This quote from Allakhazam (
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/npc.html?id=5608) would seem to contradict my memory:
... but it seems highly suspect. Nothing in EverQuest corpse camped you for hours!
What seems far more likely is either A) the guy was bound nearby, and came back to find the goos hadn't despawned yet (within a reasonable time of a few minutes), but then they exaggerated it to "an hour", or B) there was some kind of legit Verant bug in the despawning code.
As the following comment puts it:
Meanwhile, I have a strong memory of racing to get back to a goo before its mini-goos despawned (because the mini-goos had all the good drops). I think this probably happened multiple times: I'd beat the main goo, but not have enough hp/mana to take the small goos, and have to gate/die.
On live I was NOT pots-bound, and as a Shaman I tended to bind near where I was soloing. If it actually took an hour to despawn, even if I was bound in Kael or something, there's no way I'd have to rush to try and get back before they despawned.