Sometimes you look at Victorian photographs, and you get a shiver - how strange and often monstrous they are in the literal sense of the word. Pictures of dead people, made up and fixed to appear alive; depictions of physical impairments and injuries; collages with severed heads and “ghosts” shot with long exposures. Who needed these photographs and why? Let's look through the old album and try to find an explanation for the contents of its pages.

Beware, this article contains shocking illustrations.

Standing Dead

Photos of dead people are a very popular and widely circulated story. You can find many similar collections on the Internet: beautiful, well-dressed men, women and - most often - children with their eyes closed, half sitting or lying, surrounded by living relatives. It is far from always possible to guess that the central character of the composition is already in better world. Such photographs were widely distributed in Europe and America half of the 19th century century. Books of the dead really existed, there were even photographers who specialized in capturing the dead - both individually and in the circle of still living family members. Most often they photographed children and the elderly, and very rarely photographed young dead people.

In this family photo, the girl on the far left is dead.

The explanation for this tradition, common from the 1860s to the early 1910s, is extremely simple. In those days, almost no one had their own cameras; daguerreotype, and then collodion photography, were complex technologies and demanded professional approach. Almost no private photographs were taken; the photographer’s work was prestigious and required highly qualified, so it paid very well.

It's hard to believe, but both girls are dead. The supports of the stands are clearly visible behind their feet.

Going to a studio for a family photograph was expensive, and only wealthy people could afford to invite a photographer to their home. They prepared for photography in advance, did their hair, put on the best suits - this is why people in the photographs of the 19th century seem so proud and beautiful. They just posed very carefully. Remember, for example, the famous photograph of Butch Cassidy (on the right): the wanted criminals are dressed to the nines, in brand new suits and bowlers, they look like real dandies and are not shy about being photographed. Why? Yes, because the photographer received a good fee, and Cassidy, who was not devoid of pride, wanted to have beautiful photo your organization. These people robbed banks and trains in a completely different way.

So, due to the high prices for photographs and the complexity of the process, many simply did not have time to photograph during their lifetime. This was especially true for children - infant mortality in the 19th century was monstrous and at the same time completely common. Families were large, on average 2-3 out of 10 children died from diseases in the absence of antibiotics, vaccines and other modern means. Old people were also rarely photographed during their lifetime - in the days of their youth there was no photography, and in their old age they had no time for it.

As a result, people realized that they did not have family photographs only after the death of one of their loved ones. A photographer was immediately hired, the body was anointed and seated in a “living” pose. Often such photographs were the only ones in which the deceased was captured. The middle-aged dead, from 20 to 60, were photographed much less frequently because they usually had time to have their photograph taken while they were alive.

Here the dead girl's eyes are not drawn, but fixed in an open position.

Photographers made good money from this genre. There were many tricks and devices that made it possible to pass off a dead person as a living person. For example, specialized (patented!) supports to give the dead a natural pose - although more often they took a photograph where the deceased imitated a sleeping person. Spacers were inserted into the eyes, and the pupils were rotated so that the deceased “looked into the camera.” Sometimes it was completely impossible to guess that there was a dead person in the picture, except perhaps by the barely visible tripod at his feet.

Sometimes photographs of famous dead people were sold as souvenirs: for example, in 1882, after looking at the body of the murdered robber Jesse James on display for edifying purposes, one could buy a photograph of his corpse on the way out.

The genre began to decline at the beginning of the 20th century, and by the 1920s it completely disappeared. Compact personal cameras became widespread, filming became ubiquitous and cheap, and it was difficult to find a person who had never been caught in the lens. And we were left with a lot of terrible photographs as memories. However, many of them seem very elegant and interesting, until you realize that the Victorian beauties depicted in them are dead.

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Hidden Mothers

Many children did not have intravital photographs because it is difficult to sit the child upright and force him not to twitch. And the shutter speeds in those days were very long. If it was necessary to photograph a child alone, without a mother, 19th century photographers used a simple trick. The mother sat on a chair, and she was carefully draped, covering her arms, face, legs, as if she were a piece of furniture. The child was placed on the mother's lap, where he could behave decently for a while. At the same time, from the photographer’s point of view, everything looked as if there was no one in the picture except the child.

However, if you look closely, these photographs create an eerie feeling. It is noticeable that under the covers, in the darkness, a man is sitting motionless. It looks like it is about to jump out and devour the unsuspecting innocent child.

Victorian photoshop

On May 23, 1878, a young British photographer, Samuel Kay Balbirnie, from Brighton (Sussex, UK), placed an advertisement in the Brighton Daily News, which later became famous and gave rise to a whole genre of photo manipulation. It read: “Photographs of spirits: the ladies and gentlemen in the photographs will be flying in the air in the company of tables, chairs and musical instruments! Headless Photos: The ladies and gentlemen in the photos will be holding their own heads in their hands! Photos of dwarfs and giants: it's really funny!

There were plenty of photographers in Brighton, and Balbirnie, who opened a photography studio, wanted to stand out. And he invented a method of photo manipulation based on combining several negatives. In fact, this became the forerunner of modern Photoshop. Oddly enough, Balbirnie's idea was not successful. The residents of Brighton, accustomed to traditional photography, were in no hurry to be photographed headless or flying. Two years later, the photographer closed the studio and left to serve as an army doctor.

But, oddly enough, his business continued to live. The few photographs taken by Balbirnie spread not only through the private albums of clients, but also through newspapers. As a result, dozens of photographers in England and abroad mastered the simplest manipulation of negatives. Headless portraits became a popular genre of photography and remained in fashion until the 1910s.

By the way, most likely, Balbirnie was not the inventor of the technology. There is at least one known “headless photograph” taken in 1875, before the opening of the studio, by another Brighton master, William Henry Wheeler, who ran a photo studio on the High Street. But Wheeler did not advertise his “Photoshop” as openly as Balbirnie, and did not become the founder of a new direction.

Exploding Mule

The most famous headless photograph is not of a man, but of a mule. Moreover, the mule really doesn’t have a head on it! It was taken by British photographer Charles Harper Bennett on June 6, 1881, exclusively for scientific purposes.

Bennett was the son of a Surrey hatter, but in the 1870s he decided to open a business selling photographic equipment. In 1878, trying to find a way to shorten the shutter speed, he realized that the collodion process could not be accelerated and was needed radically new line-up emulsions for instantly fixing the image. By that time, another photographer, the English physician Richard Maddox, had already achieved success in this area by replacing collodion with gelatin. But he was also unable to achieve a sufficient fastening rate due to the fact that there was too much liquid in the gelatin. Bennett set out to improve Maddox's method and quickly achieved success. He managed to reduce the shutter speed from a few seconds to 1/25 of a second.

First of all, Bennett decided to show the technology to the military, and the American, not the British, and he needed a spectacular and at the same time effective experiment. He chose a unique method of demonstration: he tied dynamite to the mule’s neck, mounted the camera on a tripod, and then blew up the animal’s head in the presence of US Army Lieutenant Colonel Henry Abbott and several other military personnel from the Willets Point base (New York). He managed to take the picture at the moment when the pieces of the head were already scattered, but the body of the mule was still standing, not having time to fall. This demonstrated the speed of photography.

A description of the experiment and the results of Bennett's work were published in Scientific American. The technology was successfully implemented, Bennett received a patent and made money from his invention. But the press brought down a mountain of criticism on him for cruelty to animals. Because Bennett's father was a hatter, some newspapers played on the phrase "mad as a hatter" from Alice in Wonderland.

Treatment or torture?

The second photo has been widely circulated on the Internet. The first one shows a girl with a curved spine, the second one shows the process of straightening, the third one shows a tight bandage that keeps the spine aligned.

Another popular trend in 19th-century photography is of people who are clearly being tortured by someone. It slaps you on the back, gives you an electric shock, and squeezes your head in a vice. In fact, there is absolutely nothing scary in most of these pictures. Imagine that a person who has never seen a dentist sees a picture in which you are sitting with your mouth wide open, and some guy with scary instruments is climbing in there. He'll be horrified, won't he? So we, for the first time encountering long-forgotten and sometimes erroneous medical techniques of the 19th century, are horrified, although at that time they seemed completely normal.

For example, a photograph is widely circulated on the Internet in which a slender, half-naked woman is tied by the hands to a strange cone-shaped frame. A fully clothed middle-aged man stands nearby and appears to be looking at a woman's breasts. What is this - a Victorian BDSM club? Of course not. This photo simply illustrates the method of correcting scoliosis developed by the famous American orthopedic surgeon Lewis Sayra.

He was a true revolutionary in his field. Using a cone-shaped frame, Sayra temporarily straightened the spine crippled by scoliosis, and then tightly bandaged the patient, preventing him from bending again. After several weeks of such procedures, the spine was noticeably straightened. The photo with the girl is most famous due to the fact that its heroine is young, slender and all this looks mysterious and erotic. In fact, pictures of Seira at work are a dime a dozen. Most depict men with round bellies or, on the contrary, bony ones, with hairy, excuse me, butts sticking out of their slid down pants. Of course, truly beautiful photography has become popular.

And by the way, you haven’t yet seen other devices for correcting scoliosis, common in the 19th century.

Duchesne shows a smile. In fact, due to facial paralysis, the patient was physically unable to smile. Duchesne simply “turned on” the necessary muscles using electrical impulses.

French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne, who lived in the 19th century, studied the reaction of muscles and nerves to electrical impulses. His work subsequently formed the basis of electroneuromyography, a diagnostic test that can detect nerve damage.

Among other things, Duchesne captured the facial expressions of patients when applying impulses to one or another facial nerve. The problem was photography at that time - long exposures did not allow such a procedure. But Duchenne was lucky - he had at his disposal a middle-aged shoemaker who suffered from facial paralysis (Bell's palsy). In other words, if Duchenne used a current to produce an expression on the patient’s face, it would remain there unchanged for several minutes until the muscle “released.” This made it possible to take high-quality photographs with long exposures.

The doctor did more than 100 experiments with the shoemaker, connecting electrodes to various muscles and obtaining a variety of facial expressions. The study, accompanied by photographs, was published under the title “The Mechanism of Human Physiognomy.” Thanks to this work, Duchesne determined the purpose of a number of facial muscles and, in particular, identified the mechanism of the smile.

And in the photographs is the same shoemaker during one of the experiments.

Portrait of Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage was an American railroad worker and explosives expert. On September 13, 1848, 25-year-old Gage was preparing to blow up a rock near Cavendish while laying a section railway between the cities of Rathmond and Burlington in Vermont. He needed to drill into the right point rock hole, put it there explosive and the wick, compact it all with a tamping pin and caulk the hole with sand, releasing a section of the wick out.

At the moment when Gage raised the pin over the hole where the explosives had already been placed, he was distracted by one of the workers. Gage turned around and automatically lowered the pin. The impact caused the gunpowder to ignite and explode. The pin entered Gage's cheekbone under his left eye, penetrated his skull and exited the top of his head. So you understand: this thing was 3.2 cm in diameter, more than a meter long and weighed 6 kg. Having passed through the skull, the pin flew away, splashing blood and brains, 25 meters up and fell nearby.

But Gage somehow survived. At first he fell and twitched in convulsions, then he calmed down, came to his senses and, with the help of his colleagues, reached the hotel where the workers lived, 1.2 km from the scene of the incident. When surgeon Edward Williams arrived there half an hour later, a hastily bandaged Gage was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair.

Within 2 months, Gage returned to an active life, having apparently lost only his left eye. But his personality changed dramatically - friends and relatives claimed that “this is no longer our Phineas.” As a result of the injury, he lost 4% of his cortex and 11% of his white matter, as well as connections between different areas of his brain. Phineas Gage was studied for 12 years the best specialists. Based on this case, a number of patterns were identified for which one or another part of the brain is responsible. Two photographs of Gage were taken. On both he sits, elegantly dressed, and holds in his hands the same tamping pin that pierced his head.

Phineas Gage died in 1860 from an epileptic seizure triggered by an old injury. His skull is kept in the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard.

It's okay, just keep scrolling

This expression could not be more suitable for most old photographs in which something strange is happening. In fact, there is nothing unusual there - we are just not used to that reality, because we live in a different one. Photos of, say, the animal world sometimes seem just as strange and monstrous to us, when a female praying mantis eats a male after mating or some other abomination occurs. Every Victorian photograph, like any modern one, has a subtext, a story, an explanation, without which it is not clear what is happening in it. And when you recognize them, suddenly it becomes not scary at all. Or, on the contrary, even more uneasy. It's up to you to decide.

What to do with the belongings and photographs of a deceased relative? Is it possible to wear or use the belongings of a deceased relative? Is it possible to give a child the name of a deceased relative?

In the lives of each of us, sooner or later, losses occur - someday our grandparents pass away, then our parents and other close people. After all the unpleasant ceremonies, we are left alone with many questions: “What now to do with everything acquired by our relatives?”, “Can I keep their things in my house?”, “Can I wear their clothes, jewelry, shoes? ?.

This article will be dedicated to everyone folk signs, according to all beliefs, and also church instructions concerning the belongings of deceased loved ones.

Is it possible to sleep on the bed or sofa of a deceased relative?

• There is an expression: “It is better to sleep on the grave of a dead person than on his bed!” Perhaps there is some truth in this. If a person long time was sick, experienced crazy torment on the bed, and in the end died on it, then of course it’s better to part with such an inheritance
• People related to extrasensory perception argue that it is better to replace the bed of a deceased person. If it is not possible to buy a new bed, but you need to sleep on something, then it is better to perform a ritual of cleansing the deathbed of a loved one. To do this, you can go around the bed on all sides with a lit church candle, passing over and under it, sprinkle it with holy water and sprinkle with salt
• If the deceased person had some otherworldly abilities, then to get rid of the trace of his strong energy, it is better to invite a clergyman to the house. The church, as a rule, meets its parishioners halfway and helps them overcome their fears of the unknown
• If you turn with similar thoughts to someone more down-to-earth, such as scientists or doctors who are skeptical about this kind of activity, they are unlikely to find anything reprehensible in keeping the sofa or bed of a deceased person for themselves. Their only advice may be to disinfect furniture or reupholster it. This is especially true for those options when a person died from an infectious disease or virus

• The Church, in turn, may take a reprehensible attitude towards the desire of relatives to keep the deathbed of their loved one. It is not Christian to sleep on a bed where another person has come face to face with death.
• The psychological side of this issue is also very important. A person who has lost a loved one may not immediately be able to get rid of grief and melancholy. An object associated with this person can often remind you of him and excite sad thoughts in your head
• However, there is a category of people for whom, on the contrary, memorabilia gives only positive emotions and memories. Falling asleep on the bed of their relative, they can meet them more often in their dreams and enjoy such spiritual communication
• In other words, the choice is yours. If you are able to subjugate your feelings of fear and give up superstitions, then put the bed of your loved one in order and sleep on it to your health!

• This is perhaps the most controversial issue. We have long been accustomed to the fact that in the houses of our grandmothers, great-grandmothers and parents, numerous portraits and general photographs of their ancestors and loved ones hung on the walls. In the old days, this was not considered something dangerous or reprehensible. But today there are a lot of ideas about what photographs of the dead mean negative energy and can affect the health and fate of living people
• First of all, let's talk about a portrait of a person who has just died for a funeral procession. It should be a photo that both you and he liked. The portrait can be framed in a mourning photo frame or have a black ribbon placed on it in the lower right corner. After burial, the portrait of the deceased must remain in his house for 40 days. What to do with the portrait later is up to his loved ones to decide.
• If after this time the wound of loss is still too fresh, then it is better to remove the photograph until calmer times. If relatives have already managed to survive their loss and have coped with their nerves, then the portrait can be placed in the living room or another room other than the bedroom

Photos of deceased relatives in the house - the opinion of the church

• The Orthodox Church does not see anything wrong with photographs of deceased relatives being in the home of their relatives. We are all equal before God - both the dead and the living
• Therefore, photographs of loved ones, especially loved ones and loving ones, can only bring a bunch of pleasant memories and fill the heart with purity and love. If the loss is too severe, then at first it is better to remove the photo out of sight. But there is absolutely no need to get rid of it forever. The time will come when the appearance of the deceased begins to blur and gradually disappear from a person’s memory - that’s when his photo will come to the rescue
• It is also better to hide for a while a photograph of a deceased person with whom there is still resentment or misunderstanding. After a certain period, all negative emotions will fade into the background, and then you will be able to see your loved one with a pure heart

What to do with old photographs of deceased relatives?

• Of course, they need to be stored. Now, if we imagine that the relatives of great writers or other outstanding people would not keep their photographs, as we would imagine them to be. It’s always interesting to check the portrait drawn in your imagination famous person with the original. So in this situation, our grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other heirs will want to know what their ancestor looked like. Photography will help them with this.
• By preserving photographs of our relatives, we preserve a piece of our history, which will be important for our offspring
• But the question of whether to expose these photographs to the public and ours, including daily viewing, remains open

Is it possible to hang portraits of deceased relatives on the wall?

• Psychics claim that a photograph of the deceased can become a portal to the other world. By hanging a portrait of the deceased on the wall, we can open the door to the world of the dead. If this door is constantly open, that is, the portrait will always be in sight, living people living in the house can feel the energy of the dead
• Some relatives who have hung photographs of their deceased loved ones on the walls claim that they are constantly tormented by headaches, impotence, and various kinds of diseases. All this may be just a far-fetched theory, but it may also have some truth.
• It is especially not recommended to place portraits of the dead on the walls in the bedroom, especially among children. Being under the constant gaze of the dead, you can think of anything you want.
• Photographs taken on the day of the funeral have especially strong energy. It’s not clear why people take these kinds of pictures at all. After all, they only bear human sorrow and grief. Such photos are unlikely to bring goodness and positivity into the home. It would be better to get rid of them

According to the instructions of psychics, photographs of deceased relatives should be stored as follows:

• It is advisable to separate photographs of the dead from photographs of living people
• For photographs of the deceased, it is better to select a special photo album or photo box
• If there is no separate album, then it is better to place such photos in a black opaque bag or envelope
• If the photograph is general and there are also living people in it, then it is better to cut out the deceased from it and store it separately
• In order for the photograph to be stored longer, it is better to laminate it
• Photos of the deceased can be scanned and stored on a separate medium - disk, flash drive, website

• The clothes of a deceased person can preserve his energy, especially if they were his favorite clothes. Therefore, you can either store it or get rid of it
• The best way to get rid of a deceased person's clothes is by distributing them to those in need. The person will be grateful to you for the gift, and you can ask him to remember the deceased with a kind word and pray for him
• If a person wore clothes during an illness on the eve of death, then it is better to burn such things

What to do, how to deal with the things of the deceased?

• It is best to deal with the deceased’s belongings in the same way as with clothes - distribute them to the poor. If among his things there are things close to his heart, then they can be kept somewhere in a secret, remote place and taken out only when you want to remember your relative
• If the thing is directly related to the suffering and death of a sick person, then it is better to get rid of it by burning
• If during his lifetime a person gave instructions to his relatives regarding certain things, then it is best to deal with them in the way the deceased wanted

Is it possible to keep and wear the things of a deceased person?

• As mentioned above, it is best to get rid of such things. However, there are some things that are very difficult to part with. They can be preserved, but it is not recommended to take such clothes out of the closet for a long period of time. You can wear clothes after the deceased no earlier than 40 days after his death. Some people recommend holding off on doing this for at least a year.
  after the death of a person
• Psychics offer to clean the clothes of the deceased using the same holy water and salt. The item can simply be soaked in a water-salt solution for some time, and then washed thoroughly

• If a relative himself insists that he would like to keep a memory of the deceased in the form of one thing or another, then he should not be denied this. You just need to ask him to pray for the soul of the deceased
• If, being in full health, the deceased bequeathed his things to one of his relatives, then it is better to fulfill his will and give what was promised

Is it possible to keep the belongings of the deceased at home for relatives?

• Of course, it is possible to store the belongings of a deceased person, but is it necessary?
• It is believed that after a person’s departure to another world, his house, apartment, room needs to be cleaned complete order. The best option of course there will be new renovation. However, if this is not possible, then it is necessary to remove all the rubbish from the premises, throw away old, obsolete things, distribute suitable things to those in need, and do general cleaning with disinfection
• If the thing is as dear as a memory, then it can be hidden away from human eyes. It is best to wrap such a thing in a rag or an opaque bag and put it in the “far corner” for a while.

• The fate of the deceased’s shoes is the same as the fate of his clothes and his other belongings - it’s best to give them away, but you can also keep them as souvenirs
• There is only one rule common to everyone - under no circumstances should you wear clothes and shoes taken from a deceased person, especially one who died a violent death.

• It is believed that a person’s name has extremely strong energy. It can greatly influence the character and destiny of a person.
• By naming a child in honor of a deceased person, parents doom him to a life and destiny similar to that relative. The baby’s karma will be heavily imprinted by his predecessor, because the trace of his stay in this world remains too obvious while his loved ones remember and mourn him.
• However, it is also believed that if a deceased relative lived a happy life, interesting life, then naming the baby after him, the parents deliberately wish him the same fate

• The pectoral cross is a powerful source of spiritual strength and human karma
• According to Christian customs, it is customary to bury a person together with his cross.
• If for some reason the pectoral cross did not end up in the coffin with its owner, then it can be stored in the house in a separate box or bag
• If the owner of the cross was bad person, died of suicide or violent death, then it is better to say goodbye to such a cross - give it to the church, the needy, or melt it down for something else

• If a person has lived a decent life, then you can ask church representatives whether his relatives are allowed to wear his pectoral cross. Perhaps the clergyman will offer to perform a cleansing ritual over the cross
• You can also soak the cross yourself at home in holy water for several days, or even months.

• A watch is a rather personal item that can retain the imprint of its owner for a long period of time.
• If the deceased person lived happy life and was with his relatives in good relations, then nothing will come of wearing his watch
• If the deceased led an unworthy life and was at enmity with his loved ones, then it is better to get rid of his watch
• In any case, when you put a watch on your hand, you will feel whether you want to wear it or not

Is it possible to wear jewelry from deceased relatives?

• Precious metals and stones have very good memory. They are able to remember their first owner for years and even decades
• If relatives received the jewelry from a benevolent deceased person, then there should be no harm from wearing it. Some stones, such as opal, very quickly adapt to new energy and forget their former owner
• If the deceased was engaged in witchcraft or other magic with the help of this decoration, then it’s better to get rid of it altogether. It is advisable only for those heirs to whom the deceased passed on his secrets and knowledge to continue the work of his relative, that is, to connect himself with the world of magic.

What to do with the gold of a deceased relative, is it possible to wear it?

As for gold, it can be compared to jewelry.

• Icons are considered heirlooms - in the old days, when there was a fire, the icons were taken out of the house first
• It is best to take the icon of a deceased relative and place it next to your icons

• The dishes of a deceased relative, again, are best distributed to those in need.
• If the deceased’s archive contains family silver or sets, then they can be washed, cleaned and continued to be kept.

• The telephone is a relatively new thing in our lives, so neither the church nor our grandparents have a clear opinion on this matter.
• If the phone is expensive, then you can continue to use it
• If the device is already quite outdated, then again you can do a good deed and give the phone to the poor - let them pray for the deceased once again
• If the phone was in the pocket of the deceased at the time of suicide or violent death, then it is better not to keep such a thing.

What to do with the things of a deceased person: Video

The Internet is full of fake news and fake photos - that's just the way it is, the online world. Here they like to take pictures out of context and write absolute nonsense about them. This is especially obvious in the case of old photographs of post-mortems - a completely common tradition in Victorian times of taking memorial photographs of deceased people, especially children. However, not all old photographs in which people look strange and motionless are truly postmortem.

Quite often, a photo of these plump twins pops up as an example of a post-mortem photograph, because the babies are sitting motionless in front of a rather strange and ominous draped thing. This thing is their mother. At that time, a technique called the “invisible mother” was used to photograph restless children: to keep the child in front of the camera for a long time, the mother, covered with a blanket, sat behind him.

Conclusion: there are living children in this photo.

In the photo we see two identically dressed twins, one of whom seems to have fallen asleep, and the second is hugging him. It is clear that there was no need for a guy of that age to be photographed sleeping and in such an awkward position - unless he was actually dead.

It doesn't look like a post-mortem photograph, and here's why. Firstly, the clothes the child’s father is wearing do not correspond to mourning clothes. Secondly, on the table behind there is a mug with a baby spoon, and the child is wearing a bib - it is unlikely that a dead baby needs it. And thirdly, the child’s hand grabbed the fabric of the clothing. As for the fact that the parents in this photograph do not look cheerful, people at that time in photographs generally rarely smiled, it was not accepted.

Conclusion: the child simply ate and fell asleep.

A young man sits on a chair, his head is slightly tilted to the side and, it seems, is specially tied with a scarf to keep it in the desired position. The eyes look empty and dead, but this effect could also be due to the flash. However, the position of the head and general posture suggest that this is a photograph of a deceased person.

Conclusion: a real post-mortem photograph.

The boy in this photo is certainly alive, but his pet most likely is not. In the Victorian era, dogs were the most popular pets and beloved family members. And when a dog died, some owners took a post-mortem photograph of it as a souvenir. Why is an animal worse than a human?

Conclusion: this is a post-mortem photograph of a beloved dog.

Is this girl dead? Nothing of the kind. Pictured is Alexandra Kitchin (Axie), who was often photographed by none other than Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson) had many girl friends whom he photographed in different poses and even naked. This sounds horrific to us, but for people of the Victorian era it was not something scary and was perceived as an art form, and not as sexual promiscuity. Little Exie grew up, got married and had six children.

Conclusion: No little girls were harmed in the taking of this photo.

Well, who would believe that the Victorians were so frostbitten as to dress up a rotting corpse and take pictures next to it? And most importantly, even if it were a real photograph, who needs one as a keepsake? Of course, this is, as they say, a “naked fake.”

Conclusion: this is not a post-mortem photograph, but someone’s cruel joke.

Sunken eyes, pale face, calm and cold beauty, white lilies next to the body, taffeta drapery and shoulders decorated with faux fur... Stop. The Victorians didn't have fake fur. This is a contemporary photographic work called "Bridget" from the Deviant Art website, and it looks haunting and dark.

Conclusion: a modern tribute to the art of post-mortem photography.

We see two beautiful girls. One is looking intently into the lens, and the second is sleeping peacefully. She is obviously dead. This is evidenced by the book placed under her back to hold the girl in the desired position, and her arms neatly folded on her chest. And this is mainly indicated by the sadness in the eyes of her living sister.

Conclusion: This is a real post-mortem photograph.

This is a cute photo, the plot of which is clear without words. The Victorians loved gothic and everything supernatural, and they also loved to make fun, including with photographs. What we see here is a fake, but a fake of its time. Everything here is real, except for someone else’s “severed” head.

Conclusion: for the Victorians, death was also a reason for jokes.

They say about this photograph that either the mother is dead (this is not true, the mother is holding the child so that she sits quietly), or a girl in a checkered dress - because her eyes supposedly look strange. The strangeness is easily explained by the impact of a bright flash - in those days it was much brighter than today, and literally blinded. And light blue eyes, for example, didn’t come out very well in the photographs. And retouchers often corrected defects with their eyes covered or blinded by the flash, and because of this, the photo could also not look entirely natural. Why is the mother's face painted over? Well, perhaps someone didn’t like her and didn’t want to see her in the photo... but this, of course, is speculation.

Conclusion: all people were alive and healthy at the time of the photo.

The Victorians widely used flowers as symbols for one reason or another, and flowers next to the deceased are, of course, a symbol. It is safe to say that the girl is dead, since she is lying in bed fully dressed and someone’s caring hands gave her the pose of a peacefully sleeping person. This is a solemn and touching photograph of a beloved child who left his loved ones too early.

Conclusion: This is a real post-mortem photograph.

Here we see five children, four of whom are very similar in appearance, and the fifth - the smallest - looks quite funny. By the way, it’s not a fact that this is a girl: in those days, both little girls and little girls were dressed up in dresses and had their curls grown out. Why they stand so straight and keep their hands at their sides is understandable: the adults told them to behave quietly so as not to spoil the photo. Well, the baby (baby?) overdid it a little...

Conclusion: a children's group photo in which everyone is alive.

The young men in the photo look motionless and stern, and many believe that the guy on the chair is a dead man, and his gloomy friends are standing nearby. But that's not true. The young man sits on the chair so motionless and unnaturally because he clearly follows the photographer’s instructions not to move and look at one point. The trio is clearly tired of posing, which is why they look so unhappy and tense. Well, smiling in Victorian photographs was not accepted, as we already mentioned above.

Conclusion: this is not a post-mortem photograph.

Another clear example photographs with the “invisible mother”. The mother, covered with a blanket, holds the baby so that it can be photographed. A dead child does not need to be held, he is already motionless. And this kid is clearly confused by what is happening and looks into the lens with disbelief.

Conclusion: this is a living child and everything is fine with him. And my mother is nearby, although for some reason she put a blanket on herself

It has long been customary to see numerous portraits of deceased ancestors in the homes of grandmothers and older relatives. It was not considered objectionable or dangerous. However, now any step associated with death carries many interpretations, often opposing ones. Therefore, opinions on whether it is possible to keep photos of recently deceased people in the house vary. And which one to choose and which one to ignore, each person decides for himself.

Photo for funeral

For the funeral procession, you need to choose a photo that both the deceased and his relatives liked. This portrait can be framed and taken home after the funeral, where it will remain until the end of 40 days after death. After this, the portrait can be removed, given to relatives or placed in the room of the deceased.

Bureaux that assist in organizing funerals often offer photo lamination services special coating, which will protect it from rapid fading, damage by wind and due to excess moisture. Such a portrait can be placed on the cross as a temporary one until the monument is erected.

Photos of the deceased at home - different points of view

• Opinions of clergy

Christian priests consider any superstition a sin, and insist that a photograph of the deceased cannot be dangerous and bring harm to the living. If this was a loved and revered person, you want to keep a reminder of him not only in photo albums, but also to see him constantly. Portrait collages or photos of ancestors make you more often remember deceased relatives and pray for the repose of their souls, so they can be placed on walls, in photo albums or chests of drawers without fear.

• Psychologists' opinions

Some people experience the death of loved ones so hard that any reminder of this leads to even greater suffering. Often this condition is accompanied by depression, and disappears only after sufficient time. Psychologists recommend removing photos until the moment when a person comes to terms with the loss and begins to slowly come back to life. After this, the portrait of the deceased can be returned to its place;

• Healers' opinions

From the point of view of extrasensory perception, a photo of the deceased is a kind of portal to another world, therefore portraits, especially of those who died a violent death or committed suicide, are undesirable in the house. Photos taken directly at the funeral are also not welcome. They are not stored, and, if possible, burned.

Photo storage rules

When stored in paper form, the photo is placed in a box or any other archive, protected from sunlight, moisture and dust. However, all portrait photographs, even when coated with a laminating compound, fade and lose clarity over time. In order not to lose this visual memory of a loved one, they recommend scanning photographs and transferring them to modern media such as flash cards, hard drive, including removable.