Nor is it a freezer. Sorry, but I’ve seen or read this a few too many times and it’s starting to bug me.

When a body is stored in a morgue, it is placed in a cooler that is approximately 34 degrees F. It is NOT frozen. (Think about how hard it would be to perform an autopsy on a frozen slab of meat!) This means that the body will still decompose, albeit more slowly. A “fresh” body that is left in a cooler for 4-5 days will definitely display the beginnings of decomposition, with “marbling” on the abdomen and the very beginnings of bloat or skin slippage.

So, if you have a story/novel/script that has a body stored for months, and one day someone decides to pull the body out to take a look at it, just know that after a couple of months the body will be goo.

(In fact, a body will still decompose even if in a freezer–just at a far far slower rate. This is why food storage guidelines tell you to not keep food indefinitely in your freezer.)