Postmortem photography

[msdebagain]

i'm fascinated by this kind of thing. but i'm having trouble sleeping right now, its 1am, i'll come back to this when i'm not so tired.

[Allie]

Don't think of death babies near your feet as you snuggle in.

[A*O]

My BIL is of Hungarian descent and his grandparents had albums full of dead rellies laid out in the front parlour on a bed. They were their most precious possession and used to bring them out to show visitors at the slightest excuse.

[Allie]

Oh God.
Really? I.... have no words. I'm literally speechless right now, as I always am when typing onto a computer. I can't type and speak at the same time, you see.
Imagine if people did that now. Do you think it's against the law?

[A*O]

Actually, while it's desperately sad to see so many dead children who would probably have survived whatever killed them today, the Victorians were much less squeamish about death and while they didn't celebrate it, there wasn't this unspoken taboo around it either. It was a normal part of life which is quite a healthy attitude really.

[Allie]

But bodies after death are just hollow shells. Yuck.

[tiggle]

Some of those pictures are moving and beautiful.
But some of them are soooo creepy...
I have a serious problem with dead children I guess...
You can hardly tell who is the dead one in some of them. And in some of them the parent is actually smiling like: 'Here take a look at my dead baby, isn't he pretty??'

[smf]

those pics gave me chills ,im glad people dont do this type of stuff today , some are quite beautiful and sad but theres two w/dead adults w/eyes wide open

[sherbear905]

The fourth one down, young mother with baby, is so sad. She has so much sorrow in her eyes.

The photos are actually quite beautiful.

[january]

I find most of them to be beautiful. I think in most cases, this was the only memento to remember them by, since photography wasn't as rampant. Since we have videos and photographs of the living in most cases now, theres not as much of a need. But some of these are very beautiful - yes, some are creepy as well. I hate when they posed them with their eyes open. But most of the children and babies seem very peaceful and beautiful. You have to remember that back then, there weren't funeral homes either - most people were laid out at their houses for the wake and the like, with observers seeing the body that way. There was much more of a casual attitude towards death because it was so usual back then - I don't find anything weird about that, personally. A lot of children and babies died back then, I think it was a measure of pride to show that your children were beautiful when they were living, and to have something to remember them by. Most people now haven't experienced the death of a child, although that was common back then - it was more rare to find anyone who hadn't. So it wasn't weird.

[louiswinthorpe111]

I do think it was probably theraputic back then, especially for the dead children, like they had proof that their child actually existed and it wasn't a dream.

Now the poor kids that had to pose with their dead sibling, I feel for those kids.

[Kiwii]

I can hardly tell who's dead and who's alive in certain pictures. But some are definitly very artistic and touching.

[KrisNine]

Originally Posted by louiswinthorpe111

I do think it was probably theraputic back then, especially for the dead children, like they had proof that their child actually existed and it wasn't a dream.

Now the poor kids that had to pose with their dead sibling, I feel for those kids.

That's exactly why they did it. People didn't have access to photos the way we do today. In most cases, this is the only picture they have of their child or their loved one.

[blissfullyunaware]

I don't find it that creepy because all the bodies look pretty fresh & posed in a tasteful manner. The ones with the eyes open are a different story, who wants to look into dead eyes?

[KristiB]

I've heard of this and I think it's cool.

This woman still has her eyes open

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/axel80/280.jpg