Can people bruise after they die?

No. Not if he was good and dead before he was strung up. The rope could mangle the skin a bit, but bruising is bleeding into the surrounding tissue and there's no bleeding if the heart isn't pumping.

No. When a person dies, the blood stops pumping through the body and begins to pool. In fact, if he left the person laying there for a while before stringing them up, the lividity would give it away.

That's a simplistic explanation, but here's a link for some great sites for forensic and law enforcement type questions.

This is the very question that Sherlock Holmes was asking asked more than a century ago, when Watson came across him enthusiastically beating a dead person. (Or maybe it was an animal.)

In fact, post mortem bruising is entirely possible if the force is inflicted shortly after death, although I believe forensics these days can determine the difference.

Modern forensics can definately tell the difference between pre-and postmortem bruising. If blood is still flowing and hasn't started settling, it's likely that a bruise can occur but, and I have no idea how, a forensic pathologist can determine if said bruise was made before or after the death based on the bruising style, how it bruised, etc. Forensics is definately a very intricate science and even the most minute detail can give a lot away.

Ya know, if the murder occurs in a locale where such is decently investigated, the cause of death from a hanging is determined specifically to be asphyxiation or the broken neck (high enough fracture to interfere with ennervation that stimulates respiratory effort). In suicides, it is one of these two and which one is determined in the path ex.

But hey, you've probably already considered specifically how your the vic died. The bruising stuff...right answers above. Essentially, some is possible in the right circ, but ya need those circumstances.

rugcat said:

In fact, post mortem bruising is entirely possible if the force is inflicted shortly after death, although I believe forensics these days can determine the difference.

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Yeah, that's what I meant about good and dead. I had a friend and advisor for forensic stuff and she was telling me that even after a few minutes it's pretty obvious if wounds are post- or ante- mortem. Ante-mortem bleeding being scanty and 'surface' and pressure (the rope) causing substantially less than it would against a thumping, active vessel.

Grisly business, but fascinating how far we've come in what we can hear from the dead.

Erm, however, it depends on how long the person was left hanging before discovery. Lividity tends to occur where a body is contact with something solid post-mortem, so there may be significant lividity around the neck region. The link below may give you a little more detail than you really need, but see pp10-12
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicine/notes/timedeath.pdf

If I'm reading this right, if the body's been left for at least 10 hours, it becomes hard to tell lividity from bruising.

There are other signs of violent strangulation that occur when a person is alive that don't happen post mortem. The biggest one I can think of off the top of my head are the pin-point hemorrhages in the skin, eyes and internal organs called petechiae. Somewhere around here I have a couple of links if you need them.

The neck will only snap if the noose knot is positioned correctly but the break will cause the person to die. When a person doesn't die immediately, it's because the noose itself is ill-positioned, the neck doesn't break and the person strangles to death, usually taking about 15 minutes or so to die if that's the case.

David McAfee said:

Hanging; does the noose always kill when it snaps the neck? Or have there been instances where a victim's neck snaps, but he or she didn't die as a result? Maybe the neck doesn't snap the entire way?

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There's a reason the hangman was a paid professional. They used to have someone designated to grab the victim's feet and give it a yank if they were struggling.

The other thing to consider is your location. If it's a big city, where there are educational requirements for the job of coroner, then science will almost certainly prevail. If it's a remote country area where coroner might be an elected position with no educational requirements, then they might miss a lot.

Didn't see it mentioned above but in most cases, death by hanging should also result in a protruding, blackened tongue.

kikazaru said:

Didn't see it mentioned above but in most cases, death by hanging should also result in a protruding, blackened tongue.

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I've not read that, but if true the only mechanism I can think to explain it would be venous congestion. The only way to get that would be asphyxiation where the venous flow is interrupted but not the arterial. In a "proper hanging" with a high cervical vertebral fracture death would occur too quickly for that to happen and in post mortem hanging there also would be no arterial flow. However in a lynching or other short rope hangings this would probably be the rule.

GeorgeK said:

I've not read that, but if true the only mechanism I can think to explain it would be venous congestion. The only way to get that would be asphyxiation where the venous flow is interrupted but not the arterial. In a "proper hanging" with a high cervical vertebral fracture death would occur too quickly for that to happen and in post mortem hanging there also would be no arterial flow. However in a lynching or other short rope hangings this would probably be the rule.

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There is probably more info than any one wants at this link for law enforcement officers (scroll down to hangings) and while it mentions the protruding tongue, it doesn't mention colour.

http://dmmoyle.com/dicod.htm

The short answer to the question is No. Dead tissue can not bruise. Only living tissue can be bruised.

This is because a bruise is interstitial (between the cells) bleeding which requires pressure. Blood pressure is supplied by the heart, therefore no heart beat, no blood pressure, no bruise.

I think what you are referring to is lavidity. This is the pooling of blood within the body after death. Gravity forces the blood to flow to the lowest points in the body. This shows as crimson- purple discolouration within the lowest tissues of the resting cadaver.

The blue tongue, which is actually closer to a Black Doris plumb is due to the lack of blood and blood flow to the dead tissue.

Also with a dead body the bony prominences are usually pastry white in colour, Organs and fleshy tissues above the lavidity are a graduated shade of purple through to a grey/ mouldy pastry colour. The darker the colour the closer to the lavidity.

If the body was hanging then the feet would crimson moving to purple with time and swollen because of the fluid pooling.

The other point you may be being confused with is on the TV they often say things about bruise showing up 18 - 24 hours after death. This because as the body fluids pool the underlying tissue damages becomes more obvious, like developing a negative. Thus several days after death bruises and other marks such as prints will become clearer.

Finally about rigor mortis. This generally sets in 2- 4 hours after death and lasts for no more than 18 hours. It is caused by the bio-chemical reaction within the muscles causing contraction and this takes about 18 hours to break down. Hence the presence or absence of rigor gives the pathologist an idea of time of death. Liver temperature is taken because it is a large organ, easy to find and easy to hit with a thermometer (which looks like a big roast meat thermometer you use in cooking). The body cools at a known rate, and once environmental factors are taken into account, the absence or presence of rigor and lavidity, the pathologist can make a pretty accurate estimation of death.

Just a hint but real nurses and doctors refer to things by wines and beers. That is to say Rose, Claret, lager, straw, dark ale, reisling- it is easier for everyone to follow the colour scale of wine and alcohol

Any med school or pathologist at the hospital or mortuary can give you the times and rate of cooling of a body.

I hope this helps. I am a Critical Care RN if you are concerned about the veracity of the information. I have seen hundreds of dead bodies by all forms, in all manners and states, so if you want a specific "body" I should be able to give you some detail. Just send and an email if you want

You are more thanwelcome