Page A12 October 2022 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A slurry came rushing down to the small town of Aberfan, in southern Wales. Pantglas Primary School was in the path of the massive wave. Teachers and others only heard a roar “like a freight train” before it hit, devastating the school, and burying children, teachers and staff under coal sludge. Alarms went off, and emergency personnel and residents ran to the school and started digging with their hands. When the students were recovered, they took the bodies to the Bethania Chapel, near the school. A number was assigned to each victim and pinned to their clothes. No autopsies were needed as the cause was obvious. 116 children and 28 adults were laid on the chapel pews: boys on one side, girls on the other. The victims’ faces were washed, and surviving teachers made preliminary identifications. Parents, who waited hours to enter, walked through the chapel to identify their children. Those identified were taken to the Calvinistic Methodist Church until arrangements could be made. Fifteen children had to be identified through dental records due to their injuries. The Aberfan tragedy was a training lesson for all in rescue and recovery. Body recovery, identification, and prevention of further fatalities is the reason why these courses are taught. Another aspect of these tragedies is the traumatic effect on survivors, relatives, first responders, volunteers, investigators, mortuary staff and the press that witness these tragedies and interview the survivors. When Dr. Black was asked how those in the forensic field deal with what they must in these situations, her answer was a large amount of alcohol and illegal substances. Upon her own death, she wishes to be dissected in her dissection room. Remove all her organs and fat and have it cremated. Boil what’s left to allow her skeleton to be preserved. It will be used for centuries as a training tool for medical students. Her guiding thought is: “It is hard to imagine the crippling, unresolved grief suffered by the bereaved who never have a body to mourn.” “I want to be able to recognize death, to hear her coming, to see her, to touch her, smell her and taste her; to undergo the assault on all of my senses and, in my last moments, to understand her as completely as is humanly possible.” —Sue Black, All That Remains: A Life in Death Observations “This is why forensic anthropologists will examine every single fragment of a body, no matter how small, in an attempt to secure an identification.” —Sue Black When a Scottish medical student decides to spend her career in examining dead bodies, you get some raised eyebrows. Susan Margaret Black, PhD, internationally renowned forensic anthropologist, who served as Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Dundee, puts her journey into examining the dead all over the world, into a book, it is worth reading. She was named the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2016. All That Remains: A Life in Death (Doubleday, 2019) should be an interest to those in the final care vocation. We see the deceased after medical staff or investigating authorities are satisfied with identification and hopefully the cause of death. Dr. Black has spent her career probing victims of violence, war, murder, and criminal dismemberment. Dr. Black writes that forensic pathology seeks the evidence of death, while forensic anthropology reconstructs the life led. She discusses the condition of the decedents she has been called to investigate. She also describes the decomposed remains and little-known facts, such as: • Maggots can raise the temperature of the decedent. A mass of 2,500 maggots can raise the temperature 57 degrees above the ambient temperature. • Cadaver dogs have a scent 1,000 times more sensitive than man. Rats and wasps also have this ability. • In Africa, where temperatures are high, insect activities can reduce a body from a corpse to a skeleton in seven days. • Freezing can stop the decomposition almost completely and recognizable features can remain for centuries. Dry heat will dehydrate tissue and preserve a corpse. Black’s Uncle Willie, when he passed, gave her the avidity for death investigation. As a young girl she now realized, “dead is really dead.” She states that “there is a void in them. Silence around the dead has a different quality from the silence that is just an absence of noise.” Once she realized he was really gone, she was comfortable with what was left of him. She discusses mutilated remains. An accident at work, a sporting misadventure, suicide, struck by a moving vehicle or airplane crash, each need to have every part of the remains collected. Her book outlines five classifications of mutilation: By Steven Palmer 1. Dismemberment: Almost always a defensive measure. 85% of these cases happen at the victim’s or the murderer’s home. The splatter of blood is very helpful. Cleaning still leaves these traces at the place of the murder. Most murderers will remove a head face down so they do not have to see the person they knew. The experience of the murderer is relatively easy to determine in how the body was dismembered. Those murderers who wish to hide (usually just delay) the identity of the victim disfigure the face, remove teeth, remove hands and even the skin with tattoos. 2. Aggressive: A haphazard, overkill that results in violent mutilation. 3. Offensive: Committed for sexual gratification and sadistic pleasure. 4. Necromantic: This is the rarest. The murderer thinks of their victim as a trophy. 5. Communication: This is a warning to others, such as a gang sending a message. Some terrorists use this method as a warning or for retribution. Dr. Black was sent to Kosovo during the war between the Serbians and the Kosovo Liberation Army to help with identification of the dead. Her first lesson, which she never forgot, was never to put your hands in the pockets of victims. Razor blades and hypodermic needles may be awaiting your fingers. Also, if you come across one, never cut a blue wire, as it may be connected to an IED. All body parts found in these situations are catalogued and retrieved. Buried bodies are always easier to work with, as the cool ground is a better preservative than the surface heat; also, insects are less. She also assisted in identification after the Sumatra Tsunami, which left about 230,000 dead – 5,400 in Thailand alone. The victims were taken to a local temple via flatbed trucks. Families were allowed to view the victims and claim them before the forensic teams arrived, and there were cases where the wrong identification was made, but loved ones were properly identified later. Bloating, odor, heat, flies, and rats made this ordeal challenging. The heat and humidity deteriorated many of the bodies, though refrigerated trucks helped address this problem. When Dr. Black was teaching, an assignment was given to police officers to do an essay on a mass fatality. The students were not happy but did the work. Their work was so good that a textbook was created, Disaster Victim Identification: Experience and Practice. One chapter was dedicated to the Aberfan disaster of 1966. An unknown underground spring, after several days of rain, filled an area full of “tailings,” the ore residue from mining. The The Dame of Death Steven Palmer entered funeral service in 1971. He is an honors graduate of the New England Institute of Applied Arts & Sciences. He has been licensed on both coasts, he owned theWestcott Funeral Homes of Cottonwood and Camp Verde, AZ, where he remains active in operations. Steve offers his observations on current funeral service issues. Hemay be reachedbymail at POBox 352, Cottonwood, AZ 86326, by phone at (928)634-9566, by fax at (928)634-5156, by e-mail at steve@westcottfuneralhome.comor throughhiswebsite at www.westcottfuneralhome.com or on Facebook. F U N E R A L H O M E & C E M E T E R Y N E W S w w w . N o m i s P u b l i c a t i o n s . c o m Monthly Columnsonline at www.vischerfuneralsupplies.com StoneMor Inc. Announces the Acquisition of Anderson Funeral and Cremation Services ©adfinity® Contact us today to learn more. (888) 889-8508 • travelplan@shipinman.com ShipInman.com Discover the... Want to earn extra income and offer families peace of mind? 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With 300 cemeteries and 69 funeral homes in 23 states and Puerto Rico, StoneMor serves 60,000 families annually with caring and compassionate family service. For additional information visit www.stonemor.com. @Nomis.Publ ications Like us on
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