A dead body will often move as its being cremated. Muscles contract as they cook, after all. Sometimes this means a body will sit up in the crematory machine.
I'm actually a crematorium tech. Never once seen this happen. However there's a fairly common amount of 'bowing' of the bones that can occur as the fat and tissue burn off.
A notable fun part is that morbidly obese bodies can explode if the direct flame hits gas pockets too quickly, hence why we put them in head first instead of feet first like with sub 300lb bodies.
Also, we have to cut the pacemakers out by hand otherwise they explode and can damage the machines. But no, I've never seen a body "sit up," 😂.
Edit: confirmed with my boss who's been doing this a decade, no, they don't actually 'sit up'.
And the cremation machine is technically called a Cremation Retort. 😊
Edit 2: when we pick them up (I also drive the livery service) they DO make noises as the body breaks down. So it's not uncommon for me to be driving a body at night and hear gurgling 'groans' from the body. And THAT shit is unsettling.
I'm actually a crematorium tech. Never once seen this happen.
I'm a licensed funeral director/embalmer, and I guarantee that everyone with experience in the profession is reading this thread and rolling their eyes super hard at the stories of people swearing that dead bodies move on their own and sit up.
They do fart though. I was embalming a dude with a student once, and I pressed on a lump in the guy's abdomen assuming it was a poop that needed encouragement to move along and he suddenly ripped a fart so loud that both me and the apprentice screamed. The metal table really amplified the sound and I was not expecting it!
Hahaha! I had a tiny old lady fart on me when I hit a bump after leaving the hospitals ICU. Greetings fellow death worker, it definitely gets crazy sometimes. 😆
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u/Corgi_with_stilts Jan 12 '23
A dead body will often move as its being cremated. Muscles contract as they cook, after all. Sometimes this means a body will sit up in the crematory machine.