Oft have I digg’d up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends’ door,
Even when their sorrows almost was forgot,
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
‘Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.’
This is the head of Porsmose Man, a skeletonized bog body found in 1946 near the town of Næstved in Denmark.
As fucked up as that arrowhead through the nasal cavity looks, that’s not even what killed him. Rather, he was killed by an arrow through the breastbone that pierced his aorta. The arrows were likely fired from above, at a close distance. Archaeologists suspect he was either surprised by his attackers or was the victim of an execution. In either case, he was thrown in a lake.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Post-mortem, unidentified young girl by George Eastman House on Flickr:
Maker: Southworth & Hawes
Title: Post-mortem, unidentified young girl
Date: ca. 1850
Medium: daguerreotype
The gaps in the wire near Anvil Wood through which the 53rd Battn. rushed the machine gun posts on Aug 31st 1918 were death traps by National Media Museum on Flickr.
Collection of National Media Museum (Frank Hurley/Australian War Records Section).
Vintage Wilbert Grave Vault Salesman Sample by Ballyhooligan on Flickr.
Elling Anderson Folkestadås, Funeral of Daniel Danielson Bjørkedal 1917. From Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane on Flickr:
The funeral of Daniel Danielson Bjørkedal. The family has gathered around the coffin. From the left: Per Danielson Åsebø (b. 1898), Knut Danielson Åsebø (b. 1896), Ane Marte Fjøshaug, Ingeborg Danielsdatter Åsebø (b. 1894), Sivert Danielson Åsebø, Margit Jonsdatter Åsebø (b. 1910), Sigurd Johson Åsebø (b. 1908), Olav Hanson Åsebø (b. 1909) and Halvdan Hanson Åsebø (b. 1910).
This is the “New Corridor” of the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, Sicily. As with the other corridors, mummies and skeletons (most of them dressed up) line the walls.
I’m not sure what makes these mummies “new,” exactly. Were they more recent additions to the catacombs?
Image source: Wikipedia.
Early 1900s Snapshot of Coffin & Casket by Ballyhooligan on Flickr.
Inscribed Skull by Ballyhooligan on Flickr.
P.S. I am really loving this guy’s Flickr.
New research is revealing new facts about the Soap Lady at Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum. You may remember saponification from my Soapman post; this is the same phenomenon. This poor girl is a bit more ghastly-looking than Soapman, but just as interesting.
It was previously thought that she was a victim of the 1792 Yellow Fever epidemic. Then, x-rays taken in the 1980s showed pins and buttons on her clothing that suggested she hadn’t died until the 1830s or later. (These particular pins and buttons weren’t manufactured in the U.S. until then.)
Now, even newer x-rays are showing that she was significantly younger at the time of her death (in her 20s) than first thought (40-ish).
Image source: John Donges on Flickr.
From Ballyhooligan on Flickr:
Post mortem cabinet card of a man in a coffin with two men standing watch overhead. Coffin is resting between two chairs. I believe this is Italian in origin. Some text is on the verso of the image, however, some silverfish damage has made most of the text illegible.
More Russian sleigh hearse from Ballyhooligan on Flickr:
Early 1920s Russian photograph of horse hauling a sleigh hearse with casket. A large group of mourners are in the background.
This is Saint Zita. She lies in the Romanesque church of San Frediano, in Lucca, Italy. She died in 1272 and is the patron saint of servants and of lost keys. From Atlas Obscura:
In 1580, her body was exhumed and found to be incorruptible, and her body was put on display in a silver casket, as is tradition, in the church where she had prayed while alive. She was finally canonized in 1696. Although her body is “incorruptible,” it is browned and wizened, most likely the result of a form of natural mummification. Only her hands and face are uncovered for viewing.
In 1988 her body was examined by Gino Fornaciari of the University of Pisa. His studies concluded that she had died of lung problems, probably associated with inhaling coal dust and smoke.
Skeletons, mummies, bog bodies, exhumations. The dead, and what happens to them.
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