Post Mortem photography was a common practice back in the Victorian Era where people would pose with their deceased loved ones, one last time. This image is from 1904, the little girl in the image is desceased
Post Mortem photography was a common practice back in the Victorian Era where people would pose with their deceased loved ones, one last time. This image is from 1904, the little girl in the image is desceased
At least they can sit still for the length of the exposure..
Jealous-Method-8682 on
Kindly horrified
ButteredNun on
Say ‘deceased’! 📸
g3engineeringdesign on
The heartbreak of a mother saying goodbye for the last time.
dr_xenon on
Seems creepy, but that might have been the only photo they ever took with her.
Skeptical_Monkie on
Most “post mortem” pictures on the internet aren’t. It’s an exaggerated myth.
zombeezy17 on
Momento Mori
NomDePlume007 on
First time I’d heard of the practice was in the movie “The Others,” with Nicole Kidman. Chilling.
MajorlyCynical on
That’s it im putting this in my will. I want everyone to do a hangover style photo shoot with my corpse partying my ass off one last time.
txhelgi on
They both are deceased.
Pred-Al1en on
Because everyone died early back then.
But seriously, there’s a thing where professional photographers are on call for hospitals when newbornes are still born. The family gets together to have family pictures with the newborn.
It’s not exactly talked about and it’s rough on everyone involved. But there is nothing but love and sadness for the situation.
Sorry no. Unless she literally just died 5 seconds ago that is not a corpse.
Crematory operations manager 10 years.
TheBigCicero on
Honestly we have it pretty good today compared to 100 years ago.
imhappysteven on
El Muerto Parao?
alex206 on
…and everyone told Bobby Lee he was distasteful to take a selfie with his deceased father.
MyDinUrPocket on
Is this real?
JustaFoodHole on
Most of my photography is pre mortem
ClassBShareHolder on
I remember seeing a similar picture and because of the long exposure times needed, the only perfectly clear image was of the deceased, because they weren’t moving.
RogueColonel_11 on
Actually they’re both deceased now
GlitteringLocality on
Is she? I had no idea. Lol. Some of these are more convincing than others, regardless so eerie.
mbd34 on
This is uncanny as hell.
UsedWelcome5903 on
Yeah glad that tradition is no longer around

shoro_uk on
I assume that the woman in the photograph is her mother. It’s quite striking that she kept a straight face while her deceased daughter was leaning on her.
99% of “post mortem” pictures online are just people grabbing random pics and making up stuff for no reason
atemu1234 on
Me on my first day as a postmortem photographer: “Okay, now a silly one!”
karmacuda on
they actually weren’t as common as we like to think they were, some of the “odd” or “post-mortem” photos that we see are actually due to the long exposure that the old cameras were notorious for. Caitlin Doughty has a really great video on the topic that is fairly recent as well
Shorb-o-rino on
Aren’t a decent amount of photographs described as post-mortem online actually not? She doesn’t look dead at all
kdubstep on
Heartbreaking
SeattleHasDied on
If the kid is dead, how are her eyes focused and even?
greenweenievictim on
They do it and it’s fine. I do it and I’m the crazy person. I can’t stand Reddit!
Saint_Riccardo on
In the early days of photography, it was incredibly expensive and very time consuming. Added to the fact people tended to have large families and infant/child mortality was shockingly high, it was simply more practical.
Plus, the late Victorians were OBSESSED with the occult, spiritualism and macabre things.
theemmyk on
I swear, every Victorian photo is claimed to be a death photo. Do you have a citation for your claim that this is a death photo? The girl is clearly alive.
One-Masterpiece-335 on
Exposure times were rather long, had to sit still for a while.
38 Comments
At least they can sit still for the length of the exposure..
Kindly horrified
Say ‘deceased’! 📸
The heartbreak of a mother saying goodbye for the last time.
Seems creepy, but that might have been the only photo they ever took with her.
Most “post mortem” pictures on the internet aren’t. It’s an exaggerated myth.
Momento Mori
First time I’d heard of the practice was in the movie “The Others,” with Nicole Kidman. Chilling.
That’s it im putting this in my will. I want everyone to do a hangover style photo shoot with my corpse partying my ass off one last time.
They both are deceased.
Because everyone died early back then.
But seriously, there’s a thing where professional photographers are on call for hospitals when newbornes are still born. The family gets together to have family pictures with the newborn.
It’s not exactly talked about and it’s rough on everyone involved. But there is nothing but love and sadness for the situation.
https://preview.redd.it/71zc8jemwqmg1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8cde2061cef85afc32ab58d8f09264a49940c797
Most of these are fake
Sorry no. Unless she literally just died 5 seconds ago that is not a corpse.
Crematory operations manager 10 years.
Honestly we have it pretty good today compared to 100 years ago.
El Muerto Parao?
…and everyone told Bobby Lee he was distasteful to take a selfie with his deceased father.
Is this real?
Most of my photography is pre mortem
I remember seeing a similar picture and because of the long exposure times needed, the only perfectly clear image was of the deceased, because they weren’t moving.
Actually they’re both deceased now
Is she? I had no idea. Lol. Some of these are more convincing than others, regardless so eerie.
This is uncanny as hell.
Yeah glad that tradition is no longer around

I assume that the woman in the photograph is her mother. It’s quite striking that she kept a straight face while her deceased daughter was leaning on her.
[This is a long-standing urban legend with little to no basis in reality](https://youtu.be/E8DxI8Pn1Uw)
Very Sad
Mourning portraits
99% of “post mortem” pictures online are just people grabbing random pics and making up stuff for no reason
Me on my first day as a postmortem photographer: “Okay, now a silly one!”
they actually weren’t as common as we like to think they were, some of the “odd” or “post-mortem” photos that we see are actually due to the long exposure that the old cameras were notorious for. Caitlin Doughty has a really great video on the topic that is fairly recent as well
Aren’t a decent amount of photographs described as post-mortem online actually not? She doesn’t look dead at all
Heartbreaking
If the kid is dead, how are her eyes focused and even?
They do it and it’s fine. I do it and I’m the crazy person. I can’t stand Reddit!
In the early days of photography, it was incredibly expensive and very time consuming. Added to the fact people tended to have large families and infant/child mortality was shockingly high, it was simply more practical.
Plus, the late Victorians were OBSESSED with the occult, spiritualism and macabre things.
I swear, every Victorian photo is claimed to be a death photo. Do you have a citation for your claim that this is a death photo? The girl is clearly alive.
Exposure times were rather long, had to sit still for a while.