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Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
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South Wire: Body Farm founder brings tries his hand at fiction |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Sunday, 05 February 2006 |
02/04/2006
By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS / Associated Press
Best-selling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell and others sometimes consult Dr. Bill Bass for his expertise in forensic anthropology to add a touch of realism to their fiction.
Now the expert on human decomposition is using his experience for his own book, "Carved in Bone: A Body Farm Novel," published under the pen name Jefferson Bass.
The name Jefferson comes from Bass' writing partner, author and filmmaker Jon Jefferson. The pair had previously written a nonfiction book about Bass and his work called "Death's Acre."
The main character in "Carved in Bone" is Dr. Bill Brockton, a forensic anthropologist and professor. The similarities to Bass don't end with their initials.
Like his main character, Bass founded the University of Tennessee's Anthropological Research Facility, nicknamed the Body Farm. Both live in Knoxville and work on cases with fingerprint expert Art Bohanan, whose real name is used in the book.
Even Brockton's personality reflects Bass, who seems to smile even when he's talking about the most gruesome cases.
"Dr. Brockton is a very sunny, cheerful guy who's up to his elbows in death and dismemberment," Jefferson said. "If I'm going to go down dark alleys, I'd rather go down them with somebody that's cheerful."
Bass and Jefferson have signed on with publisher Harper Collins to write two more books in the series, and they have started working on a sequel to "Death's Acre" about cold cases.
Bass' study of human decomposition hit mainstream America when Cornwell wrote about it in her 1994 novel "The Body Farm."
The real Body Farm, across the river from the Tennessee campus, is a place where 110 bodies lie in varying states of decomposition. It's the only such experimental station in the world and is used to teach crime scene investigators from around the country and from the FBI.
Bass considers Cornwell a friend and has read some of her books, but he's more comfortable dealing with real life.
"Fiction is all right. I personally like the truth better. I don't think you can improve on the truth," Bass said, sitting in his office in the UT anthropology department beneath Neyland Stadium. "Jon writes fiction. He's the writer. It's OK with me."
The main case in "Carved in Bone" concerns a body found in a cave. Because the body was exposed to moisture, the fat decayed and ended up a substance like soap or wax called adipocere that covers the body.
Bass has handled several cases involving adipocere, but everything besides the science in the book has been fabricated. The cave is in Cooke County, which echoes the name of nearby Cocke County in eastern Tennessee.
"No place distills east Tennessee down to its essence more than a rural, slightly outlawish, mountainous county where all sorts of things go on," Jefferson said.
The novel takes advantage of the public's fascination with crime, decaying bodies and whodunits. "CSI" and its forensic spinoffs are still the most popular prime-time dramas in America.
"I have been surprised all my career that the courses I taught on forensic anthropology — dead bodies — was always full. Standing room only. People are interested in forensics, obviously or 'CSI' wouldn't be here," Bass said.
What happens to dead bodies is largely a mystery to many people, and that creates the intrigue.
"You don't go in the morgue to look at autopsies. The body is sent to the funeral home. You don't go in the funeral home until they have the service and an open coffin. Then it's closed, and the person is buried," he said. "The public, except for the viewing at the funeral home if they have an open coffin, never sees what goes on."
Semiretired at 77, Bass continues to lecture and is often called as a witness in court cases to testify about time of death. He came to Tennessee in 1971 from Kansas and founded the Body Farm in 1980.
"I was just so dumb I went to the dean and said, 'Dean, I need some land to put dead bodies on,'" Bass recalled.
The public didn't really know what was going on behind the wood fence at the facility until Cornwell's novel. More than 700 people have willed their bodies to the university to help with the research. Cornwell did much of her early research in Richmond, Va., working alongside a medical examiner.
Bass says he hopes Cornwell won't see him as a competitor.
"She's in the 15 to 20 million (dollar) a year range. We're in the 100,000 range. We haven't got that much. You couldn't live on what we're making out of this now, but if we got up to the Patricia Cornwell stage, you will see a Bass Forensic building. It's going to be a while," he said.
This time, Cornwell lent something to Bass. The heroine in her books, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, is mentioned briefly in his novel for her expertise as a medical examiner.
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On the Net:
Jefferson Bass: http://www.jeffersonbass.com
Anthropological Research Facility: http://web.utk.edu/anthrop/index.htm
http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8FI39T80.html |
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Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“The fence around a cemetery is foolish, for those inside can't get out and those outside don't want to get in.” Arthur Brisbane
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
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