Exactly what the smell will be like depends on a multitude of factors:. In addition to the plethora of bacteria, there are enzymes digesting cell walls, which eventually break through to the open air and contribute to the dead body smell. Typically there will also be maggots and files there attracted to the organic material decomposing that increases the decomposition by breaking down the matter as it lays eggs in the remains.
Even after the dead body has been removed and the unattended death has been remediated, there still can be a lingering odor of the dead body. This happens because the odor permeates items made of all fabric and other porous material. The Smell of Decomposition As soon as we die, our bodies start to decompose so the material can be returned to the earth and reused.
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The power of the smell is incredible. It can take years for the smell to leave a house. It just lingers in the background. Cars are totalled by the insurance company for the odor. It gets on your skin and clothes. People use bio-suits for body removal for a reason. No matter how well you write, it will be but a pale imitation of the experience. The smell gets into your throat and you can taste it. You will literally run to find some clean air.
Even though you can no longer physically smell it, you remember it and it takes quite a while to get over it. The best I can sum it up to is like shit mixed with meat…in a weird way.
It does vary some between species, though. A couple of other answers written in this feed point to some things that are accurate. First, two chemicals, Putrescine and Cadaverine, are both found in decomposing tissue. Both are diamenes and they are produced as a result of amino acids most notably Lysine breaking down. They each gave their own characteristic odor which by themselves are bad enough.
When they are combined due to the simultaneous presence, they are indescribable. Second, pigs are indeed closest to humans in terms of the odor they give off when decomposing. Any animal with a musk gland skunks, badgers, and muskrats are some examples. All produce these same two chemicals because when you think about it, any creature that breathes in Oxygen and releases Carbon Dioxide is going to have a similar metabolic makeup that, when stopped is going to respond in a similar manner. When I returned, there was a terrible odor in my den.
I know the odor of dead animals on the road or in the forests. Mom puts out poison for mice, so I have smelled them under things in her home. There was a rotten odor like this in my den, so I looked under everything, but I found nothing.
The next day, I saw some cops and medics at the next apartment.
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