The Corpses Suddenly Heated up, the Mysterious Phenomenon

The body of a patient suddenly heated up to 40 degrees Celsius for hours, higher before death, is a mysterious phenomenon that makes scientists crazy. This article explains the key facts and context behind mysterious phenomenon.

Artwork: Katarzyna Bialasiewicz.

Key Facts About Mysterious Phenomenon

The most recent case of a mysterious warming corpse occurred in a hospital in the Czech Republic published in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology in March 2017.

The patient is a 69-year-old man who died of heart disease. An hour later, when preparing to move the body to the lab for an autopsy, the nurse was amazed to find that the skin of the corpse was unusually warm. Continuing to monitor, they found that after 1.5 hours, the body's temperature was 40 degrees Celsius, higher than the temperature before the patient died about 5°C. The room temperature at the hospital was then maintained at level 20°C.

Due to the fear of the mysterious "self-igniting" phenomenon that could happen to this patient's body, doctors and nurses decided to reduce the temperature of the body by applying ice. Eventually the temperature is lowered and the body is cold like a normal corpse.

Why Mysterious Phenomenon Matters

The result after studying this patient case, the scientists found that there was no relationship between the mysteriously heated corpse and the self-igniting phenomenon.

Historically, there have been some cases of higher body temperature after death but so far this mysterious phenomenon has not been well understood and well known.

The heat in a living organism is maintained at 37 degrees Celsius and is produced when food is broken down. After a person dies, the cells stop producing heat because there is no food or oxygen to digest, causing the body to cool down after a few hours.

Police often rely on the victim's body temperature to estimate the time of death. However, in some specific cases, the relationship between body temperature and time can be quite complicated.

Until now, the cause of abnormal corpses has not been clarified. The phenomenon is quite rare, unpredictable and not everyone who dies in the hospital bed is monitored carefully so it is difficult to study.