hiii! I was lurking on your page and saw you answer a bunch of questions so now I have one that’s been bugging me 😭 do you think Undertaker uses formaldehyde on the bodies he takes care of? (Sorry if its a dumb one)
Hi anon 👋👋 No, don’t worry at all, this is a completely valid question, I actually wondered the exact same thing, myself, awhile back. I wasn’t a mortician back in the 1880s (lol, HMMM WHO WOULDA THOUGHT), but I can confidently tell you that Undertaker is not using formaldehyde on his "patients." - I’ll mostly focus on the Bizarre Dolls here, since that’s what we’ve seen him deal with the most recently.
Formaldehyde, at least as we know it today in mortuary science, wasn’t introduced into the field until 1893 by the German scientist Ferdinand Blum. (I had to double-check that one to make sure I had the right name and date.) Undertaker’s methods for creating his infamous Bizarre Dolls are entirely supernatural rather than… chemical.
If we set the cinematic records aside for a moment, he primarily uses blood transfusions to keep the physical vessels functioning and appearing human ('least when it comes to his more advanced ones.) That is worlds apart from what formaldehyde actually does to a deceased body. The dolls are not chemically preserved, which is why it’s repeatedly noted that they carry a putrid, repulsive stench. I’m pretty sure even Sebastian comments on how soft their flesh is.
If Undertaker were heavily using formaldehyde as a tissue-hardening fixative, they likely wouldn’t smell nearly as rotten, nor would they feel as soft as they do. The entire purpose of formaldehyde is to slow visible decomposition and help the deceased appear "fresh" for viewing. It’s essentially there to prevent rapid breakdown in front of grieving families. That said, formaldehyde does not stop decomposition forever (it’s more of a temporary pause button than a permanent preservation method.)
To simplify the science a bit (not tryna give you a whole class here): formaldehyde works by linking proteins together inside the tissues. This locks everything in place, firms the tissue, prevents the body’s own enzymes from breaking it down and kills much of the bacteria responsible for putrefaction.
And trust me, the chemical itself is EXTREMELY pungent. We absolutely do not "rawdog" that stuff into the deceased without protection. It’s handled in specialized preparation rooms with proper ventilation and safety equipment. What’s interesting, though, is that people working around it regularly become desensitized to the smell over time. It’s similar to someone working on a farm... eventually they stop noticing the surrounding odor because they’re constantly exposed to it.
So realistically, if UT were using formaldehyde on his dolls, passersby probably wouldn’t be hit with a strong rotting-corpse smell. Instead, the bodies would likely have that very distinct "cold" and waxy scent embalmed bodies tend to have up close, sometimes with faint lavender or almond-like notes depending on the products used and what's surrounding them. (Yes, I know that sounds oddly specific, but that’s genuinely how many families describe it during viewings.)
So overall, the fact that the Bizarre Dolls are described as soft, actively decaying and foul-smelling strongly suggests they are not being chemically preserved in the way modern embalming works. Their "preservation" is supernatural maintenance, not mortuary science.
If Yana ever went that route and had him using formaldehyde (despite the historical mismatch) the smell is very strong at first but fades significantly once embalming is complete. So if the dolls are later described as no longer reeking, welpp ya gonna know the pungent fluid just made it’s grand entrance.
Hopefully that answered what you were wondering about. C:
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