The Death Rattle

I continue to unbelieve.

I was ruminating on the death rattle tonight so I decided to do some research. Ended up at a website called LISTVERSE

They had a list titled "Top 10 Occurrences Before and After Death."

Not just occurrences, not just 10 occurrences, not things that happen, but top 10 occurrences.

The death rattle was number 10, which is how I ended up there.

The death rattle is a sound that people often make just before they die. It occurs after loss of the cough reflex and after loss of the ability to swallow. Apparently it is quite a chilling sound, especially given the circumstances.

We then move on to the remaining 9 of the top 10 death related occurrences.

#9 - Cheynes- Stokes respiration. An abnormal breathing pattern characterized by rapid breathing and then no breathing at all.

#8 - Defecation. I am not even going to address this.

#7 - Rigor Mortis. Self explanatory.

#6 - Livor Mortis. The purple-red coloration that appears when blood sinks to the dependent portions of the body.

#5 - Algor Mortis. The "death chill." The reduction in body temperature that occurs following death.

#4 - Tache Noir. Literally meaning the "black spot." A dark, reddish brown strip that will form horizontally across the eyeball.

#3 - Purge Fluid. A putrid, reddish brown fluid with a very foul smell that can emerge from the oral and the nasal passages.

#2 - Degloving. The actual removing of the body's skin post mortem. As explained in this website, degloving is an appropriate term because you can actually remove the skin of the hands like you would remove a glove from your own hand.

#1 - Maceration. Means "to soften by soaking." The description of this process is so disturbing that I will not repeat it here. It is nothing I can't handle but if I described it in these pages my blog would probably be taken down.

Here's my point. I trolled the web in search of information regarding the death rattle. I ended up at LISTVERSE.

Besides the above list they advertise: "10 Bizarre Snapshots From The World of Scientology." "10 Joyous Weddings That Ended Tragically." "10 Widely Hated Language Mistakes That Aren't Mistakes At All." "10 Real Scientific Experiments So Adorable You Will Cry Tears of Joy." "10 Meaningful Literary Moments That Were Lost in Translation." "10 Mishaps That Nearly Ended a President's Life." "10 Unexpected Scientific Reasons Why Old People Are Awesome."

I cannot grasp where we humans are headed. I cannot grasp how the web is used. I cannot grasp how and why we use a tool as powerful as the internet in the way that we do.

I can grasp the death rattle.