Same here, Jim. I've always seen adults with their eyes closed, but sometimes they got really crazy with the kids... there are some creepy post-mortem children pictures out there!

Interesting photograph though! That man did look a lot like Abraham Lincoln.

Dave, that is cool close!
Here is a little trick (photographer here), print the picture out and lay it next to a well known photo of Lincoln. Then turn both upside down - and then look AGAIN for similarities.
This usually helps to distinguish fake from real in less than 10 seconds.

This looks as if adults' photos were taken with eyes opened, too:
http://io9.com/the-strangest-tradition-o...-472772709

Some of the comments indicated they eyes are painted on the closed eyelids.

Thanks, Gene, I didn't read the poster's comments that far down! That's even more creepy, isn't it?

Quote:Some of the comments indicated the eyes are painted on the closed eyelids.

I realize that this is more than a bit silly, but.....


URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/ctqp.jpg/][/URL]

What a great article Eva found. Eva has been a great addition to the symposium. Some of those people in the article posted by Eva are some of the best looking dead people I've ever seen. I always felt I could spot a corpse in a picture, but that fireman really has it over on me.

Post mortems are still being done. Some hospitals will take an unsolicited picture of a still-born child and offer it to the parents. It is a very caring and thoughtful gesture. It is something that greif stricken parents wouldn't ask for or think about, but it is the only tangible remembrance they will have of their lost loved one .

The photo of the two teen girls was an interesting one (one standing the other sitting) I assume the one standing is the one who had died, based on her dark hands. But I'm still not sure.

The reader comments at the end of the link did help explain a lot about this practice.

I'm not too sure that all these folk are deceased. I see what appears to be movement of some sort of this child's right arm in the photo of the little boy presented here.

The one of the mother in mourning clothing hiding behind her deceased child's chair is creepy as is the little boy on the rocking horse. I'm not too sure he's dead either - just startled by something....


           

I agree with you, Betty. There were several photos that I thought were speculative, and you and I have seen a many a post-mortem photo. Most of them are tastefully done, but some of the ones included here must have been taken by inexperienced or fly-by-night photographers.

(12-18-2013 07:54 AM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  What a great article Eva found. Eva has been a great addition to the symposium. Some of those people in the article posted by Eva are some of the best looking dead people I've ever seen. I always felt I could spot a corpse in a picture, but that fireman really has it over on me.

Thank you so much, Jim!!! The forum has actually been a great addition to my life!
I was quite astonished to see King Ludwig II of Bavaria on the site:
   
AFAIK post-mortem photography was far less popular in Germany (Angela, what do you think/know?).

Allow me this aside, it fits so snugly to the season - you will all know the most beautiful and famous of King Ludwig's numerous castles, the original "Disney" castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein (Laurie, did you go there?):
   

(12-18-2013 09:19 AM)BettyO Wrote:  I'm not too sure that all these folk are deceased. I see what appears to be movement of some sort of this child's right arm in the photo of the little boy presented here.

The one of the mother in mourning clothing hiding behind her deceased child's chair is creepy as is the little boy on the rocking horse. I'm not too sure he's dead either - just startled by something....
Hello All, I have to say that to me all these pictures to me are strange to say the least. I have never seen anything like them before. I don't think I could stand or sit by someone I knew or loved and have a picture taken with them. I guess back then this was a common practice but not one I could wrap my head around. Could things have been that different back then? This really freaks me out!! Best always Gary

No, Eva, I did not visit that one -- unless it is one that is visible from the Rhine. I took the boat trip down (or up?) the river and marveled at the beautiful sites along the shores and visible on the horizon. I hope those views are still as pristine today as they were forty years ago.

That's amazing Laurie, that you should have such a clear memory when you were a young child 40 years ago.

(Sure hope it's not too late and Santa reads this!)

Bless you, my child. Santa is very forgiving to those who are nice to us old folks. I am 70 years old and darned proud of it! I am like fine whine -- oops, I mean wine!