Can You Fart After You Die?

[CalMeacham]

Ive been reading the audiobook of March Roach’s Stiff, and, coincidentally, she just covered this. The answer is an unequivocal “yes”.
Aren’t you glad you know this?

[chacoguy]

I am SO updating my will to have one of those roll-up party horns installed.

[rsa]

Here’s a video of a dead whale “farting” (in a manner of speaking.)

[Marion_Wormer]

I’ve read that corpses can ‘breathe’ after death. The term used in the article was ‘agonal breathing’, but I looked that up and it’s not the right term. If I understood it right, the body would continue to release air through the mouth for some time after death, and that could be mistaken for breathing.

[vomit_comet]

@Fear_Itself

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.

I would have words with the cook if the soup was** that** bad!

There’s a South Park episode on the topic.

[grude]

But if the sphincter is totally relaxed, why would gas escaping produce a sound?

Gah I have been angry at that factoid about every corpse shitting itself on death so damn long, only if there was already feces waiting to be expelled in the rectum!

[vomit_comet]

@grude

But if the sphincter is totally relaxed, why would gas escaping produce a sound?

Gah I have been angry at that factoid about every corpse shitting itself on death so damn long, only if there was already feces waiting to be expelled in the rectum!

I guess it would depend on resonance. Even a relaxed sphincter will have some elasticity and therefore resonance; even wood resonates under the right conditions.

I didn’t cite the South Park episode to be a fact or factoid; just for humor.

[mascaroni]

@Isilder

…After a few days in warm conditions, the corpse appears bloated, with large belly and puffy face…

That sounds like me on holidays in Tenerife…

[J-P_L]

Since this is an old thread and about asshole making noises, I hope this is appropriate.

A medical student was in the morgue one day after classes, getting a
little practice in before the final exams. He went over to a table where
a body was lying face down. He removed the sheet over the body and to
his surprise he found a cork in the corpse’s rectum. Figuring this was
fairly unusual, he pulled the cork out, and to his surprise, music began
playing, "On the road again . . . Just can’t wait to get on the road
again . . . "
The student was amazed, and placed the cork back in the rectum. The
music stopped. Totally freaked out, the student called the Medical
Examiner over to the corpse.
“Look at this. This is really something!” the student told the examiner
as he pulled the cork back out again.
“On the road again . . . Just can’t wait to get on the road again . . .”
“So what?”, the Medical Examiner replied, obviously unimpressed with the
student’s discovery.
“But isn’t that the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen?” asked the
student.
“Are you kidding?” replied the Examiner, “Any asshole can sing country
music.”