What colour is dead skin?

Question

I am trying to write a realistic piece involving a dead person, but I am not sure of the actual colour of their skin, and I'm not willing to trust either horror movies or CSI.

I've read a bit about livor mortis and pallor mortis, and I've seen all the thumbnails of google images that I'm going to risk seeing for fear I may accidentally traumatize myself.

Preferably if you are a police officer, a mortician, a coroner, someone adept in forensic science, it would be nice to get answers from someone I know I haven't scarred for life.

I want to be able to visualize it, so I would appreciate accurately defining colour descriptions such as:

'Apple Red'; 'Ghost White'; 'The same colour as NesCafe brand coffee'; 'Have you ever seen Saw? Yeah, the guy from that is pretty accurate' . . . etcetera. Don't say 'like sheep brains' or something, try to use cutesy descriptions, I don't wanna puke . . .

Any help would be appreciated : )

If this is in any way a sensitive subject for you, close this page now and get someone to give you a hug.

Answer 1

white

Answer 2

Formerly working as the contract coroner's unit, everything depends on the manner of death, length of time and the environment. I've picked up everything from bodies burnt beyond recognition, 7 to 14 day old drownings, self-inflicted handgun and shotgun suicides, dismemberment traffic accidents, decomposing bodies and natural deaths. The reason there may be a difference as mentioned is the environment but generally in a natural death, the skin tone is like a pale brown paper bag color with shades of pale olive green. There is no more pinkish color because of the lack of oxygen. And as for your example of Saw and the accuracy, sorry. Close but no cigar.