Some may find the topic of decomposing bodies unsettling or macabre, and the term ‘body farm’ might seem more like the setting for a horror movie, but Shannon West’s story about the Texas State Anthropology Research Farm delves into the facility’s real-world practicality with both respect and curiosity.
One of the aspects of West’s writing that I continue to enjoy is her gift for taking heavy-hitting topics like death and what happens after and addressing them with dignity. At the same time, she allows the people she has interviewed the chance to show their knowledge and their humor, not an easy task when dealing with subject matter such as what happens to a body after scavengers have dispersed its bones. As West points out in her article, the information gathered from observing an uncaged decomposing body can help law enforcement know how wide to extend their search when looking for a missing person’s remains.
This article explores the variety of ways in which FARF uses donated bodies to further scientific research, which encourages the reader to consider death in a different light — not as something frightening or morbid, but as something with continued usefulness and value beyond the living world, something I find quite affirming.
