Why Did Victorians Take Pictures of Dead People?

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With the development of photography, people started taking photos of their beloved ones. Among them were dead people. It was known as post-mortem photography or memento mori photographic portraiture. In the mid-19th century, photography was very expensive and was not popular. The first photographs were daguerreotypes. They were created on an expensive silver copper plate. Later these copper plates were replaced by glass, thin metal, or paper. The price of photographs came down and the number of photographers increased. In the 1880s, more people had them or their families photographed. But still, photography remained expensive for low-income families. And the only photos they could afford were post-mortem photos. On those pictures, mothers pose with their dead children. Babies lie in their beds looking like they are sleeping. Siblings stand around their dead brother or sister. There were staged family photos where a dead member was the central subject. One of the reasons for taking post-mortem photos was high mortality. Such diseases as cholera, scarlet fever, measles were very common at the time. And they took the lives of many people, especially children. People just wanted something which would recall their loved ones. For some people, a post-mortem photo was the only picture ever taken. Others wanted to capture their beloved ones for the last time. Taking these pictures was a big family occasion. In the beginning, photographers captured close-ups or the entire body of a dead person. They never included coffins on the pictures. Then they started preparing the bodies to look more lifelike. A dead person could be photographed with his favorite things. Photographers often made a dead person look like he was asleep. Some were supported by hidden structures so that they could stand. People covered themselves to hold dead babies on their laps. Fake eyes were sometimes drawn on a dead person’s closed eyes to look alive. Taking photographs needed long exposures and sometimes they were blurry. But photos of dead people were very sharp as they never moved. These pictures differed much from the photos of living people and were quite surreal. Later, post-mortem photos came out of fashion. People started photographing the dead in their coffins surrounded by relatives.

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48 Comments
  1. The Story Behind says

    Hey guys! Watch my another video with creepy Victorian photos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0KuEC71Bz8&t=

  2. Keri Nicole says

    I was obsessed with this concept for years, but I recently watched a Podcast saying this wasn’t true. Photography was very expensive and they only took one picture, so if your eyes were closed or you were making a strange face that was it. Think about when we would get our rolls of film developed how terrible some of the photos were.

  3. George el grande says

    Cause Europeans are not so intelligent as they think they are.

  4. Annabella Pezzlo says

    If you search up post mortem photo on safari, you can see most of the pictures in the video!

  5. Annabella Pezzlo says

    I don’t really think this is creepy, i just think its kinda weird

  6. Sumita Mahakur says

    This is freaking me out..😐😐😫😫

  7. welchen bedeutenden Stellenwert doch einst das Foto hatte!
    mehr als nur eine Erinnerung.
    damals ging man herausgeputz zum Fotografen und das war ein fast einmaliges Ereignis!

  8. Carolina Rain says

    Sad, ,,,,,,😳and a ill creepy,,,but that's just me,no disrespect

  9. Just Shanie says

    Those pictures were haunting

  10. RiRiAsh02 says

    What I don't understand is that why low-income families could only afford post-mortem photos?

  11. Sana Dalvi says

    So-so sad

  12. Serena L says

    This is so sad yet very thoughtful 😭❤️

  13. maeasa fessehaye says

    This is sad

  14. Iam RachelleM says

    Aww💔

  15. Masked Pride says

    But the real question is, how tf did they die??????

  16. Natalie Gueyger says

    This is sad and all but this is disgusting I could never imagine taking pictures of a dead person. Let alone being in the same room and posing with the lifeless body.

  17. Ryujin says

    This is creepy but nice….as soon as we modern people hear that our loved ones died, we are sad but get grossed out at the thought of taking pictures of/with our loved one/s

  18. Patricia Potato says

    This creeps me out.

  19. Letty Herrera says

    GASP i did not khow that😨😐

  20. Katlyn Constance Webber says

    Who else is here to count the number of NON-POSTMORTEM PHOTOS they use 😂 it's a lot, and THE USE OF THOSE STANDS is WIDELY MISCONCEIVED as standing a corpse, while it was REALLY used to help keep the standing, LIVING-ONLY, person STAND STILL and in the same position FOR THE 15 MINUTE PROCESS OF TAKING THE PHOTO.

  21. Charlene Chocolate Thunder says

    Thanks for tomorrow night's nightmare!

  22. Charlene Chocolate Thunder says

    They explained it on THE movie "The Others". So creepy.

  23. Ted Leather says

    Such beautiful music.
    Anyone know the name of the track please?

  24. Rachel Brad says

    😢

  25. Rachel Brad says

    I can understand why they did it as there last times together 💕.

  26. Becca Knight says

    Oh gawd😶😮imagine posing beside your dead relative,man I would burst into tears

  27. Samantha Peters says

    I saw a YouTube channel say something different about the mother's covering themselves, while holding the baby. Apparently the "live" babies would move while a photo was being taken. So the mothers would cover themselves, and hold the baby still.

  28. Karen Reed says

    Why do people post pics of their dead babies now, in the 21st. Century???

  29. Heyo It's Me says

    ~pictures of dead people are sharp since they never move~
    dead person on picture is blurry
    Photographer: sksksksks 💀

  30. Green Shaðes says

    This is so damn sad.

  31. Jane Mot says

    Man is truly born to sorrow, as the sparks fly upward……just as God has said in the bible.

  32. Samantha Fakharzadeh says

    At first I was really creeped out by this but I imagine that, especially back when children dying occurred more often, that parents just saw it as a way to commemorate their lives with their children or family members. I totally get it now

  33. Lapiz Lazuli says

    Anyone can explain me how can they do this.

    I mean a dead bodies rigor mortis will kick in a few days, right ?

    How can they bend the parts of the bodies to look lifelike.

  34. Ratty Chick says

    I remember learning this fact after I watched the movie “ the others “ staring Nicole Kidman . Eerie practice

  35. Deirdre Hunte says

    No No No!!! This is not normal. The memories are enough. Creepy and just plain wrong. I would never want to look at my deceased family members with live people. Just to dang depressing.

  36. ultr3n m4gic says

    Who's cutting onions?. 😭😭😭

  37. D Nats says

    This is heartbreaking..why the hell on Earth would they do that .. atleast they should have took those pictures when they are still alive..cause still they would make them pose look like they were alive

  38. Abino Rose says

    Hey guys there is a movie based on this….
    It's called THE BRIDE

  39. sonic blue says

    This video is such a heartbreaking photos. 😢

  40. Matina Jazmine says

    If they only knew that know we take selfish everyday

  41. Brandy C says

    Couldn't imagine having to pose with a dead sibling. So sad

  42. Skylar Willow says

    So scary

  43. YourSugar DaddyLia says

    If they're dead, how are they standing?

  44. Anna Sherosky says

    That's like if my boyfriend dies of a seizure attack I prop him up and take a selfie before I bury him

  45. •Sunset• Show• says

    oof

  46. CutiepieOD Porter says

    That’s so sad why are children so small dead ohh wait this is a long time ago not much medicine

  47. Lea _gacha says

    When I was watching this my mom called me for food and I didn't want to eat because it reminds me of these pictures there creepy (don't mean to make fun)

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