History Main / FurnaceBodyDisposal

You've got a dead body, and just calling the police and telling them the facts won't cut it because you either killed them and it wasn't self-defense, or you killed them in self-defense but trying to explain it is just going to get you deeper in trouble. Or a friend for similar reasons has a dead body and needs your help getting rid of it. Life insurance or a sweet inheritance may be involved. However it happened, it's there and DisposingOfABody is called for. CrammingTheCoffin isn't an option and you don't have a CleanupCrew in your list of contacts. There's no HollywoodAcid or [[FedToPigs pigs]] on hand, and a VikingFuneral would draw too much attention.

* In ''VideoGame/EvilGenius2'', the bodies of dead agents are disposed of in incinerators so that they don't lower the morale of the minions.

* ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'': Ernie disposes of the remains of a zombie via the retort at the morgue he works at. This backfires, since the fumes spread the Trioxin into the clouds, resulting in a rain that causes more zombies to rise. [[spoiler:Frank uses the same furnace to kill himself after realizing his infection is almost complete.]]

As mentioned above, this is definitely one of the DisposingOfABody tropes. Sister trope to MurderByCremation, whereas this trope deals with disposing of the body, not using the furnace itself as the instrument of murder. Also see FieryCoverup, where fires are set in order to destroy evidence. Compare SmokestackDrop where the plunge into the furnace is more accidenntal.

As mentioned above, this is definitely one of the DisposingOfABody tropes. Sister trope to MurderByCremation, whereas this trope deals with disposing of the body, not using the furnace itself as the instrument of murder. Also see FieryCoverup, where fires are set in order to destroy evidence.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Anton Zilwicki in the short story ''From the Highlands'' in the titular anthology "Changer of Worlds" does this. First, he hacks into his apartment building's garbage disintegrator logs to make sure that the kidnappers who took his daughter didn't just... dispose of her. Then, he disables the logs (and attached alarms) because he knows he'll be needing to use the system for this very purpose shortly...

You've got a dead body, and just calling the police and telling them the facts won't cut it because you either killed them and it wasn't self-defense, or you killed them in self-defense but trying to explain it is just going to get you deeper in trouble. Or a friend for similar reasons has a dead body and needs your help getting rid of it. Life insurance or a sweet inheritance may be involved. However it happened, it's there and DisposingOfABody is called for. CrammingTheCoffin isn't an option and you don't have a CleanupCrew in your list of contacts. There's no HollywoodAcid on hand and a VikingFuneral would draw too much attention.

* ''Literature/GideonTheNinth'': Soon after two participants in the Lyctor trials [[DwindlingParty are murdered]], the survivors find more human cremains in an incinerator. Being {{Necromancer}}s, they can easily tell that the ashes are of two people who died before the trials began -- apparently impossibly, since the participants are [[ClosedCircle completely isolated]].

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Anton Zilwicki in the short story ''From the Highlands'' in the titular anthology "Changer of Worlds" does this. First, he hacks into his apartment building's garbage disintegrator logs to make sure the the kidnappers who took his daughter didn't just... dispose of her. Then, he disables the logs (and attached alarms) because he knows he'll be needing to use the system for this very purpose shortly...
* ''Literature/NativeSon'': Bigger Thomas is not the smartest apple in the bunch (given that he's had no education), unfortunately, he's also black and living in 1930s Chicago. When he's hired as a chauffeur by a wealthy family, their daughter, Mary Dalton, and her boyfriend decide to have some fun, including buying a bottle of rum and make out in the backseat of the car, with Bigger driving them around Washington Park. When they're finished, Mary is passed out drunk, and Bigger has to carry her up to her bedroom. Mrs. Dalton, her blind mother, comes into the room. In the darkness, afraid that he's a man who's black carrying an unconscious white woman, he tries to keep Mary Dalton from speaking, accidentally suffocating her with a pillow. Thinking of a plan, he forms an excuse to tell everyone, because Mary was set to leave on a trip in the morning. He then takes Mary's body and stuffs it in the mansion's furnace, and starts the coal burning. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, in trying to keep the evidence hidden much later in the story, he chokes the flame with many witnesses present, and they find some of her uncremated bones sitting in the ashes, forcing him to flee somewhere in the city.]]

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' has the episode [[Recap/ColumboS10E12 "Ashes to Ashes"]]. It portray this trope realistically thanks to the murderer, Eric Prince being the owner of the major funeral home with a cremation oven that is naturally designed to turn bodies into ashes. After Prince's former lover Verity Chandler shows up at his morgue to boast about exposing him on television for [[RobbingTheDead pilfering valuables from bodies]] to fund his operations, she is bludgeoned in the head as she tries to leave with nobody witnessing the deed. Chandler's body is stored away to be cremated later in the episode.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': "Moseley Lane" has this, but there is also definite overlap with MurderByCremation. The child abductors are shown to want to kill their most recent, troublesome victim by putting her in their furnace (while still alive). However, they are also shown to place all their victims' bodies, regardless of how they died, in the furnace and spread their ashes on their garden.
* ''Series/IZombie'': In one episode a [[HumanTrafficking Coyote]] has been taking people's money, killing them, and then disposing of the bodies in a furnace.

* ''Series/{{Slasher}}'': [[SerialKiller The Druid]] from season three uses the apartment buildings furnace to dispose of their victims bodies. Deconstructed, as it ends up proving to be their undoing. Their regular use means the buildings heating systems are still on in the middle of summer, tipping off the protagonists somethings wrong, and the fact that burning corpses has such a distinctive smell causes Saadia to realise what's happening. In the end [[spoiler: one half of the Druid is pushed into the furnace and [[DeathByIrony killed by one of their would be victims]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' level "Whittleton Creek", 47 is able to use the furnace under [[SerialKiller Helen West]]'s house to get rid of target, whether dead [[MurderByCremation or alive]].

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: ComicBooks]]

[[folder: FanWorks]]

[[folder: Film - Live Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[/folder]]

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' has the episode [[Recap/ColumboS10E12 "Ashes to Ashes"]]. It portray this trope realistically thanks to the murderer, Eric Prince being the owner of the major funeral home with a cremation oven that is naturally designed to turn bodies into ashes. After Prince's former lover Verity Chandler shows up at his morgue to boast about exposing him on television for [[pilfering valuables from bodies RobbingTheDead]] to fund his operations, she is bludgeoned in the head as she tries to leave with nobody witnessing the deed. Chandler's body is stored away to be cremated later in the episode.

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' has the episode "[[Recap/ColumboS10E12 Ashes to Ashes"]]. It portray this trope realistically thanks to the murderer, Eric Prince being the owner of the major funeral home with a cremation oven that is designed to turn bodies into ashes. After Prince's former lover shows up at his morgue to boast about exposing him on television for [[pilfering valuables from bodies RobbingTheDead]] to fund his operations, she is bludgeoned in the head as she tries to leave with nobody witnessing the deed, and stored away to be cremated later in the episode.

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' has the episode "[[Recap/ColumboS10E12 Ashes to Ashes". It portray this trope realistically thanks to the murderer, Eric Prince being the owner of the major funeral home with a cremation oven that is designed to turn bodies into ashes. After Prince's former lover shows up at his morgue to boast about exposing him on television for [[pilfering valuables from bodies RobbingTheDead]] to fund his operations, she is bludgeoned in the head as she tries to leave with nobody witnessing the deed, and stored away to be cremated later in the episode.

* ''Series/Columbo'' has the episode "[[Recap/ColumboS10E12 Ashes to Ashes". It portray this trope realistically thanks to the murderer, Eric Prince being the owner of the major funeral home with a cremation oven that is designed to turn bodies into ashes. After Prince's former lover shows up at his morgue to boast about exposing him on television for [[pilfering valuables from bodies RobbingTheDead]] to fund his operations, she is bludgeoned in the head as she tries to leave with nobody witnessing the deed, and stored away to be cremated later in the episode.

* A story in ''Manga/AstroBoy'' involves Astro spotting a man apparently disposing of a body in a furnace. It turns out to be less sinister than it first appears, as the body is actually the remains of an experimental humanoid robot.

* ''Literature/NativeSon'': Bigger Thomas is not the smartest apple in the bunch (given that he's had no education), unfortunately, he's also black and living in 1930's Chicago. When he's hired as a chauffeur by a wealthy family, their daughter, Mary Dalton, and her boyfriend decide to have some fun, including buying a bottle of rum and make out in the backseat of the car, with Bigger driving them around Washington Park. When they're finished, Mary is passed out drunk, and Bigger has to carry her up to her bedroom. Mrs. Dalton, her blind mother, comes into the room. In the darkness, afraid that he's a man who's black carrying an unconscious white woman, he tries to keep Mary Dalton from speaking, accidentally suffocating her with a pillow. Thinking of a plan, he forms an excuse to tell everyone, because Mary was set to leave on a trip in the morning. He then takes Mary's body and stuffs it in the mansion's furnace, and starts the coal burning. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, in trying to keep the evidence hidden much later in the story, he chokes the flame with many witnesses present, and they find some of her uncremated bones sitting in the ashes, forcing him to flee somewhere in the city.]]

* A variation appears in ''[[Literature/TheCatWhoSeries The Cat Who Saw Red]]''. Qwill's ex-girlfriend Joy disappears, and her artist husband figures she ran off with the check Qwill gave her (which, admittedly, was so she ''could'' run off). [[spoiler:It's ultimately discovered that the husband poisoned Joy, then put her body in the kiln where he fired his works of clay.]]

* ''Series/{{Vera}}'': In "Bad to the Bone", after killing DC Harry Fenton, the killer attempts to dispose of his body by sneaking it into a local abattoir's incinerator, whose owner was known for CuttingCorners. However, a power outage leads to the workers discovering it before the body is reduced to ash. As such, whilst most of it was severely damaged beyond recognition, Fenton's internal organs and fingerprints were still intact, allowing them to get a quick identification.

* A variation appears in ''Literature/TheCatWhoSawRed''. Qwill's ex-girlfriend Joy disappears, and her artist husband figures she ran off with the check Qwill gave her (which, admittedly, was so she ''could'' run off). [[spoiler:It's ultimately discovered that the husband poisoned Joy, then put her body in the kiln where he fired his works of clay.]]

Given how often this happens in fiction, you would be forgiven for thinking that practically every large building has a massive coal-burning furnace in the basement. In the past, this was the case and this trope was not as improbable. Unlikely, but not improbable. In RealLife, there's several problems with this. Most large buildings, particularly in developed countries, use natural gas for heating. While there is a furnace, it is not nearly as big as a coal burning furnace. There is also no convenient door large enough for a body to be stuffed inside. Burning a body until it's reduced to ash requires 1400 to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit for up to two hours. A modern gas furnace designed for heating a building isn't going to reach these temperatures. In addition, it's not going to run continuously except ''maybe'' during the coldest of winter months. Once the building reaches whatever temperature the thermostat is set at, the furnace will shut down and not start up again until the building temperature drops low enough for it to come on automatically. This cycle will drastically increase the amount of time needed to reduce the body to ash.

* ''Horrifically'' displayed in ''Film/SchindlersList'': Oskar Schindler is talking with a Nazi officer near the Buchenwald furnaces. The officer offers to drive Schindler to his destination, but first must sweep three or more inches of ashes off his vehicle. The ashes are a by-product of incinerating hundred of bodies all day, every day under Hitler's "Final Solution."

* ComicBook/SpiderMan disposed of the body of the first clone of Peter Parker (created by the Jackal) by dumping it down a smokestack into an industrial incinerator.

* In a Golden Age Batman story, a businessman is killing his rivals and using the furnace in his factory to get rid of the bodies. Batman quickly learns the truth and confronts him one night. Batman even tells him that he knows he's disposing of a body right now. When the businessman asks how he could know that, Batman points out that it's late at night, the factory is shut down...but the furnace in the basement is roaring.

* ''Literature/NativeSon'': Bigger Thomas is not the smartest apple in the bunch (given that he's had no education), unfortunately, he's also black and living in 1930's Chicago. When he's hired as a chauffeur by a wealthy family, their daughter, Mary Dalton, and her boyfriend decide to have some fun, including buying a bottle of rum and make out in the backseat of the car, with Bigger driving them around Washington Park. When they're finished, Mary is passed out drunk, and Bigger has to carry her up to her bedroom. Mrs. Dalton, her blind mother, comes into the room. In the darkness, afraid that he's a man who's black carrying an unconscious white woman, he tries to keep Mary Dalton from speaking, accidentally suffocating her with a pillow. Thinking of a plan, he forms an excuse to tell everyone, because Mary was set to leave on a trip in the morning. He then takes Mary's body and stuffs it in the mansion's furance, and starts the coal burning. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, in trying to keep the evidence hidden much later in the story, he chokes the flame with many witnesses present, and they find some of her uncremated bones sitting in the ashes, forcing him to flee somewhere in the city.]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* The aptly named ''{{Series/Bones}}'' episode
"The Intern In The Incinerator" has this, just like the title says. An intern at the lab was killed and ended up discovered in the lab's incinerator.

* ''Series/{{Vera}}'': In "Bad To the Bone" following killing DC Harry Fenton, the killer attempts to dispose of his body by sneaking it into a local Abattoir's incinerator, who's owner was known to CutCorners. However, a power outage leads to the workers discovering it before the body is reduced to ash. As such whilst most of it was severely damaged beyond recognition, Fenton's internal organs and fingerprints were still intact, allowing them to get a quick identification.
* ''Series/WireInTheBlood'': In the book (''The Wire In The Blood'') it's mentioned that after torturing, raping, and killing his victims, Jacko Vance put their bodies and anything else that linked them to him in the hospital furnace where he volunteered.

* VideoGame/YandereSimulator: One of the main ways to dispose of the bodies of your victims is to toss them in the trash incinerator behind the school. This comes with the added benefit of being much less messy than the alternative methods of body disposal, and the incinerator can also dispose of any other evidence you need to destroy.

[[folder: Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Niels}}'' uses his waste disposal business's garbage incinerator to dispose of the bodies from his "other business." And then sells the ash as discount fertilizer.