History Main / InterrogatingTheDead

* {{Sinestro}} does this in ''GreenLanternFirstFlight'', reanimating a crook he executed to question him on the location of the Yellow Element.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' has the [[http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/speakwithdead.htm speak with dead]] spell. Although it actually draws information from an "imprint" left on the body rather than truly bringing them back to life.
** A clerical spell from DungeonsAndDragons 3.5 allows you to bring the spirit of a dead person back to his/her body long enough to answer 3 questions (I think it was.)
*** This has popped up in both ''{{Goblins}}'' and ''{{Nodwick}}''. It also showed up in ''CaseyAndAndy'' while they were visiting a fairly D&D-ish world, but the target turned out to have a special 'Zealot' prestige-class that enabled him to resist the post-mortem interrogation.
---->'''Zealot''': [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Bite...my...ass...]]

* This is, perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the key tricks of JohannesCabal, necromancer and detective.

* In the LordDarcy story "The Eyes Have It", magic is used to discover the last thing the murder victim saw. It's revealed to be an unreliable technique because the recovered image is not an objective representation, but is distorted by the person's emotions and preconceptions.

* ''TroubleInTerroristTown'' has interrogating the dead as a major part of its gameplay with corpses being the main way to find out who's the traitor. They provide the living innocents who died, what weapon was used to kill them, how long since they died, [[EyeRemember the last person they saw]], what their last words were, and anybody they killed.

* Certain [[VampireTheRequiem Discipline]]/[[MageTheAwakening Spell]]/[[GeistTheSinEaters Manifestation]]/what-have-you in WorldOfDarkness are designed around this trope. This is generally the domain of the Sin-Eaters, though.

** In ''The Kindly Ones'' arc, the second Corinthian references the legend. [[ImAHumantarian He knows how to]] [[EyeScream view the images]]

* In the {{Discworld}} novel ''FeetOfClay'', the city watch are able to to see a murder victim's killer by checking the reflection in his eyes.

[[folder:Manga & Anime]]
* In ''{{Baccano}}!'' [[AxCrazy Ladd]] laments the fact that he can't do this to a dead comrade.
-->[[ChewingTheScenery You poor faceless bastard!]]
* A [[ForgottenPhlebotinum one-shot device]] in the ''CowboyBebop'' episode ''Sympathy for the Devil'' played out the "eyes of the victim" variant, although the victim in this case was only ''brain''-dead.
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[[folder: {{Webcomics}}]]
* A dwarven paladin does this in {{Goblins}} Comic.

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Some instances of this are inspired by (and may refer to) an old legend that a murder victim's eyes will hold a reflection of the last thing he saw.

* ''{{Necroscope}}'': Harry Keogh can converse with murder victims due to his clairvoyance. There are also various vampiric necromancers that bind souls to corpses so they can torture the truth out of them.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' has the [[http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/speakwithdead.htm speak with dead]] spell. Although it actually draws infomation from an "imprint" left on the body rather than truly bringing them back to life.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

* Testimony obtained from spirit channelling in the AceAttorney series is specifically ''not'' admissible in court, despite many people believing in its existence.

* A dwarven paladin does this in GoblinsComic.

* Channelling in the AceAttorney series