Fuck Yeah Creepy Victoriana

January 17, 2013 3:51 PM

Sheltered and Safe from Sorrow: Victorian mourning rituals, tombstones, epitaphs, and other creepy things
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants (19 comments total)

Only occasionally does what it says on the tin.
posted by yoink at 4:15 PM on January 17, 2013 [8 favorites]

Creepy Victorians are the best kind of Victorians.
posted by book 'em dano at 4:18 PM on January 17, 2013

Seconding yoink. It's more "cool Victoriana" than "creepy Victoriana." Nevertheless, still good stuff.
posted by Kitteh at 4:27 PM on January 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

DAT ANKLE
posted by GuyZero at 4:35 PM on January 17, 2013 [4 favorites]

There are more dead children as it goes on. Oddly, they're very nicely posed so they look less creepy than they should.
posted by GuyZero at 4:35 PM on January 17, 2013

Yeah. Count me for the 'not creepy, but cool'.
At least it has more than a half-dozen pages.
posted by Mezentian at 4:35 PM on January 17, 2013

Robert De Niro, is that you?
posted by NoMich at 4:43 PM on January 17, 2013

OMG DE NIRO'S A VAMPIRE Y'ALL
posted by Kitteh at 5:00 PM on January 17, 2013

Not creepy, you say? Then you've not found this yet.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:02 PM on January 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

There's a Victorian-era house in Modesto CA where they give tours, one of the weird things they have there is a "hair wreath" that was made from the hair of family members. I took a blurry photo of it.
posted by smoothvirus at 5:05 PM on January 17, 2013

Not creepy, you say? Then you've not found this yet.

To be fair, playing "gotcha!" with a dead baby isn't for everyone.
posted by Kitteh at 5:08 PM on January 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

Love it.

I love the dresses, the jewellery, the elaborate hairstyles... and then here's a dead child or two. It's jarring and fascinating and I am so pissed off that I have to get back to work.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 5:49 PM on January 17, 2013

From Charles Dickens’ letter to his sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth on the deplorable state of his friends’ mustaches.
posted by Rangeboy at 5:53 PM on January 17, 2013

I just thought those children were typical sad, dour Victorians.
Dead?
Oh, yeah, that's creepy.
posted by Mezentian at 9:51 PM on January 17, 2013

Kitteh: If the mother is hiding the odds are good that the kid is alive and hidden to keep the baby calm for the shot while not being in the way. That said, the general verdict is that particular shot is likely post mortem, though why she's hiding behind a still infant is beyond me.

Hidden mother shots are a whole level of creepy all by themselves.

VICTORIAN PHOTOGRAPHY, YOU SO CRAZY.
posted by Jilder at 3:14 AM on January 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

Okay, I've just been through every page and I've decided that I'm weirdly obsessed with strange Victorian photos. The mourning dresses? And the stunning black mournig umbrella? I can see myself dressed like that (when this stupidly hot summer is over).

And when I win lotto, I am so going to build one of those ridiculously gothic houses with balconies galore.

Awesome post, CiS, thank you.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 5:51 AM on January 18, 2013

Okay, I've just been through every page and I've decided that I'm weirdly obsessed with strange Victorian photos. The mourning dresses? And the stunning black mournig umbrella? I can see myself dressed like that (when this stupidly hot summer is over).

You can get black lace umbrellas at a steampunk/goth shop in Sydney (and probably the rest of the world) to protect you from the heat.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 6:07 AM on January 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

I just ran across this blog recently thanks to conversation about this post there.
posted by Karmakaze at 10:12 AM on January 18, 2013

malibustacey: I'd be in remiss as a fan of Victoriana and a goth if I did not point you towards Gallery Serpentine out in Enmore - the whole high neo-victoriana schtick is more or less their entire thing.
posted by Jilder at 11:21 AM on January 18, 2013 [2 favorites]