WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW. This article contains references to death which some people might find upsetting.
Mortuary technician Hayleigh has captured the public’s imagination by revealing the secrets of her profession, leaving many feeling uneasy with her candid insights. A mortuary technician’s role involves the preparation, dressing, and placing into coffins of the deceased, ensuring they are treated with dignity and respect throughout.
Hayleigh, who is also known as the Mort Tech on TikTok, appeared on the Tea at Four podcast to discuss the realities of what happens to our bodies post-mortem.
On the show, Hayleigh detailed her duties which include “embalming, hair and recreational on their face if they’ve had trauma injuries”. She covered a range of topics from the embalming process, designed to preserve the body and slow down decomposition, to the various challenges she encounters in her line of work.
While there were many aspects of her job hosts Lauren and Billy were shocked and had no clue about, there was one which had them absolutely gobsmacked – and that was what happens to the organs after the post-mortem process.
Hayleigh explained: “During a post-mortem examination people seem to think that your organs are put back where nature intended. They’re not. They’re all put in a clinical bag back inside your torso, and your chest cavity and your stomach/abdomen, and you’re sutured back up. So your brain’s not in your head.”
The podcast hosts were visibly shocked, and Lauren remarked: “Your brain is in your belly.” And Billy added: “Oh my God, that’s really freaked me out a little bit.” When asked why, Hayleigh explained: “Because when you start cutting and taking things out it’s not gonna go back. You’re just going to wobble. And if things start to purge out… It’s best to keep it all contained.”
And in the comment section people confirmed they had no idea this happened. “I could have lived my whole life perfectly fine not know this information,” said one person. Another commented: “This was information I did not need or want to know. Interesting but now questioning every funeral I’ve been to and if they had a post-mortem or not.”
However, someone else wrote: “Did people seriously think everything was all put back together again?”
Hayleigh previously explained that while she would never share personal duties about the deceased, she has the full support of her colleagues and manager to “educate people people on the amount of genuine care that goes into looking after people’s loved ones”.