Herman the Shocker
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A 56-year-old woman was found dead in her bedroom. Her face and the bed were covered with thick…
This individual committed suicide by hanging. Here the body is at the morgue for inspection. Hanging is one…
2018 - Argentina. A 62 year old motorcyclist died after getting stuck to the rear underride guards of…
Numerous hesitation marks accompany the self-inflicted gouges to the neck by a broken bottle. Hesitation marks are not…
The April 2025 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…
This individual has self-inflicted incised wounds on the neck, in the antecubital fossae, and on the flexor aspects…
Serbia. A 67-year-old woman, without any somatic or psychiatric comorbidities, was found dead in a shed in her…
This individual was run over by a train. Railroad deaths in the US totaled 757 in 2020, a…
USA. A cluster of incised wounds across the face and neck. Incised wounds can also be referred to…
Occasionally, one is able to glean important information from wounds such as in the 19-year-old female featured in…
A man drove his watercraft into the port side of a boat. The propeller wounds begin on the…
This individual has fatal chop wounds on the side of the head from an axe. Chop wounds are…
Notice the protrusion of the tongue on this decomposing individual. The rate of decomposition depends on the temperature,…
A broad range of carnivores can be involved in the postmortem destruction of corpses located in open spaces…
Probes are effective in demonstrating the paths of projectiles through the body. All cutaneous wounds must be photographed…
Lacerations inflicted by a claw hammer. Multiple lacerations with split and abraded margins are typical for bludgeoning but…
This man has a gunshot wound on the right side of the chin. Stippling is evident immediately around…
Decomposition, or putrefaction, is a combination of two processes: autolysis and bacterial action. Autolysis is the breakdown of…
This man committed suicide by holding a grenade with both hands close to his mouth. Deaths from explosive…
On May 5, 1998, at approximately 9:17 a.m., Wichita, Kansas, officers were dispatched to a small, one-bedroom, duplex…
Note the bulging eyes, lips and face with protrusion of the tongue on this decomposing individual, all related…
The injuries sustained by victim who was beaten about the head and face with a rock. Homicidal blunt…
This victim who was inebriated had fallen off the bed unto the floor landing in this position with…
Middle-aged man committed suicide by shooting himself with a shotgun in the head. The head is the most…
The scrotal area enlarges during decomposition due to the buildup of gases produced by bacteria involved in the…
Explosive effect of a contact gunshot wound from a .44 magnum revolver. The explosive effect of the wound…
The March 2025 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…
Postmortem feeding from fish and crustaceans found on this body retrieved from the ocean. No further info. Bodies…
The individual in the pictures committed suicide by hanging. Marbling is a common finding usually found after at…
Two 21-year-old men were involved in a motor vehicle collision after being seen leaving a house party together…
An example of how blood can obscure the true nature of an injury. In the first picture of…
Decomposed head and fractured skull of a person, who disappeared in the autumn before the river was covered…
Russia. This individual was attacked and killed by a bear. Bear attacks can be fatal, though they are…
Suicidal firearm wound from a twelve-bore shotgun. The wound shows a muzzle impression with soot soiling, the double-barrelled…
This individual committed suicide by hanging in the woods. Hanging suicides in remote locations pose unique forensic challenges.…
USA. This victim was beaten and tortured before he was shot in the head, stuffed in a 55-gal…
An autoerotic asphyxia death in which the cross-dressed victim used duct tape, various ligature mechanisms, and freon gas.…
Massive body injury in a pilot who crashed at high speed (after clothing removal). An aircraft crash typically…
This individual has a skull fracture with exposure of brain mass, as well as a fracture of the…
Note the bloating and protrusion of the tongue on this decomposing individual, all related to the decomposition process.…
Mangled body after shell explosion, no further info. A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose…
Russia. This individual committed suicide by cutting his neck with a knife, no further info. Cut throat injuries…
Russia. Aleksey Vasilyevich Sukletin was a Soviet serial killer, rapist and cannibal. Between 1979 and 1985 along with accomplices Madina…
This individual was nearly decapitated. An incomplete decapitation occurs when the head is partially severed from the body…
This motorcyclist died when he collided with a car and his face was cut off by the windshield…
Livor mortis (synonyms: livores, postmortem lividity, postmortem hypostasis) is visible as a usually bluish-violaceous to purple coloration appearing…
Spain. This individual cut his throat in a suicide attempt, the cut penetrated the thoracic cavity. A cut…
Laceration of the scalp from a 30 cm long heavy torch (insert). The skin over the shoulders is…
Russia. A man was found dead in the back of a truck. The man had gunshot wound on…
This individual committed suicide by cutting deep wounds into his arms and bled out. Self-inflicted sharp-force injuries, including…
Russia. This man was killed with a broken bottle and has deep cuts and lacerations on his neck.…
Gaping laceration in front of neck of a mental patient, who on leave from a psychiatric hospital, had…
The February 2025 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…
Homicidal lacerations of the scalp penetrating the skull. Although some of the injuries resemble incised wounds, their margins…
This individual committed suicide by hanging using a belt. Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself…
This individual has homicidal chop wounds. Chop wounds can be considered a combination of sharp and blunt force…
Maggots cause most of the body's decomposition because the maggot will do the majority of the eating. Maggots…
This individual committed suicide with a shotgun to the head, no further info. In the head, neck, and…
This man has cut throat and abrasions on his neck. No further info. Cut throat is not the…
On September 27, 2000, 23-year-old Theresa Andrews, who was 9 months pregnant, disappeared without a trace. Her husband…
Close-range suicidal discharge of a shotgun below the chin. There is marked powder blackening of the chin and…
Close discharge of a 12-bore shotgun to the chest. There is a large hole, partly due to disruption…
Russia. This man was killed by his drinking buddy with a leg from a chair. When drunk people…
This individual committed suicide by hanging and plastic bag suffocation. A complex suicide involves multiple methods of self-harm…
In the summer of 2015 in Germany, a body in a state of decomposition was found in an…
This individual has shotgun gunshot wounds on his face from the shotgun pellets. Injuries from shotgun pellets vary…
Russia. A man was found dead in a field. The man had wounds on his neck and a…
Multiple homicidal lacerations of the scalp. The unusual shape is difficult to interpret, but they were caused by…
Tangential shotgun wound of face. The edge of the dispersal cone of pellets and gas has ploughed through…
Depending on the injury type, severity, and location, persons who are victims of severe trauma may not be…
Localized injury by an explosive device. The soldier picked up an apparently ‘dud’ smoke shell, which then detonated.…
Disintegration of the head of a young female terrorist in the Malayan emergency from a single bullet entering…
Suicidal cut throat. The wounds are horizontal, rather than the more common sloping-down from left to right in…
2018 - St. Petersburg, Russia. Rescuers found the mummy of an elderly man in one of the residential…
This person was killed with a shot in the head, placed in a garbage compactor where the body…
Necrophagous insects play an important role in the decomposition of the human body. Fly species that are commonly…
Several chop injuries inflicted by a boat propeller. Chop injuries are sometimes regarded as a variant of blunt…
Spain. Decapitation of the head from a train suicide. Train suicides often result in severe and fatal injuries…
Natural mummification. Brown to black leathery appearance of the skin. Mummification is the product of desiccation, the drying-up…
This man has fatal neck wounds from an axe. Chopping wounds are caused by heavy, sharp-edged instruments like…
Mummified body of an elderly male that had been lying dead in a block of flats for about…
The January 2025 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…
USA. The police were summoned to an apartment when friends of the deceased recounted that she had failed…
Fatalities caused by electrocution often lack specific morphologic evidence. Investigation of the death scene together with technical inspection…
Irregular and finely serrated wound margins with a series of parallel cutaneous lacerations deriving from the biting action…
The decedent was a 47-year old motor mechanic, who worked in a workshop in a rural community. He…
This individual committed suicide by drowning because of financial worries. Bodies removed from water show excessive gas production…
Suicidal gunshot wound to the head. No further info. At close range, the shotgun is the most formidable…
Russia. This individual has multiple cut wounds and slash wounds. Slash wounds occur as a result of tangential…
Russia. This individual committed suicide by laying on the train tracks, he then got decapitated from an arriving…
In March 2002, the corpse of an old woman found in her apartment in an urban apartment in…
This man committed suicide by hanging, furrow marks are on the neck from the rope. Hanging is one…
Opening of the abdominal body cavity following the (probably accidental) explosion of a homemade pipe bomb containing black…
This individual was shot in the head one time by a police swat team member. The officer was…
This individual had been dead for approximately four days. His body was found in the backyard by neighbors.…
Greece. The partially charred body of a man was found by fire department officers inside a burnt house.…
Postmortem protrusion of the tongue due to putrefactive gas formation and purging of putrefactive fluid from the nostrils.…
Postmortem animal depredation is a substantial part of the taphonomic processes a body undergoes after death. While the…
The image shows adipocere on the remains of an individual recovered from moist environment. Adipocere, also known as…
A homeless alcoholic, found dead in a fire, was extremely drunk. Fatal residential fires account for 10% of…
