Minisode 15 - GWIH: Memento Mori - Strange Woods Podcast

TRIGGER WARNING: The following contains photographic images of deceased persons including children. Please take care as these images may be distressing.

Welcome back, Strangers! This episode discusses the disturbing history of postmortem photography known as “memento mori”. This common and, frankly creepy practice that took place not so long ago to commemorate the dead involved photo shoots of the subjects after they died. Ugh. Come check it out!

STOP! INSIDE JOKES AHEAD!

If you haven’t gotten to listen to the episode yet, spoiler alert! This post contains lots of stuff that will make waaay more sense if you listen to the episode before or while reading. So if you haven’t already, pump the brakes and listen to the episode or just click above to play so that you can be in on all the shenanigans to follow!

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Produced by Peter Woodward

Thanks again to Joey for guesting on this episode while Jeremy was sick! You are the dude, bro! Here’s one of your high school photos. Not embarrassing at all.

MEMENTO MORI

At this time in history...

Prior to the invention and widespread use of photography, the only way to get your picture taken was to stand for a painted portrait. While this was a common practice, it was an expensive one, usually reserved for the wealthy.

via GIPHY

The first publicly announced and commercially available form of photography is credited to Louis Daguerre. His invention, dubbed the daguerreotype, was a polished sheet of silver-plated copper that was shined to a mirror finish. It was treated with fumes that made it sensitive to light, then was exposed in a camera which resulted in an image becoming visible by fuming it with mercury vapor. It was then put into a chemical treatment to remove the light sensitivity, rinsed, dried, and sealed. It was placed in a glass protective case because it was very sensitive to scuffing and scratching.

This was immensely popular with literally millions being produced yearly in the United States. The daguerreotype was the most popular method of photography in the 1850s, eventually replaced by ambrotypes and tintypes which were newer, cheaper, and easier to view.

As we have discussed at length in many episodes of this podcast, this time period was riddled with disease and mortality. It was a time in history where death and the macabre were a source of fascination and spectacle. As such, it is no surprise that the practice of photographing the dead became commonplace.

So these became “memento mori”.

GET READY…HERE IT COMES…

These photographs, though eerie to us now, were the only opportunity many had to ever have an image taken of a loved one. They were valued keepsakes to help grieving families remember their dead.

What did it involve?

Memento mori, Latin for “remember you must die”, is an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. The phrase encompasses elements of art, literature, music, and architecture.

This term was applied to this type of post-mortem photography.

Different techniques existed and different poses were utilized. Unfortunately, many of the photographs that exist are of children due to the massive amount of young death that was so prevalent at that time.

A popular technique was to photograph the deceased subject being held by a living relative, but have the relative covered with a sheet. Creepy creepy.

Though extremely sad once you know the subject/s in the photos are deceased, some of them are actually quite beautiful.

Who did this?

Post-mortem photography was immensely popular, not only in the United States, but worldwide, and remained so for decades!

People from all places and walks of life had their death photos taken from your average common family…

To royalty, nobility, and high ranking leaders!

WHAT ELSE DID WE TALK ABOUT?

Saenger Theatre

We referenced “The Saenger” this episode, which is an historic New Orleans site. It is The Saenger Theatre. Gorgeous and timeless.

The final resting place to be for Nick Cage...

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Enjoy the books. Enjoy the movie. Enjoy the series. Something for everyone!

Even more memento mori...?

Songs. Movies. Wine.

And Disney's Haunted Mansion gift shop also called...

STRANGE WOODS PODCAST RECOMMENDS...

Episode 9-Blood in NOLA: Madame LaLaurie & The Casket Girls

Enjoy some of our local faire. If you haven’t listened to this episode, we talk about the infamous LaLaurie Mansion and it’s sadistic mistress! Check it out!

https://strangewoodspodcast.com/haunting-lalaurie-house/

Joe Diffie - "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)"

This video is worth viewing for the mullets alone. Enjoy.

Yeesh. That was a dark one, huh? We’re gonna have some more chipper and upbeat stuff coming up soon. But, hey, now you know about memento mori. So there’s that!

Thank you so much for coming back again! We love you guys and we’re so grateful for all our listeners! Please keep the feedback coming!

And what do we say to the god of death? Not today!

Catch ya’ll next time and as always, STAY STRANGE!

LATER, STRANGERS!