# Can You Fart After You Die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 1999, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319 "1999-12-04T07:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/1 "1999-12-04T07:32:00Z")
Is it common for corpses to fart? Presumably, the digestive processes powered by bacteria continue for a time after death, producing gasses (methane, hydrogen sulfide, etc.). Would this cause audible flatulence, or would the absence of peristalsis prevent the passage of gas, resulting in bloating? The question arose this evening after I ate a large bowl of lentil soup, and I pondered whether the seemingly endless after effects might persist well past my demise. ## Is there anybody among the TM’s with first hand post-mortem experience that can speak to this burning question? TT “Believe those who seek the truth. Doubt those who find it.” --Andre Gide ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/2 "1999-12-04T08:06:00Z")
Well, on a similar note, I have heard of corpses “moaning”, or making similar noises while being cremated–this may be a source for some popular ghost legends, I don’t know. For all I know, this may not even be true, but it seems rational to me. Anyway, the fire heats up the gas inside the body, causing it to escape, making the “moaning” noise on its way out. I wouldn’t be surprised, then, if this happens to corpses “unaided” at times. Just my WAG. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/3 "1999-12-04T13:23:00Z")
As soon as you die, all your muscles relax, completely, more relaxed than they have ever been. Including your anal sphincter. It just opens, and all that is capable of being released from it, will be. There is a weird phenomenon, or at least I’ve been told so but it may be a myth, where days after death a body can suddenly sit upright, due to some kind of pressure being exerted on some part of the internals which makes a muscle or diaphragm twang and the body bends at the waist. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think that’s right. * * * -PIGEONMAN- Hero For A New Millennium! [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - updates every Wed & Sat. If I can be bothered. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/4 "1999-12-04T14:56:00Z")
I would imagine that as the body rots and decays, it would bloat with the gaseous byproducts of decomposition. I suppose this gas would be discharged as the pressure got great enough. I’ve also heard stories that when people suspected a person of being a vampire after they died, they would dig up the corpse and pound a stake through the chest, which would force the gasses through the vocal cords producing a nice spooky moan. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/5 "1999-12-04T16:48:00Z")
[blushing] I saw a really creepy movie once (the main theme was necrophilia) that had a lot of mortuary scenes. [/blushing] ## Anyway, in preparing the body for burial they took steps to prevent any unwelcome “eruptions” at the funeral. They emptied the stomach and stuffed both ends of the GI tract with cotton. I don’t know how true-to-life it was but I’ve decided not to make a career of mortuary science. “If ignorance were corn flakes, you’d be General Mills.” Cecil Adams _The Straight Dope_ ---
**Author:** ![labradorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/6 "1999-12-04T21:34:00Z")
My mother used to “pack” the deceased so they wouldn’t do anything embarrassing. Didn’t seem to bother her, and she talks about it if I ask. Of course, as schoolkids, my sister and I weren’t allowed to talk about frog dissections at the table, which struck me as hypocritical. * * * [http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/](http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 1999, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/7 "1999-12-06T23:04:00Z")
> [@](#): > > There is a weird phenomenon, or at least I’ve been told so but it may be a myth, where days after death a body can suddenly sit upright, due to some kind of pressure being exerted on some part of the internals which makes a muscle or diaphragm twang and the body bends at the waist. And it sits upright in its coffin, stares straight at its murderer, and croaks “Thou art the man” . . . Such a thing _is_ documented to have happened at least once upon a midnight dreary. DHR * * * _However, some witnesses held that the corpse had exclaimed, “For the love of God, Montresor!”_ ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 1999, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/8 "1999-12-07T00:23:00Z")
Wait, this is important. Does this mean that if I work closely with the mortuary, I can arrange to _fart at my own funeral_? I gotta make a call… * * * Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 1999, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/9 "1999-12-07T00:29:00Z")
Manhatten: Add a kazoo! Entertain your folks! Amuse & amaze millions! Start now. 😃 * * * Save The Endangered Jackalope! Send Cash Now! If You Do This, I Will Use The Cash To Save Any Jackalope That I Happen To Find! Send Cash Now! Before It’s Too Late! My Bills, I Mean **The Jackalope’s Bills** Are Due The 15th Of The Month! _This has been a message from the Illuminated Committee To Save The Jackalope. Fnord._ ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 1999, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/10 "1999-12-07T00:42:00Z")
GuanoLad, I’ve heard that, too. The story got handed down to me as an FOAF story, but it seems reasonable enough that it could happen. Seems that someone was wheeling a corpse to the morgue, when it suddenly sat up and belched, frightening the poor guy out of his wits. Manhattan- Please let me know when you intend to die, so I can make plans to attend your funeral. Maybe, you can somehow arrange for a perpetual candle to be strategically placed in the coffin, so that when the blessed event does occur, you can go out with a bang, _and_ a whimper. Bonus points if it happens right when they get to “ashes to ashes…” Self-cremation. The wave of the future. * * * “That’s entertainment!” —Vlad the Impaler ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 1999, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/11 "1999-12-07T14:07:00Z")
I agree that a person could fart after death, but I think it would fall along the lines of the SDB fart (silent but deadly), no pun intended. To make a fart audible, one has to basically force it out. I can’t see this happening with a corpse unless the person’s scents of humor lingers after death. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 1999, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/12 "1999-12-07T17:38:00Z")
Ah… But what if you burp, fart and sneeze at the same time after you die? * * * Virtually yours, DrMatrix ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 1999, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/13 "1999-12-08T06:27:00Z")
I must apologize for my previous post. But when I saw **WIGGUM** refer to “silent but deadly” and “scents of humor” I could not resist. Please carry on. * * * Virtually yours, DrMatrix ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/14 "1999-12-12T06:38:00Z")
## DrMatrix said: ## Ah… But what if you burp, fart and sneeze at the same time after you die? You come back to life. I’ve been a pick up guy for the mortuaries for five years and corpses do occasionally fart when they’re moved. I’ve also seen them exhale and moan. And discharge the contents of their stomach. Nothing on this earth smells worse than the stomach discharge, not even the farts. As far as corpses sitting up, I’ve never seen this happen or heard a first hand account of it either. I’m pretty sure it’s a UL. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/15 "1999-12-13T22:05:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve been a pick up guy for the mortuaries for five years and corpses do occasionally fart when they’re moved. I’ve also seen them exhale and moan. Harvey’s right. My mom tells the story of wheeling a recently deceased person to the morgue when she was in nursing school (Mother Cabrini - Chicago), whereupon, when she got down to the basement (alone!) with the body on a gurney and went over the gap in the elevator doors, the bumping caused the corpse to “sigh” loudly, and then fart. Mom just about peed her pants right there! She was so freaked out, she left the body in the hallway and went right back upstairs in the elevator. A related prank she and her nursing-student buddies used to play on each other all the time was, after someone had died, they would prop the body back up in bed with pillows, put the call button in the corpse’s hand and ring the buzzer (then hide behind/underneath the bed). When the “mark” came in to check on the dead person, the hiding nurse would jiggle the bed real hard, often causing the corpse to emit nasty noises and odors (and at the very least, scare the unknowing nurse spitless!) Nursing students! Such scamps! * * * **StoryTyler** _I am too in shape! :::muttering::: Round is a shape._ [C’mon up and see me sometime.](http://sites.netscape.net/storytyler/homepage) ---
**Author:** ![Timothy\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/16 "1999-12-13T22:26:00Z")
On “Discovery Magazine” last night, they had a show that asked, “When does death actually occur?” They called into question some of the classic criteria, such as the cessation of heartbeat, etc. (They showed a guy who had been under freezing water for 20 minutes and recovered normally.) Anyway, one of the experts said that although the brain is highly susceptible to oxygen deprivation (except in rare cases such as the one I just noted), most of the other organs continue to operate blithely for a while. So it _is_ possible that fermentation would continue after you’re dead. So maybe, if you had a fart that was _just_ about to let go, a bit more “processing” could send it on its way. I doubt, though, that it would be _much_ of a fart. The releasing of the bowels would probably mask it in any case. Now for the big decision: do I affix my standard signature to a post of this nature? * * * Are you educated, erudite and maybe a bit eccentric? Please help us test a [new web game](http://www.pyroto.com)! ---
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/17 "1999-12-14T15:56:00Z")
Cabbage wrote: > [@](#): > > Well, on a similar note, I have heard of corpses “moaning”, or making similar noises while being cremated–this may be a source for some popular ghost legends, I don’t know. For all I know, this may not even be true, but it seems rational to me. > > Anyway, the fire heats up the gas inside the body, causing it to escape, making the “moaning” noise on its way out. Cecil does not address the “moaning” issue but he does cite an authority on cremation that says the following: > [@](#): > > “There is a popular idea that early in the cremation process the heat causes the trunk to flex forwards violently so that the body suddenly ‘sits up,’ bursting open the lid of the coffin, but this has not been observed personally, nor has this been described to the author by anyone in attendance at cremations in the London district.” See [Cecil’s column from 12/4/98.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/981204.html) As for corpses moving, making noises, take a look at this: > [@](#): > > There is a wonderful book about this stuff, Paul Barber’s “Vampires, Burial and Death” (Yale University Press). It relates folkore about the dead with the physiological facts of decomposition. Assertions like the above are the sort of thing he debunks. The evidence for those people having buried alive is things like them moving around in their coffins, trying to burst them open, making noises and so on. Unfortunately for the legend, dead people don’t stay still. Gas pressure can achieve some _very_ surprising things. I was particularly taken with the image of a field strewn with thousands of decomposing corpses all grunting like pigs. See [this pleasant bedtime reading.](http://www.urbanlegends.com/death/buried_alive.html) Andrew “dem bones” Warinner ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/18 "2015-01-24T19:03:43Z")
Appropriate name for a zombie thread, After reading todays [Cracked article](http://www.cracked.com/article_21938_5-awful-realities-transporting-human-corpses-job_p2.html); I have to ask, is the dead bodies moving or sitting up something that has actually been observed? Or is an Urban legend. On the internet lots of people state that they have witnessed it. Moaning due to gas build uo, that I have heard off. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/19 "2015-01-24T21:20:54Z")
It depends on temperature of course… After a few days in warm conditions, the corpse appears bloated, with large belly and puffy face. This is also the reason that they search for drowned people for three days. Most people sink when drowned. The third day is when the body will be floating due to the gases… Sure the gases may explode out in all the ways you can imagine, and more. Rigor mortis is reducing and gas pressure increasing… ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319/20 "2015-01-24T22:36:54Z")
> [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > Nothing on this earth smells worse than the stomach discharge, not even the farts. The nurses I’ve worked with over the years have all said that a GI bleed is a smell you won’t ever forget. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-fart-after-you-die/5319.md?page=2)