurs 3 to 5 days after death, which also results in putrefaction and the noxious odours which ensue.

Following a pig’s slaughter, the carcase is chilled, but with the meat not allowed to go lower than 10c, and then (once the pH level is stable), it is bled, skinned and eviscerated to remove every organ which speeds up the rate of decomposition.  The blood is either disposed of or sterilised for sale, the skin is removed and heat treated, the organs are removed (to ensure no cross-contamination of toxins) so all that remains is the meat and primary skeleton, and the carcase is inspected by qualified vets.

Speed is paramount, as in the first 24 hours, a fly can lay up to 250 eggs, having been attracted by the “foul, sickly-sweet odour” that decomposition produces, which itself increases the level of bacteria in the body, as when maggots mass, that increases the body temperature by up to 10 degrees Celsius.

In the case of necrophile Dennis Nilsen, he kept his victim’s bodies hidden for only as long as he could stand the smell, with those who survived him saying his flat was always cold as he left the windows open even in winter, and it smelled of joss sticks, bleach and “it had an odd stench like off stew”.

The rate of decomposition is entirely affected temperature, weather and moisture, with the organisms less active in colder temperatures and is drastically reduced when the body is buried owing to the lack of oxygen, which is why mortuaries store bodies at a steady temperature of 2°C (36°F) to 4°C (39°F).

Which begs the question. Jeffrey Dahmer admitted “I was branching out, that's when the cannibalism started. At first it was just curiosity, and then it became compulsive". With the accumulation of bodies in his pokey little flat, and his landlord and neighbour complaining about the smell, if he had planned this properly and purchased larger fridge, would he have been caught much later, if at all?

Join me tomorrow for the penultimate episode of Cannibalism, which is all about… preserving.