Ominous Pictures Show Blood Leaking Out Of Louisiana Funeral Home

Some rather gruesome photos out of Louisiana last week revealed a river of blood leaking out from behind a funeral home. The pictures, sent by a viewer to local news outlet WBRZ-TV, showed the blood seeping from behind the Greenoaks Funeral Home in Baton Rouge.

The red liquid shown in the pictures was blood mixed with formaldehyde, a city official told WBRZ. The apparent leak from an embalming tank behind the building lasted for about 20 minutes before the funeral home’s owner got it under control.

“As soon as we noticed it, we were able to immediately stop the leak, clean and disinfect the area,” the funeral home said in a statement, according to The Advocate. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused visitors to our cemetery.”

The leak likely did not pose a danger to the public because chemicals like formaldehyde inactivate pathogens, public relations manager for the National Funeral Directors Association Jessica Koth told The Advocate. Such a leak is, however, “very unusual,” Koth noted.

City officials also confirmed that since the leak was on private property, it would not have run into the city sewer system.

“We sent out both our sewer inspector and our environmental specialists to take a look,” Adam Smith, with the City of Baton Rouge Department of Environmental Services, told WBRZ. “We determined that it wasn’t a sewer issue and that it was an issue on private property.”

Greenoaks, however, did not have an adequate permit as it was recently came under new management, Smith said.

“We’ve been really concentrating on restaurants lately, so we haven’t been looking into the funeral homes,” he said. “But we’re going to go ahead and get them signed up for a permit tomorrow.”