Herman the Shocker
The Shocker brings you unfiltered views of reality and educational content from the world of crime, accidents, and forensics
Please consider donating to keep the website running
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…
The December 2024 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…
Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This individual has suffered from a fatal boat propeller chop wounds of the trunk and…
Italy. A 62-years old man, with a depressive syndrome in pharmacological treatment, was found dead in the parking…
USA. A 61-year-old man opened fire from his apartment door on bailiffs evicting him, he was fatally shot.…
A 30-year-old male pedestrian was involved in an accident with a truck. He became trapped in the front…
Germany. A 31-year-old man lived with his 71-year-old mother and his pet German Shepherd in a converted garden…
If a body is placed in water containing a large amount of bacteria, such as that from sewage…
Helium is one of inert gases causing physical asphyxiation, whose excess content in the breathing atmosphere reduces the…
Brush-burn type abrasion on the left flank. One common type of blunt force injury is the so-called brush-burn…
Forensic autopsy of blunt force trauma. Two abraded lacerations on the forehead. Lacerations are a bursting of the…
Man killed by his own brother with throat cut and stabbing. One can notice that this was an…
Russia. At a local market, a man started cutting his neck and tried to remove his larynx, he…
Russia. A woman was murdered with a scythe in her home. Homicide involving a scythe presents distinct forensic…
Self-mutilation thought by the police to be a bizarre homicide. The genitals have been amputated, the throat cut…
Postmortem hypostatic hemorrhages in a 36-year-old woman who died of multiple drug intoxication and was found in the…
Railway injuries are not uncommon, especially in countries with many ‘level crossings’ (called ‘grade crossings’ in the USA),…
This individual died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the right temple. The impression of the muzzle print…
The November 2024 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…
On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 Mw struck with an epicenter off the west…
Laceration of the forehead with surrounding bruising. The wound is stellate as a result of crushing against the…
The victim was discovered in a New York City hotel room lying on the floor with his leg…
The mummified body of an absconder from a mental hospital who was found a year later in a…
Multiple homicidal lacerations of the forehead. The perpetrator finalized his act by squeezing toothpaste on the left eye.…
2018 - St. Petersburg, Florida, US. A 38-year-old man was found dead and with burns to 80% of…
Italy - A 75-year-old woman affected by hoarding disorder was found dead in her apartment. The woman’s family…
Advanced adipocere formation after 2.5 years in a grave. Exhumation due to exclusion of an accidental death (fall)…
Suicide by jumping from a building is not uncommon, and it is a method that has been used…
Russia. This man was beaten up and his throat cut. No further info. Cut throats can be homicidal,…
This individual bled to death after a cut throat injury. Cut-throat deaths involve deep incisions or lacerations across…
Formation of putrefactive blisters and detachment of the upper layers of the skin in a decomposing individual. Decomposition,…
USA. The victim’s body was discovered after a neighbor became suspicious about the manner in which the young…
This individual has a contact-range gunshot wound on the side of the head. No further info. In contact…
Autopsy photograph featuring protrusion with dark discoloration of the tongue due to postmortem drying, in a case of…
Image of a cadaver at a body farm in Australia. The body farm is the Australian Facility for…
The image shows adipocere on the remains of an individual recovered from moist environment. Adipocere, also known as…
Forensic dental identification is a method used in forensic science to identify deceased individuals through dental records. Teeth…
The finding illustrated is a group of sharp force injuries (incisions) that are self-inflicted, as evidenced by the…
The orientation of the decedent with the tire of the motor vehicle apparently compressing the midsection and with…
China, 2020. A 47-year-old woman and her 7-year-old son were attacked by a black bear while walking through…
Colombia. This decomposing individual has a high-velocity gunshot wound. The entrance wound is under his right ear and…
Note the fixed anterior lividity. The decedent was lying prone on a bed with a wrinkled comforter. Postmortem…
Spain. The throat of this elderly woman was cut in a homicide. A homicidal throat cut refers to…
Spain. This individual suffered multiple and violent contusions with a blunt object, which caused facial injuries and fractures…
Note the tissue tears extending from the sides of the mouth. These tears result from the large amount…
Contact gunshot wound with .410-gauge derringer. Only the lower barrel has been fired. After reapproximating the gas pressure-induced…
Livor mortis or lividity is the gravitational pooling of blood in the dependent parts of the body, both…
Shotgun shells contain multiple small "BBs," called shot. As the shot comes out of the barrel of the…
Khabarovsk, Russia - May 11 2019. A domestic quarrel occurred between a man and a woman. The man…
Marbling is a common finding usually found after at least 24 h since death occurred and is a…
This individual is showing decomposition changes. Decomposition, or putrefaction, is a combination of two processes: autolysis and bacterial…
This individual committed suicide by hanging. When the body was found it was in an advanced state of…
Turkey. On October 4, 2024, Istanbul was shaken by a horrific incident where 19-year-old Semih Çelik brutally murdered…
This individual committed suicide by hanging. Postmortem animal activity can be seen on the ear and chin of…
Staff at the Travel Lodge Motor Inn in New York City, New York, made a call to the…
This individual was a victim of an explosion, with severe destruction in the thorax and abdomen due to…
The October 2024 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…
Spain. A woman who died as a result of stab wounds in a homicide. The injuries were multiple…
Colombia. This individual was fatally struck multiple times in the face with a metal pipe, the lesions clearly…
Putrefaction begins immediately upon death and usually becomes noticeable within 24 hours. As soon as death occurs, the…
The phenomenon of postmortem animal interference with human bodies or their remains is a substantial part of the…
Fatal injury on the side of the neck and jaw after a shell explosion, no further info. A…
This individual committed suicide with a shotgun blast to the head. The head is the most common location…
This individual was found lying on his left side with a mild to moderate degree of putrefaction. note…
This individual has committed an under the chin suicide with a gun. The head is the most common…
India. On the 22nd of May 2010, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft crashed at the Mangalore International Airport killing…
Toronto, Canada. Body found in water in an early stage of putrefaction with extensive wrinkling of feet and…
Postmortem scavenging is common among wild and domestic rodents; they are well known to alter or destroy the…
Italy. A 19-year-old woman suffering from anorexia and depression (not pharmacologically treated) had experienced further exacerbation of her…
A laceration is a type of wound caused by the tearing or splitting of skin, which can occur…
Irregular, stellate appearance with a central defect surrounded by radiating lacerations. In contact gunshot wounds with bony tissue…
A man hit on a zebra crossing by a heavy truck (44tons). The body is under one of…
US. Shotgun suicide, c.a. 1940's, colorized. No further info. In the head, neck, and limbs, shotgun exit wounds…
Scene of suicide. The victim was a 57-year-old psychiatric inpatient who had left her ward unnoticed and jumped…
Perioral lacerations from an intraoral gunshot wound blowback from a closed mouth. In this intraoral gunshot wound, note…
Chicago, Illinois, US. In this case, the female victim’s body was discovered by a relative who went to…
An elderly couple was found dead at home. The husband’s body was semiprone over the wife’s legs. The…
This soldier died in the Ukraine-Russia war and his body was scavenged by animals postmortem. The phenomenon of…
This individual committed suicide with a gunshot to the head. Head injuries from shotguns and high-powered rifles are…
The early bloating stage of decomposition is accompanied by drainage of red-brown purge fluid from the nose, mouth,…
Note the bulging eyes, lips and face with protrusion of the tongue on this decomposing individual, all related…
The September 2024 issue is out With a monthly subscription the Shocker brings you unfiltered views of…
These photographs depict the body of a man in a bathtub, fully clothed and lying in the water.…
Putrefaction with “purging.” Note the red to brown fluid gurgling from the mouth and nose. This can sometimes…
This man committed suicide by cutting his own neck. No further info. Cut throat is not the commonly…
Russia. This man was nearly decapitated. It is unknown if this was a homicide or an accident. Accidental…
Chop wounds of the scalp and skull from a hatchet. Chop injury represents a unique category of sharp…
Fatal head injury from a boat propeller. No further info. Often when discussing boat safety one aspect is…
Postmortem bloating of body may create a misleading picture of obesity. Bloody decomposition fluid oozing from mouth and…
Mogok, Myanmar - 2021. Two protesters were shot and killed by regime troops during a demonstration on Saturday…
Seen here is a close-range shotgun entrance wound as evidenced by the slight scalloping of the wound edges…
This individual died from autoerotic asphyxia using ligature strangulation. Note padding on ankles. Pornographic literature was positioned on…
Germany. In a case of extended suicide, a man killed his wife with a contact gunshot to the…
Mummification occurs in hot, dry environments. The body dehydrates and bacterial proliferation may be minimal. The skin becomes…
Maggots cause most of the body's decomposition because the maggot will do the majority of the eating. Maggots…
Russia. This individual committed suicide by laying on train tracks, she then got decapitated from an arriving train.…
Florida. The burned body of this young woman was recovered from the fire scene. She had fallen onto…
USA. This case involved a woman who was discovered in this position on her bed in her apartment.…
New York. These photos depict a close-up of the victim and the extensive damage inflicted by the high…
