The Body Farm

The Body Farm, although a title to one of the greatest forensic authors, Patricia Cornwell, is also a well known place located on the campus of University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  The body farm was created by another well known author and professor of the University of Tennessee, Dr. William M. Bass in 1971.  Dr. Bass is one of the most famous American anthropologists in his field.

Over the years, this has become the place for researchers everywhere, including Patricia Cornwell.  The body farm at UT Knoxville was the only one of it's kind until a few years ago when other colleges have opened their own facilities,   It  helps document postmortem changes in various elements, both controlled and natural environments; as the body does decompose in various elements, such as sun, water, cold, etc and based on insect activity.

The body farm is a 2.5 acre facility that is well hidden and well protected by razor wire fence.  There are several ways these bodies have come to the facility.  They are either donated by their families and are pre-registered with the facility, while others are donated by the medical examiner's office as they are never identified.  On average, about 60% of the bodies are from family members that were not pre-registered.  Over 100 bodies are donated each year.

I must admit, when I first heard of this place when living in Knoxville, I seriously did not believe that it existed.  It is a well protected area.  It is located behind UT Medical Center in downtown Knoxville.  Some have said you can see it from the highway, but I never have.  Some of the links below from where I got some of my information, actually have some pictures (not a whole lot) of the body farm.

Dr. Bass has several forensic books out that I have read, though fiction, take place in East TN and are based off the body farm.  http://www.jeffersonbass.com/books.html

For more information on this facility, please follow the following links.

http://www.jeffersonbass.com/videos.html
http://web.utk.edu/~fac/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/motherboard/the-body-farm  (actual interview with Dr. Bass and glimpses of the body farm and very informative information on the concept of the body farm).