If You Think Things Are Weird Today, Just Remember, We Don't Take Pictures of Our Dead Family Members Pretending Their Alive (25 Pics)

This is post-mortem Victorian Era photography. Most of these come from England in the 1880s-1900, but some existed in the US and other parts of Europe. Families would often take a picture shortly after death of a loved one, propping them up in a lifelike pose. In this picture, the girl standing is the one dead, having her body held up by a specific device used solely for these pictures. You can see the stand by her feet.

Some pictures are more obvious as to who is deceased.

This is a cleared picture of the device that holds them up. If you notice closely, there is some kind of stand at the feet of this person. It is a wooden stand, with clamps for the torso and head to hold the body in place. Eyelids, hands, and other body parts are either glued, sewn, or positioned to give off the illusion the person is alive.

The stand was very popular, and from first glance, the person appears alive and well as this was a common pose for the time period. Most pictures of this time had people often standing, not smiling, and staring off away from the camera.

If a family wished to have a child propped up, a smaller more basic device would be used. Still, the torso and head are firmly held in place by clamps while the other body parts are glued, sewn, or maneuvered together. This picture is a really good illusion giving off the impression the child is alive, but the device holding him up is clearly visible.

This would be done for anyone of any age during this time. And sometimes, these pictures would be the only existing picture of the individual. Some families would not spend the money to photograph a loved one until they were dead, knowing they would never get another chance otherwise.

Most of the time the families would take the picture the day after death. Makeup would be applied if needed, knowing how to manipulate the camera. Certain photographers would even advertise their specialty skill of post-mortem portraits.

This is an advertisement for one of the devices. This shows how the device would hold a persons head in place while sitting, letting the photographer work with the hands and other parts to give off the lifelike appearance. There are many examples of these post-mortem pictures, with some being a little gruesome due to decay or how the person died. I find this stuff really weird but fascinating at the same time. The practice died out in the early part of the 1900s for the most part as pictures became more common and affordable.