Postmortem photography - Page 4

angelais · May 13th, 2008, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlotte

It's a smell you can never forget, that's for sure.

I remember the pathologist opening the chest cavity and jesusfuckinghell.

Yes, opening up the chest is like WTF?? That bothered me more than evening opening the skull. I could have gone to an autopsy of a child, but that would have been way too much for me. This was some gangsta thug kid who was stabbed to death.

B.C. · May 14th, 2008, 05:59 PM

My father's family in the US south always took pictures of their family members when they passed. It ended with my great grandparents though.

Corsair · May 15th, 2008, 10:07 PM

Didn't they used to make death masks too? I've seen some pictures like this before, I don't find it that odd I guess, especially if it was your baby and it was all you would ever have of them.

ManxMouse · May 15th, 2008, 10:44 PM

I skimmed thru these again and it made me sad. Most of the children, for example, looked so perfectly well-formed and healthy. I guess the creepy part is, I felt like if I stared long enough, they would open their eyes. And the families all seemed so real and present, despite the time gap. It was similar to how I felt when I had to see extreme crime scene photos a lot -- not a sense of horror or revulsion so much as a sense of sadness at the waste of life, and to come to such an end.

Charlotte · May 16th, 2008, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by angelais

Yes, opening up the chest is like WTF?? That bothered me more than evening opening the skull. I could have gone to an autopsy of a child, but that would have been way too much for me. This was some gangsta thug kid who was stabbed to death.

It's strange, you quickly develop a completely different mindset. You have to be totally objective and clinical, looking at it as you would parts of a machine, and the 'ick' factor disappears. The first one though..

, it's hard to hold on to your dinner when everyone a good few people around you are losing theirs.

Allie · May 16th, 2008, 02:29 AM

Why??? Why would you take a photo like this?!???

Charlotte · May 16th, 2008, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allie

Why??? Why would you take a photo like this?!???

Hmm, there was an old tradition of opening windows in the house after someone had died - to release the soul. I wonder if they were trying to capture an image of the soul? Perhaps reading too much into it, but the oddness of the picture suggests something like that.

stef · May 16th, 2008, 03:04 AM

^^ that picture is scaring the hell out of me.

CCkissesx · May 16th, 2008, 03:51 AM

Are all of them dead? Some look alive!

This one is very beautiful

sherbear905 · May 16th, 2008, 09:00 AM

^^I thought so too. Very precious.

sputnik · May 16th, 2008, 09:46 AM

my mum has a book of these. i think some of these are sad and haunting but i don't find them creepy at all. people just wanted to have an image of their loved one before saying goodbye forever. it was the same principle behind death masks. it's really very touching.

Allie · May 16th, 2008, 10:13 AM

It would be really scary/funny if you were looking at a very disturbing photo like that window one, and their eyes moved to look at you.
CHAH BANG-BANG!!

It, eat your heart out.
That window one is weird because the window's shut... and the kid seems to be looking out in horror at some kind of demonic panda bear sitting up in the tree which you can see thanks to the reflection.

SpookyGirl · May 16th, 2008, 11:35 AM

The one of the boy in the window freaked me out. They should have closed his eyes because he looks positively terrified, I'm guessing his death was not an easy one. I'm not squeamish about death unless it has to do with children. The pictures of the babies broke my heart. Especially the one someone already spoke of... the fourth one down of the mother holding her baby... absolutely heartbreaking. She looks so anguished.

Allie · May 16th, 2008, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sherbear905

And it all started with your initial post on this subject...

It was a Freaks & Geeks gag, my saying 'you're really sick'.

If anyone here's sick, it's me.

But the 4 pages so far make me question everybody's sanity.

viggofan · May 16th, 2008, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiggle

I found these ones very disturbing:
http://ame2.asu.edu/projects/haunted...20dead/296.jpg

http://ame2.asu.edu/projects/haunted...20dead/269.jpg

that second one really disturbed me but most I found to be very peaceful. I took felt the loss for these people.I wouldn't exactly do it myself but it seemed to be something that they did back then. I personally found them interesting to see but that is just me.

I worked in pediatrics many years ago and went to many children's funerals unfortunately. I noticed that some cultures took pictures of them in their caskets for two reasons. One... it was a part of the circle of life for the person, as you would take a picture at birth so too at death, and also some people would not be able to get to the funeral therefore they would see the person in their casket.