You Probably Didn't Expect The Body To Make Noise After Death

During and after death, the human body does many things. Breathing and blood circulation stop, brain activity dwindles, and body processes cease. Soon after death the body starts getting cold, tissues begin breaking down, and the body starts to decompose. A person's breathing can get loud leading up to death as the body's systems start shutting down. However, what many people don't expect is that there are cases when a dead body makes noise.

A dead body making noise is understandably surprising and unsettling. And in some cases, hearing noises coming from a body can raise questions about whether the person is actually dead or if they have returned to the land of the living. But these noises are not a rare occurrence, with some health care workers reporting experiences where they heard noises coming from a dead body. 

There are several scientific reasons for the noises bodies make before, during, and after death. Some of these sounds are due to changes in respiration during the process of dying while others are caused by air and other gases escaping the body.

One of the most common reports of dead bodies making sound is gurgling or rattling noises. These sounds are caused by air and fluids moving through the body. After breathing ceases and muscles relax, air and fluids can move through the body's airways, creating sounds. Even after death, a body's lungs can contain air. This is especially true if air has been pushed into the lungs during resuscitation efforts. Moving a body can cause air to move out of the lungs through the trachea and over the vocal cords, sometimes causing sounds like sighs, moans, or groans.

However, bodies can make sound even when they aren't being moved. A few hours after death the body's muscles stiffen up in a process known as rigor mortis. Stiffening muscles can sometimes cause air to move out of the lungs. Another source of potential sound is the buildup of gases inside the body as it starts to decompose. Tissues start breaking down soon after death and microbes inside the body, especially those in the digestive system, begin the decomposition process. As bacteria do their work they release gases that are trapped inside the body. As these gases move around they can make gurgling or rattling sounds and produce other noises as they escape from the body.

While the body can make sounds after death, there are many sounds that happen during the process of dying. The most well-known of these is something called the death rattle. A death rattle can sound crackling and wet, loud gurgling, or moaning with each breath. This is caused by a buildup of saliva and mucus in the back of the throat when a person who is dying can no longer swallow. This sound is typically a sign that someone will die within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Another breath-related sound often heard soon before death is an irregular pattern of breathing known as Cheyne-Stokes breathing. This breathing pattern consists of repeating cycle of very deep and slow breathing, rapid and shallow breaths, and a time where the patient is either not breathing at all or breathing very shallowly. Although Cheyne-Stokes breathing is often a sign that death is imminent, it typically indicates serious brain, heart, or lung problems like pulmonary edema, heart failure, or stroke.

The characteristic sounds of breathing changes like Cheyne-Stokes and the death rattle can serve as clues that death is on the horizon. These sounds are frequently a part of the process of dying, and it turns out that even after death the body can continue to make noise. This may be unexpected, but it's normal.