Scary shit - 19th century photographs of the dead people (Post-mortem photography)

not scary...very bizzare

it scares the shit outta me

Nah, what's really scary is it'd be illegal today and probably get you 10 years in prison if you took a photo of yourself sitting with gramma after she passed away.

Are you serious? Is that really a law ?

so many kids... sad

Made me feel so sad....So many little ones...

So sad....

Met a lady while shopping one day,got chatting,she invited me round for a cuppa (lived few streets away from me)
Went to visit her few days later, chatting away, she then said she'd lost a baby to SID's and said she'd show me some photos of her.
Shocked but out of respect (I wanted to run) I sat there while she went and got photo album (beautifully decorated)
and started showing me the photos of her dead baby(was a few months old,didn't wake-up one morning)
The pure love emanating from the mum and the photos of the beautiful,peaceful baby overwhelmed me.
I felt honored that she shared her most private,personal moments with me.
It is something I'll never forget as it made me think about death and dying,I had to get real.

Why is it taboo? why do we fear it? What is it?

I learned so much from her and am so grateful to her.

I think it is a nice keep sake for those who had no photos of their loved ones.

Good story. It is creepy though, I woulda wanted to run too. I'm sure you helped her vent through some of her pain.

what made you searh for that creepy baws?

So sad, all of the children. Thank God and Science for modern medicine. Without it, my son could die from an asthma attack

A very strange photography practice indeed but not scary . Just reflects the extremes some attempted to preserve the memories of their loved ones . Intense grief can make one temporarily crazy .

There's a website called (I think), Thanatos Archive. It's creepy, but back then people only had photos for special occasions, and without the death photos they'd have nothing. Many, many children's photos on that site. Kids died of so many things back then, it was commonplace (but sad).

Believe it or not... there's still a demand. Since I started painting portraits a few years ago, I'd say 60-70% of my clients ask me to paint someone (or a pet) that has passed away.

My most effective slogan so far: "I paint dead people."

This practice might be interpreted in this day and age by the courts as "Abuse of the dead." Social customs change with the times...

The dead don't scare me

it is some of the living that are scary

The euphemism for this genre of photography was called; "Sleeping beauties".

shame for all them children ... so sad

Being from the south, it use to be common to take pictures at the funeral home of deseased in the casket. Also my aunt had a lock of my grandmother's hair after she passed, placed in a locket.

In the south many families still take pics of dead people in the caskets... I don't get it and would never think to do such a thing. The explanation I get is ... We've always done it or doesn't everyone?

I bet its a throw back from these kind of staged photos.

Creepy and pointless...

It's not a law, but his point was that some kneejerk politician would see a picture of Jr and his dead grandma, and would make a law against it for shit and giggles. I hate our society of laws sometimes because of stupid stuff like this.

Didn't know that. Sad really. There was one I saw of a mother holding her dead daughter. The child looked to be about five. Mother and daughter were wearing matching (very homemade looking), dresses. The look on the mother's face was heartbreaking.

Do they complain about having to sit still for so long while you paint ?

Life and values far different back then. Death was much closer to them. We with our Internet and flat screen HD televisions think it won't come to us. Child mortality was staggering compared to now. In any case, death will come to us all, and then we will know what goes on after.

I would rather hold them in my memory of running and playing. No pictures of just a shell of the body

lol ... visit this dark continent - some tribes digup grandma after 1 year in grave - have a party with the corpse, rewrap and rebury. With more and more immigration into the west this type of 'ritual' is going to happen sooner or later in the civilised world - its going to be amusing how the law deals with these savage customs.

Pointless to you but obviously not to them. Ass!

I see nothing wrong with it. They didn't have video or digital cameras to take pics while their loved ones were alive. Most people didn't have alot of photos because they were very expensive. There are alot of sites that have these phots and info about it and how people used to treat their dead themselves with love and care and it was alot more personal than a cold mortuary taking charge and tossing them around like a sack of meat.