When a body is exposed to these particular environmental conditions, a chemical reaction occurs in which the fat undergoes a type of hydrolysis, forming fatty acid salts and other materials that make up the adipocere.
During the adipocere formation, the water from the soft tissue is extracted, eventually making the body inhospitable to further bacterial decomposition.
The adipocere is also not palatable to the types of insects that usually consume decomposing tissue so these bodies are left relatively intact. People often ask whether the Soap Lady is a mummy. Some argue that saponification is not mummification; it is its own chemical process that alters the body on a molecular level.
However, the end product of saponification is a naturally preserved corpse that needs no extraordinary environmental controls and has very low water content, similar to a naturally mummified person. Mummy or not, the Soap Lady is an enigma, and for that we can thank Dr. Joseph Leidy. Leidy was a 19th-century Renaissance man: a physician, paleontologist, naturalist, and professor.
In , he delivered to the museum one of two saponified bodies unearthed from a Philadelphia graveyard. The staff at the museum accepted this information on the Soap Lady for over 65 years until Joseph McFarland investigated further. In , Dr. He first had to contend with the name. McFarland decided to look for any mention of either name in death records, church listings, ship logs, and any other records he could find.
Not only did McFarland find no Ellenbogens, von or otherwise, in the death records of Philadelphia in , he found no recorded deaths from yellow fever at all. He checked the published lists for the thousands of yellow fever deaths in and still, no Ellenbogens. In fact, he could find no one with that name in Philadelphia until after McFarland also researched the alleged location of the cemetery, near Fourth and Race Streets. He determined that while there were three German churches in that area, all of their cemeteries were elsewhere.
This receipt indicates that Dr. Leidy may have been the main instigator in acquiring the saponified bodies but he was by no means the sole perpetrator of nefarious activity. According to the receipt from Leidy, The College reimbursed him for his expenses in obtaining the Soap Lady. William Hunt published a detailed account of how Leidy was able to obtain the two bodies. The only instance I ever know of Dr. So Leidy went down to secure the prize. It occurs more often than thought, but often only leads to small amounts of preserved fatty tissue, rather than the full body turning into a soap-like substance.
Meyers Soap Man and Lady Revisited. Parry Goo of death helps solve mystery of the headless corpse. Live Science. Like this: Like Loading He also anticipates forensics in his observation — It is no impossible Physiognomy to conjecture at fleshy appendices; and after what shape the muscles and carnous parts might hang in their full consistences. Great Blog, Just in time for Halloween I give you this. Does grave wax only happen in humans or can it happen with animals? It can happen in animals too!
It is a transformation of fat cells, which animals also have. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Follow Following. Bones Don't Lie Join 12, other followers. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now. In the process, the microbes generate toxic gases such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. This is what causes the body to swell and stink.
Watery mush — In around months, the iron inside the blood vessels starts spilling out. As the iron oxidizes, it gives the body brownish-black color. Grave wax — Grave wax is produced over a period of several years.
It depends on moisture and oxygen levels inside the coffin. Provided that the conditions are right adequate moisture and low-oxygen , the fat in the body turns into a soap-like substance. This is often referred to as grave wax. It is said that grave wax can last much longer than even bones that take around years to decompose fully.
In the end, what usually remains is the teeth, any synthetic clothing material such as nylon and grave wax. However, the conditions must be right for grave wax to form and sustain.
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