The Body Farm

The Body Farm

Tiffany Jeffries

Martin Methodist College

December 1, 2016

Abstract

        The University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, better known as the Body Farm, started as an area of waste land close to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  The Body Farm was created in 1971 by Dr. William Bass after he came to Tennessee from Kansas to run the newly developed anthropology department.  This site has survived the controversy and protest from not only veteran’s and religious groups, but also from the Tennessee legislature attempting to eliminate its existence.  The Body Farm is a secure site, monitored by cameras and enclosed with barb-wired fence, and is a place where donated deceased bodies are studied and examined in the hopes of solving current and future crimes.  The education that the forensic anthropology students receive from the Body Farm far surpasses the simulated crime scenes in classrooms and is invaluable to solving crimes.

        Have you ever wondered what happens to your body when you die?  When asked, most people would say they want to be buried and some might even decide to be cremated but what happens when no one claims the deceased?  How might a person’s demise help determine the time and cause of death to help law enforcement solve crimes?

        In 1971, Dr. William Bass opened the world’s first body farm shortly after he arrived to Tennessee from Kansas.  Bass was a legend in the forensic field and had often been asked by the local police about the approximate time of death regarding the deceased.  Bass was mesmerized at the abundance of answers he was able to obtain by experimenting on dead bodies.  Just from the bones, he could determine an individual’s age, sex, race and body type (Montgomery, 1999).

        In the early part of the 1980’s, Dr. Bass and his team of forensic anthropologists received their first body for examination.  There were a couple of instances regarding how bodies are donated to the Body Farm.  First, the bodies were donated to medical research.  Second, the corpses are acquired because they were involved in some kind of crime.  Both circumstances have allowed the researchers at the Body Farm to study what happens to a body after death in a controlled environment.  The work involved the smell of decomposing bodies and dealt with maggots and flies, but the scientists who worked at the Body Farm were dedicated to science and solving crime (Alworth, 2007).  

        Dr. Bass had years of experience as a bone detective.  The term bone detective is how forensic anthropologists became known.  Their research into how bacteria and insects play a role in the decomposition of a deceased body has also helped students, scientists, and law enforcement determine when and under what conditions someone might have passed away.  The time in which it takes the skin to fall off the bones of a dead body depends primarily on the circumstances and the environment the body was placed.  All of these factors help to better determine the approximate time of death (Encyclopedia, 2005).

        At the Body Farm, bodies are placed strategically around different areas and observed at different stages of decomposition.  Some bodies are placed under bushes or trees, some are placed in trunks of vehicles, and some are left out in the open where they are more susceptible to the conditions and weather.   Bodies will decompose differently in Texas than they would in Tennessee because of the heat and humidity.  Research at the Body Farm has increased scientific understanding of what happens to the human body after death and this new knowledge has been used in court to convict the guilty of their crimes (Cawthon, 2000).  

        Despite its many scientific accomplishments, the Body Farm has had a lot of scrutiny and has been at the center of a lot of controversy.  Many who are in close proximity to this area can smell and see the bodies decomposing.  Some are also concerned with the level of respect that is given to the deceased individuals and whether or not they receive a proper burial after the research is finished and observations have concluded (Montgomery, 1999).  

        A novelist with a background in forensic science named Patricia Cornwell helped make the Body Farm famous because of her book.  She initially came to the farm in 1993 in hopes of carrying out experiments that would aid in her writings.  Later, The Body Farm became one of the best-selling detective stories of all time which gave the Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Facility even greater publicity.  Her book also raised awareness of forensic anthropology and the science of taphonomy, which is the science of what happens to a person’s body after they have died (Encyclopedia, 2005).