People who don’t work in this field often tell me how frightened they’d be to stand near a dead body. Those of us with actual experience know there’s nothing dangerous about a dead body. In fact, we often joke that the living are the ones you should be afraid of!

Much of the fear around death comes from decades of dramatic movie scenes and horror films. I understand the fear! The thought of a dead body suddenly rising from the morgue table and grabbing your neck is terrifying! It is also pure fiction.

In this post, we’re going to clear up some of the most common myths fueled by Hollywood and explain what really happens in the morgue.

Can the dead move?

Rigor Mortis

Last month, we published a post called “Debunked” about an image that has been circulating on the internet for years. It is a photo of a man on the autopsy table, and his body is propped up. People who have been passing around this photo say that the body propped itself up. NOPE! In that post, I described that the stiffness of his body is due to rigor mortis.

There are, however, other ways a body moves after death.

Decomposition

Gas

As the body decomposes, bacteria begin to multiply, helping break down tissues and producing gases that cause the body to bloat. It can cause the arms or legs to move, the abdomen to expand, the fingers to curl, and, in some cases, the whole body to move slightly.

Check out this old video showing how a baby pig decomposes. If you fast-forward to 2:52, you can see how the gas buildup is causing the pig’s front leg to move.

Post-mortem drying

The skin, muscle, and soft tissue can dry after death, which depends on the temperature and environment. This can cause tendons to tighten, making fingers bend slightly, limbs pull inward, and the jaw open or close.

Can the dead speak?

Think of the respiratory system like a woodwind instrument. The lungs act as the air source, the trachea is the tube, and the sound comes out through the mouth. When a person is alive, they actively push air from their lungs through the larynx and past the vocal cords, which vibrate to create sound.

Obviously, once someone has died, they’re no longer voluntarily moving air. But if the body is shifted or if gases build up during decomposition, any remaining air in the lungs can rise through the trachea and escape through the mouth, creating noise. In a sense, you’re hearing a person’s final breath make its way out!

These sounds are usually groans, sighs, squeaks, or low moaning. It’s one of the few times Hollywood actually gets something right: those zombie and mummy noises? Pretty accurate!

Do the dead have reflexes?

Postmortem muscle twitching

Very shortly after death, some cells still retain energy, allowing tiny muscle twitches to occur. These are quick and small, and they stop once the cells run out of energy.

I have experienced this only once, and it was enough to freak me out!

We were getting ready to do an autopsy on a dead baby who died in a reported co-sleeping accident when I was a new student. The baby was lying on the morgue table, and I just kept staring at it because I felt so terrible. Then I noticed something, the arm was twitching!! At first, I didn’t believe my eyes! I kept staring, and sure enough, I saw it happen again. I felt foolish saying something, but before the pathologist started cutting, I needed assurance that the baby was actually dead!

Cutis anserina

Goosebumps. Goosebumps can occur in dead people due to rigor mortis of the short muscle fibers in the skin.