the smell of death?

Question

10 years ago my friend died in a accident at work(chest crushed)i went to see him in the chapel of rest ,i wont go into details but there was this odour not of rotten flesh but something i`v never smelt before in my life , every so often this smell reacures its so strong it casts my mind back to seeing him laying in the coffin , he was only 26 has this happened to you

Answer 1

Yes, I know what you mean. I don't think everyone is capable of smelling death, but I am. It happened when my aunt was very sick many years ago. I could smell death on her for a couple of days before it happened. It happened again recently when my sister was sick in the hospital. I don't tell anyone, but they always wonder why I don't like to visit people who are in the hospital and close to death.

Answer 2

Yes, I have smelled this I once encountered a dead body which had been lying undisturbed for 3 days in an apartment with central heating on full temperature. The stench was completely overwhelming. I have also visited a mortuary, and again, the same smell. Because you think about it so much it seems as though it lingers and clings to your clothes and hair, but in reality I'm sure it doesn't.

You really have to witness this smell first hand to understand, if I was ever to smell it again I would instantly recognise it as "the smell of death". (Sounds a bit melodramatic, but how else can you describe it?).

Answer 3

This happens often to me, though I've never experienced in a funeral home or such, the best way for me to describe it is a mix of something "musky" coupled with flowers, like old wilted flowers left in water. I usually smell that right before someone dies though, and its never been wrong yet. Working in a hospital, its something you get to smell alot and trust, and no one I work with doubts me over it anymore, even though they cant smell it. If that scent is in the air, doesnt matter how long the code runs, or how well it goes, that person aint coming back. and I do call it the smell of Death

Answer 4

I know what you mean. I saw my nan in the chapel and before we went in the guy who worked there sprayed a ton of air freshener in the room (we could hear it through the door), and then came out with the can and warned us of the smell. It really is an indescribable smell, but thankfully for me, it hasn't come back to me. I do believe in the afterlife, and maybe this is your friend's way of making some kind of contact...though I'd like to think he'd find a more pleasant smell so you can be reminded of him. I do occasionally get the smell of my nan's perfume.

Answer 5

Yes. Exactly the same as you, I went to see someone I loved in the chapel of rest. The smell was unique and Ive never forgotten it, nor do i think i ever will. In my own mind I too just think of it as the 'smell of death' cos i cant think of another label to put on it.

Answer 6

Yes it has, my mother was found dead in front of a gas fire, i entered the house hours after she had been removed, and i can still smell the smell of death, i know it's only in my mind, but it's something i will never forget, and that was 4 years ago.

Answer 7

You mean the embalming fluid? The same chemicals used in embalming fluid are used in a wide range of products, many you'd never expect. Formaldehyde is used to make pressed wood boards, for instance. There may be some object in your surroundings that is outgassing, and a draft is blowing the odor to you.

As JackBauer and Yote said, smell can create a powerful link to memory.

Answer 8

How the person looks, how he died...etc.

they tell a story of his life...

if he had a great death, for example a Muslim died while he was praying, reading the quran or on friday, that's like WOW lucky him, when you look at his face you see him smile, he looks like he's sleeping rather then dead, he has a beautiful smell, us Muslim always pray to Allah to bestow us with a good ending, bestow us the death when we're kneeling to him
but if he died in the bathroom that's not good :s or while sinnig

Answer 9

My mother died of cancer when I was 16. I recall a really awful smell, impossible for me to describe and yet I'd recognize it again in an instant. I later learned that other people who've dealt with terminal cancer patients have also noticed this phenomenon.

Answer 10

No, there is a smell that is "the odor of death" and in fact it can be measured. The FBI has actually been studying how this scent permeates the soil that corpses are buried in. It seems to be a Butyric Acid byproduct.