eiyuu
i am a hero
- Jan 24, 2020
- 21
Making this thread on a recommendation! I hope it'll help ease some worries!
So! You're planning/considering on ctb. But you can't help but wonder, what's next? And no, not the philosophical conversation, but what happens to your body after.
Depending on how you ctb can change the process. Hanging in a remote location, forced vehicular accident, jumping off of certain types of ledges (such as the Golden Gate Bridge), and overall dying in a remote location often require an identification process. This process also includes suicides where the individual lives alone or doesn't have much contact with kin. Here's the rundown for at home alone ctb.
Let's use two routes here, alerting someone before you do it (such as a timed email) and not telling anyone at all.
Alerting someone will help preserve you much easier. I'm a firm believer of dying as myself, so I'm very passionate about letting someone know. Corpse decomposition varies from case to case. No, your body will certainly not be rotting with maggots after 24 hours, but it may gain a certain stink. Alerting someone, or even the police, will help you, remain you, much easier. The police and a paramedic will come to the scene and prepare you to be moved to a hospital and into the morgue. The police will identify you, and contact any next of kin, and if none exist, will contact an "emergency contact" (think the person you put down when filling out forms). Said individual(s) will come to the hospital to identify your body.
Now lets go down the not telling anyone route.
As stated above, every body is different. I've witnessed corpses that started smelling pretty bad after a mere 24 hours. Most take longer. 48-72 hours is the average. At that point a neighbour (if you live in an apartment) will have smelled something by then and complained to a landlord (who in turn will figure out quickly what had happened and would alert the proper people). A neighbour could potentially spot it if you live in a house, but at that point the higher likelihood would be your friends or boss trying to check up on you. The identification process is still the same.
Next comes the funeral prep. Your body will stay in the hospitals morgue until proper arrangements are made. Funeral prep can be simple or complicated, it really depends on the family. I personally recommend doing your funeral prep as early as possible (think of it like a prenup, plus it's cheaper the younger you are!). There are many options to go with, such as going all out with a casket viewing, service, reception, and the burial itself. If you want to be cremated but still have a service, that's a-okay and totally possible! The body will be embalmed, viewing/service will happen, and then the cremation process will happen.
Funerals can be expensive, especially if you/the family decide to go all out. Think of it like this, the prettier the casket, the more expensive it is. Cremation is the cheaper route if you want it to be over and done with.
Then comes the body prep!
Your body will be transferred from the hospital morgue to the fridge in the prep room of the funeral home. The mortician(s) will transfer your body from a gurney to a table, and wash/disinfect your body. A small sheet is also placed over the crotch for privacy matters. The eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, are the main areas for disinfecting while the whole body is washed. Eye caps will be placed under the lids and the mouth will be wired/stapled shut. That's to keep your eyes/mouth from spontaneously opening during the service. Then comes the embalming!
An incision will be made in the clavicle into your right carotid artery to drain the blood from your body. The artery will also be tied off for future use. After the blood is drained, the mortician will use a medical device called a trocar. The trocar is pierced throughout the abdomen (usually throughout the stomach) to drain the rest of the fluids. The holes are screwed shut to prevent any formaldehyde leaking out.
A small tube is placed into the artery and formaldehyde begins to spread throughout the body. Some morticians will rub the more problematic areas (such as the hands and ears) to allow the formaldehyde to spread more easily.
After the embalming comes the visual prep!
If you're scared about people seeing the aftermath of your suicide, don't worry. The makeup morticians use is very heavy and paint like, it'll cover up any bruises you're worried about people seeing. However, this doesn't apply in every situation. For instance, a gunshot to the head will cause even the most trained morticians some difficulty. I'm from Ontario and the morticians I learned from had to go to Missouri for a class on skull reconstruction.
The mortician will also cut/style your hair and shave you (if applicable) to match it to what you used to do, or to match the memorial photo the best. The final step is putting you in burial clothes (usually picked out by the family). Morticians will always respect the wishes of the family and the deceased when it comes to this. I've heard of "clown funerals" where the deceased used to work as a clown, so they were buried in full clown garb!
I'm going to be updating this thread as it goes, but I hope this helps ease some worries! Leave any questions if you have any, and I'll do my best to answer them!
So! You're planning/considering on ctb. But you can't help but wonder, what's next? And no, not the philosophical conversation, but what happens to your body after.
Depending on how you ctb can change the process. Hanging in a remote location, forced vehicular accident, jumping off of certain types of ledges (such as the Golden Gate Bridge), and overall dying in a remote location often require an identification process. This process also includes suicides where the individual lives alone or doesn't have much contact with kin. Here's the rundown for at home alone ctb.
Let's use two routes here, alerting someone before you do it (such as a timed email) and not telling anyone at all.
Alerting someone will help preserve you much easier. I'm a firm believer of dying as myself, so I'm very passionate about letting someone know. Corpse decomposition varies from case to case. No, your body will certainly not be rotting with maggots after 24 hours, but it may gain a certain stink. Alerting someone, or even the police, will help you, remain you, much easier. The police and a paramedic will come to the scene and prepare you to be moved to a hospital and into the morgue. The police will identify you, and contact any next of kin, and if none exist, will contact an "emergency contact" (think the person you put down when filling out forms). Said individual(s) will come to the hospital to identify your body.
Now lets go down the not telling anyone route.
As stated above, every body is different. I've witnessed corpses that started smelling pretty bad after a mere 24 hours. Most take longer. 48-72 hours is the average. At that point a neighbour (if you live in an apartment) will have smelled something by then and complained to a landlord (who in turn will figure out quickly what had happened and would alert the proper people). A neighbour could potentially spot it if you live in a house, but at that point the higher likelihood would be your friends or boss trying to check up on you. The identification process is still the same.
Next comes the funeral prep. Your body will stay in the hospitals morgue until proper arrangements are made. Funeral prep can be simple or complicated, it really depends on the family. I personally recommend doing your funeral prep as early as possible (think of it like a prenup, plus it's cheaper the younger you are!). There are many options to go with, such as going all out with a casket viewing, service, reception, and the burial itself. If you want to be cremated but still have a service, that's a-okay and totally possible! The body will be embalmed, viewing/service will happen, and then the cremation process will happen.
Funerals can be expensive, especially if you/the family decide to go all out. Think of it like this, the prettier the casket, the more expensive it is. Cremation is the cheaper route if you want it to be over and done with.
Then comes the body prep!
Your body will be transferred from the hospital morgue to the fridge in the prep room of the funeral home. The mortician(s) will transfer your body from a gurney to a table, and wash/disinfect your body. A small sheet is also placed over the crotch for privacy matters. The eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, are the main areas for disinfecting while the whole body is washed. Eye caps will be placed under the lids and the mouth will be wired/stapled shut. That's to keep your eyes/mouth from spontaneously opening during the service. Then comes the embalming!
An incision will be made in the clavicle into your right carotid artery to drain the blood from your body. The artery will also be tied off for future use. After the blood is drained, the mortician will use a medical device called a trocar. The trocar is pierced throughout the abdomen (usually throughout the stomach) to drain the rest of the fluids. The holes are screwed shut to prevent any formaldehyde leaking out.
A small tube is placed into the artery and formaldehyde begins to spread throughout the body. Some morticians will rub the more problematic areas (such as the hands and ears) to allow the formaldehyde to spread more easily.
After the embalming comes the visual prep!
If you're scared about people seeing the aftermath of your suicide, don't worry. The makeup morticians use is very heavy and paint like, it'll cover up any bruises you're worried about people seeing. However, this doesn't apply in every situation. For instance, a gunshot to the head will cause even the most trained morticians some difficulty. I'm from Ontario and the morticians I learned from had to go to Missouri for a class on skull reconstruction.
The mortician will also cut/style your hair and shave you (if applicable) to match it to what you used to do, or to match the memorial photo the best. The final step is putting you in burial clothes (usually picked out by the family). Morticians will always respect the wishes of the family and the deceased when it comes to this. I've heard of "clown funerals" where the deceased used to work as a clown, so they were buried in full clown garb!
I'm going to be updating this thread as it goes, but I hope this helps ease some worries! Leave any questions if you have any, and I'll do my best to answer them!
