# Eyes Wide Shut (re: Dead Folks) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700 "2004-04-18T19:52:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/1 "2004-04-18T19:52:36Z")
You always see in the movies and on TV people gently brushing their hands over the eyes of dead people, and closing them. That always seemed suspicious to me; today I read reporter Will Fowler’s _Times_ obit. He was the first reporter on the scene of The Black Dahlia murder. Fowler’s daughter says, “The one thing that bothered him about the whole thing was her eyes were open and he closed them.” OK, now I _know_ undertakers have to sew or glue corpses’ eyes shut (and pad them as well) for viewing. Is it really possible to get someone’s eyes to just close by _closing_ them? Wouldn’t they just spring right open again? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/2 "2004-04-18T23:39:34Z")
The muscles that control the eyelids (Orbicularis Occuli and Levator) on their relaxed state (as in dead) are not in tension when the eyes are closed, that´s why the eyelids don´t spring up. As for undertakers sewing or gluing (eek!) them, I guess is to prevent rigor mortis of the Levator muscles to open the eyes and scaring the crap out of the mourners. ---
**Author:** ![olefin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@olefin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olefin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/3 "2004-04-19T00:24:35Z")
I watched my wife gently close her dad’s eyes after death. They stayed closed. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/4 "2004-04-19T00:34:07Z")
Actually, during the embalming process, the eyes of corpses are removed and replaced with glass or plastic orbs. Then the eyes are sewn shut. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/5 "2004-04-19T00:58:53Z")
> [@Cillasi](#): > > Actually, during the embalming process, the eyes of corpses are removed and replaced with glass or plastic orbs. Then the eyes are sewn shut. Where is this practiced? Most embalmers use [plastic eye caps](http://www.hepburnsuperior.com/preproom.htm#eye) inserted under the the lids to hold them shut. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/6 "2004-04-19T01:38:26Z")
Sewing? Plastic? Bah. In my day, we used two pennies. Stylish _and_ it helped the dead pay the ferryman for safe passage over the River Styx. 'Course, you had to declare them come tax time, and I don’t think newfangled forms include spaces for them. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/7 "2004-04-19T02:30:28Z")
You could afford _pennies_? Hmmph. _We_ had to use _staples_. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/8 "2004-04-19T03:51:57Z")
> [@Master Wang-Ka](#): > > You could afford _pennies_? > > Hmmph. > > _We_ had to use _staples_. Pshaw! Staples? Man, you were lucky! We had to use ABC gum. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/9 "2004-04-19T03:58:33Z")
By the way, the whole “passing a flattened hand over the eyes” is a movie thing, so the “dead” actor doesn’t get poked in the eyes. To close an actual dead person’s eyes, you’d have to put a finger on the eyelid and pull it down. ---
**Author:** ![MonsterOnAStick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@MonsterOnAStick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonsterOnAStick)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/10 "2004-04-19T04:53:47Z")
I’ve never had trouble closing someone’s eyes (as Gunslinger said, you have to pull them down with a finger) during post-mortem care, but I’m embarassed to say I’ve never successfully closed someone’s mouth. In my experience many elderly/sick people die with their mouths open, due to their final gasping attempts to breathe, and the slack jaw is extremely unnerving to family members. No matter how hard you try to give the person the stereotypical peaceful look (eyes and mouth closed, hands neatly folded, etc), the mouth hanging open is a reminder of their struggle. ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/11 "2004-04-19T07:27:43Z")
> [@MonsterOnAStick](#): > > the mouth hanging open is a reminder of their struggle. When I walked into my grandmother’s hospital room right after she had died, the sight of her mouth hanging open freaked me out. She looked twisted, like she was suffering when she died. Not at all like they show on tv or in movies. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/12 "2004-04-19T13:01:49Z")
Interesting—thanks for all the replies! I know Fowler was full of it, though, as I have seen mortuary photos of “The Black Dahlia,” and her eyes were still open. I still don’t understand why, if someone dies with her eyes open, “open-eyed” wouldn’t be their default position until glued shut. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/13 "2004-04-19T13:31:26Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > You always see in the movies and on TV people gently brushing their hands over the eyes of dead people, and closing them. That always seemed suspicious to me; today I read reporter Will Fowler’s _Times_ obit. He was the first reporter on the scene of The Black Dahlia murder. Fowler’s daughter says, “The one thing that bothered him about the whole thing was her eyes were open and he closed them.” > > OK, now I _know_ undertakers have to sew or glue corpses’ eyes shut (and pad them as well) for viewing. Is it really possible to get someone’s eyes to just close by _closing_ them? Wouldn’t they just spring right open again? They closed my father-in-law’s eyes after he died. They were only partially open (drug-induced coma), but they had that (heh) creepy, half-dead look to them, so they closed them all the way. As I recall, they stayed shut. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-wide-shut-re-dead-folks/240700/14 "2004-04-19T14:30:24Z")
Hah! this is funny. Ever time I see that in a movie, Eve, I think to myself _That can’t really be how it is_. And they always use exactly the same gesture: open hand, passed over the face like prestidigitator.