[Leslie] Everyone dies
and when it's our time to go
some of us will be embalmed, buried
some cremated
But there's a place where our bodies still tell stories long after death
and it's in our own backyard
This week, we take you to The Body Farm
[John] There are only a handful of body farms across the US
The first and the most well- known got its roots right here
Here's 10News reporter Leslie Ackerson
[Bass] I said...
"I need some land to put dead bodies on"
[Music]
[Leslie] It all started with an obscure phone call four decades ago
Today, it's a world renowned facility located in Knoxville, Tennessee
It's called the Forensic Anthropology Center
better known by its nickname, The Body Farm
A site where the decomposition of human bodies aids in forensic research
[Bass] I mean, I hadn't done this before
In fact, nobody had done this before
This was the first facility of this in the world
[Leslie] Rewind the clock and in 1981, The Body Farm was just getting started
[Bass] But the reason we're doing this is because there is no data that exists on this at all
Law enforcement officers bring me a skeleton
We simply are guessing at how long that individual has been dead
[Leslie] Dr. Bill Bass was working as an anthropologist for the University of Tennessee
His office and classrooms underneath the famed Neyland football stadium
[Bass] Time goes by and I'm called for various cases
And one day, the phone rang and it was a detective from Clarksville, Tennessee
They had a body they wanted me to take a look at
but I didn't know where to put it
The restroom right outside of my office
the janitor used the shower area for him to store janitorial supplies
And I thought, "Well..."
"I don't have anywhere else to put it"
And the best chewing out I ever had
was from a janitor in south stadium hall
He goes in to get his janitorial supplies
and here's this really smelly decaying body
He shook his finger and said, "Don't you ever do that again"
Ok, I never did that again
[Leslie] Bass needed a solution
[Bass] So I went up to see him and I said, "Dean..."
"I need some land to put dead bodies on"
Well, that was the beginning of The Body Farm
[Music]
[Leslie] Along the winding Tennessee River, Dr. Bass was given three acres settled in the back corner
near the UT Medical Center's parking lot
But funds were scarce so Bass and students did most of the startup work themselves
[Bass] We didn't have anything in the budget for this
So here I am cutting trees and so forth
[Jantz] The facility itself was really quite small
It was the original chain link cage
They had some burials outside the cage that they did the original buried body studies in
But that was really it
[Leslie] For a time, the facility was off the radar
[Reporter] This site is located somewhere here in the Knoxville area
but Dr. Bass asked that we not divulge the location
for fear that local curiosity seekers would come by and ruin some of the scientific data
[Leslie] Not everyone was thrilled with the prospects of the research
[Jantz] There was a protest
It was the only protest that we've ever had
And now we know that the community loves us and supports us
[Leslie] News of the small facility would spread thanks to a New York Times bestseller
[Bass] Up until this time, I had an obscure little research facility in the hills of Tennessee
When she did this, it was internationally known right off the bat
[Leslie] The notoriety and literature didn't stop there
Bass has co-authored his own 15 novels based off of The Body Farm
But what's happening inside these gates is far from fiction
It's valuable science
and his foundation for the facility has grown into a legacy carried on today
In Knoxville, Leslie Ackerson 10News
[John] And you can read more about the beginnings of The Body Farm online right now WBIR.com
and you know the history now so join us tomorrow as our series continues
We will visit the site for a rare look at the research underway at this moment