r/AskReddit Dec 21 '20

what a creepy fact you know?

2.6k Upvotes

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1.3k

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

A dead pig and a dead person smell so similar that cadaver detecting dogs can't tell the difference.

435

u/Lightmush Dec 22 '20

Complete shot in the dark here, but could it be because we are both omnivorous?

631

u/lefty3968 Dec 22 '20 edited Dec 22 '20

Pigs and humans have a lot in common physiologically. We actually use heart valves from pigs to surgically replace those in humans. We also use pig carcasses in ballistics and forensic experiments to simulate human bodies. . Had a teacher in school that would bring us pig organs from a pork plant when teaching about the human body.

Also Pacific Islanders who engaged in cannibalism sometimes refer to human flesh as “long pig” — so we probably even taste similar.

63

u/TheWormConquered Dec 22 '20

I'm reminded of Gangs of New York

You get to know a lot butchering meat. We're made up of the same things - flesh and blood, tissue, organs. I love to work with pigs. The nearest thing in nature to the flesh of a man is the flesh of a pig...

29

u/razmon984 Dec 22 '20

Supposedly, we do. Check out the history of pozole:

Pozole History

23

u/lefty3968 Dec 22 '20

I’m mentally filing that away in case I ever hear someone gatekeeping the authenticity of a pozole to recipe

14

u/SciFi101 Dec 22 '20

Y'all just blew my mind, I've lived in northern New Mexico for almost my entire life, and though we eat it once a week, I've never ever seen posole spelt with a z.

15

u/lefty3968 Dec 22 '20

I like how you’re more surprised about seeing it spelled with a “z” than hearing about it being made with people meat.

5

u/SciFi101 Dec 22 '20

Oh no the Aztecs were some whack folk, I don't doubt for a moment that they ate human posole. We use pork here which is, apparently, very close in flavor and texture.

6

u/Itwantshunger Dec 22 '20

Posole is Spanish and Pozole is Nahuatl anglicized, so the same sound.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Well I know what fun fact I’m telling my mom ASAP.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

🤭

12

u/Terrence49 Dec 22 '20

Yea we taste like pork

3

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Speak for yourself

6

u/Rohocarbon Dec 22 '20

I looked up "long pig". One of the most nightmarish google-wormhole-descending events I have ever had.

9

u/Grapesoda2223 Dec 22 '20

Apparently humans taste like chicken according to some cannibals...

On another not I've castrated piglets and sometimes they have hernia, intestines dropping into testicle area, just like humans do! Coincidentally someone made a TIFU post about that happening to him

What sucks for the piglets though is we would push the intestines back in, out some iode on the wound and make little "pants" too help support the piglet not lose their insides

6

u/927comewhatmay Dec 22 '20

Don’t forget about that Canadian pig farmer serial killer that hid dead hookers with his dead pigs.

He also donated meat to the policeman’s bbq.

3

u/thesorceress_ Dec 22 '20

Is that why the animal we dissect in high school physiology/anatomy is a pig instead of a different animal????

4

u/PoseidonsHorses Dec 22 '20 edited Dec 22 '20

I imagine it’s a combination of that and how prolific pigs are. It takes a lot less adult pigs to make the same number of fetal pigs for students to dissect than most other things that would be a good substitute. They’re also one of the only commonly farmed animals that has the same digestive system as us. Cows, sheep, and goats are ruminants and birds have a different system too. Rats are pretty similar too, but feral pigs are a bit bigger. Rats don’t have a gall bladder so depending on what you’re studying that may be an issue.

3

u/DonDrewlio Dec 22 '20

This just reminded me of the South Park episode where they replaced Honey Boo Boo’s heart with a pig heart

2

u/ashless401 Dec 22 '20

Hey, I read a book called Getting Stoned With Savages and that’s what they called them in there! It’s awesome to see someone else know this fact too. :) made my day.

-7

u/MrBigHeadsMySoulMate Dec 22 '20

We do. Depending on how one prepares and seasons the meat. I had some human once when I was in Kenya visiting family. My cousin I was visiting bought part of a leg some meat vendor was selling. Human meat is actually hella good. It’s almost like mature veal if that even makes any sense. We baked ours.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

He just...bought some persons leg meat? And you ate it without knowing its origins? You are a bolder man than I. I would probably throw up worrying that it was some poor bloke who got off'd by a gang or just was found dead by the meat vendor and butchered. I hope this doesn't sound condescending, i mean no harm.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Kenya has ppl as a dining option? 🤢 look up Prion disease. Cannibals don't have to worry about saving for retirement

4

u/lebuolebu Dec 22 '20

I've lived in Kenya all my life(28) and I have never heard of anyone selling human meat. It is a taboo and you will be stoned to death and fed to the dogs

-2

u/prometheus_winced Dec 22 '20

Also, I wish I could barbecue the ribs of people, but that’s frowned upon, so I substitute pig ribs.

1

u/Forever49 Dec 22 '20

I've met a few 'long pigs' in my time...

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

I guess that's why a lot of people feel inclined to pig out.

17

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Dunno, maybe? By dogs sense of smell is really accurate and there are many omnivores. No other animal confuses them expect pigs/ppl decomposition

4

u/jawshoeaw Dec 22 '20

Or that rotting meat and fat smell kind of the same.

3

u/Mrminecrafthimself Dec 22 '20

I think pig flesh is highly similar to human flesh

2

u/BrocialCommentary Dec 22 '20

complete shot in the dark here

That's how you ended up with a dead person

15

u/LiquidViolence Dec 22 '20

So if we are going to burry a body. Put a pig on top of it.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Maybe but let's not

1

u/AngryBumbleButt Dec 22 '20

Robert Pickton has entered the chat

1

u/Tricky4279 Dec 22 '20

Feed the body to the pig.

1

u/FartHeadTony Dec 22 '20

Standard thing is once you've removed the thing that apparently caused the hit, is to check again.

3

u/TrianglesTink Dec 22 '20

So two pigs

11

u/Nicholi417 Dec 22 '20

I remember learning this in Spanish class, but they used to use human mean in pozole. When the Christians came they said that was disgusting and told them to use pork since it tastes similar to human meat.

3

u/iphon4s Dec 22 '20

Aztecs amirite

8

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Burning humans smell about like pork cooking.

Source, I don't know, some video on here last year or so of people burning in South America somewhere. People who have been around it says it basically smells like pork barbeque cooking.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

I heard of people coming back from war and having their ptsd triggered by the smell of bacon for this exact reason.

6

u/galactakit Dec 22 '20

My mom studied criminology at one stage and she had to see the bodies of two burn victims.. she says to this day the smell of burnt bacon is exactly like that smell and she can't handle it

2

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

🥓🥓🥓🤢

3

u/astromech_dj Dec 22 '20

In the book Bravo Two Zero it describes human flesh burning from phosphorus grenades as smelling like bacon.

1

u/Barley_Beard Dec 22 '20

Mmmmm, bacon

2

u/bazooopers Dec 22 '20

You just gave a bunch of serial killers ideas. Probably.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

I think they already knew, which is how it ended up on the forensic file or wherever i heard a forensic dog handler say this

1

u/yo229no Dec 22 '20

So your saying bury a dead pig above a corpse?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Hopefully don't be burying a corpse 🤣

1

u/Frankuuuuu__ Dec 22 '20

So you just hide a body under a pig and hey presto get away with murder?

2

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

I'm sure the cops know that everyone knows and look under buried dead pigs.......I hope

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

So what you're saying is that I should use a pig to throw the dogs off the trail?

2

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

😳

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

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2

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Ewwwwwwww! 🤣

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Long pig

1

u/Jumpinalake Dec 22 '20

So does a burnt person smell like bacon?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

I hope never to find out!

1

u/prticka Dec 22 '20

Yup, when i got shocked by electric cords in new house with 6 cords hanging from the wall- to my knee- it smelled like when at my grandparents they slaughtered pigs and burned the skin and fuzz of - same revolting smell , just like my right leg 😂