life on the farm

I am reading about the body farm. I first learned about the body farm when visiting there with Patricia Cornwell's character, Kay Scarpetta back in 1994.

Now I am reading about it again in Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass, who has written a series of crime thrillers (6 so far) featuring the body farm.

It was even mentioned in the movie The Blind Side - Kathy Bates' character Miss Sue tells Michael about what is under the football field at the University of Tennessee...

Miss Sue to Michael: You like Tennessee? That's a good school. Not at the academic level of Ole Miss but they have an outstanding science department. You know what they're famous for? They work with the FBI, to study the effects of soil on decomposing body parts. When they find a body, the police wanna know how long it's been dead. So the fine folks at Tennessee help them out. Oh, they have lots of body parts. Arms and legs and hands, from hospitals and medical schools. And do you know where they store 'em? Right underneath the football field. So while it's fine and dandy to have 100,000 fans cheering for you, the bodies you should be worried about are the ones right under the turf. Set to poke up through the ground and grab you... Well, it's your decision where you wanna play ball. Don't let me influence you.

So is this a real place or just the overactive imagination of crime fiction writers?

This question was answered when I looked up the bio on writer Jefferson Bass. The author is not one but two people collaborating on the novels:

Jefferson Bass is the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Dr. Bass, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, founded the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility -- the Body Farm -- a quarter-century ago.

So I guess it is real and, according to the book, there really are skeletons stored under the football field at UT! You can even donate your body to be a part of this famous farm.


I am enjoying the book, Carved in Bone.

It is not gruesome, but more about the science of forensics and working with the colorful local authorities in rural Tennessee.

Looking forward to reading more from this author, or authors!