Episode 02: Welcome back to Pushing Up Lilies, I’m your host Julie Mattson. As death investigators, we deal on a daily basis with all kinds of insects; roaches, flies, gnats and spiders. Of course, those are things that they don’t really show you on TV, because it takes the glamor out of the job. And the truth of the matter is, we’re not walking around in high heels looking our best with our make-up on and our hair done, we are sweating, dodging insects and sometimes we even go home smelling like a decomposed body.

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SHOW NOTES:

•  We may go home smelling like a decomposed body, and sometimes we forget because we’re so used to it. I know I’ve gone into a scene before where the body’s been there for a couple of days, it’s decomposing, the smell is bad, they may be covered in flies, gnats, maggots, I’m covered in deep sweat and stench… And have walked into a restaurant and stood in line for a sandwich, forgetting completely how I smell and where I just came from, and everyone is looking at me like I’m crazy because I smell hideous. And we just forget. We get so used to it, and it’s something that we deal with on a daily basis. I guess one thing that gets me is how quickly the flies actually lay eggs and hatch and reproduce in a short period of time. If someone is in a house deceased, it doesn’t take long for there to be a huge amount of flies. So, a fly only lives 15 to 30 days, and every time they lay eggs, they lay about 150 at a time, so they also can lay five to six batches of 150 eggs every few days, and once those hatch to a maggot in about a day, they can reproduce after two to three days. And so that’s how quickly they’re going to accumulate in a scene that’s closed off. (01:08)

•  So, when we move a body that’s covered in flies and gnats, they’re going to scatter. Many times I have moved a body over, because that’s part of what we do is look at the body for trauma, which is difficult to see on a decomposed body  by the way. But, we do look and the gnats are going to scatter and fly everywhere. Low and behold, you take a deep breath and a little gnat goes right up your nose. So, that’s happened to me many times. I have also taken a deep breath at a scene where there are quite a few flies and actually swallowed a fly before. And let me tell you there is nothing worse than a fly moving around in the back of your throat, wiggling and you can’t get it down or up. I mean, you cough like crazy, you’re trying to drink stuff to wash it down, it just stays there and it’s so annoying and you’re like, I’m pretty sure I need antibiotics, because this fly has been on a body and is not exactly what I wanted to have for lunch. (04:08)

• So bugs love me, I don’t know why, but that is something that we will always have to deal with. It certainly doesn’t deter us from doing our job, but sometimes it can certainly slow us down, but it doesn’t keep us from doing what we need to do. I just thought I would share with you some of the things that we deal with that you may not see on TV. Many times I’ve stood on an ant pile not even knowing that I’m standing on one and felt the burn of ant bites on my feet, again, part of the job, but not pleasant. So I would appreciate any ideas on how to avoid getting bit or stung. I know that I have tried all kinds of organic things, and it’s just hard to get them to stay off of you because there are so many of them, which to us is just another day in the life of a death investigator. (08:27)

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