A mortician has revealed what happens to your body after you pass away - and it's pretty graphic.

Death happens to everyone, and yet what actually occurs to our bodies in the hours and days that follow remains something most people rarely understand - or even want to talk about.

With that being said, let's talk about it.

The journey begins not with grief, but with protocol.

Asha Dooley, co-owner of Grace Funerals and recently appointed National President of the Australian Funeral Directors Association, explained to News.com.au what really goes on behind the closed doors of a mortuary.

“When a body is brought into our care we embark on a rigorous identification process and comprehensive paperwork sign-in,” she said.

From there, the deceased is respectfully placed in a cool, temperature-controlled environment, critical for slowing down decomposition and preserving the body.

Every person who passes through the mortuary is treated with the same meticulous attention. A hygienic wash is performed before any further preparation.

“Generally speaking, we begin by carefully removing the body bag, placing them on a mortuary tray, and giving them a hygienic wash,” Asha explained.

Death changes the body almost immediately. Skin loses tension and color, muscles relax, and, yes, bodily fluids are released.

But in a mortuary, these changes are handled with both care and professionalism.

“Bodily fluids after death are very common,” Asha noted. “Firstly, a strict hygiene protocol is followed, which includes essential PPE for the mortuary team, sterilisation of all mortuary equipment, and disinfecting all surfaces.”

To help contain these fluids, an adult nappy is commonly used.

Within six hours, gravity causes blood to settle in the lowest parts of the body, creating dark red or purple discolorations. At the same time, rigor mortis - the stiffening of muscles - sets in, beginning with the eyelids and jaw.

But even in these changes, there’s care and artistry.

“In most cases, by using a special massage technique, the lid can be manually closed without any additional intervention,” Asha said, debunking the myth of using coins to weigh eyelids shut.

“If dentures were worn and have not been provided, we will likely use a mouth former to bring this shape back,” she added. “Sometimes a cream can be used to keep the mouth closed, but usually we will use an invisible suture.”

Hair is washed, blow-dried, and styled. Clothes selected by the family are gently put on the body. “We then gently ‘set the features’ – which includes a wash and blow dry of their hair,” she said.

Handling a body that has begun decomposing is one of the most difficult parts of the job, not just physically, but emotionally.

For Asha and her team, mental well-being is taken seriously.

“We are always aware of a traumatic case entering our mortuary, as they would have been through the coronial process and each member of the team is able to decide how much involvement they would like to have with that deceased,” she said.

Decomposition also brings its own challenges, particularly when it comes to odor.

“In this industry, we are all accustomed to many smells,” she said. “Personally, the smell of decomposition is fine for me — I struggle much more with the smell of faeces.”

Her tricks of the trade - “Eye covers, a mask, and a touch of vaseline under the nose… and there is always tiger balm when that hasn’t worked.”

Though not always necessary, embalming is required in specific situations, like repatriation or crypt burials.

“Embalming is required when a person is being repatriated or buried in an above-ground crypt,” Asha said. “It can also be used specifically to improve the viewing experience.”

She explained that embalming can be full or partial, depending on whether the internal organs are treated. Skilled embalmers can also target specific areas to restore volume and skin tone.

When a death involves trauma or injury, restorative work becomes a vital part of the farewell process.

“Restorative art is a very technical skill that provides families with the ability to view their loved one and to say goodbye, even when there has been a traumatic death,” Asha said.

In one example, she recalled helping a family say goodbye after their loved one had suffered a traumatic head injury. “Without a skilled restoration worker, that family would not have been able to have that crucial experience to say goodbye.”

Despite the harsh realities, Asha said the mortuary is a surprisingly peaceful space. “We actually chat with the deceased and treat them as if they were one of our own.”

What drives her and her team is simple: giving families peace of mind.

“When you watch a family see their loved one dressed and peaceful, and I can see the relief in their face, I know that we have truly helped.”

Featured image credit: Darrin Klimek / Getty

If you’ve been blissfully unaware of what happens to your body post-mortem, brace yourself — this revelation might just haunt you.

Mortuary technician Hayleigh - known on TikTok as @themortuarytech - has gone viral for spilling some unsettling details about what happens to your organs after you shuffle off this mortal coil.

Spoiler alert: They don’t go back where they came from.

Appearing on the wildly entertaining Tea At Four podcast, Hayleigh laid it all bare. “During a postmortem examination, people seem to think that your organs are put back where nature intended,” she explained. “They’re not.”

According to Hayleigh, following a post-mortem examination, your organs are essentially bagged up like leftovers and placed back into your chest and abdominal cavities, which are then stitched up.

And no, your brain doesn’t stay in your head either. Why? Because once your insides are removed, it’s not exactly easy to reassemble the original setup.

“They’re all put in a clinical bag back inside your torso, and your chest cavity and your stomach/abdomen, and you’re sutured back up. So your brain’s not in your head," she said.

The podcast hosts - Lauren and Billy were visibly horrified.

Billy, exclaimed: “Oh my god. [That] really freaked me out a bit… just thrown in like a goody bag.”

When the podcast's producer, Bobbi, asked why this happens, Hayleigh explained: "Because once you start cutting and taking things out, it's not going to go back. It's just going to wobble [...] It's best to keep it all contained."

Elsewhere in the podcast, Hayleigh revealed how she's seen some of the bodies she's been working on "gasp", and revealed that she's skilled in applying makeup and false nails to the dead.

Over in the comments section, the reactions were just as intense.

“I absolutely wish I didn’t know that,” admitted one commenter. Another lamented: “Seems I’ve taken a terribly wrong turn somewhere along my TikTok journey.”

One more joked: “Whoever digs us up in 3,000 years is gonna question everything.”

Another more understanding comment read: "Did people seriously think everything was all put back together again?"

Despite the macabre nature of her job, Hayleigh insists her goal is to educate, not terrify. She’s made it clear that she has her workplace’s support in demystifying the mortuary world and showing the care that goes into preparing loved ones for their final farewell.

Yes, it may sound spooky, but Hayleigh is here to "educate people people on the amount of genuine care that goes into looking after people's loved ones".

And if it wasn't for people like Hayleigh, we'd all just be lying around stinking up the place.

Featured image credit: Darrin Klimek / Getty

We always describe life as a circle, but really it's more of a line. You have birth at one end, a load of weird stuff in the middle (where you try to figure out puberty and taxes) and then death at the other. It sounds depressing when you put it that way, but it's sort of true.

However, at the end of that line, there's a little bit extra. Sort of like a footnote, or - if you want to get poetic about it - a ghost. You see, when your soul has passed on to the next realm, your body still has a little bit of unfinished business on Earth...

1. You let out gas

When you die, all the muscles in your body relax... including your bowels. This causes corpses to fart and - in some cases - even let out any fluids/waste material. Nice.

2. Your organs could be recycled

If you're a registered donor, and your organs are still viable enough to be used by someone else, anything from your skin to your eyeballs could end up living on with another person. It's sort of like repurposing a shoe box or buying stuff from a secondhand store.

3. You moan

You know how the undead always moan in movies? That ain't far from the truth. Just as gas escapes from your bowels, it also makes its way out of the body through the mouth via the vocal chords. So if you ever hear a corpse let out a creepy "uhhhhh" shortly after death, don't worry, it's not a zombie. Probably.

4. You could be dissected

Donating your body to science is a respectful decision to make - but it could land your corpse in some weird situations. It's likely that you'll be prodded and poked by medical students, but you could also wind up as a decomposition study in a forest, or even put on display in a museum.

5. You move

Ok, so you don't get up and do a jig, but you do twitch a bit. Until rigour mortis sets in, your muscles can spasm and flinch in ways that don't require brain function. Personally, I hope this happens to me after I kick the bucket just so I can freak out my nearest and dearest one last time.

6. You grow plants

Death is obviously not the cheeriest subject to talk about, but you know what makes it easier to accept? New life! Once you're in the ground, the material and nutrients from your body will be absorbed into the soil, and eventually get consumed by plants and trees. What's more, if those plants then get eaten by bugs or birds, you could end up being pooped all over the world.

7. You become fossilized (sometimes)

While all the meaty bits of us disintegrate pretty quickly once we're dead and buried, our bones stick around for a little longer. Sometimes, however, water gets into the bones during the process, causing them to crystallize. This is why we've still got material from dinosaurs hanging around after so many millions of years.

8. You could get an erection

Obviously, if you have a vagina, this one doesn't apply to you. But, if you've got a penis, your body might become stiff in more ways than one after you die. This is because all the blood settles to the lowest part of a corpse after death and, if a person is face down when they meet their demise, this could be the penis. This phenomenon is known amongst scientists as "priapism", and amongst immature people (such as myself) as a zomboner.

9. Your nails don't grow

You might have heard that your nails still grow after death, but that's not actually true. In fact, what happens is that the skin around your nails shrinks, meaning they appear to get longer, but actually stay the same.

10. You can still hear (maybe)

This one is still only theoretical, as you can't exactly ask dead people about their final moments, but it's believed that the last sense to go from a body is its hearing. If it is true, though, it'd only be for a matter of seconds - so don't go asking to be buried with your iPod or anything.

11. You get less wrinkly

Weirdly enough, some signs of ageing actually disappear once your body has served its purpose. Laughter lines and forehead wrinkles, in particular, can appear to fade after death, as the muscles which hold them in place no longer have any tension. If you're looking for a permanent way to get rid of wrinkles, then, this one is apparently pretty reliable. Not the most practical, though.

So, when your time comes to meet the Grim Reaper, just think about all the weird and wonderful stuff your body will be getting up to after you've gone.

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