Yes, Those Are Real Human Bodies Inside This Gatlinburg Museum

Your options are many when you visit East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. Navigating every must-see adventure offered in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville seems like it would require a degree in vacation planning. Or, if you can't afford the "tuition," you simply skip some stuff until the next time.

Leave no stone unturned. Fill every nook and cranny. End each day with a "good tired." Of course, your body will still be in much better shape than those found at Gatlinburg's Bodies Human Exhibit, no matter how well preserved they are.

How Are the Bodies Preserved?

By way of an amazing preservation technique known as plastination, in which bodily fluids are replaced by hardening reactive plastics, the bodies you see at the Bodies Human Exhibit maintain extraordinary anatomical detail. The painstaking process, invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens in 1977, requires approximately 1,500 hours of preparation for each specimen. Impressive work that I would also call an impressive FEAT.

What's Inside Gatlinburg's Bodies Human Exhibit?

Okay, so you're on Gatlinburg's Airport Road, voluminous "things to do" list firmly in hand, and you see the Bodies Human Exhibit. MY first question would be, "What on Earth is in here?!" As a mortician's son, I'm already making a beeline for the door. Inside, I'm transfixed by this...

Visitors can examine the skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, digestive, and nervous systems. They can also see some eye-opening comparisons between healthy and smoke-damaged lungs, healthy and alcohol-damaged livers, and healthy and clogged arteries.

While it's all deeply fascinating from a museum standpoint, it's also richly educational. I can only imagine what an experience this would be for students studying anatomy, medicine, nursing, or other health sciences.

Where Do the Bodies Come From?

At this point, you're likely wondering where all these bodies come from. According to the exhibit's FAQ page, the specimens at Bodies Human are those of individuals who "voluntarily donated their bodies to accredited science programs for the purpose of education and research."