Happy New Year! Today we have a ghoulish visual treat for those of you who feel like you’re dead (or simply wish that you were) this fine New Year’s Day: an online archive of Victorian mourning photos and medical imagery to be found at Thanatos.net. Definitely one to add to the “Curious Exhibits” section of the blogroll…

Yes, it’s a paid site, but the proprietor maintains a Twitter account (which is how I found him – or, rather, he found me through my Twitter account – go figure) and a Flickr site along with a free preview collection of images.

Chapter 13
(more…)

CNN is reporting (no link since it’s AP) that the designer of the Pringle’s can, Fredric J. Baur, 89, of Cincinnati, will have a portion of his ashes buried at his request in one of the iconic Pringle’s cans. No word if the ashes will be vacuumed packed and pop when the “coffin” is opened.

That’s the name of a photo-essay currently running in The Guardian about a photography exhibition of the same name:

This sombre series of portraits taken of people before and after they had died is a challenging and poignant study. The work by German photographer Walter Schels and his partner Beate Lakotta, who recorded interviews with the subjects in their final days, reveals much about dying – and living. Life Before Death is at the Wellcome Collection from April 9-May 18

The accompanying article is here, and is well worth the read.

[via Towleroad]