She's Dead: Post Mortem Photography

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/dd/04/8e/dd048e57d382036dcea040e35fcbefd8.jpg


I'm always looking for interesting writing material, and Post Mortem Portraits are pretty cool. They were the rage around 1900. I notice that people seemed to accept death better then than now.

 

[MichaelinChina]

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/dd/04/8e/dd048e57d382036dcea040e35fcbefd8.jpg


I'm always looking for interesting writing material, and Post Mortem Portraits are pretty cool. They were the rage around 1900. I notice that people seemed to accept death better then than now.

an amazing photo too! I never imagined that would be practiced. Is it still done today?
It's like the death masks.
And it would be making the most of the mortician's skills in making the deceased look 'good'.

an erotic story involving dead people? or the taking of the photos?
ummm that's a little weird don't you think?
What's going to be your angle?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

an amazing photo too! I never imagined that would be practiced. Is it still done today?
It's like the death masks.
And it would be making the most of the mortician's skills in making the deceased look 'good'.

an erotic story involving dead people? or the taking of the photos?
ummm that's a little weird don't you think?
What's going to be your angle?

erotic horror. A variation on vampires. She remains available for particular activities so long as he supplies her with donors. Something along those lines. He explains her to his friends as catatonic schizophrenic.

Yes, people still take post mortem portraits, tho the quality and themes are much better now.

 

[Gunnlaug]

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/dd/04/8e/dd048e57d382036dcea040e35fcbefd8.jpg


I'm always looking for interesting writing material, and Post Mortem Portraits are pretty cool. They were the rage around 1900. I notice that people seemed to accept death better then than now.

I guess it was because it was much more common. Life was a lot shorter and death was an everyday fact. These days we expect to live forever (and I'm going to until I'm proved wrong!). Back then death was accepted.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I guess it was because it was much more common. Life was a lot shorter and death was an everyday fact. These days we expect to live forever (and I'm going to until I'm proved wrong!). Back then death was accepted.

In 1900 most people were dead by 50, and infant mortality was high..

 

[Gunnlaug]

In 1900 most people were dead by 50, and infant mortality was high..

In London we used to have a railway line that ran from Waterloo station out past the (then) suburbs to the new boneyards that were set aside to cope with the increase in population and their inevitable demise. There were special trains that took the 'guests of honour' and their families out on a day trip to plant them. Could be an interesting setting for a story...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

In London we used to have a railway line that ran from Waterloo station out past the (then) suburbs to the new boneyards that were set aside to cope with the increase in population and their inevitable demise. There were special trains that took the 'guests of honour' and their families out on a day trip to plant them. Could be an interesting setting for a story...

Sure could. Gives me ideas.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs38/i/2008/339/a/9/Vintage_woman_0021_by_MementoMori_stock.jpg

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://th00.deviantart.net/fs70/200H/i/2010/226/9/4/Post_Mortem_Beauty_by_MinLynn.jpg


The awful make-up application seems to be common.

 

[Gunnlaug]

Sure could. Gives me ideas.

This is only Wikipedia, but it might help;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Necropolis_Railway

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

This is only Wikipedia, but it might help;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Necropolis_Railway

Thank you

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Ooops

 

[ishtat]

Sydney has a Mortuary (Regent Street) Station built in 1869 to transport bodies and mourners to the new Rookwood cemetery about 16 km away.

The Mortuary station re-furbished in 1985 is immediately next to Central Station which was not built until 1906. Oddly the Central station was built on the former Brickfield hill cemetery . They dug up the bones and reburied them at Rookwood.

Details and pictures here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regent_Street_railway_station

 

[oggbashan]

In London we used to have a railway line that ran from Waterloo station out past the (then) suburbs to the new boneyards that were set aside to cope with the increase in population and their inevitable demise. There were special trains that took the 'guests of honour' and their families out on a day trip to plant them. Could be an interesting setting for a story...

You could have a First, Second or Third Class ticket on the Necropolis Railway.

An unused third class ticket was recently sold on eBay UK.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Gonna make a zombie story of it.

 

[Gunnlaug]

You could have a First, Second or Third Class ticket on the Necropolis Railway.

An unused third class ticket was recently sold on eBay UK.

Yep. And you could upgrade later as the ticket also bought the cemetery plot. Third class couldn't put up permanent memorial.

 

[MichaelinChina]

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs38/i/2008/339/a/9/Vintage_woman_0021_by_MementoMori_stock.jpg

so what? she's dead? and somehow she's propped up and made to look alive?

It's a bit like Madame Tussaud's...

Here's a thought...why not take her to a taxidermists? And get her stuffed like Fluffy the Cat?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

R.D.Laing was a Brit psychiatrist who studied Haitian zombies, and dreamed up schemes to explain them. He didn't think they were supernatural, but helped along with drugs and brain-washing. So I cooked up a plot along those lines.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

so what? she's dead? and somehow she's propped up and made to look alive?

It's a bit like Madame Tussaud's...

Here's a thought...why not take her to a taxidermists? And get her stuffed like Fluffy the Cat?

They used metal stands with swivel arms to pose corpses, and refrigeration to retard decay. Refrigeration was invented in 1844 or so by Gorrie. I saw one gal, dead 9 days, who looked well preserved. Another was coming apart after a day or two of warm temps.

 

[slyc_willie]

Ones like the following are chilling, but there's also a strange sort of comfort. Victorian death portraits were the "cutting edge" way of remembering someone, especially children. In many cases, it was the only photographic record of the child ever taken.

 

[Bramblethorn]

In London we used to have a railway line that ran from Waterloo station out past the (then) suburbs to the new boneyards that were set aside to cope with the increase in population and their inevitable demise. There were special trains that took the 'guests of honour' and their families out on a day trip to plant them. Could be an interesting setting for a story...

I've read a horror(ish) novel that used that line as a setting.

I think one of the reasons PM photos used to be so common is that it might well be the only photo you got of your loved one. These days, even when somebody dies young and suddenly, you're likely to have dozens of snaps to remember them by. (edit: I see slyc_willie already made that point)

 

[sheablue]

This is completely fascinating! I've seen death photos, but mostly of the departed reclined somewhere, not posed upright like this, seemingly alive.

It's chilling and heartbreaking and amazing!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

This is completely fascinating! I've seen death photos, but mostly of the departed reclined somewhere, not posed upright like this, seemingly alive.

It's chilling and heartbreaking and amazing!

Gotta catch them fresh.