Facial expression after death?

Jim Land · medicine forum beginner Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 1

I'm curious about a person's facial expression after death, in the
unusual case that death occurred under circumstances of great fright or
horror.

Is the person's expression of terror frozen on the face at death? Or do
the facial muscles relax, allowing the expression to return to a
normal/neutral state?

This question has come up in discussing Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The
Crooked Man:"

"There was one thing in the case which had made the deepest impression
both upon the servants and the police. This was the contortion of the
Colonel's face. It had set, according to their account, into the most
dreadful expression of fear and horror which a human countenance is
capable of assuming. More than one person fainted at the mere sight of
him, so terrible was the effect."

Please note that this question has nothing to do with death from poison,
as the cause of death in this story was apoplexy. I will be grateful
for knowledgable information on this subject, which I've Googled but
found nothing.

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