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Death, in Victorian England, was a grand and complicated business. There were many social rules in the classes who could afford it about mourning clothes, degrees of morning, and the length of time for which different mourning colours were to be worn.
There was also a common custom, which seems distinctly odd today, of having photographs taken of the dead – sometimes on their own, sometimes in posed family groups, but all post-mortem photos.
In some cases, especially with children, there might well have been no other photographs for the family to keep. Photographs were expensive, and complicated to take and arrange, and therefore most people didn’t have them done frequently.
But in other cases, it was part of a morbid fascination with death – the kind of behaviour that saw Queen Victoria go into black widow’s clothes for 4 decades, from the time of her husband Prince Albert’s death in 1860 until she died herself in 1901. Thus the photographs showing a young mother’s children draped over her grave or tombstone, for example.
Some of these dead photos featured the person lying down, as if asleep. In others, the person was propped up, and even had his eyes painted in after the photo was taken. In these cases, the only way you can be sure which person is definitely dead is by noting that the face is very clear – the long exposures needed meant that living people tended to blur, slightly.
There were similar photographs taken in other countries, of course- but the examples below are English ones.
Dead child with siblings in attendance.
Note the slight blur on the standing children owing to the long exposure
Dead man photographed in Sheffield, Yorkshire
Mother, father, three living children, two dead children
Death is not a popular topic of discussion for most humans, but it’s an event that we must prepare for nonetheless. And even those that are comfortable talking about death usually don’t spend much time thinking about what happens to the body tissue and excretions — skin, hair, nails, blood, bone, fat, tears, urine, feces and sweat, after the heart stops beating.
Currently, there are only two options for deciding what to do with a deceased body: traditional casket burial or cremation. One option requires the use of known carcinogens for embalming while the other releases toxic metals and harmful greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
But some believe there are more natural ways to pass from this world to the next.
Forward-thinking researchers have joined forces on the Infinity Project, an attempt to cultivate certain fungi, dubbed the Infinity Mushroom, that will be trained to decompose human flesh and remediate the industrial toxins in dead bodies.
“Cultivation of the Infinity Mushroom is a type of decompiculture — the cultivation of decomposing organisms, a concept developed by entomologist Timothy Myles. The cultivation process promotes acceptance of and a personal engagement with death and decomposition.”
Currently, there are only two options for deciding what to do with a deceased body: traditional casket burial or cremation. One option requires the use of known carcinogens for embalming while the other releases toxic metals and harmful greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
But some believe there are more natural ways to pass from this world to the next.
Forward-thinking researchers have joined forces on the Infinity Project, an attempt to cultivate certain fungi, dubbed the Infinity Mushroom, that will be trained to decompose human flesh and remediate the industrial toxins in dead bodies.
“Cultivation of the Infinity Mushroom is a type of decompiculture — the cultivation of decomposing organisms, a concept developed by entomologist Timothy Myles. The cultivation process promotes acceptance of and a personal engagement with death and decomposition.”
Ultimately, the project’s founder, Jae Rhim Lee, hopes to create a burial kit complete with burial suits embedded with decomposition activators, and a membership society devoted to the promotion of death awareness and acceptance and the practice of decompiculture (the cultivation of decomposing organisms).
From the Infinity Project website:
The first prototype of the Infinity Burial Suit is a body suit embroidered with thread infused with mushroom spores. The embroidery pattern resembles the dendritic growth of mushroom mycelium. The Suit is accompanied by an Alternative Embalming Fluid, a liquid spore slurry, and Decompiculture Makeup, a two-part makeup consisting of a mixture of dry mineral makeup and dried mushroom spores and a separate liquid culture medium. Combining the two parts and applying them to the body activates the mushroom spores to develop and grow.
Everyday we hear about toxins introduced to our bodies via food, water, air fresheners, household cleaners and more. It’s important to remember that these toxins don’t go away just because the body stops living. Providing sustainable solutions in death, as well as life, ensures that we continue caring for our planet after passing on.
Via Care2
Nothing is more sure than death and taxes. Even the rich and famous have to cross the great divide into the realm of the unknown. This link takes you to a site containing biographies and photos of stars who have passed over including Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, Evelyn Ankers, Yvette Vickers, Allison Hayes and many more.
Visit Filmdom's Bone Orchard.
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