# What's it like to have someone die in front of you?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-to-have-someone-die-in-front-of-you/799106>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 17, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-to-have-someone-die-in-front-of-you/799106 "2017-10-17T04:13:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-to-have-someone-die-in-front-of-you/799106/21 "2017-10-20T16:45:07Z")

</div>

> [@vivalostwages](#):
>
> When she went, her face slowly turned grayish.

Yes, that’s something that strikes me–how _quickly_ a dead person stops looking like a living person. On TV shows you see bodies hours, even days old that are just an actor lying down with no special makeup. But with a real dead person, even one minute after they are dead their complexion is something that you would never mistake for someone who is alive.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-to-have-someone-die-in-front-of-you/799106/22 "2017-10-20T16:49:33Z")

</div>

Well, yes, the blood is literally draining out of their face and seeking the lowest point in the body thanks to gravity.

There is also a slackness in the muscles that you just don’t get with an alive-but-unconscious person, much less a conscious actor.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-to-have-someone-die-in-front-of-you/799106.md?page=1)