Body Farm
by Cynthia Gould
CBS 42 News
2008-02-25 20:00:00.0
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Beyond one gate on the University of Tennessee campus, something few people have seen or even want to see. It's the body farm, one of the most unusual cemeteries on the planet.
No headstones or crypts. Most of the bodies are on the surface. No coffins, just the open air to rot in. What you don't see is the stench of death.
Some are in extremely shallow graves, others beneath plastic tarps all creating the greatest research opportunities no forensics expert can get in a book.
"There is nothing like it at the moment."
The body farm as it's called is officially the University of Tennessee forensic anthropology center. It's the brainchild of Dr. William Bass. Retired now, he opened the body farm because he was stumped by a particular case.
“We've moved from the gross changes to DNA work.”
That work revolutionized the way death is studied.
Since opening, the rotting remains have helped cracked cold cases, pinpoint times of death and even locate bodies.
Rebbeca Wilson, with the anthropology center, guides us through the two acre site. In this ground breaking experiment, gases from buried corpses are measured through pipes. It's those odors that cadaver dogs use to find bodies.
“What kind of gases are they giving off? Methane, putracine," said Wilson.
What Wilson’s team is doing could put the abilities of a dog into a machine.
Police often find victims covered in plastic. That's why experts here are watching how tarps affect decomposition.
"Plastic is the number one covering used in homicides," said Wilson.
And a murder case in Australia has researchers studying yet another resting place.
“Right now we have three individuals in the three bins.”
Detectives visit frequently to learn the proper way to excavate a body, as do forensic and medical students.
Animals can make an investigation nearly impossible to complete.
"They can scatter remains, chew on remains."
One jumbled up skeleton for example… Motion detecting cameras captured the culprit: squirrels!
“If I see this I know squirrel activity, not a recent death."
Squirrels are "old school." They like the bone dry, a state that comes after nine months to a year.
Then there's the weather. Temperature is the number one factor in body putrification. This summer's dry spell made for an interesting discovery. Even insects and bugs and worms can be picky about what they'll nestle in.
"A lot of have mummified…not suitable for maggots. This is what happens when you have a dry environment."
When it's wet though…
"That is the back of individual skeletonized, the other 1/2 still has tissues."
Bodies typically stay here a year to 18 months, then the skeletons are packed for storage until they're needed for other research projects.
Bodies are their business here, and business has been booming with the attention on forensics from TV shows like CSI so much so that it's time for more acreage on the farm.
"This particular plot is so well populated we need new space to have donations require it."
The body farm is adding several acres near the current site in Knoxville.
But you might ask, where do the bodies come from? They are all donated. They started with four bodies in 1981 and now there are 1300 people on a waiting list.
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