The Morthouse

Thanks to Order of the Good Death on FB for tipping me off to the existence of this picture.

pukomuko:

Willie M. (“Wimp”) Stokes Jr. lies dead in his Cadillac car casket,1984. (via T.A. CRIME COLLECTION: “Willie ‘Wimp’ in His Cadillac Car Casket” (1962) « THESE AMERICANS | T.A.)

Yuck it up, guys.

A man laying in a coffin with a paper skeleton at the anti-superstition party. William C. Shrout, Chicago, 1940. Source: LIFE Photo Archive, hosted by Google.

hellomeetdeath:

death loves balloons 

moshita:

animated skeleton

a creative universe

New post over on Morbid Anatomy excerpting Sir James George Frazer’s discussion of the hand of glory in The Golden Bough:

If a candle made of the fat of a malefactor who had also died on the gallows was lighted and placed in the Hand of Glory as in a candlestick, it rendered motionless all persons to whom it was presented; they could not stir a finger any more than if they were dead. Sometimes the dead man’s hand is itself the candle, or rather bunch of candles, all its withered fingers being set on fire; but should any member of the household be awake, one of the fingers will not kindle. Such nefarious lights can only be extinguished with milk. Often it is prescribed that the thief’s candle should be made of the finger of a new-born or, still better, unborn child; sometimes it is thought needful that the thief should have one such candle for every person in the house, for if he has one candle too little somebody in the house will wake and catch him. Once these tapers begin to burn, there is nothing but milk that will put them out. In the seventeenth century robbers used to murder pregnant women in order thus to extract candles from their wombs.

I’ve posted about the H.O.G. before, here and here.

Image source: Haunted America Tours, via Morbid Anatomy.

Love this show.

bobs-burgers:

What’s your boob telling you Tina?

(via catfetish)

pleatedjeans:

I think about this way too often. via

obitoftheday:

Obit of the Day: The Man Who Died Twice

This is Lincoln Hall’s second obituary. His first was written on May 26, 2006 by several Australian newspapers. Hall had been left on the face of Mount Everest, suffering from altitude sickness, without shelter, food, or oxygen. Several sherpas had spent all of the previous day trying to lead Mr. Hall down the mountain, but Hall succumbed to swelling in his brain and fell unconscious. Attempts to revive him, including poking him in the eye, failed and the sherpas were ordered to save themselves and return to base camp.

When word reached home, newspapers published glowing tributes to his life as a climber, the man who organized the first Australian expedition to Everest, and director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation which raises money for school construction in Nepal. He would be missed.

Until later that same day when an American expedition found him at 10,000 feet, dangling his feet over the side of the mountain, half-dressed. Hall had survived but was still suffering from altitude sickness which caused irrational behavior and hallucinations. The expedition cancelled their summit and working with the lsherpas spent the day rescuing Hall. When he was finally brought down the mountain he was suffering from frostbite and a chest infection. No one before, or since, has survived on Everest at that altitude overnight without oxygen. Hall’s lasting memory was the loss of eight of his fingertips.

Lincoln Hall, who died of mesothelioma brought on by asbestos exposure as a child, was 56 years old when he died the second time.

(Image of Hall recovering after his fateful climb is courtesy of adelaidenow.com.au)

cocoroachchanel:

Peter the Great’s collection of pulled teeth, photographed by Rosamond Purcell

(via theodditiesblog)