Can anyone describe how a dead body smells?

Question

This is for research purposes. I am writing a novel and don't exactly want to go out looking for them.

The more detailed the description the better. Don't worry I won't plagiarize your exact words. :P

Thanks.

Answer 1

The smell is likened to when you leave a steak out at room temp for a week..... If you can stand the flies.... take a whiff...... the odour is biting like infant feces and pungent like rotten food and a little like the musty smell of blood

Answer 2

I suppose you mean a dead human body. Once, I took a trip. When I returned, there was a terrible odor in my den. I know the odor of dead animals on the road or in the forests. Mom puts out poison for mice, so I have smelled them under things in her home. There was a rotten odor like this in my den, so I looked under everything, but I found nothing. The next day, I saw some cops and medics at the next apartment. I learned that my neighbor had died and decomposed for days before anyone found him. The odor is sickening. It's hard to describe fully.

Answer 3

It depends how long it's been dead but if you have ever smelled rotten meat it's similar to that. some words commonly used to describe it would probably be rancid, foul, putrid, the smell of decay, etc. If it's decomposed down to the skeleton there probably won't be any smell anymore since the flesh, muscle, and organs are the ones that create the most smell and decay quickly.

Answer 4

i don't understand whether u want to know how the smell is like or what is the reason for the smell


when the organic matter in dead bodies are decomposed mainly by bacteria, there are few noxious gases released such as Sulpher di oxide and hydrogen sulphide etc....

there for due to the evolution of these gases due to decomposition of protein , dead bodies smell

i have been to a medical college in Sri Lanka where they kept the dead bodies of tsunami victims of tourist for further DNA investigation!

and during the time i visited the place only a scientist opened the container and was taking samples

that smell was horrible and sickening!!!

one of my Friends fainted at that place itself and it was a huge drama!!!!!1

that smell is really really sickening!!!!!!

Answer 5

Foul meat.I`m afraid it`s that bad!But if the info you`re after is for research,i`d suggest you personally have to...you know...experience as someone suggested earlier on so you can describe it better.Visit say a morgue etc.Good luck!

Answer 6

Like a combination of rotting apples, sewage and foul meat all rolled into one. Sorry that's the best I can do. There really is nothing else that smells like it.

Answer 7

A corpse or cadaver smells like decomposition, which is in fact very fowl. I would define it as a vomit type stench.

Answer 8

Somebody telling you would be great. But a truly great author would go out and experience it...that way they could describe it in away they've experienced it. It'd be more real because you would know exactly what you're writing about. That's just what I think though. I mean this one guy was writing a novel about a kid who lived really poor in Mexico, eating anything he could, begging for money...so he went and lived that way for about 6 weeks. I'm not saying you have to do anything that drastic...but it makes for a better story...because if you've experienced it you can write it in a very realistic way because your eally do know. I hope this helps, and if it doesn't I'm sorry. Take care!

Answer 9

like roadkill

Answer 10

Was curious on the answer to this as well