On Death´s Track – Prof. Dr. Michael Tsokos (Germany´s most famous coroner – are there other “famous” ones?!).
“The goal of all life is death” said Sigmund Freud, and the author agrees – everyone has to die in the end.
That sure is right.
My goal, though, is to lead a good life, enjoy, be there for others and with others.
Anyhows. In this book the author tells of 12 spectacular cases he had to go through. Don´t think I´m morbid. But I had to deal so much with this subject, I have to know about it. I read a very spiritual book about death and this one is scientifically.
It´s truly amazing what coroners are able to detect, I tell ya!
In Germany there are about 900 000 deaths per year – 3 of 100 don´t die by age, sickness or accident. Known. There are many, many more unknown non-natural deaths, still! I saw an old episode of
Quincy once and he said, if we put a candle on each grave where someone did not die naturally but by murder, the graveyard would be alight at night. Weird it still is that way, huh?
The author also explains that as a coroner you don´t deal with death only, but from the viewpoint of the dead
you examine life.
I won´t go into too much detail of the cases, but rather note what I think is worth to be read, or remembered. Facts I never thought of.
Did you know for example that coroners never talk of "Selbstmord" ("self-murder"), but only suicide? Per definition the offender has to kill someone out of lust to kill, greed and such – unlikely a person can do that to himself…
Speaking of… I always thought, too, that committing suicide on a sunny summer day is the exception. Truth is... in winter, when it´s dark for so long, and cold, people can accept depression better. But sunny weather is nothing they can deal with.
One fact the author had to give away: Bon Scott didn´t die of alcohol intoxication or puke, he freezed to death in a friend´s car.
Well. I didn´t know he was an Aussie (in case that name means as much to you as it did to me: Bon Scott was the singer of AC/DC).
Back to suicide. In the 1980´s in Germany 18 451 people killed themselves, “only” 9 765 in 2006 and “only” 9 402 in 2007. Wow. That still made a lot of despaired people…
In comparison to other countries that makes us 4th with 10 per 100 000. Japan is first with 18, followed by France (who would´ve guessed that?) with 15 and Canada with 11 people committing suicide.
And despite the fact that the number of suicides goes down, in 2007 way more people (as said, 9 000) died by killing themselves whereas “only” 4 949 died in traffic accident.
Luckily I cannot even imagine to be so desperate to think of killing myself.
What weird cases did the author encounter? How far has science come?
There was a man in a burned car – on the back seat. Fact is: he did it himself, and he was driving whilst doing so, it was suicide.
He´d put two open jerrycans on the foot space of the co-driver's seat, had put gas everywhere in the car additionally. After a few minutes of driving he lighted a fire and in the closed car an inferno broke loose that amputated his right arm (we´re driving on the right side of the road over here) and the “blast wave” hit him again and again and again and catapulted him on the back seat.
Another man got stuck under a car – for over 9 km. The author could still prove that the man had been killed before by a hit on the head.
One guy shot himself accidentally by climbing down stairs – they could prove it was not his friend murdering him.
Yet another one was found naked on a playground – in winter. He himself had ripped his clothes off, it was no murder, they found out. He was drunk and obviously often people get the feeling it´s hot…
In one case they first only had a head. They managed to find out that this man had jumped from a bridge – with a steel rope around his neck to make absolutely sure he´ll die by ripping the head off. It´s really amazing what you can find out with scientifical knowledge…
Police found a car in a dike, in winter. A man without head sat behind the steering wheel, hands rested on the wheel, belt applied according to instructions.
What had happened? The man had taken a thin steel cable, attached one end at a fence, led it through the rear of his truck, made a loop around his neck and hit the gas real hard to full speed.
The author could prove a murder despite the fact that the person was burnt to unrecognizable condition. Again… science is amazing (and this chapter made me nearly fall unconscious).
Then there was a dead man who was smashed, but lie in a garden in the soft grass. They found out he´d been working on a cannabis-farm, had committed suicide by jumping head first and down out of the second floor-window on the pavement. The owners of the farm transported the dead man away cause … well, cannabis-farm.
A woman found a suicide note of her husband. And the husband later in a rain barrel. He´d climbed inside, closed the lid and slashed his wrists.
Another man was found dead in an airport on top of a rubbish-bin. He had 1500 € with him, and all papers. Turned out he was a bodypacker. The laxatives he took shortly before landing worked too fast… and he had to swallow the bags afterwards. Two ripped and this was that. Uhhh, what a mean business…
And then there was the case Jessica. She made it to the age of 7. In a dark, very small room. Seldom she got something to eat or drink… I spare you the details. How can parents – or humans for that matter – act that way?
The last case was interesting. A young couple was taking a little tour on a small boat. Suddenly they saw a dead body in the water. A man in a dress from 1800-something. “Global warming” was the solution. The man lie on the ground of the lake in 4C temps for a 100 years, the temperature you find in cold storage houses – putrefaction is stopped at this temp. Then the water got warmer and gasas build up which made him float to the top…
Science is amazing. The author goes very much into detail, so if you´re interested in how our bodies work when we live, when we die and afterwards… get a copy of this book – it´s very well written, too, you could nearly say “entertaining”.
Original title: Dem Tod auf der Spur
