'Never trust a rooster' Forensic pathologist on the worst ways to die

The Australian 'Doctor Death' has given the lowdown on the worst ways to die after forging a decades-long career dealing with the macabre and morbid.

Forensic pathologist Roger Byard has investigated hundreds of deaths from those committed at the hands of serial killers to deadly dealings with roosters and other animals.

"I've been collecting animal deaths. Dogs, snakes, sharks, roosters, mackerel," Roger admitted during a recent episode of the I Catch Killers podcast, hosted by former detective chief inspector Gary Jubelin.

"Wrong place, wrong time," the pathologist added when detailing how a man fishing in Australia's Northern Territory died after a 25-kilogram mackerel breached the water and crashed into him, killing him on impact, in Darwin Harbour.

On the show, Byard, who holds the George Richard Marks Chair of Pathology at the University of Adelaide, also shared one of his earliest cases, which lives on in Australian infamy, known as the 'bodies in barrels' killings.

This spree gripped Down Under during the 90s. "I didn't realise that when the head of Major Crime calls you, it's pretty serious," Roger explained.

These murders took place in Snowtown, South Australia, and were committed by ringleader John Justin Bunting, along with Robert Joe Wagner, and James Spyridon Vlassakis, as a sadistic form of warped vigilantism which included torturing and killing suspected paedophiles, with little to no evidence, as well as targeting members of the LGBTQ community and victims based on their weight.

"That was my first week on call, actually," Roger said, "there were eight bodies partially dismembered in the barrels," which he and his team had to examine after a colleague discovered "there are feet poking about" inside of one.

Doctor Death's tales get even stranger than this, though, as he went on to recount how an old lady met her demise at the hands of her own roosters, which Roger describes as being "nasty creatures".

"A little old lady out the back collecting eggs... (the rooster) went for her and she had varicose veins, and it pecked her leg (causing her to die)."

Varicose veins are a medical condition in which veins become swollen and twisted and can bleed significantly if cut.

Roger continues: "I've had a number of deaths of people with varicose veins who have just had minor trauma. There was a cat scratch (that killed the victim).

"This is the reason I publish this stuff, it's not because it's bizarre and weird. It's to let people know that if you've got varicose veins and you get a small hole, lie down and put your finger over it and elevate it... you'll survive.

"But you never trust a rooster."

Despite finding brief comedic relief throughout the interview, Roger underlined the emotional toll the job of being a forensic pathologist can have on someone.

"Nobody talks about PTSD with forensic pathologists," he said. "We see incinerated bodies, dismembered bodies, children starved to death. Then we have to describe it all in detail in court-sometimes while getting our credibility torn apart.

"When I first started, I thought I was gonna find the causes of all these deaths - I was gung-ho. And then as I got further and further into my career, I realised that, no, I'm not going to find answers all the time.

"And I'm going to have to sit down with families and say 'I have no idea'. All I can say to them is 'It was nothing that you did'. And also, a lot of the time they just want to meet the person that looked after their baby between the time when they saw the baby last, and when they saw their baby at the funeral home."