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opdjmw t1_j63o0k8 wrote

Depends on humidity. Usually fingers, toes, ears and nose may mummify on a body, while the rest of the body putrefy. If left in a well ventilated cool place, the body will also mummify quicker.

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syds t1_j6665oj wrote

what about if you have a cat?

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opdjmw t1_j67oykl wrote

If you die with a live cat, in an apartment or house where the cat can’t escape, it’s quite often seen that the cat (or dog for that matter) will eat parts of the body. Often it’s the face.

… or the cat will become a mummy, praised by the ancient Egyptians.

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syds t1_j69dw1z wrote

Im pretty sure my cat would still wake up my ghost from the grave to let him go out pee

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BuoyantBear t1_j63oe3z wrote

That definitely is not the case all the time. I’d argue it’s more the exception than the rule, but I don’t have any numbers to support that.

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i_was_way_off OP t1_j64mulw wrote

Someone else pointed out that those are the cases that make headlines. Maybe my perception was wrong.

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BoredCop t1_j63uqt3 wrote

Depends on temperature and humidity etc.

Ones found on heated bathroom floors tend to be quite liquid after a while.

Source: am cop, sometimes find dead people when someone calls in their concern about a neighbor they haven't seen for a while

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GilgameshMP5 t1_j64esq0 wrote

Also LEO. Can confirm. Humidity and geographical location will have a lot to do with the state of the body. Also, if dogs are present... Well... Dogs need to eat and they're gonna eat.

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ImAScientistToo t1_j68b9k1 wrote

When I was an EMT we got a call for a house that smelled really bad. This was in the country so the houses were far apart and the neighbors called it in. When we arrived in the ambulance we could smell it inside the ambulance as soon as we turned into the driveway. I remember because we had just picked up lunch and I was eating fried chicken. The smell was so bad I couldn’t eat fried chicken for years without thinking about it. The man lived alone and had no family and no one to check on him. He died watching TV and was still sitting in his recliner. He’s body had decomposed enough that his head sank down into his chest cavity. It was the most awful thing I ever smelled. The coroner later told us he had died around 6 months ago. In all my years I’ve never seen a naturally mummified body. The humidity in southern Louisiana is too high to allow it to happen naturally.

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