The Victorians were fond of some weird traditions and photography, including post-mortem photography. Although photography was in its infancy and the camera was costly and slow. For a single photograph, one has to sit for few seconds to minutes. Memento mori photography was a trend that came to be in the mid-19th century, which translates to “remember you must die,” was supported by photographers being commissioned at the time by families to photograph their deceased loved ones as a way to memorialize them. Post-mortem photography was also common in the nineteenth century when “death occurred in the home and was quite an ordinary part of life. Their photographs served as keepsakes to remember the deceased. While some people believe that this is just a myth, check out this article by Edward Clint. Here Bygonely has compiled a list of creepy portraits and photographs from the Victorian era posing with the deceased bodies. Vote for your favorite one and tell us what do you think about this tradition.
#1 Mother and older sibling posing over a deceased infant.
#2 Deceased boy photographed with what was likely his favorite toy, a hoop and stick.
#3 A family portrait with two deceased babies.
#4 Deceased boy in coffin.
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The boy appears as if he had been sick for some time since his face looks very thin and drawn.
#5 Dead man in a chair with his dogs.
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8 Comments
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Honestly this is a pretty good one (well if lifelike is what the photographer was going for) if I hadn’t known the context of the picture I would just assumed a guy was lounging in a chair with his dogs on his lap.
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That’s exactly what it is, a guy sitting in a chair with his dog. Post mortem photos were never taken like this. You can’t sit a dead body up like that because it will not stay.
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Omg is this scary
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how r his eyes open
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People often have their eyes partially open after they pass
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This is nothing more than a man sitting in a chair with his dog. Post mortem photos were never taken like this. You can’t sit a body up like that and expect it to stay.
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Yes you can sit a body up or the body can even be standing up as if they posed themselves like this even in death there was mechanisms and gadgets built to help prop or stand up body. And not my opinion it’s a fact because of research done. Research it
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#6 Living husband with his dead wife
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3 Comments
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why is the husband laying there
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He wants goodbye sex?
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#7 Dead Bavarian King Louis II.
#8 Mrs. Della Powell, died 1894.
#9 There is just something about her eyes in this photo.
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5 Comments
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Her eyes were likely painted on. That was a common practice in Victorian era memorial photography as it was difficult to keep the eyes open and they felt it was more “lifelike” to simply close the eyelids and paint eyes on .
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I agree with you I believe they were painted on, it was a common practice to paint them closed
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They used to paint the eyes open onto the actual image to make them look more alive. That’s probably the case here.
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Nah. She’s alive. You can see her neck and face is drooping
#10 Edgar Allen Poe post-mortem.
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3 Comments
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When I was very young during family reunions or visits with the grandparents we frequently went to family cemeteries. There were many tombstones with pictures of the deceased.
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Not only does it have no provenance, it doesn’t even resemble him at all, and certainly his terrible suffering before he finally died did NOT cause him to look younger, change the shape of his face and head, etc. If anyone has any info about who was the initial poster of this hoax, please let me know.
#11 Deceased girl in casket.
#12 Mother and baby, probably died during childbirth
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5 Comments
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is the baby dead too?
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I sure hope so—-
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It’s crazy to realize just 100 years ago if your baby was too big to deliver …they didn’t do cesareans. How traumatic that must have been.
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Such a heartbreaking moment but there’s a beautiful feeling in this picture.
#13 Little girl held in a standing position. The photo is a cabinet card from Villisca, Iowa taken in 1890.
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2 Comments
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Why do they wear a blanket?, do they feel like the death is their fault???
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They want the child to be the focus.
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#14 The girl standing in the middle is the deceased.The photographer attempted to make her look more alive by drawing on her pupils.
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9 Comments
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It’s amazing how they could get her to stand up like that… RIP
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She is not deceased. This idea is going around the internet but it’s incorrect. There is no way to make a dead body stand upright in such a way. Probably this girl blinked her eyes at the wrong moment and so the photographer retouched her eyes in the darkroom.
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Obviously you need to do some research into Victorian death photography. They had a stand they attached to the deceased to make it appear they’re standing. You can see that it’s under her jacket by the folds in the fabric. She’s indeed dead.
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Obviously you need to do a lot more research. The stands were actually made for the living, they would help people keep still while they had there picture taken because of long exposure times. They were never meant for the deceased and were not strong enough to hold the weight of a body. This isn’t the only one on this page that’s incorrect.
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It’s amazing how they could get her to stand up like that… RIP
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She is not deceased. This idea is going around the internet but it’s incorrect. There is no way to make a dead body stand upright in such a way. Probably this girl blinked her eyes at the wrong moment and so the photographer retouched her eyes in the darkroom.
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Obviously you need to do some research into Victorian death photography. They had a stand they attached to the deceased to make it appear they’re standing. You can see that it’s under her jacket by the folds in the fabric. She’s indeed dead.
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Obviously you need to do a lot more research. The stands were actually made for the living, they would help people keep still while they had there picture taken because of long exposure times. They were never meant for the deceased and were not strong enough to hold the weight of a body. This isn’t the only one on this page that’s incorrect.
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She is not deceased. This idea is going around the internet but it’s incorrect. There is no way to make a dead body stand upright in such a way. Probably this girl blinked her eyes at the wrong moment and so the photographer retouched her eyes in the darkroom.
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They used props to hold the bodies. During this time photographs were rare. If someone died this was usually the only picture a family had of their deceased child. As photographs became more common and less expensive this practice became less common.
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The stands referenced were not designed to bare the dead weight (no pun intended) of a deceased individual. It would be like standing your deceased cat/dog on all fours. Photographs were common as far back as the 1860’s. It’s unfortunate that more weren’t passed down through familes.
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#15 It was common for family members pose with their dead loved ones for these photographs
#16 The pain in these parents’ faces as they hold their dead child is obvious.
#17 Four girls mourning a dead dog
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7 Comments
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I have read htat the two women in the back are also deceased.
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They seem dead thought…
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Yes they look like dead
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I thought that the woman seated in the chair could be deceased as it seems the woman seated closest to her has her arm around her , perhaps to hold her in place. It doesn’t look natural that she wouldn’t hold the flowers in her hand but that they were placed as part of a final detail and her very erect posture is at odds to the more relaxed postures of the other three ladies. But, they seem to have cared deeply for their dog as well.
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all dead
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Saddest one poor furbaby 😞
#18 Deceased Infant.
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2 Comments
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This photo of the baby is rather haunting.
#19 Deceased girls.
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6 Comments
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How sad.
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I thought this exact thing. Very sad to have lost two daughters at the one time.
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probably death due to scarlet fever or diptheria. Both were highly contagious diseases.
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why are they handcuffed? lol
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Those are rosary beads. Catholic tradition
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#20 The dead girl on the end is being propped up with a special device.
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8 Comments
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It’s really great to have some of the backstories to these photos, thank you to the poster!! What’s telling here is that the living persons are ever so slightly blurred, while the deceased is absolutely clear.
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The boys look like triplets; they look so much alike it’s uncanny. It’s as if it’s the same boy, made to a bit taller than the first.
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The little boy next to his sister looks sad. Bless their hearts. They probably didn’t have any choice.
#21 Little girl sitting sideways on the chair, the device propping her up is hidden.
#22 The body of William T. Anderson who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.
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3 Comments
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“Bloody Bill” Anderson; who earned his nickname for a brutal attack he perpetrated which became known as the Centralia Massacre. On September 27, 1864, roughly 80 guerrillas under the command of William T. “Bloody Bill” Anderson stopped a train outside of Centralia, Missouri and asked for a volunteer from among the Union soldiers onboard. Fully expecting to be executed, Sergeant Thomas M. Goodman bravely stepped forward. Instead of killing the sergeant, the guerrillas instead executed the line of 22 unarmed Union soldiers and set fire to the train, leaving civilian passengers to deal with their mutilated bodies. The attack became known as the Centralia Massacre; a noteworthy example of the violence directed against noncombatants that took place during the Missouri-Kansas border war.
Sergeant Goodman, the sole military survivor of the Centralia Massacre, declared that the deaths were “the most monstrous and inhuman atrocities ever perpetuated.”-
And it’s still hasn’t changed. There is no honor in man’s inhumanity to man
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#23 Unknown Boy.
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3 Comments
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That really is quite beautiful.
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Not unknown to Jesus.
#24 Post-mortem photo of Gen. Turner Ashby, a confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War.
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9 Comments
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Let me take a wild guess, he hated black people.
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Do you know anything about this guy? Or are you just assuming that because he served in the Confederate army?
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Let me guess…you’re a jackass.
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You’re the kind of informed citizen the Left counts on.
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The Articles of Secession state that the south was fighting to keep the institution of slavery. One could speculate that this man may not have hated black people, but certainly fought to keep them enslaved.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/reasons-secession-
He probably had never even seen a black person in his life. Take your politics elsewhere.
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You riled them up with that comment. LOL good job
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White Southerners do not hate black people. There were 6 reasons the Civil War was fought so freeing the slaves was only one.
#25 A rather odd post-mortem pose.
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4 Comments
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Illegals running rampant in our country
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and so are crazies like you!🤪🤪🤪
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Yeah, wasn’t this the year that your ancestors where the illegal ones???
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#26 Living man holding his dead wife.The pain in his is obvious
#27 Deceased girl.
#28 With their deceased sibling.
#29 Dead bodies used to look alive by the photographs
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2 Comments
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If you look, it appears as though a mirror was used to reflect the faces of the remaining family members instead of them all posing with the deceased girl… who may well have passed from something very contagious.
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If you look, it appears as though a mirror was used to reflect the faces of the remaining family members instead of them all posing with the deceased girl… who may well have passed from something very contagious.
#30 Dead girl with her toys.
#31 Sometimes, photographers would try to make it appear like the dead person was sleeping as in this photo.
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4 Comments
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both girls are dead. alot of the time you can tell, by their hands. they are darker almost black.
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I’ve seen this one many times. The girl on the right is her twin sister and very much alive
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Hands could just as well be tanned
#32 In this photo the subject is more in focus than her parents, as they moved while the photograph was being taken.
#33 Dead girl is is lying on the floor of the parlor surrounded by family members.
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5 Comments
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I somehow doubt this is a postmorten photo. a lot of people are smiling, and it looks like they just ate a big dinner. I seem to see a cat in one ladys lap. Much too informal!
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It is odd the respective moods of each side of the family group. I wonder what the story was behind the death of the little girl. She at least looks to be sleeping.
#34 Deceased baby whose eyes are likely painted open.
#35 A deceased woman positioned as alive
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2 Comments
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She looks like she was pregnant. Maybe she passed when trying to have the child?
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Creepy!
#36 Cabinet card of a deceased young woman in her parlor by a Rome, NY photography studio, 1890’s.
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2 Comments
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What is a cabinet card?
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It refers to the type of photography technique that was used. Cabinet cards are a dense, cardboard like substance.
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#37 The text on the frame reads, “Miss Jeanette Glackmeyer, daughter whose above photo was taken 9 days after death. Mother could not part with only daughter.”
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3 Comments
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The sideways note actualy reads: “Mother could not part with only daughter.”
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Thanks what it says?
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#38 Deceased girl, her eyes was painted before taking photograph.
#39 Cabinet card by Beniamino Facchinelli showing deceased infant, c.1890.
#40 Deceased girl.
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3 Comments
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It’s the same photo as #41
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No, it’s 43
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47
#41 Women sitting next to dead girl. These death portrait were meant to serve as mementos of the deceased loved one.
#42 A little girl sitting on someone’s lap. The person held her in place while the photo was taken.
#43 Imagine how difficult it must have been to pose with a dead loved one. Here is an example of what happens when people moved.
#44 This one is obvious.
#45 Flowers and religious statues were often used as props in post-mortem photos.
#46 Dead nun in Palermo, Sicily.
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2 Comments
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She looks like Paul Newman before he died.
#47 Deceased young woman is holding a small bible or testament.
#48 Deceased man with flowers
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4 Comments
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why does he look like Albert Einstein
#49 Sleeping Girl
#50 The Corpse of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico
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3 Comments
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Humidor?
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This is totally disrespectful in my opinion, as his face looks disfigured! This should’ve been a closed casket
#51 The dead boy was holded from behind the curtain.
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3 Comments
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why he kinda look like trump though, smh
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Yes he does!
#52 Sometimes it was impossible to make the subjects look alive as in this photo.
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5 Comments
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So sad 🥺
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She’s got some big mitts there.
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She- looks like a man.
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She sort of does, wearing a wig!
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#53 Cabinet cards were made available as photography progressed – multiple copies of the same image could be created and mailed to relatives.
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2 Comments
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Mmmmm…Krispy Kreme…
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These pictures very often were placed on tombstones in family cemeteries. I remember seeing them.
#54 Boy posing with deceased boy wearing the same cloth.
#55 A mother covers her face while holding her dead baby.
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6 Comments
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this baby looks a little blurry, like he must have moved. Not sure this is postmortem.
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Casper holding baby
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Not all “hidden mother” photos are holding deceased babies. This child is not dead. The image would be clearer if baby was deceased.
#56 Dead men positioned as alive, photographer used his arm to support the head.
#57 Difficult to tell which one is deceased.
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7 Comments
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Left
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the device is behind both
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You are right
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The girl on the left is expired…her eyes are foggy as opposed to her brother who you can clearly see his pupils. I dunno
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I think they’re both dead in this picture as it looks like propping up devices behind both of them.
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It appears as if the taller one of the two, has some type of device that is holding her up. If you look behind her shoes, there’s a shadowy device of sorts.
#58 Photographers employed a variety of tricks to make their subjects look more life-like
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Which one is alive
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they are both dead
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By now there are ill bet
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The one on the right is dead. Notice how dark her hands are compared to the sister. Blood is pooling in her hands due to no circulation.
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Both of them are alive.
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The standing one is deceased. You can see the blackening of her hands and tops of ears as well as the prop stand behind her
#59 She almost looks alive in this photograph.
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If you look closely she’s wearing fingerless gloves but her fingers are black on both hands I think they waited to take this picture a little too long
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My God!! How long has this poor woman been expired before they took these photos??!!😳
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#60 A tintype stand is used to help prevent movement.
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10 Comments
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I’d smash the one on the right.
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bro same
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SAME
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lmao
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These fashionable ladies look very much alive!!
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These poses would have been impossible with a limp, lifeless body. They were both alive.
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Bodies do not remain limp for long… rigor Mortis sets in and quickly the body of a deceased person becomes quite frigid.
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But then rigor mortis passes and they again become limp.
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And both with their eyes clearly focused in the camera.
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