So last night, I was hanging out with friends in my building. It's pretty obvious that this place has gotten progressively sketchier over time, but that's besides the point. My buddy's girlfriend goes out on their balcony for a smoke and says, "OMG! There are cop cars and the police are going through the garbage!" (They are on the 25th floor). So I get up and take a look for myself. I see police tape and two cop cars parked, blocking off a loading area, and a fucking dead body lying on the ground with an orange blanket over it, a nice splotch of red and everything. I presume it was a jumper, but still. TV, Hollywood and Ogrish can't touch seeing a dead fucking body right in front of you. *shudder*
I saw a dead person?
- Thread starter zurich
- Start date
A good friend and I were riding our bicycles across a slightly wooded field back in high school and we saw a blanket or tarp covering something that looked to very much have the shape of a human body off to the side of the trail we were on. Neither of us dared approach it to uncover it but months later it was discovered to be the murdered body of a homeless person. This was in '83, Springfield Ohio. When we heard the news we were definitely freaked out by it.
We come across dead bodies from time to time at the motel. Even a severed head made a brief stop in one of our rooms.
epic
epic
I still remember the time when I was a kid in the back of a friends parents' car on the way for a day out. We were on the motorway when suddenly all the traffic slowed and an ambulance and some cop cars zoomed by us. A little bit further up all the traffic came to a crawl and could see something was going on as there was this big van stopped next to a huge artic lorry in middle of one lane. As we slowly drove passed I could see what looked like a pile of tatty clothes lying in the middle of the lane. It was only when I realised it was lying in a massive pool of blood that I realised it was human. The worst bit, though, by far was that it had no head. There was just nothing there but squashed matter. I will never forget as I was chewing a liquorice blackcurrant sweet at the time and I just felt physically sick and have never been able to eat them again.
I read in papers a few days later what had happened. Apparently this guy was in the back of the large van and had fallen asleep. He woke up and perhaps still a bit disorientated opened the back door and stepped out right into the middle of the motorway where he was hit by a few cars and then had his head run over by the lorry. Ughhh. Now, if I ever see there has been a motor accident on the road I never look.
I read in papers a few days later what had happened. Apparently this guy was in the back of the large van and had fallen asleep. He woke up and perhaps still a bit disorientated opened the back door and stepped out right into the middle of the motorway where he was hit by a few cars and then had his head run over by the lorry. Ughhh. Now, if I ever see there has been a motor accident on the road I never look.
These experiences are very much a vivid reminder of human mortality. Humans - though we walk and talk and whatnot - are still very much organisms that die, just like bugs, roadkill, etc. We're just not very conditioned to seeing dead things that look like humans and wear human clothing, etc., in our "own backyard" no less.
The first and only dead body i ever saw was when i was 10 or so.
A guy hung himself a few meters from my house in Italy and my mum and I were the ones who discovered the body. Not too nice i must say, the guy was kinda blue, foamy from his mount and still swinging... Oh and his eyes were open and uhm... didn't look right...
Strange thing is that i wasn't too grossed out at the time. I'm sure that if i saw lots of blood or bad injuries to a body, i'd have been more grossed out...
A guy hung himself a few meters from my house in Italy and my mum and I were the ones who discovered the body. Not too nice i must say, the guy was kinda blue, foamy from his mount and still swinging... Oh and his eyes were open and uhm... didn't look right...
Strange thing is that i wasn't too grossed out at the time. I'm sure that if i saw lots of blood or bad injuries to a body, i'd have been more grossed out...
cloudscapes
Regular
When I as about 12-13 or so, me and a couple friends were roaming around in the city's wooded cliff that seperates uppertown from lowertown (Quebec City) near where I lived. It's not a vertical wall of rock and earth, but you do need to hold on and grab/pull off of the trees and plants if you want to hike up the steeper parts. If you lost your footing at the top, you probably wouldn't be able to stop stumbling down the slope/cliff with your own feet. Good thing there were a lot of trees to grab onto! It's quite dense actually, so much that it would be difficult to see much of the ground from the air, too many treetops.
Anyways we were walking around on some of the beaten paths. These areas were a favorite place for teens. Sometimes we'd find old junk that was thrown there, like car stereos, TVs etc.
Then one day we stumbled apon the body of one of the local homeless guys. 25-30 maybe. He didn't look too gross except for the obvious discoloration of the skin, bulging eyes and the flies/smell. Turns out he had stumbled and fell/ran down the cliff unable to stop, and somehow broke his neck on a tree. He had been there for a couple days apparently.
At the time, I wasn't as freaked as I thought I was. It was more like morbid curiosity.
Anyways we were walking around on some of the beaten paths. These areas were a favorite place for teens. Sometimes we'd find old junk that was thrown there, like car stereos, TVs etc.
Then one day we stumbled apon the body of one of the local homeless guys. 25-30 maybe. He didn't look too gross except for the obvious discoloration of the skin, bulging eyes and the flies/smell. Turns out he had stumbled and fell/ran down the cliff unable to stop, and somehow broke his neck on a tree. He had been there for a couple days apparently.
At the time, I wasn't as freaked as I thought I was. It was more like morbid curiosity.
Only time I can remember where I've seen a dead person was on an autopsy (part of a anatomy course at uni). But they had good experience with first timers, so they knew what to do to make it easy on us.
When we got there they had already covered up the face, and opened the chest and cranium. They said that seeing when the chest is opened is the worst part for first timers (highest faint rate). After that, the subconcious usually think "dead body" instead of "dead person". And then it's more like a real 3D version of an anatomy book, than something gross.
It didn't bother me at all, it was just interesting. However, if I see pictures or film of a real life surgery or someone that is badly hurt but alive, it's a lot harder. (And beeing there would of course be even worse.) I think it triggers some switch in my head saying "if someone makes an error now, it will have serious consequences", and that's of course much less of a problem when the person definitely already is dead.
One thing about the autopsy though. The room smelled rather good. It's of course well ventilated and cleaned, and they have stuff there that smells good to counter any odors. But there was something familiar with the scent
When I came home to the "corridor" (~=dorm), I realized what it was. One guy in the corridor used a mens perfume that smelled just like it. I didn't want to spoil it for him, so I didn't tell.
"Hey, nice perfume. Btw, it smells like the local morgue."
When we got there they had already covered up the face, and opened the chest and cranium. They said that seeing when the chest is opened is the worst part for first timers (highest faint rate). After that, the subconcious usually think "dead body" instead of "dead person". And then it's more like a real 3D version of an anatomy book, than something gross.
It didn't bother me at all, it was just interesting. However, if I see pictures or film of a real life surgery or someone that is badly hurt but alive, it's a lot harder. (And beeing there would of course be even worse.) I think it triggers some switch in my head saying "if someone makes an error now, it will have serious consequences", and that's of course much less of a problem when the person definitely already is dead.
One thing about the autopsy though. The room smelled rather good. It's of course well ventilated and cleaned, and they have stuff there that smells good to counter any odors. But there was something familiar with the scent
When I came home to the "corridor" (~=dorm), I realized what it was. One guy in the corridor used a mens perfume that smelled just like it. I didn't want to spoil it for him, so I didn't tell.
"Hey, nice perfume. Btw, it smells like the local morgue."I worked as a cab driver for about a year when I was younger.
Saw a body being wrapped one weekend when trying to meet up with another driver. He was riding in the passenger side of a cab (driver's husband) and was hit by a cop car that was speeding. He went through the bullet proof panel, out the opposite back door.
Wasn't pretty.
Week before was worse. Picked up two fares from a bar because their ride left them. While taking them back to their Naval Base, pulled up behind a car in the median that burst into flames from a hit and run. Watched a guy unable to open the backdoors burn up alive inside while flailing about.
Couldn't do anything. The guy burning up was my fare's ride/buddy. Pretty sobering night.
I stopped driving a week after that.
Saw a body being wrapped one weekend when trying to meet up with another driver. He was riding in the passenger side of a cab (driver's husband) and was hit by a cop car that was speeding. He went through the bullet proof panel, out the opposite back door.
Wasn't pretty.
Week before was worse. Picked up two fares from a bar because their ride left them. While taking them back to their Naval Base, pulled up behind a car in the median that burst into flames from a hit and run. Watched a guy unable to open the backdoors burn up alive inside while flailing about.
Couldn't do anything. The guy burning up was my fare's ride/buddy. Pretty sobering night.
I stopped driving a week after that.
the maddman
Regular
I've driven past the occasional accident and such (although I think the guy I saw laying on the freeway was still alive) I've seen worse at work. I used to do computer support at a funeral home. The server room was in the morgue since it was the highest security area. I saw just about everything, from natural causes to the biker that was stabbed in the chest and shot with a shotgun. The bodies were all very unreal looking up close, and I literally had to weave my way past them to get to the wiring in the building.
Very strange really, the sight is nothing compared to the smell of the bodies being prepared. We have some very strange customs... Awful lot of work/time/money spent just to be stuck in the ground.
After I die, I really don't want anyone spending a lot of money having me preserved. I'm not my body, it's what I do that's important. Once I stop "doing" everything why worry if I look good underground?
Anyways, to me, seeing someone that's still alive and suffering is harder than seeing someone definately dead.
Very strange really, the sight is nothing compared to the smell of the bodies being prepared. We have some very strange customs... Awful lot of work/time/money spent just to be stuck in the ground.
After I die, I really don't want anyone spending a lot of money having me preserved. I'm not my body, it's what I do that's important. Once I stop "doing" everything why worry if I look good underground?
Anyways, to me, seeing someone that's still alive and suffering is harder than seeing someone definately dead.