15 True Scary Stories From People Who Worked With Dead Bodies

The eyes

“We may have our eyes closed when we die, but they don’t stay that way. The first time I realized this was around 3am and I had to check something in the morgue. I looked and this dead dudes eyes were looking in my direction.” — Wackydetective

The elongated neck

“We had to cut down a guy who hanged himself in his garage nothing overly special. Except his next had stretched, and I mean a good 10/12 inches. I had made a comment about him Looking like a giraffe the police officer beside me said “more like a Brontosaurus” (it was a heavy set man hanging).” — bruisermcstinkfinger

Missing body

“Someone hung themselves with piano wire from my hometown bridge when I was a teen. The head and body were found separately, a week or two apart. Body was found first. Every thunk we heard on our boat while rowing training, we all freaked out, thinking it was the missing head….” — AgentKnitter

Trying to put someone’s head back on

“In my early days as a first responder, rural area and we were the first on scene. I responded to a multi vehicle accident where a man had been decapitated, I got in the passenger side, his head was hanging on by a few tendons on the right side, without thinking i grabbed his head and tried to “put it back on”. I don’t know why. In retrospect I think I saw something that wasn’t right and instinct told me “this goes here”. The old timers laughed and teased me a few times. One of them pulled me aside and told me “it’s not the first time someone’s done that. It won’t be the last”. I have heard of other people doing similar things but haven’t personally witnessed it.” — bruisermcstinkfinger

180 degrees

“Motorcycle vs car, rider was thrown. On approach the rider’s head was still attached but clearly internally decapitated – was 180deg from where it should have been. (His skull faced posteriorly).

You’re supposed to reorient the head in a neutral inline position, but I had to take a minute to figure out which way to turn it.” — TheBoed9000

Pudding

“I was transporting a man with liver disease and diabetes. I grabbed his arm gently to help him and the top layer of skin slid off, like a pudding. I wore my fucking gloves after that.” — Lucilleisthirsty

Uninvited

“My mom was a paramedic for fifteen years and once had to do a body recovery for two teenage girls on a full moon walking through waist high grass and fog while their wrecked van played uninvited by Alanis Morrisette when she was a paramedic. She says it was one of the most unsettling moments of her career.” — LittlestDeborah

Breathing

“My uncle used to tell me this story of a friend he had that worked in a morgue. He used to dress the bodies before viewings and there was this one time he was trying to put a coat on this man, so he sat the man up and leaned him over his shoulder while wrapping the coat around him (essentially in a hugging position) and I guess the way the body was leaning let out an air pocket he still had in his lungs and the body let out a slight exhale sounding like he was breathing in his ear. Apparently he quit his job shortly after.” — chronicoverdose001

Body fluids

“Decomposing body bursting when opening, lets just say the ceiling tiles should have been changed.” — ChickenPotPi

Discovering you’re a poison detector

“My ex mother in law was a nurse who apparently entered a room full of doctors working out why a patient had died. She asked, ‘why is there such a strong smell of almonds in the room?’. It turns out that only a small number of the population have a gene which enables them to smell the poison cyanide. None of the doctors could smell it, but the passing nurse could. They tested the body and it was cyanide poisoning.” — RedPanda1188

Still alive

“Worked the graveyard cleaning crew for a hospital in my early twenties. One of the unexpected aspects of the job was removing recently expired patients to the morgue. It didn’t bother me much that they were dead, just that they were now creepy life-size dolls.

There was only one instance that spooked me bad. My coworker and I were given notice to move a body out and clean the room for its next occupant. We got up there, got the woman’s body out of the bed and on to a gurney, and went around making sure the various apparati around the bed was dormant (nurses job, but we were told to always check.) I go stand at the foot of the gurney to direct it when my coworker squeaks “… Dude … She’s … awake …”

Lady was blinking, rapidly, over freaky, glassed over, dead eyes. Anyone who has seen a dead person’s eyes after death knows what I’m talking about – there is clearly no life left in the body. We both freaked the fuck out and screamed for the nurses, who came running. They called code whatever, thinking she might be waking up … My coworker and I just backed up, flattened ourselves against the windows, and watched the ruckus.

Woman was stone dead, no breathing, no heartbeat, no brain activity, nada. None of the nurses or the doctor could or would tell us why the woman was blinking several hours post mortem.” — ms_hyde_is_back

Checking the morgue

“I was the night watchman at a mental hospital. One of my jobs was to check the temperature in the small morgue, that was located behind the chapel. Now you would think that wondering around the bowels of a functioning mental institution would freak most people out, but I was OK with that. Walking into the morgue scared the shit out of me. There were 3 drawers and I had to open each of them and make sure they were cool. I was convinced that somebody or some body was going to be in one of the drawers. The sense of foreboding I had when I opened those drawers literally made me sweat. Every little creak, bump, or tick of the condensers made me jump. I started listening to my walkman to try and calm myself down. (Yes children, it was that long ago.) Then I thought that maybe something could sneak up on me while I was plugged in. My freakout level was now about 9.5 when I went in there. Nothing ever happened, but I still freak out when I think about it. I worked there for about a year, then had enough money to start university. When people talk about their worst jobs and I chime in with ” I was the night watchman at a mental hospital” it is usually a showstopper.” — konacool

Talking

“I work at a funeral home. We just finished setting up a body and were leaving for lunch. I was the last the leave since I wanted to straighten up something before the funeral. I’m alone in the building when I swear I heard a voice talking from the room the body was in. I walked into each room and nobody was there besides me and the body. This was about 6 years ago and I’m still freaked out to this day.” — [deleted]

The smell

“My first dead body was seeing a young teen being hit by a train. It’s something that will never leave me, especially the smell.” — Its_Sasha

Camping

“My friend and I were digging a latrine.

And hit blonde hair.

That is a smell you will never forget.” — Ahshalon_Tenisk