Herman the Shocker
The Shocker brings you unfiltered views of reality and educational content from the world of crime, accidents, and forensics

This individual committed suicide by cutting deep wounds into his arms and bled out. Self-inflicted sharp-force injuries, including…

Gaping laceration in front of neck of a mental patient, who on leave from a psychiatric hospital, had…

The February 2025 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…

Homicidal lacerations of the scalp penetrating the skull. Although some of the injuries resemble incised wounds, their margins…

This individual committed suicide by hanging using a belt. Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself…

This individual has homicidal chop wounds. Chop wounds can be considered a combination of sharp and blunt force…

Maggots cause most of the body's decomposition because the maggot will do the majority of the eating. Maggots…

This individual committed suicide with a shotgun to the head, no further info. In the head, neck, and…

On September 27, 2000, 23-year-old Theresa Andrews, who was 9 months pregnant, disappeared without a trace. Her husband…

Close-range suicidal discharge of a shotgun below the chin. There is marked powder blackening of the chin and…

This individual committed suicide by hanging and plastic bag suffocation. A complex suicide involves multiple methods of self-harm…

This individual has shotgun gunshot wounds on his face from the shotgun pellets. Injuries from shotgun pellets vary…

Multiple homicidal lacerations of the scalp. The unusual shape is difficult to interpret, but they were caused by…

Tangential shotgun wound of face. The edge of the dispersal cone of pellets and gas has ploughed through…

Depending on the injury type, severity, and location, persons who are victims of severe trauma may not be…

Disintegration of the head of a young female terrorist in the Malayan emergency from a single bullet entering…

Suicidal cut throat. The wounds are horizontal, rather than the more common sloping-down from left to right in…

2018 - St. Petersburg, Russia. Rescuers found the mummy of an elderly man in one of the residential…

Necrophagous insects play an important role in the decomposition of the human body. Fly species that are commonly…

Several chop injuries inflicted by a boat propeller. Chop injuries are sometimes regarded as a variant of blunt…

Spain. Decapitation of the head from a train suicide. Train suicides often result in severe and fatal injuries…

Natural mummification. Brown to black leathery appearance of the skin. Mummification is the product of desiccation, the drying-up…

This man has fatal neck wounds from an axe. Chopping wounds are caused by heavy, sharp-edged instruments like…

The January 2025 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…

USA. The police were summoned to an apartment when friends of the deceased recounted that she had failed…

Fatalities caused by electrocution often lack specific morphologic evidence. Investigation of the death scene together with technical inspection…

Irregular and finely serrated wound margins with a series of parallel cutaneous lacerations deriving from the biting action…

This individual committed suicide by drowning because of financial worries. Bodies removed from water show excessive gas production…

Suicidal gunshot wound to the head. No further info. At close range, the shotgun is the most formidable…

Russia. This individual has multiple cut wounds and slash wounds. Slash wounds occur as a result of tangential…

Russia. This individual committed suicide by laying on the train tracks, he then got decapitated from an arriving…

Opening of the abdominal body cavity following the (probably accidental) explosion of a homemade pipe bomb containing black…

This individual had been dead for approximately four days. His body was found in the backyard by neighbors.…

Greece. The partially charred body of a man was found by fire department officers inside a burnt house.…

Postmortem protrusion of the tongue due to putrefactive gas formation and purging of putrefactive fluid from the nostrils.…

Postmortem animal depredation is a substantial part of the taphonomic processes a body undergoes after death. While the…

The image shows adipocere on the remains of an individual recovered from moist environment. Adipocere, also known as…

A homeless alcoholic, found dead in a fire, was extremely drunk. Fatal residential fires account for 10% of…

The December 2024 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…

Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This individual has suffered from a fatal boat propeller chop wounds of the trunk and…

Italy. A 62-years old man, with a depressive syndrome in pharmacological treatment, was found dead in the parking…

USA. A 61-year-old man opened fire from his apartment door on bailiffs evicting him, he was fatally shot.…

A 30-year-old male pedestrian was involved in an accident with a truck. He became trapped in the front…

Germany. A 31-year-old man lived with his 71-year-old mother and his pet German Shepherd in a converted garden…

Helium is one of inert gases causing physical asphyxiation, whose excess content in the breathing atmosphere reduces the…

Brush-burn type abrasion on the left flank. One common type of blunt force injury is the so-called brush-burn…

Forensic autopsy of blunt force trauma. Two abraded lacerations on the forehead. Lacerations are a bursting of the…

Russia. A woman was murdered with a scythe in her home. Homicide involving a scythe presents distinct forensic…

Self-mutilation thought by the police to be a bizarre homicide. The genitals have been amputated, the throat cut…

Postmortem hypostatic hemorrhages in a 36-year-old woman who died of multiple drug intoxication and was found in the…

Railway injuries are not uncommon, especially in countries with many ‘level crossings’ (called ‘grade crossings’ in the USA),…

This individual died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the right temple. The impression of the muzzle print…

The November 2024 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…

On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 Mw struck with an epicenter off the west…

Laceration of the forehead with surrounding bruising. The wound is stellate as a result of crushing against the…

Multiple homicidal lacerations of the forehead. The perpetrator finalized his act by squeezing toothpaste on the left eye.…

Italy - A 75-year-old woman affected by hoarding disorder was found dead in her apartment. The woman’s family…

Advanced adipocere formation after 2.5 years in a grave. Exhumation due to exclusion of an accidental death (fall)…

This individual bled to death after a cut throat injury. Cut-throat deaths involve deep incisions or lacerations across…

Formation of putrefactive blisters and detachment of the upper layers of the skin in a decomposing individual. Decomposition,…

USA. The victim’s body was discovered after a neighbor became suspicious about the manner in which the young…

This individual has a contact-range gunshot wound on the side of the head. No further info. In contact…

Autopsy photograph featuring protrusion with dark discoloration of the tongue due to postmortem drying, in a case of…

The image shows adipocere on the remains of an individual recovered from moist environment. Adipocere, also known as…

Forensic dental identification is a method used in forensic science to identify deceased individuals through dental records. Teeth…

The finding illustrated is a group of sharp force injuries (incisions) that are self-inflicted, as evidenced by the…

The orientation of the decedent with the tire of the motor vehicle apparently compressing the midsection and with…

China, 2020. A 47-year-old woman and her 7-year-old son were attacked by a black bear while walking through…

Colombia. This decomposing individual has a high-velocity gunshot wound. The entrance wound is under his right ear and…

Note the fixed anterior lividity. The decedent was lying prone on a bed with a wrinkled comforter. Postmortem…

Spain. This individual suffered multiple and violent contusions with a blunt object, which caused facial injuries and fractures…

Note the tissue tears extending from the sides of the mouth. These tears result from the large amount…

Contact gunshot wound with .410-gauge derringer. Only the lower barrel has been fired. After reapproximating the gas pressure-induced…

Livor mortis or lividity is the gravitational pooling of blood in the dependent parts of the body, both…