How long before he's ripe?

[The Din]

Just wondering what the shelf life is for a forgotten hanged man (Or woman, don't want to be sexist). Part of my WIP is set in city gone a little crazy, thus many of its citizens were left hanging from the walls, etc. Is it possible for some to still to be up three months later? (Given that there's plenty of other food for scavengers and some of the fellows had pretty stringy necks.)

Also, what sort of decomposition would you expect to see after three months of laying about? (As corpses have a tendency to do.) I'm talking bloating, rot, sunburn, hungry bugs and bigger beasties, or anything else. Would it be any different for animals?

Thanks all for any knowledge provided, and sorry if I caught you eating.

 

[San Cidolfus]

Unless it was very cold, there wouldn't be much more left than bones and the tatters of clothes. The hotter it is, the faster the decomposition. If big critters could get at them, you'd just have scattered and chewed bones.

 

[Sparkie]

Unless it was very cold, there wouldn't be much more left than bones and the tatters of clothes. The hotter it is, the faster the decomposition. If big critters could get at them, you'd just have scattered and chewed bones.

Quite true. I'd sooner go with bodies in hanging cages. After three months of decomposition and feasting carrion birds there wouldn't be anything left hanging but an empty noose.

 

[Devor]

Of course, a body that's fallen from a noose would be pretty vivid, too, and I'd think more fun to describe. I think the bones would be hunched over, and the head would have fallen ontop or rolled to the side, or maybe if conditions were right when the body fell, the body could fall hunched over the head.

 

[Ravana]

Unless the climate is bone-dry, in which case the body may desiccate into a mummy. To some extent: the internal organs often complicate this (which is why they were removed when deliberately creating mummies).

European climate? Three months and you'll have nothing but bones.

 

[ThinkerX]

I live in Alaska, right at the edge of civilization - paved streets, shopping malls and traffic lights in two directions, and pretty much endless and nearly trackless forest in the third (lot of water the last way). About ten years back, during winter, a moose died along a trail I used to walk on every day or every other day. I was actually able to watch the decomposition process in action - after a few weeks it was pretty much just a dirty lump - you could see fur if you looked close enough, but if you were not paying attention you might not even realize it for what it was. By the time summer hit, there was nothing left but bones, and by fall, even those were scattered and gone.

 

[The Din]

You guys are breaking my balls! Thanks everyone, saved me from spending hours describing an impossible situation. A shame to have a city full skeletons, seems sort of cliched. Any idea if the clothing would still be intact?

My timeline's pretty tight, but how long before skeletonism actually sets in? I could try and swing it to a month, but days or weeks is impossible.

 

[Drakhov]

A gibbet (cage) would keep the bones from being scattered - being 'hung in chains' (many highwaymen and pirates underwent this punishment) would keep the skeleton relatively intact - i believe also that if the body was going to be on display, as a further deterrent, they were coated in tar to slow decomposition.

 

[ThinkerX]

My timeline's pretty tight, but how long before skeletonism actually sets in? I could try and swing it to a month, but days or weeks is impossible.

Dependant on:

1) What is the climate like? If your city is like *really* cold during this period as in -20 F, then it is possible there would be...well...parts of corpses.

2) If whatever killed the people also killed off most of the lower lifeforms - particularly insects - then after a month or so there might be actual corpses left here and there after a month or so.

3) If the people died indoors, in some sort of sealed environment, then yes, there might be corpses, assuming it was dry inside.

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Sidenote - this is why I'm not a big Zombie fan - the typical 'unlife' expectency of a zombie would be measured in days to weeks - a month at the very most, before simply decomposing into a rather disgusting mess.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Lots of good info up here already, but I just wanted to add some thoughts. I don't think it was very common for people to be hung and left on a rope really, because parts would fall off rather quickly. Usually a cage was used for that sort of thing. Hanging was for common criminals put to death, the real bad ones got special treatment, like having their heads on spikes and that sort of thing to make a point. Birds are the first to get to a body, sometimes having at it before the victim is dead (in the case of a slow death like breaking on a wheel) the bugs take a few days, but they'll turn up in droves, and when the eggs hatch, a host of maggots and stuff will make a mess of it pretty quick.
If you had rope-hanged bodies on a stone wall, the birds will be impossible to drive away and I would give it a matter of maybe days before enough stuff falls off that it's no longer a body hanging on a rope. In crow's cages.... well then you have more time, especially if you can keep the big scavengers off, but bugs will still do their work in a few weeks.
I watched Steven Fry in America: Deep South and in it he visits a body farm where they study just that. You can google it, and I believe it is on netflix on demand, I couldn't copy the link though. The body farm is about 25 minutes in, and it gives a lot of info and pictures of exactly what a body looks like after exactly what time and gives several circumstances. There's one in a garbage can and after two months it's pretty well down to bones with maggots finishing it up..... Hope that helps. Everyone interested in bodies should watch it, it isn't very disturbing or gross, and it's all scientific and the bodies were donated voluntarily.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Stephen Fry in America - episode 2 - Deep South - YouTube
Here's a youtube link for the video I mentioned above. I can't speak for the quality of it, but you can look elsewhere for it if it doesn't work. The body farm is at about 25 minutes and is quite a long segment.

 

[SeverinR]

If hung by the neck, thats alot of weight on a small area, they would drop in a few weeks, the neck would give way. Heads apart from the bodies.
If hung by the wrists, the weight is distributed into two points, so I would guess they would last a little longer, and arms are meant to support some of the body by design, necks aren't.
If tied around the waist of chest, then it would stay almost the body falls apart.
Decompostion would depend on weather, scavengers(birds and insects) and winds.
Sunlight can add or detract: hot sun in humid climate helps encourage decomp, hot sun in a dry climate can dry it out. (like sun dried fruit.)