Initial Decay: 0-3 days after death

The body will appear fresh on the outside but certain processes start inside the body, which then contribute to decomposition. The bacteria which were inside the intestines will begin to feed on the remaining nutrients and contents in the intestine and then the intestine itself. These microorganisms eventually spread out into other organs and also feed on them. Enzymes that were inside the intestines and the stomach will also leak out and aid in the breakdown of organs and tissues, while the enzymes inside the cells will also digest the cell itself and its connections. Once insects like flies from external surroundings sense the smell of a decomposing body, they will begin to swarm and lay their eggs around openings like wounds, mouth, nose, eyes, and so on. And soon these insects along with their larvae and maggots will also feed on the dead tissues.

Putrefaction: 4-10 days after death

While the host of bacteria breaks down the cells, tissues, and organs of the body, they also produce a huge amount of gas. These gases are putrescine, cadaverine, methane, and also sulfide, which give the decomposing body its horrible smell and also inflate it. This bloating process provides more means to force out more body fluids. This putrid smell together with the fluids are what insects love and so more flies along with beetles and mites come to swarm the body and again lay their eggs on it.

Black Putrefaction: 10-20 days after death

At this point, the bloated body would have collapsed while the flesh already creamy. The body parts that were exposed to air will turn black as the body continues to reek. One important feature in this stage is the increased temperature of the body from all the activities contributed by the insects and bacteria as they continue to grow in population and consume the remaining flesh.

Butyric Fermentation: 20-50 days after death

All the flesh on the cadaver is gone as the body starts to desiccate. It would have a cheese-like smell due to butyric acid present in the corpse. This new smell on the other hand will start to attract more but different organisms composed of molds and also beetles. Because there are no more soft parts to feed on, maggots are no longer in the scene, however, beetles and other insects will continue to chew through more solid parts such as the skin and ligaments.

Dry Decay: 50-365 days after death

The cadaver becomes really dry but decays very slowly. Moths and bacteria will now begin to eat the hair to leave nothing but bones. This concludes the final step of body decomposition and the reason why it’s always the bones that are left.

All the process still depend on a lot of factors that include climate, temperature, moisture, and presence of microorganisms to finally determine the time it takes for the body to decay. As a rule, bodies that are buried take longer time to decompose compared to bodies that are left exposed in the air. Also, summer influences faster decomposition in contrast to winter.

When Death Finally Comes

Our heart stops beating while the lungs stop breathing, and each cell no longer receives oxygen and nutrients from blood. When this happens, the process called livor mortis takes place. It’s the settling of the blood in the lower or dependent part of the body like the back or the legs, depending on the position at death. This is due to the blood draining from the blood vessels starting at the top and accumulating in the lower part.

But most cells aren’t still dead except for the brain cells which die in the first few minutes of death. Cells of the muscle, skin, and bone can live for hours and several days especially the latter two. This is because these cells can use a different type of respiration after the heart and lungs stop working. This is called anaerobic respiration or respiration without oxygen, which can cause lactic acid build up, the reason for the muscles to stiffen. It’s very much the same when we run a long distance and our heart and lungs can’t keep up with our leg muscles. But the different lies on the fact that death can’t clear out this lactic acid because of lack of blood flow, hence causing the whole body to stiffen—or what we know medically as rigor mortis.

Rigor mortis starts at about three hours after death and lasts approximately in 36 hours. When all cells die, it can’t support to fight bacteria and the enzyme of these bacteria plus the cells own enzyme what cause the body to decompose causing the muscles to lose their stiffness.

The process that takes place after death depends on the embalming procedure that we usually do now to somebody that died. Embalming affects the length of time before the body finally cedes to the different stages of decomposition. On the next part of the discussion, we will tackle the more detailed story of how our bodies decompose, which is divided into five stages: Initial Decay, Putrefaction, Black Putrefaction, Butyric Putrefaction, and Dry Decay.

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