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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jack@cee.hw.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
Subject: Re: Re(2): Rat(s) eat baby
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 14:34:42 GMT

inf0rmat@bottom.uucp.netcom.com wrote:
> In Article <427945950.71045384@lamgnet.lamg.com>, Lazz@lamg.com Writes:
>> I collect Forensic Pathology books, and LET ME TELL YOU there are many cases
>> of rats AND household pets Mostly dogs) who will chew away at a dead or
>> incapacitated persons skin. I have color photographs! Suitable for framing!
> GIFs BABY! Let's see 'em!

Time for a repost.

: Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.tasteless,rec.pets.dogs
: Subject: Lassie gagged on my aorta

The alt.folklore.urban FAQ says:

> F. Days-old body in home discovered headless. Was eaten by dog!

where the "F" means the author thinks it's definitely bogus. I described a source to the contrary in a.f.u yesterday but got some of the details wrong. Here's the full scoop:

Removal of head from body by a dog

A man of sixty-three, who resided in a single room of a house in a small village, had not been seen by any of his acquaintances for a period of four days. The police broke into the locked house and found the headless body of the man lying in front of the fireplace. The body was fully clothed. A collie dog was also in the room, and the attitude which it assumed was one of marked hostility. For this reason it was shot immediately. Examination of the body showed that death had been due to natural causes, namely coronary disease, and that the dog had been responsible for the decapitation (see Fig. 89). The head had been severed close to the level of the upper borders of the sternum and clavicles, in front, and the line of severance had been continued to the back, at a fairly uniform level. The wound of severance, which showed serrations, was of lacerated type. The cervical vertebrae, with the exception of the seventh, which showed irregular damage to structure, were missing. The arch of the aorta, part of the trachea, most of the oesophagus, and the upper lobe of the left lung had been removed. The condition of the body was consistent with death having occurred some four or five days prior to examination, and the nature of the injuries were consistent with having been caused by the teeth of a dog of the type found in the house. All the injuries had been made after death. A post-mortem examination of the dog showed that the stomach, which was full, contained portions of the following structures, namely, skin, under-tissue, muscle, bone, lung, brain, trachea, and aorta. A piece of scalp tissue, with greyish-white hair attached, and three bundles of greyish-white hair, were also found. In all, twenty-seven pieces of bone were recovered. Vomited matter, found on the floor of the room, was found to contain fourteen pieces of lung tissue, the largest of which measured 5 by 3 inches. At the house and on the floor, the greater part of the denuded vault of the skull was found. The lower half of the occipital bone, together with the entire base of the skull, and the bones of the face, excepting the lower mandible, were missing. Pericranial tissue was irregularly present over the vault, to which numerous whitish-grey hairs were adherent. The major part of the lower mandible was found near the dog. The edges of the skull were markedly irregular and showed a gnawed appearance. In the absence of both food and water, the dog had been driven to desperation by hunger and thirst, and for this reason had attacked the exposed part of the body of its dead master.

• pp. 265-266 of "Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology", by John Glaister, M.D., D.Sc., Fellow of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow; of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, etc. Regius Professor of Forensic Medicine, University of Glasgow; formerly Professor of Forensic Medicine, University of Egypt, Cairo; and Medico-Legal Consultant to the Egyptian Government. SEVENTH EDITION With One Hundred and Thirty-Two Illustrations. Several in Colour. Edinburgh; E. & S. Livingstone, 16 and 17 Teviot Place. 1942.

Fig. 89 is a monochrome picture, mid-chest up, of a man lying on a mortuary slab with his neck chewed away down to the collarbones. Sorry, no scanner, and the picture is too poor in quality to scan well.