Herman the Shocker
The Shocker brings you unfiltered views of reality and educational content from the world of crime, accidents, and forensics
This helicopter pilot died after his helicopter crashed. He sustained open traumatic brain injury and closed chest and…
Suicidal gunshot wound to the head. No further info. In the head, neck, and limbs, shotgun exit wounds…
Raccoon eye or periorbital ecchymosis is caused by blood tracking into periorbital tissues (the area around the eye),…
The Shocker Magazine brings you unfiltered views of reality and educational content from the world of crime, accidents,…
Russia. This individual committed suicide by strangulation with a zip tie, a self-locking cable tie. Strangulation is a…
The phenomenon of postmortem animal interference with human bodies or their remains is a substantial part of the…
Adipocere is caused by fat saponification, which is associated with yellow-white discoloration. The face demonstrates distortion of features,…
The deceased man had electrical marks on his fingers and lips, which were stained green from metallization from…
Anterior aspect of a man who had constructed an explosive device using dynamite. The device probably detonated prematurely,…
Suicidal twelve-bore shotgun wound. Not all such wounds are circular – this one has torn a large defect…
Note the incised-like nature of wounds with cutting of underlying bone. A chop wound is caused by a…
The Shocker Magazine brings you unfiltered views of reality and educational content from the world of crime, accidents,…
Russia. A man was nearly decapitated in a fatal car crash when he lost control of his car.…
This victim was inhaling an unknown chemical substance while practicing autoerotic activities. Autoerotic death refers to the accidental…
Two young men were killed in a residence when a military-type explosion device detonated. The extent of the…
Germany. A 22-year-old woman was found dead in her flat, lying fully dressed in her bed. Her arms…
The Shocker Magazine is back for purchase. Magazines are no longer sold by subscription due to payment gateway…
This individual has stippling around the gunshot entrance wounds of the face, no further info. Stippling (or powder…
Spain. This individual cut his throat with a broken glass in a suicide attempt, the individual was suffering…
Smothering and suffocation are often used interchangeably, but the term “smothering” is best used for that form of…
This individual died after falling from a height. Severe disruption of the usual facial architecture can be observed.…
Blunt impact injuries result from direct contact of a blunt object with a body. A contusion results from…
USA. A 36-year-old white man committed suicide after carrying out an attack that left 1 coworker dead and…
Suicidal twelve-bore shotgun wound. The entrance is one of the ‘sites of election’, in the neck. One barrel…
This man has been decapitated, no further info. Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the…
Gunshot wound with stellate blow back lacerations. In contact gunshot wounds with bony tissue underlying the injury, the…
Spain. The throat of this individual was cut in a homicide. A homicidal throat cut is usually forceful,…
A man was operating a jet ski when he was fatally struck by a boat. His shirt has…
Lacerations inflicted by a claw hammer. Multiple lacerations with split and abraded margins are typical for bludgeoning but…
Russia. A man murdered his friend with multiple stab wounds, and then cut off pieces of the body…
The head of this individual was crushed when he was hit by a train. Trespassing along railroad rights-of-way…
Russia. This woman was attacked by a Bull Terrier and suffered fatal bites to her face and neck.…
A driver of a bonnet-front Skoda Octavia was driving at night on a German motorway. He suddenly recognized…
Exhumation after 9 months due to suspicion of death due to iatrogenic causes. Exhumation is the retrieval of…
Particular caution is advisable when dealing with heavily decomposed bodies. In this head of a young man infested…
The phenomenon of postmortem animal interference with human bodies or their remains is a substantial part of the…
Videos began circulating on social media recently showing a young man masturbating in a bathroom before being brutally…
This individual has a gunshot in the mouth from a point blank range. Radial ruptures of the wound…
Explosive-induced trauma of the jaw and mouth, with gaping lacerations and tears. Deaths involving explosives may occur intentionally,…
Germany. During fire-fighting operations in a hotel apartment, the firemen found the decapitated body of a 40-year-old apartment…
This man committed suicide in his storage room with a gun, no further info. People use guns for…
The victim was stabbed to death and dismembered thereafter by the perpetrator. No further info. Stab wounds and…
Facial injuries caused by kicking and stamping. Death was caused by multiple fractures of the facial bones and…
This individual was hit by a car and slid on the road surface that lead to injuries to…
An elderly woman was found dead in October 2002 in her third floor apartment in urban Cologne, Germany.…
Whether the death is accidental, suicidal, or homicidal is one of the main questions asked of the forensic…
Postmortem animal interference of human corpses or remains is a well known phenomenon to forensic death investigators, the…
This woman has fatal injuries after falling on an escalator. Linear lacerations and abrasions are clearly consistent with…
A 22-year-old woman in Russia committed suicide by lying on the tracks in front of an oncoming train.…
The stippling around an intermediate-range gunshot wound will vary with the firearm and ammunition used. This is an…
A man’s body was found floating in the ocean approximately one-half mile offshore. A gaping head wound was…
Many well documented reviews of gunshot suicides show that the weapon is found to be still in the…
Decomposition, or putrefaction, is a combination of two processes: autolysis and bacterial action. Autolysis is the breakdown of…
This man committed suicide through the mouth with a rifle, in the photo we see the exit wound…
An unrestrained right rear seat passenger was propelled forward during a front-end collision. She landed in the right…
Contact entry gunshot wound from a .22-caliber magnum. A magnum load, because it has more gunpowder in the…
A man was found dressed in a formal suit, having taken his own life with a self-inflicted shotgun…
! Child death warning ! The Russia-Ukraine war, now entering its fourth year as of April 2025, has…
Dismembered torso in a homicide case. The severed neck of a dismembered torso must be inspected carefully for…
This photo shows the effect of a bullet that has grazed the scalp. A bullet graze wound occurs…
This individual died and his body was scavenged by a cat, no further info. The phenomenon of postmortem…
Note the bloating and decompositional blisters as well as the greenish discoloration around the area of the abdomen.…
This individual was strangulated with a rope and then the assailant cut the neck. In a homicide where…
Shotgun wounds impart a large amount of energy to the tissues, particularly if fired at contact or close…
A hard contact entrance gunshot wound is present on the forehead of a young homicide victim. This type…
This individual has blunt abdominal wounds after falling out of the cabin when his tractor rolled over and…
Maggots cause most of the body's decomposition because the maggot will do the majority of the eating. Maggots…
This photo illustrates the level of violence involved in drug murders. This victim and his associate were tortured…
A case where death was caused by self strangulation. The initial picture is vaguely suggestive of the arm…
The head is the most common location for a suicidal shotgun wound (74%), followed by the chest (20%)…
Decomposition, or putrefaction, is a combination of two processes: autolysis and bacterial action. Autolysis is the breakdown of…
In this intraoral gunshot wound, note the tissue tears extending from the sides of the mouth. These tears…
This pedestrian was transected through the torso when he was run over by a train. Note the large,…
USA. Police found the body of Dana Bailey on March 5, 1987, at her apartment. She sustained six…
A woman was discovered hanging in what appeared to be a suicide, and due to the passage of…
During a car crash, rotational movement of the occupant’s head against the jagged glass resulted in a deep…
Vehicular intrusion occurs when external objects penetrate a vehicle’s occupant space during a crash. In this case, a…
The images show a jet of ignited putrefaction gas (methane) at the end of a needle inserted into…
Suicidal hanging of a young man with the knees bent and the feet touching the floor. The hanging…
Germany. On the afternoon of a bright day in early spring, a 69-year-old man was riding a motorcycle…
Note the bloated face of the deceased. This victim’s body was found indoors during the summertime. He had…
Oval to round cutaneous defects caused by crustaceans postmortem on the neck and upper trunk in a drowning…
This 52-year-old woman has a contact gunshot wound of her right temple. Note how the scalp is split…
The morbidity and mortality produced by obesity in the United States and other developed societies has reached epidemic…
On June 28, 2009, a 70-year-old male corpse was found in his house in Pisa. He was lying…
Skin burns on a victim of lysol suicide. The trickle pattern makes it obvious that the victim was…
A 42-year-old woman was discovered dead, the body was covered with fungal plaques. She had been leading a…
Massive injuries from contact handgun wounds of the head, when they do occur, are associated with Magnum calibers,…
This individual died lying on top of a gun. The patterned appearance of the gun is seen because…
Postmortem animal depredation is a substantial part of the taphonomic processes a body undergoes after death. While the…
A woman was found dead in her apartment in January 2009. She had not been seen for 40…
This individual died from a complete body transection across abdomen, and decapitation in a motorcycle accident. Blunt-force abdominal…
This picture was taken by an Italian medical student during an autopsy on the island of Malta. Apparently,…
The "burst head" effect from a shotgun refers to extreme cranial trauma caused by a close-range shotgun blast…
Incomplete skeletonization of a forearm due to post-mortem animal scavenging by a domestic German Shepherd. Skeletonization (synonym: skeletalization)…
USA. A case of simple asphyxia combined with external airway obstruction by a plastic bag, in a suicidal…
This photo depicts a standard “execution type” drug hit. The victim’s hands were secured behind his back. A…
The individual shown in the image committed suicide by shotgun. The image is taken during autopsy. The head…
A 56-year-old woman was found dead in her bedroom. Her face and the bed were covered with thick…
