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Q is for...

... Quicklime


The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?
---Edgar Allan Poe



The Nun
Yeah, so today's morbid/macabre A-Z post is a bit of a stretch...but, hey, it's letter "Q", what can you do?

There really isn't anything remotely morbid about Quicklime ----but, it's been used in some pretty morbid circumstances, so it fits...sort of.

Calcium oxide is just an ordinary-looking white powdery substance that packs a bit of a bite. Let this stuff get in some water and the resulting chemical reaction puts off quite a bit of heat. Which is why it comes with the "handle-with-care" warning---just imagine the lovely burns you'd be sporting if you picked some of it up with sweaty palms....

But, I digress...

No, the morbid "quality" of quicklime is that some criminals, over the years, have gotten it into their heads that, because calcium oxide is caustic, it must obviously be powerful enough to "burn" a body up, if we use enough of it--- I blame pop culture...TV shows are always exaggerating stuff for dramatic effect.

Yes, it's true that if you cover a decomposing body with enough Quicklime, you will cause some burns, but, what you're more than likely going to do is mummify your corpse--- it'll suck every ounce of liquid from that body and leave it nice and preserved.

Definitely NOT what you're looking for if you plan on disposing of a body....

What it will do, however, is slow the decomposition of the body down to almost nothing---- MEANING: if you hide/bury said corpse, there won't be that pesky smell of decaying flesh to alert people as to the whereabouts of your 'hidden' corpse......

So, use Quicklime to cover your smelly tracks...not to dispose of your evidence.

This has been a PSA from your morbid network.



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Comments

  1. UnknownApril 19, 2014 at 3:31 AM

    Really interesting. Nice to meet and connect through the atozchallenge.
    http://aimingforapublishingdeal.blogspot.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  2. djinniaApril 20, 2014 at 4:20 PM

    I'll take that warning to heart! =D! Now I know not tousle if I ever need to bury a corpse.

    ReplyDelete

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