Body farms, formally called forensic anthropology research facilities, get the vast majority of their bodies through voluntary donation. Living people register to donate their remains after death, or a family member consents to the donation on their behalf. At the University of Tennessee’s facility, the original and largest body farm, more than 1,000 bodies have been donated and over 2,000 living individuals are registered as future donors.
Voluntary Donation Is the Primary Source
Most bodies arrive because someone decided, while still alive, to donate their remains to forensic science. The process works much like donating your body to a medical school. You contact the facility, fill out paperwork (often called a “Certificate of Bequeathal”), and register as a future donor. When you die, the facility is notified and arranges to receive your body.
Family members can also make this decision after a loved one dies. A survey of forensic anthropology professionals found that 89% of respondents supported accepting donations made by next of kin. In practice, both self-donation and family-authorized donation are the two most common pathways. Fewer facilities accept remains from other sources: only about 47% of programs surveyed accepted donations routed through medical examiners or coroners, and even fewer (around 18%) accepted unclaimed individuals.
What the Law Requires
Body donation to forensic research is governed by the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, which most U.S. states have adopted in some form. Under this law, an “anatomical gift” is a donation of all or part of a human body, effective after death, for transplantation, therapy, research, or education. Forensic science education is explicitly included.
Several categories of people can legally authorize a donation: the donor themselves (if 16 or older in some states), a legal agent such as someone with power of attorney, a parent if the donor is a minor, or a guardian. The law also names forensic science programs at accredited universities as eligible recipients.
Selling human remains for transplant or therapy is a criminal offense, classified as a Class A misdemeanor in Texas and similarly penalized elsewhere. Facilities can, however, charge reasonable fees for transportation, processing, preservation, and storage. This distinction is important: the body itself is never bought or sold, but the logistics of moving and handling it do cost money.
Unclaimed Remains From Medical Examiners
A smaller number of bodies come through medical examiner and coroner offices. When someone dies and no next of kin can be located, or no one is able to arrange a funeral, the remains are classified as “unclaimed.” In some states, agencies like Maryland’s State Anatomy Board are contacted by hospitals, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, or law enforcement to coordinate what happens next. These unclaimed remains can legally be transferred to research and educational programs.
This pathway is less common than voluntary donation and has become more controversial. Only about 37% of forensic anthropology facilities surveyed reported accepting donations from medical examiners, and just 18% accepted unclaimed individuals. The ethical concern is straightforward: the deceased person never consented, and their family, if they exist somewhere, may not know. Many facilities have moved away from this practice in favor of fully consented donations.
Who Gets Rejected
Not every donated body is accepted. Facilities screen for several disqualifying factors. Bodies are typically rejected if the person had an infectious disease such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B or C, tuberculosis, active MRSA, or a prion disease like Creutzfeldt-Jakob. These conditions pose real safety risks to researchers who will be working with the remains outdoors, sometimes for months.
Physical condition matters too. A body that is extremely emaciated, extremely obese, or has an extensive surgical history may not be suitable for the type of decomposition research the facility conducts. Bodies that have already been autopsied, embalmed, or begun to decompose are also excluded. The research depends on studying natural decomposition from its starting point, so the body needs to arrive in a relatively intact, unaltered state.
Transportation and Timing
Once a registered donor dies, the clock starts. Facilities typically need the body within 48 hours of death to get viable samples and begin research under controlled conditions. The family or estate contacts a local funeral home, which handles the initial preparation and transport to the facility.
Who pays for this varies. Some programs cover or reimburse transportation costs, at least partially. The Mayo Clinic’s body donation program, for example, maintains a limited fund to reimburse funeral homes for transport to its Rochester, Minnesota location, but any costs exceeding that fund fall to the donor’s family or estate. The farther the death occurs from the facility, the more expensive and logistically difficult the transfer becomes, and the more likely it is that the donation simply won’t happen. All funeral home expenses before the transfer are the family’s responsibility.
Some programs accept registered donors from anywhere in the country, but geography is a practical limiting factor. A death in the same state as the facility is far more likely to result in a successful donation than one across the country.
What Happens to Remains Afterward
After a body has served its research purpose, typically spending months or longer exposed to outdoor conditions, the skeletal remains are cleaned, labeled, and added to a permanent skeletal collection. Students at these facilities often participate in the cleaning and cataloging process as part of their training. These collections become long-term research tools, used to develop better methods for identifying remains in criminal investigations, estimating time of death, and understanding how different environments affect decomposition. The bones, carefully documented with the donor’s known biological information, can be studied for decades after the original outdoor research is complete.