The Dead Tell Tales – A Look at U.S. Body Farms

 

 

Please note, these facilities DO NOT provide tours. They are available to that university's forensic students, researchers, FBI, and law enforcement agencies.

 

 

A body farm is an outdoor research facility that allows forensic anthropologists to study the decomposition of human remains in a natural environment under natural circumstances.

 

Remains are Protected

By learning the stages of decomposition, researchers can better determine the time and causes of death, which is especially helpful in solving cold cases – deaths and murders that have not been solved.

 

Researchers also learn the speed at which a body decomposes based on the body’s age, body size, clothing worn, cause of death, location, and environment. This information is used by medical examiners, law enforcement, and crime scene investigators to solve murders, suspicious deaths, and other criminal cases.

 

What Happens to a Body on the Farm?

When the body arrives, it will receive a number to protect privacy and assist in record keeping. Hair and other samples are taken before the body is moved to the outdoor research lab and allowed to decompose. Some bodies are placed in wire cages, others are allowed to experience the full effects of nature. Bodies may also be placed in vehicles, campers, or submerged to aid in research for homicide investigations.

 

Students Learn in the Field

During this time, students monitor and take notes on the effects of weather, environment, insects, and scavengers on the body. It usually takes about six months for a body to become skeletal. But again, this depends on the circumstances, location, and effect of weather and environment on the corpse.

 

Skeletal remains will be taken, cleaned, and inventoried into a permanent collection used for research and education. Many facilities allow families to visit their loved one's skeletal remains.

 

Where Do the Bodies Come From?

Body farms receive human remains from three sources: 

1. Medical examiners turn over bodies that have not been claimed.

2. Family members may donate a loved one’s body. 

3. People complete a pre-donor consent form to donate their bodies after death.

 

The First Body Farm

Forensic Anthropology Center – Knoxville, Tennessee

The first body farm was started at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville by Dr. William Bass. Bass, a forensic anthropologist, joined the Tennessee Medical Examiner’s office but realized he didn’t understand how physical remains decayed. He started the first “body farm” outside of Knoxville in 1972 with one body on a 2.5-acre wooded lot where he intended to study human decomposition in a variety of settings.

 

William Bass

By 1987, Bass had founded the Forensic Anthropology Center (ARF) where students could learn more about forensic anthropology. Today, around 50 bodies are always out in the elements. Some are clothed, some naked, some are placed in potential crime scene locations, like cars, woods, and underwater.

 

Forensic students at U of T learn that numerous factors can affect the deterioration of a body including moisture, temperature, sun, shade, soil chemistry, and insect activity. They keep records and observe the body’s decomposition process over the four stages: fresh, bloat, decay, and dry.

 

Besides educating students, AFR trains members of NCIS and the FBI’s Evidence Recovery Team in scene-of-the-crime skills and other techniques. The facility is now researching the effects of bodies found in mass graves.

 

ARF has studied more than 1,800 bodies. The Tennessee facility is also home to 1,700 modern skeletal remains, the largest collection in the world.  

U of T receives more than 100 donated bodies each year. 

If you are interested in learning how to donate your body here, contact donateinfo@utk.edu

 

Body Farm Number Two

Western Carolina University – Cullowhee, North Carolina

Lab at FOREST

The Forensic Osteology Research Station (FOREST) was established in 2007, making it the second body farm in the U.S. The grounds are at Cullowhee, North Carolina, near the Great Smoky Mountains, located at an altitude of 2,271 feet above sea level. This altitude offers different effects on the decomposition of bodies like temperatures, humidity, and animal scavengers.

 

FOREST has three educational goals:

1. The study of decomposition and taphonomy, the study of fossilization.

2. Systematic location and recovery of human remains

3. Human skeletal biology

 

Cadaver Dog

FOREST has a twice-yearly cadaver dog training program. Cadaver dogs learn how to locate bodies that have been underwater and in shallow graves along with bodies hidden in mountainous terrain, and bodies disposed of in buildings and vehicles. Cadaver dogs are used to assist law enforcement in locating and recovering a body more quickly.

 

This facility is also studying the degradation rates of nuclear DNA in soft tissues and bone. To donate, contact wcubodydonation@wcu.edu

 

Largest Body Farm in the U.S.

Forensic Anthropology Research Facility - Texas State University, San Marcos, TX

Texas State University is the home of Texas State Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF), which began in 2008. It is the largest body farm in the country, composed of 26-acres for research purposes. Fifty bodies are left out in the elements at any one time for study.

 

FARF allows students to study the decomposition of human remains, many placed in 2-foot cages where only insects, weather, and bacteria will affect them. Remains are also left without protection so researchers can study the effects scavengers have on the body. Students then learn how the bodies interact with their total environment. These findings can assist in solving cold cases.

 

Remains may also be used in several workshops including Identifying Human Bones, K9 Human Remains Detection, Human Remains Recovery Course, and Skeletal Death Investigation.

 

 Body in Cage to Protect It

The TSU skeletal collection allows students to study the effects of different causes of death and how it affects the body’s skeleton. 

Courses are also offered throughout the year for numerous agencies including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Kentucky Criminalistic Academy, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

The Forensic Anthropology Center accepts the donation of bodies for scientific purposes. Those bodies will stay at the ranch facility. However, families are allowed to visit the remains. Currently, there are more than 4,000 registered pre-donors. For information on donating your remains, contact  FACTS@txstate.edu

 

 

Complex for Forensic Anthropology Research Southern Illinois University 

– Carbondale, Illinois

The Complex for Forensic Anthropology Research (CFAR) at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois is an outdoor research laboratory that focuses on research, training, and the study of forensic anthropology.

 

Students Keep Track of Decay Rate

Students study the rate and pattern of decaying bodies from the local climate and insect activity. CFAR students also study body disposal and how it affects the remains and decomposition for forensic purposes.

 

The facility works with medio-legal agencies in body recovery, trauma analysis, skeletal research, and court testimony. SIU offers non-credit short courses, one-day training sessions for law enforcement and professional organizations, and traditional semester forensic anthropology and taphonomy classes.

For donation information, contact gdabbs@siu.edu

 

 

Why Donate?

Donating your body to aid in the study of forensic research investigations and cold cases is a noble option. This is also seen as a “green alternative” to embalming and traditional burial. And these facilities offer an alternative for those who cannot afford burial or cremation.

 

Taking Notes of Body Locations

Federal and state laws control how and where human remains and tissue

can be studied and stored. These facilities operate in the same manner of any other scientific tissue donation system. There is paperwork to identify the remains, and the transfer from a relative to the facility, which allows it to take possession of the body.

 

~ Joy

 

 

 

Unrest at Elks Rest in Terre Haute Indiana

Tombstone Tourists are all about history, heritage, and preservation. We want to save the stones, the cemeteries, and the stories for future generations. That’s why when I received a link to an article by Terre Haute Indiana Tribune Star staff writer David Kronke a couple of weeks ago, I immediately put out a call for any volunteer restoration groups willing to help “Save the Elk.”  

The Bronze Elk

According to the article, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 86 in Terre Haute, Indiana, had planned to auction the bronze statue after publicly stating they couldn’t afford to refurbish it.

 

It is worth noting the Elks Lodge owns the plot of land where Elk members are buried and the statue stands. A cemetery plot is sold like any other piece of real estate; the buyer signs a deed for the land, tiny though it may be. The original deed goes to the purchaser, and a copy is filed in the courthouse and with the cemetery. Therefore, Highland Lawn Cemetery owned by the City of Terre Haute, does not own the statue and has no control over its sale or removal.

 

Bronze Elk

No sooner had I sent out pleas for assistance than questions began to surface. “Who had said the statue needed restoration?” “What type of refurbishing was needed?” “Had Elks Lodge No. 86 asked for or sought any assistance in refurbishing the statue?” One Facebook reader cut to the chase and called it a “money grab, pure and simple.”

 

 

Refurbishment Plea is Suspect

Locals felt the same way. Many said this wasn’t about the statue needing repairs; it’s about a fraternal club needing money due to suffering financial problems …again.

The community rose in protest when Maple Avenue Auction released a notice of the sale. The Elks leadership set the minimum bid at $30,000, and the buyer must also pay all moving and repair fees.

 

According to Tommy Kleckner, director of the Western Regional Office of Indiana Landmarks, no matter how much the Elks would receive from selling the statue, it wouldn’t match “its intrinsic historical value.”

 

 

Save the Elk

When Terre Haute resident Dot Lewis heard about the pending auction, she decided to do something about it. Lewis has formed the Facebook group, Save the Elk (Elks Rest) @ Highland Lawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Indiana.

She created the group on December 17, 2021, and it now has over 100 members.

 

Lewis hopes to draw attention to the possible plight of the elk and create a public forum to protest its sale and removal. When I queried her about the potential auction, she explained that the statement made by the Elks that they need to sell the statue due to refurbishment “is simply not true.” The decision to sell the elk was a “private decision…made by the leadership of local Elks Lodge No.86 without public or membership notification or discussion.”

 

Elk Lodge No. 86 in Terre Haute, Indiana

According to Lewis, “It is a justification for their unethical tactics and greed. They are selling it because they want money for their lodge.” Lewis went on to say that neither “the Elks nor us (Save the Elk) need resources for refurbishment.”

 

A cemetery sexton I spoke with said that a bronze statue might need the joints rewelded due to metal fatigue, but historians would not consider removing the century-old patina. 

 

History of Harvey’s Elk

Eli Harvey

The 14-point elk has overseen the graves of nearly two-dozen Terre Haute Elk members for almost a century. Sculptor Eli Harvey designed the elk statue in 1904. Harvey spent weeks inside a shed to gather the correct dimensions, and attitude, of an elk stag in rut. Some believe that Harvey could “touch the soul” of the animal. His bronze elk sculptures represent the emblem of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and it was his most popular work. The statues, cast in 1905, were available in statuette and monumental versions. The elk was originally known as the “Bull Elk.” The monumental Highland Lawn Cemetery statue is known locally as “Elks Rest.” An attached plaque reads: “Elks Rest, BPOB No. 86,” and a clock face depicts the time as 11:55.

 

Located at the entrance gates, the elk is the first destination on the cemetery
walking tour and listed on the Waymarking site in “Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures” pertaining only to outdoor public sculptures.

Lodge No. 86 purchased the statue in 1927 and dedicated it at the fraternal cemetery plot the following year.

 

Elks No. 86 Has Sold Other Historic Artifacts

Revolutionary-era Cannons

Lodge 86 is the same group that sold the historic Revolutionary-era cannons displayed at Fort Harrison. The site was once the location of the Elks Lodge Country Club and Golf Course.

 

Elk Statue at Dedication in 1928

Families are appalled that Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks No. 86 would choose to sell off this symbolic statue that oversees their dead. This considered action doesn’t ring true to the Elks mission statement:

“… the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America will serve the people and communities through *benevolent programs, demonstrating that Elks Care and Elks Share.” 

(*Benevolent means “charitable, non-profitmaking.”)

 

Is it Legal?

That depends on whom you’re speaking with. Several attorneys have voiced the possibility that legal action could be considered.

According to an Indiana law, it is illegal in Indiana to sell anything placed on or in a grave.

IC 14-21-2-4 Purchase or sale of items removed from cemetery prohibited

Sec. 4. A person may not buy or sell any of the following that have been removed from a cemetery:

(1) Grave memorial.

(2) Grave artifact.

(3) Grave ornamentation.

(4) Cemetery enclosure.

(5) Other commemorative item.

As added by P.L.100-1999, SEC.1.

The statue would be considered a commutative item, which an attorney explained, “The Elks Lodge can get rid of it, but just not sell it.”

 

What Can Be Done?

• A lawsuit could be brought by concerned citizens against the Elks Lodge No. 86. 

• The City of Terre Haute, the State of Indiana, or a group of concerned citizens, or historians, could consider purchasing the statue and allowing it to remain permanently in Highland Lawn Cemetery.

• The city could also apply for an Indiana Historical Marker for the elk possibly in time to stop a sale.

• You could consider filing a complaint with the Indiana Attorney General.

• For other suggestions, visit Save the Elk on Facebook. 

 

And we must consider, what precedent does this potential action set for other historic markers and monuments around the country?

As Dot Lewis put it so succinctly, “What kind of fraternal society…would be so disrespectful to its deceased members (as) to sell off what is symbolically a grave marker?”

 

For now, the auction is on hold.

 

 Visit the Terre Haute Lodge No 86 Elks page to voice your opinion to the Terre Haute Elks.

Send an email to the Indiana Elks Association.

Contact the National Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

 

 

Wishing you and yours a safe and happy New Year!

~ Joy