Paradoxical undressing is a medical phenomenon during which victims of
severe hypothermia find themselves compelled to remove their clothing
due to a perceived increase in body temperature. On July 25th, 1994, an article, published in the International Journal of Legal Medicine by
Dr. Markus Rothschild and Dr. Volker Schneider, analyzed observations
made regarding 69 separate cases of lethal hypothermia recorded between
1978 and 1994. Of those cases, 17 individuals (25%) were found to be
either partially clothed or nude. Some sources suggest that this
estimation is modest at best, claiming that between 50-70% of
hypothermia cases exhibit signs of paradoxical undressing.
A number of explanations have been suggested to account for the
physiological cause of paradoxical undressing. One theory, described
by Dr. Rothschild and Dr. Schneider, argues that cold-paralysis of the
nerves within the body's blood vessels may lead to
vasodilation, allowing blood to flow back to the
extremities, which results in the illusion of body warmth as
felt by the victim. Another possibility discussed is that the body's
vasoconstriction reflex, triggered at the onset of hypothermia, may
ultimately lead to a paralysis of the vasomotor center within the
medulla oblongata, causing the body to feel far warmer than it
actually is.
Associated with paradoxical undressing is another
phenomenon found in hypothermia victims, named the "terminal burrowing
behaviour" by Dr. Rothschild and Dr. Schneider—prompted by a process
within the brain stem, the dying individual instinctively seeks out a
burrow-like niche for protection, such as beneath a bed or alongside a
shelf, obscured by objects. Within the 17 cases found to engage in
paradoxical undressing, 14 were also observed to exhibit this terminal
burrowing behaviour. The presence of both phenomena can, at times,
complicate the work of forensic scientists,
particularly in cases regarding female victims—a body stripped of
clothing, for example, might lead an investigator to approach the case
as a sexually based homicide, interpreting any skin abrasions (made as
the victim began to "burrow" against the hard ground) as signs of an
altercation, and, finally, the burrowing behaviour itself taken as an
attempt by the assailant to stash the body from clear view.
Sources
-
""Terminal burrowing behaviour" - a phenomenon of
lethal hypothermia" by M.A. Rothschild & V. Schneider (July 25th, 1994)
- Forensic pathology: principles and practice by David Dolinak, Evan W. Matshes & Emma O. Lew (2005)