Suitably creepy for Halloween, but in reality very sad to see so many children and realize that the family members are doing this as a way to say good-bye. (inclided some of the photos below)
www.viralnova.com/post-mortem-victorian-photographs/ The Victorian Era was a pretty morbid time in human history. One of the most unsettling traditions of the era was the practice of post-mortem photography. That is, photographing the dead. By today's standards, this is would be pretty taboo, but that the time it was seen as quite normal.
That doesn't mean that seeing those pictures now makes them any less creepy, in fact it probably makes them even more creepy. Here are 21 of the most unsettling examples of Victorian post-mortem photography we could find.
i can never see these and not think of The Others with nicole kidman
I don't know if that one is necessarily a wedding photo. To me it looks like her First Communion dress or something like that. She's holding rosery beads.
I don't feel like these photographs are being treated as compassionately and reverently as they deserve to be.
I'll leave that alone and not make a big deal about it. But I think there is a tendency today to imagine that because childhood death was so common "back then", people must have been somehow different that they tolerated it. I don't think they were different. I think their pain was exactly like any mother or father or sibling's pain today. There were just more people who were unfortunate enough to experience that. So, looking at these pictures just makes me so sad for these and many other families. I can't get into the "creepy" side of it.
Yeah, the website is definitely going for shock value. But it's interesting to see that photography was so different/rare, and how back then it was used as a way to cope with the grief and remember; and now it's almost irreverent or disrespectful to photograph a dead body.
And there's definitely pain in the eyes when family members are posing with their loved ones. The only really creepy one is where the photographer penciled the eyes in.
i can never see these and not think of The Others with nicole kidman
I don't know if that one is necessarily a wedding photo. To me it looks like her First Communion dress or something like that. She's holding rosery beads.
And look at her right hand. Definitely not the normal way a person would lay a hand if they were posed that way.
These photos are so sad. You can clearly see the pain on the loved one's faces.
Post by karinothing on Oct 30, 2014 10:40:08 GMT -5
So sad, I can't imagine. I don't think they are creepy. I just, sometime like this makes me so glad I live in the modern world with vaccinations and better medical care. All those kids
I don't know if that one is necessarily a wedding photo. To me it looks like her First Communion dress or something like that. She's holding rosery beads.
And look at her right hand. Definitely not the normal way a person would lay a hand if they were posed that way.
These photos are so sad. You can clearly see the pain on the loved one's faces.
That photo with the child sitting between the two parents brought tears to my eyes. I can't even imagine....
These are unspeakably sad. The expressions on the surviving siblings faces crushes me. My grandfather was born in 1909 and lost two siblings in childhood. He spoke of them often his entire life. He never fully recovered from the loss.
The idea that we can snap photos so readily reflects on the treasured aspect of these. Also, the sadness in how they may have wanted to capture one alive, and then it was too late.
In many of the photos, it's difficult for me to tell they're dead. It's the light and the color, and just the "flat" quality of the old photos. But I imagine that when the parents looked at these, all they saw was how pale or wasted their child was when he or she died.
These are unspeakably sad. The expressions on the surviving siblings faces crushes me. My grandfather was born in 1909 and lost two siblings in childhood. He spoke of them often his entire life. He never fully recovered from the loss.
My great grandfather was born in 1889. He died in 1979, so my dad remembers him well (always had dessert after Friday night dinner at his grandparents' house - along with over a dozen aunts and uncles and about 3 dozen cousins). Anyway, I think a lot of our family members didn't know/realize until one of my dad's cousins did a genealogy project that my great grandfather was one of 9 siblings, and only 7 made it to adulthood. His oldest sister died when she was 10 or 11, and he a brother who died when he was a year and a half old. And I think they died about 10 months apart, too.
These are unspeakably sad. The expressions on the surviving siblings faces crushes me. My grandfather was born in 1909 and lost two siblings in childhood. He spoke of them often his entire life. He never fully recovered from the loss.
My great grandfather was born in 1889. He died in 1979, so my dad remembers him well (always had dessert after Friday night dinner at his grandparents' house - along with over a dozen aunts and uncles and about 3 dozen cousins). Anyway, I think a lot of our family members didn't know/realize until one of my dad's cousins did a genealogy project that my great grandfather was one of 9 siblings, and only 7 made it to adulthood. His oldest sister died when she was 10 or 11, and he a brother who died when he was a year and a half old. And I think they died about 10 months apart, too.
its terrible to think of how common place it was just a few generations back.
These are unspeakably sad. The expressions on the surviving siblings faces crushes me. My grandfather was born in 1909 and lost two siblings in childhood. He spoke of them often his entire life. He never fully recovered from the loss.
My grandmother lost her only brother to scarlet fever back in the 1930's (had 2 sisters). When my brother and I got sick with it in the 1980's, she was absolutely terrified even though the medical technology meant it was no longer a major threat to us.
So sad, I can't imagine. I don't think they are creepy. I just, sometime like this makes me so glad I live in the modern world with vaccinations and better medical care. All those kids
You do kind of want to shove this under the face of someone like Megan Heimer (who spreads misinformation and damages public health). I mean, how many of those children died of diphtheria or pertussis or HIB. Or some other disease that people lived in abject terror of. Fuck you. Get your vaccinations.
I just wrote a paper for my history of medicine class about the history of x-rays in pediatrics. X-rays were discovered in 1895 and within like 30 seconds, they were being used all over the goddamn place for every conceivable reason. No one knew they could be dangerous. And I wanted to sort of give those people the benefit of the doubt for their optimism and overuse of something they didn't fully understand. So I started looking for accurate statistics about child and infant mortality rates at the turn of the century. They're hard to come by because the process of reporting and record keeping was inconsistent (particularly in rural areas), but a recent meta-analysis of data reported across the US around 1900 shows that just under 1/5 (18%) of children died by the age of 5. 1/3 of African American children died by the age of 5.
Have you seen the Cinemax show "The Knick?" It's a fantastic drama about a turn-of-the-century NYC hospital. It features some really interesting old medical practices. The last few episodes I saw, for example, features some of these portraits and this frenzy over the x-ray craze wherein everyone and their brother who had money got a ton of them taken for fun. The hospital director, for example, wanted an x-ray of his head. "OK- stand in front of this uranium for an hour." Someone else is getting a syphilitic nose flap. It's a great show and tackles race, social class, and gender in straightfoward ways. I'm actually seriously thinking about structuring a class around it.
Post by sweetpea508 on Oct 30, 2014 13:17:26 GMT -5
I actually have a post-mortem pic of my great (great?) grandparents. They died of consumption or flux within 2 days of each other. They are side by side in the pic and were buried together in an extra wide coffin. Pretty creepy
So sad, I can't imagine. I don't think they are creepy. I just, sometime like this makes me so glad I live in the modern world with vaccinations and better medical care. All those kids
You do kind of want to shove this under the face of someone like Megan Heimer (who spreads misinformation and damages public health). I mean, how many of those children died of diphtheria or pertussis or HIB. Or some other disease that people lived in abject terror of. Fuck you. Get your vaccinations.
I just wrote a paper for my history of medicine class about the history of x-rays in pediatrics. X-rays were discovered in 1895 and within like 30 seconds, they were being used all over the goddamn place for every conceivable reason. No one knew they could be dangerous. And I wanted to sort of give those people the benefit of the doubt for their optimism and overuse of something they didn't fully understand. So I started looking for accurate statistics about child and infant mortality rates at the turn of the century. They're hard to come by because the process of reporting and record keeping was inconsistent (particularly in rural areas), but a recent meta-analysis of data reported across the US around 1900 shows that just under 1/5 (18%) of children died by the age of 5. 1/3 of African American children died by the age of 5.
Did you watch The Knick on Cinemax? Really interesting show and hits a lot of the medical developments of the Victorian era. There was an episode where one of the characters uses the X ray machine and you just want to cringe at what he was exposing himself to.
You do kind of want to shove this under the face of someone like Megan Heimer (who spreads misinformation and damages public health). I mean, how many of those children died of diphtheria or pertussis or HIB. Or some other disease that people lived in abject terror of. Fuck you. Get your vaccinations.
I just wrote a paper for my history of medicine class about the history of x-rays in pediatrics. X-rays were discovered in 1895 and within like 30 seconds, they were being used all over the goddamn place for every conceivable reason. No one knew they could be dangerous. And I wanted to sort of give those people the benefit of the doubt for their optimism and overuse of something they didn't fully understand. So I started looking for accurate statistics about child and infant mortality rates at the turn of the century. They're hard to come by because the process of reporting and record keeping was inconsistent (particularly in rural areas), but a recent meta-analysis of data reported across the US around 1900 shows that just under 1/5 (18%) of children died by the age of 5. 1/3 of African American children died by the age of 5.
Did you watch The Knick on Cinemax? Really interesting show and hits a lot of the medical developments of the Victorian era. There was an episode where one of the characters uses the X ray machine and you just want to cringe at what he was exposing himself to.
I actually have a post-mortem pic of my great (great?) grandparents. They died of consumption or flux within 2 days of each other. They are side by side in the pic and were buried together in an extra wide coffin. Pretty creepy
I've seen pictures like those and they are creepy!
People still do this today--some parents of stillborn babies take pictures of the deceased children because that is the only picture they have:(
Can I share an anecdote? I friend of mine lost her full term twin babies years ago. They sent out an email announcement with wording about their "angel babies" and photos of the girls, alone and with family members. This was long before I was on the bump and had no idea what an "angel baby" was. I thought it was maybe a religious thing...? Anyway, I almost shot off a CONGRATS email when I realized the babies looked...not right. DH and I finally puzzled out what the email was saying.
People still do this today--some parents of stillborn babies take pictures of the deceased children because that is the only picture they have:(
Can I share an anecdote? I friend of mine lost her full term twin babies years ago. They sent out an email announcement with wording about their "angel babies" and photos of the girls, alone and with family members. This was long before I was on the bump and had no idea what an "angel baby" was. I thought it was maybe a religious thing...? Anyway, I almost shot off a CONGRATS email when I realized the babies looked...not right. DH and I finally puzzled out what the email was saying.
That is so awkward. I understand the desire to share your babies' photos with everyone, but I would think being too indirect about what happened to the babies would end up causing more pain (by well meaning people who didn't understand it sending congrats emails, for example).
People still do this today--some parents of stillborn babies take pictures of the deceased children because that is the only picture they have:(
Can I share an anecdote? I friend of mine lost her full term twin babies years ago. They sent out an email announcement with wording about their "angel babies" and photos of the girls, alone and with family members. This was long before I was on the bump and had no idea what an "angel baby" was. I thought it was maybe a religious thing...? Anyway, I almost shot off a CONGRATS email when I realized the babies looked...not right. DH and I finally puzzled out what the email was saying.
Holy shit, those poor parents I just can't begin to imagine their pain. What an email to send/receive
That is so awkward. I understand the desire to share your babies' photos with everyone, but I would think being too indirect about what happened to the babies would end up causing more pain (by well meaning people who didn't understand it sending congrats emails, for example).
i just place these in the same realm as bpics - there is probably only one other person that cares to see them as much as the woman and they should probably stay private.
I agree. But who am I to judge how a parent chooses to mourn their babies? Whatever helps them. But, yeah. Clearer wording would have been appreciated.
Also, I read somewhere that they often did post-mortem photography for children, because in a lot of cases it was the only photograph the family had of them.
I just popped in to say this. Photography was SO expensive that most families couldn't afford it.
I've found these types of photos interesting for many years. If you just google mourning photos or even post-mortem-victorian-photographs you'll pull up a lot. Some are fake but most are not. I went through thousands of photos when my grandfather died, sorting and splitting them up and came across several of these pictures. My one great and and uncle had one daughter, still born and premature at about 5 months. There were pictures of her and other relatives.
Victorian mourning jewelry is also very interesting. Google it, search it on ebay. Woven hair from the deceased. Pictures where everything in it have meaning - broken columns, doves, the types of flowers and trees.
Post by penguingrrl on Oct 30, 2014 14:54:47 GMT -5
These photos are so sad. Those poor parents.
My undergraduate senior thesis explored parent-child relations in Early Modern England through personal diaries and I was able to show that the prevailing theory of emotional distance due to the high rate of child mortality was not true at all and that there was plenty of evidence throughout the diaries that children who were lost were grieved, missed and mentioned years later in diaries. That project was part uplifting (knowing that the parents did in fact love their children despite rhetoric to the contrary) and also very sad.