The stench!

[Neil]

Noticed a dead bird in our garden yesterday. Guessing the cats had killed it and left it there. So I grabbed a dustpan and brush to pick it up and throw it into the woods behind us. As I moved it, the swam of flies on it were disturbed, and the carcase literally just fell apart; the flesh and organs just falling and peeling apart. And from inside a sea of writhing maggots rolled out. Now, that didn't bother me too much, but what did was the stench that came off this thing once it was moved! It was absolutely rancid! You could smell it from feet away! Now if a little bird can smell that bad, what on earth would a whole rotting human body smell like? Not sure if that's really been covered/caught in a film?

[bassman]

Smell has been covered in a few things, iirc. In TWD there are quite a few references to the smell of the walkers and bodies. Also in Land they call them "stenches".

[shootemindehead]

Yeh, it's something that I#ve wondered about too. The stink would be absolutely overwhelming. At first anyway. The flies too would be a bloody nightmare. Especially in hot places.

[Trancelikestate]

When i was younger there was a dead raccoon we were all messing with but it smelled so bad I could get within 10 feet of it or i would've puked. Then my buddy poked it's bloated body with a stick and it popped. They smell a lot worse then.

[AcesandEights]

Yup, this has come up a couple times in the forums and even been mentioned in a couple movies, though not as much as one might think. Anyway, I've often wondered if whatever causes zombies might also, to some extent, arrest or retard decomposition, maybe working on a microbial level, and may help with the smell not being quite so incredibly overpowering, at least at some stages of the decomposition game.

[Neil]

I've often wondered if whatever causes zombies might also, to some extent, arrest or retard decomposition, maybe working on a microbial level, and may help with the smell not being quite so incredibly overpowering, at least at some stages of the decomposition game. I agree... Infact, come to think of it, in my story "The Midas Touch" it's suggested decay is slowed down...

[shootemindehead]

Anyway, I've often wondered if whatever causes zombies might also, to some extent, arrest or retard decomposition... Ahem... "ON REVIVAL, THE RATE OF DECOMPOSITION SLOWS SUBSTANTIALLY. INDICATIONS ARE THAT THESE BEINGS COULD FUNCTION OVER A PERIOD OF YEARS. IN CASES OF EARLY REVIVAL, 10 TO 12 YEARS BEFORE DECAY WOULD THREATEN MOBILITY." Some doctor told me that a few years ago.

[MoonSylver]

Ahem... "ON REVIVAL, THE RATE OF DECOMPOSITION SLOWS SUBSTANTIALLY. INDICATIONS ARE THAT THESE BEINGS COULD FUNCTION OVER A PERIOD OF YEARS. IN CASES OF EARLY REVIVAL, 10 TO 12 YEARS BEFORE DECAY WOULD THREATEN MOBILITY." Some doctor told me that a few years ago. "I see what you did there."

[AcesandEights]

Ahem... "ON REVIVAL, THE RATE OF DECOMPOSITION SLOWS SUBSTANTIALLY. INDICATIONS ARE THAT THESE BEINGS COULD FUNCTION OVER A PERIOD OF YEARS. IN CASES OF EARLY REVIVAL, 10 TO 12 YEARS BEFORE DECAY WOULD THREATEN MOBILITY." Some doctor told me that a few years ago. I know the cannon in this regard and have even quoted it on these boards before, but felt that need to reiterate and focus on a possible cause (something interacting at a microbial level) and the pertinent affect (less smell).