# The zombies will attack the airports first **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791 "2007-05-12T01:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/1 "2007-05-12T01:28:10Z")
[Yes, they actually do this stuff.](http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/11/body.farm.ap/index.html) > [@](#): > > Texas State University’s plan to build the nation’s largest “body farm” of cadavers is on hold A “body farm”, it’s called? Will that be on “CSI” next season? Oh, wait, it’s the CSI-type people \*doing \* it. > [@](#): > > The farms are used by scientists who bury cadavers to study human decomposition to help police better determine the time and manner of death at crime scenes. Um … urp … they do, huh? > [@](#): > > The University of Tennessee at Knoxville has operated a body farm since 1980. Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, opened the nation’s second such facility last year. Okay, that’s enough zombie hatcheries for any one country, I would have thought. But we need a third, huh? Well, maybe not as much as we need airplanes. > [@](#): > > But after meeting with the airport’s commission Tuesday, the university dropped the plan out of concern that buzzards would pose a risk to pilots. It has to stop somewhere, and by God, it stops right here and now in San Marcos, Texas! ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/2 "2007-05-12T01:34:23Z")
Not only do they bury them, sometimes they just leave them lying on the surface, or so I’m told. This is one of the most disturbing forms of research, but it’s pretty important. I’ve read a lot recently about the dubious scientific grounding of some forensic techniques; when we’re dealing with a murder case I think we really need to be able to get this stuff right. I don’t think I’d be able to deal with operating such a “farm”, though. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/3 "2007-05-12T01:38:48Z")
I’m all for science but they have been doing these things for a while now. Just judging from experience, even if you had just two acres, you could bury a hundred bodies at a time and then cycle through them for study. After 27 years of this being done in Tennessee, I would think that they would have most of the scenarios covered already. I hate to think what the uncharted territory in this field is. I know that the government has been infiltrated by homosexuals, pedophiles, and generalized perverts for some time now. Do you suppose that the necrophiliacs may be starting a little “pork-barrel” project of their own here? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/4 "2007-05-12T01:50:54Z")
Well, maybe they don’t have access to all that many bodies. There must be a high demand for research cadavers, and these facilities may not be very high in the pecking order. That could slow down the process considerably. [QUOTE=Shagnasty] **homosexuals** , pedophiles, and generalized perverts [/QUOTE] I don’t think you meant any offense, but you may get some comments on this grouping . . . ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/5 "2007-05-12T02:56:07Z")
I suspect that - besides needing it as a training facility for forensic examination classes at the universities - there is also a lot of merit to having these in different climates to study the varying effects. If you’re not squeamish, I highly recommend the book _Death’s Acre_, by Dr. Bill Bass, about the Tennessee “body farm.” ---
**Author:** ![tbdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@tbdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbdi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/6 "2007-05-12T03:42:16Z")
[QUOTE=WF Tomba] these facilities may not be very high in the pecking order. [/QUOTE] If that were true they wouldn’t be as concerned about the buzzards. OK, officer, I’ll go quietly… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/7 "2007-05-12T03:45:51Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] A “body farm”, it’s called? Will that be on “CSI” next season? [/QUOTE] They did THAT seasons ago. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/8 "2007-05-12T03:46:13Z")
[QUOTE=WF Tomba] I don’t think you meant any offense, but you may get some comments on this grouping . . . [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure he was being sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![Vimp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vimp/32/4186_2.png) [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/9 "2007-05-12T05:06:05Z")
Mary Roach had a lot to say about the Body Farm (the one in Tennessee) in her book [Stiff](http://blacktable.com/gallagher041027.htm) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombies-will-attack-the-airports-first/403791/10 "2007-05-12T10:07:59Z")
I’ve seen a documentary about the Body Farm in Tennessee; I think it was on the Discovery channel. I wouldn’t object to my body being a subject for study after I’m through with it.