16 Forensic Anthropology Research Facility

LOCATION Freeman Ranch, Texas, USA

NEAREST POPULATION HUB San Marcos, Texas

SECRECY OVERVIEW Access restricted: a “body farm” for the study of human decomposition after death.

The Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF) is maintained under the jurisdiction of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University (FACTS). This unusual outdoor research laboratory focuses on “reconstructing the postmortem interval to determine time since death and related studies on human decomposition.” It is perhaps more graphically described as a “body farm.”

Opened in 2008, FARF looks at the way in which bodies decompose in open-air environments, an area of particular use in the field of criminal forensics. It is one of five such institutions across the United States (the first opened in 1981 at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville) and is by far the largest, taking up 10 hectares (26 acres) of the University’s Freeman Ranch (the rest of the site is a working ranch). A range of environments are simulated across the site, including forested areas, scrubland and ponds.

The facility is governed by strict protocols concerning health, safety and security. It is surrounded by razor-wire perimeter fencing, and visits from the public are rarely permitted. There is no residential property within 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) of the site, although it is said that any odors dissipate within 15 meters (50 ft). Freeman Ranch was not the original intended site, but a previous location close to San Marcos Municipal Airport was vetoed over concerns that large numbers of vultures might be attracted by the corpses, putting air safety at risk.

Research is carried out on around six corpses at any one time by specially selected academics. Some of the bodies are buried in shallow graves, others left open to the elements, and some are even stored in car boots in a bid to closely replicate genuine homicide scenarios.

If you are so minded, you may make arrangements to donate your body to the center. It is even possible to donate a loved-one’s cadaver if you think it is what they would have wanted.