# When people die, do they soil themselves? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564 "2009-02-26T21:25:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/1 "2009-02-26T21:25:13Z")
It’s not really something that gets discussed much, but I’d assume that when a person dies, their various sphincters etc would relax and stop holding in what they had hitherto been holding in. So do people poop themselves when they die, just for a bit of final indignity? Or does it depend? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/2 "2009-02-26T21:33:16Z")
From [Coroner Stories](http://www.coronerstories.com/2005/01/09/spontaneous-defecation/), or My New Nominee for Most Simultaneously Appalling and Riveting Place on the Internets: > [@](#): > > “Spontaneous Defecation” > Q: Is it true that a person spontaneously urinates or defecates when they die? > > A: The short answer is no. The longer answer is that it does happen but not in every death. On average, only about one person in ten has urinated or defecated prior to death. Urination can occur simply because there is enough time for the body to relax enough to urinate before it shuts down. This elimination isn’t necessarily indicative of a full bladder. Someone who has drank heavily and has been passed out for several hours prior to death may in fact have several hundred cubic centimeters of urine built up in their bladder (this amount is often documented at autopsy). > > Defecation may not occur until after the death has occurred—although the process of elimination isn’t a voluntary movement on the part of the deceased. Moving a body around while examining it or attempting to remove it from a scene can cause fecal matter to exude from the individual. In this respect, the human body acts similarly to a tube of toothpaste as the bowels are compressed. > > As a side note, gas that has built up in the bowels is also eliminated as the body is moved or examined. This elimination typically occurs without an audible sound, but I have heard some with this expected accompaniment. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/3 "2009-02-26T22:01:52Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > “…although the process of elimination isn’t a voluntary movement on the part of the deceased” Geeze, I would _hope_ not. “He… he CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD JUST TO PURPOSELY SOIL HIMSELF!” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/4 "2009-02-26T22:06:46Z")
After reading the descriptions of some [last meals](http://www.deadmaneating.com/dmearch.html), I wonder how much of a clean up there is in the death chamber. And it made me laugh to find a web state entitled “Dead Man Eating.” ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/5 "2009-02-27T03:44:00Z")
Arthur Conan Doyle killed off his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes, in the short story, _The Adventure of the Final Problem_. Holmes and Moriarty fall to their deaths into a gorge. Apparently the fall caused such considerable damage to both men, Dr. Watson was unable to perform adequate autopsies. This meant Watson was unable to include his dear friend’s death and autopsy in his study of drugs and the human body. Watson was unable to test his theory that prolonged use of cocaine may have had a binding effect with respect to defecation, specifically upon death. And with his unfortunate demise was born the well known phrase, “No shit, Sherlock!” ---
**Author:** ![Thalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@Thalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thalion)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/6 "2009-02-27T03:48:55Z")
Awful, **Duckster** , just awful! 🙂 **Kimstu’s** cite is correct. I’m a cop, and I’ve seen a lot of dead bodies. In only a few did the bowels empty. In fact, we just had one yesterday (woman took an overdose of pills). ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/7 "2009-02-27T03:59:35Z")
While I have seen the occasional death with incontinence, most of the time there’s nothing. St. Urho Paramedic ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/8 "2009-02-27T04:50:33Z")
My grandfather was the local mortician in a small town and my dad helped him as a kid. Dad told a story of moving a dead body and it audibly moaned. Scared him (almost) to death! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/9 "2009-02-27T06:18:17Z")
Post-death urination is more common than defecation because when the urinary sphincter relaxes, urine can easily leak out if the bladder is full. But defecation generally takes contractions of the bowel muscles to push fecal matter out. Leakage can happen, especially when a body is moved, but it’s less common than urination. Based on conversations with a school friend, whose family had been morticians for 3 generations. Teenagers ask questions about such ‘gross’ topics. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2009, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/10 "2009-02-27T11:18:30Z")
Much more common is fluids from the stomach purging out the mouth and nose. Worst smell ever. Fun stuff like this, along with the occasional defecation, moans, and death farts usually happen when the poor bastard (like me) rolls them on their side to wrap them or place them in a bag. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/11 "2009-02-27T19:18:12Z")
I’ve heard that defecation after death is often associated with cases of hanging or strangulation. Can’t vouch for the reliability of the site, but here’s some information about the process in relation to hanging deaths: [Bodily Functions During Hanging](http://www.poopreport.com/Intellectual/Content/Hanging/hanging.html). I’ve also found a reference to this phenomenon in a more scientifically-researched source, _Schaum’s Outline of Theory and Problems of Biology_. As seen on [Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=_XZtGXJIQA4C&pg=PA223&lpg=PA223&dq=hanging++defecation&source=bl&ots=q9OyBW5Ol2&sig=sdiDj_1UrgKP1VdSaQfBExe-hyw&hl=en&ei=xzmoSarBE9CCtwfwxajnDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result) (page 223, in case that link doesn’t take you directly there) one finds this: “Defecation is not completely involuntary, except under extreme circumstances such as execution by hanging or overwhelming fear. In such cases, it is the massive stimulation of the vagus nerve that causes defecation and, usually, urination as well.” Lastly, I might note (once again departed from a rigorously scientific document) that in _The Godfather_, Mario Puzo makes repeated references to postmortem defecation when describing whacked victims–e.g., Carlo after he gets garroted (and stinks up the whole car)–details that Coppola mercifully spared us in the film version. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/12 "2009-02-27T22:41:08Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > …although the process of elimination isn’t a voluntary movement on the part of the deceased. > [@Reply](#): > > Geeze, I would _hope_ not. “He… he CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD JUST TO PURPOSELY SOIL HIMSELF!” OK, I laughed. Well done. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/13 "2009-02-28T02:58:01Z")
I was present at the recent demise of my mother. She did not… erm… “soil” herself at death, nor for the several hours afterward until the cremation people can to pick up her mortal remains. Granted, that’s just one example, but it proves it does not _always_ happen. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/14 "2009-02-28T08:40:44Z")
Yeah, there’s a hack SF writer or two who spread this nonsense about animals, including humans, having “a reflex evolved to make the corpse unappetizing to scavengers.” How the hell a reflex is supposed to get selected when it only manifests after death is a problem that never gets brought up… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-die-do-they-soil-themselves/487564/15 "2009-02-28T12:04:54Z")
I concur with Thalion and St. Urho.