The mummified body of an absconder from a mental hospital who was found a year later in a hay barn. The dry environment had inhibited wet decomposition. Mummification is likely to occur in temperate climates when the body is left undisturbed in a dry, warm place. These include closed rooms and cupboards, haylofts, attics and beneath floorboards. After complete drying has taken place, the body may remain in that state for many years. Eventually, mould formation and physical deterioration progress, the dried tissues becoming split and powdery and gradually disintegrating. This process is usually hastened by animal predation. Even in the shelter of a barn or house, moths, beetles, mice and rats will wreak damage on the corpse. It will eventually skeletalize, though tough, leathery shreds of skin, tendon and ligament may persist for many years. Mummification allows major injuries to be preserved, though as in the putrefied body, the detection of bruises and abrasion may be difficult or impossible to differentiate from discolouration, artefacts and fungal damage.
Fig.1 The mummified body of an absconder from a mental hospital.
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