Cromwellian relic

Before British former Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell suffered the posthumous punishment of being disinterred; hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tibburn; and having his head placed on a spike above Westminster Hall in 1661, he had been buried with dignity. Escutcheons were used and an effigy – complete with an orb, sceptre, and crown – lay in state at Somerset House. And if you are prepared to bid upwards of $16,000 (£10,000), you can own the engraved black brass plate that was placed on his chest.

Posted with Blogsy

Morbid Anatomy Museum

Joanna Ebenstein's fascinating blog Morbid Anatomy is what inspired me to begin a blog of my own, and I told her so. While we never managed to meet before I moved to Florida, we have mutual admiration and more than a few friends in common. For years now, Joanna has opened her extensive library in Brooklyn, New York, to like-minded people, and has hosted lectures and workshops on subjects including post-mortem photography, 18th c. Italian anatomical waxes, and Victorian hair art. Now, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, she has moved her collection into larger quarters, added a special exhibition of daguerreotypes and paintings owned by writer and collector Stanley Burns, and officially opened to the public as of Friday night. At the corner of 3rd Avenue and 7th Street, you will be privvy to countless items of medical history and mourning culture ranging from the 18th to 20th centuries (PHOTOS HERE). But unlike your typical museum, not all of the items on display are labeled. Ebenstein explains to The Verge, "I like to experience the aesthetic and the feeling of it [without] imposing too much."

Posted with Blogsy

Extreme embalming

A growing "niche market" in funeral service is to arrange the deceased in a lifelike pose for his or her viewing or wake. At her request, flamboyant New Orleans socialite and philanthropist Mickey Easterling, who died last month at the age of 83, was set up for her memorial service on a bench wearing a feather boa and holding a champagne flute (IMAGE ABOVE). When famous New Orleans drummer "Uncle" Lionel Batiste died in 2012, his family arranged for his body to be propped up against a faux streetlamp with his bass drum and uniform nearby, decked out in his signature finery: a cream sport coat, beige slacks, tasseled loafers, ornate necktie, matching pocket square, bowler hat, cane, gold watch, and sunglasses (IMAGES HERE). A Puerto Rican funeral home positioned one young man's body on his motorcycle and another one in a boxing ring. Pennsylvania funeral director Caleb Wilde explains that the body would have to be embalmed in position with a fluid that would keep it stiff, and adds – without irony – that if his establishment received such a request, they would certainly take a hard look at it.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Lionheart

When British monarch Richard the Lionheart (1157–1199) died in France, his body was not buried in one piece. It was parceled out, as was common among medieval aristocracy. His entrails were buried in Châlus where he died and his body was buried at the feet of his father at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou. But his heart (2nd image) received special treatment and was entombed in a lead box (1st image) at Rouen in Normandy. Recently, forensic experts and historians examined the embalmed heart to see what they could find out. Dr. Philippe Charlier of France's Raymond Poincare University Hospital explains, "We did a microscopic examination, toxicological analysis and also a pollen analysis." Microscopy showed pollen of plants that were flowering at the time of year that he died. Toxicology showed no signs of arsenic or any other poison, so they were able to rule that out as the cause of his death. But perhaps most interesting were the details they were able to ferret out about the preparation and preservation of his heart: mercury to stop it from decomposing and frankincense, myrtle, daisy, mint, and possibly lime to give it an odor of sanctity. If you are having difficulty making out the heart in the photo above – as I did – it is because it had been reduced to a grey–green powder long before the forensic scientists began their analysis...

Posted with Blogsy

Dying big

 

The death care industry and related services have had to adapt to the increased weight of Americans and others around the world. As Allen Steadham, executive director of the International Size-Acceptance Association, puts it, ''People are living larger and they're dying larger, and industries have to adapt to that situation.'' Here are a few of the ways they have accommodated the obese deceased:

• Ambulances: Emergency services are retrofitting their rescue vehicles, replacing them with models that can “kneel’’ (lowering 2"-3") and including bariatric vehicles in their fleet equipped with oversize stretchers and hydraulic lifts capable of transporting patients weighing as much as 1,600lbs. “Is this totally, 100% foolproof? Absolutely not. We’ve still got to get them out of the house,’’ admits Boston EMS Captain Phil McGovern.
• Caskets: Manufacturers including Goliath Caskets, Inc. offer oversize caskets in widths ranging from 29" to 52" (1st image). Owner Keith Davis reveals, "When we first started in 1990, 36" was the widest casket out there. Now we're up to 52" wide, which can hold someone who weighs 800 to 1,000 pounds. We sold 11 that first year, and we fluctuate from 6 to 12 of the biggest ones each year." 
• Cemetery plots: Cemeteries are necessarily increasing the size of their burial plots or burying oversize caskets at the ends of other rows where they won't encroach on other plots. The size of the vaults must also be increased, and the deceased may have outgrown the plot which they prepurchased. According to the New York Times, "even the standardized scoop on the front-end loaders that cemeteries use for grave-digging (it is called a ''grave bucket'') is based on outdated estimates about individual size."
• Crematories: The additional body fat causes an obese body to burn for a longer time and to give off more heat, so in addition to offering a large enough chamber, the operator of a crematorium takes advantage of certain safeguards - like cremating the obese first, so that the retort is not already hot - to avoid overheating.
• Crypts: Cemeteries like Cedar Memorial in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S., are adding oversize burial crypts in their mausoleums to fit the larger caskets.
• Hearses: Cadillac and other car companies are redesigning their vehicles to transport larger, heavier bodies.
• Morgue tables: Medical examiners offices like that of Snohomish County, Washington, have had to invest in equipment to manipulate and support the weight of larger bodies without causing them damage, including wider reinforced cots and examining tables (2nd image). "It's not unusual to encounter 300-pound people now, which used to be the exception rather than the rule," says Jim Noel, executive director of the Washington State Funeral Directors Association.
• Body Donation programs: Medical schools, which typically reserve the right to refuse bodies that have been embalmed or autopsied, now have to occasionally decline the donation of the bodies of the obese. The adipose tissue makes dissection difficult and time-consuming, the anatomy laboratories do not have the equipment to handle cadavers of that size, and the medical students are unable to reposition the bodies as is often necessary during their training. "We make every effort to accept a body, if we can. I wouldn't want people to get the idea that it's a common problem," says Richard Drake, director of anatomy and the body donation program at Cleveland Clinic.

Enhancements like lifts in the ambulance and the mortuary, and power hoists in the medical examiner's office, protect the employees from back injuries, but oversize products spare larger customers their dignity. "[T]he last thing we need is a lid that will not close when the time comes," says Davis of Goliath Caskets.

Funeral gloves

Unlike burial shoes, funeral gloves were for the living. This post is offered as a response to the following inquiry from the husband of a friend:

"A couple of years ago Deb came across a copy of The History of American Funeral Directing by Habenstein and Lamers, and I was fascinated by it. One of many details I loved was their mention of giving funeral gloves to mourners--and to announce deaths--in colonial New England, a continuation of a practice, they say, from feudal England. They speak of the funeral of Governor Belcher's wife in 1736 where over 1000 pairs of gloves were given away, and how Andrew Eliot, minister of North Church in Boston, counted his stash one day and found that, in 32 years of ministry, he had received 2,940 pairs of funeral gloves. This really intrigues me. Was there a little known but huge glove making industry in 18th century New England? Who made all these gloves, and where were they stored - since death often came with little warning after quick illnesses, fewer people would have time to say "Uncle Zephaniah is getting old--I guess we should start making gloves." In 18th century New England I think even the wealthy might be hard-pressed to come up with 1,000 pairs of gloves on short notice. At Waitstill Winthrop's funeral, the cost of given-away gloves, scarves, rings, came to over six hundred pounds--20% of his entire estate. While that is an extreme example of one of Boston's wealthiest, Habenstein and Lamers imply that this custom of giving stuff at funerals, especially gloves, was widespread. Have you come across any other references to this funeral glove phenomenon? Anything you know available on line? I'd love to read more about this custom, especially about the practical details."

The upper-class Puritans of 17th c. New England were said to have purchased a single glove* to send with the invitation to a funeral, which would have halved the expense, but even when pairs were provided, the quality could be varied with the status of the recipient. The gloves were sold by funeral outfitters who supplied everything from the black-plumed hearses to the black-edged invitations and inviters sent to deliver them. By the early 18th c., spending on funerals had become so lavish that the Massachusetts colony passed laws against the distribution of scarves, gloves (at a cost of 4s in 1723), and rings that were not manufactured in America. The rings were kept on hand, as were - presumably - the gloves and other apparel. It was in the Victorian era, when the queen wore mourning from the death of Prince Albert in 1861 to her own death in 1901, that mourning fashion flowered and followed strict guidelines. Whether buying ready-made or doing it yourself, the grief-stricken were able to mobilize in a hurry. "Mourning clothes were something you needed quickly when there was a death in your family. As a result, mourning garments became the first off-the-rack clothing you could buy. Remember, this was a time when most clothing was made at home. You could either go to a place that sold mourning clothes and buy them, or take everything you had to a merchant who would dye them all black. If you were poorer than that, you would put your own clothes in a large pot in your back yard and dye them black," explains Jane Peters Estes of the Camden County Historical Society. Changes in society fueled the custom and promotion of mourning fashion: "The increased manufacturing technology of the Victorian age created a vast market for mourning dress....Advertisements hawked mourning bodices, skirts, capes, veils, black bonnets, black indoor caps, gloves, fans, and black edged handkerchiefs." Many styles of gloves - including kidskin and lace - were available, and even babies wore symbols of grief. Men had it easier than women, simply wearing their usual dark suits with the addition of black gloves, hatbands, and cravats. A pair of black kid or silk gloves were provided to each of the pall-bearers, a custom that survives though the color has changed. According to one source, it was considered at the time bad luck to keep mourning clothing in the house after the period of mourning had ended. And according to another, funeral apparel shops in Australia encouraged the recycling of dresses and accessories. So I think we may safely extrapolate and assume that between reuse and industrious craftsmanship, the suppliers in Colonial America were fully stocked with gloves of all sizes.

*Note that each of the mourners in the 19th and early 20th c. images above are wearing only one glove.

Post-mortem make-up

If you have a signature look that you don't want to die with you - at least not immediately - you may wish to make pre-need arrangements with U.K. funeral directors Leverton & Sons Ltd. Leverton, which offers themed funerals in the London area in addition to traditional services, has teamed up with cult cosmetic brand Illamasqua to offer what is being billed as "The Final Act of Self-Expression" (1st image):

"Offering professional funeral make-up transformations applied by a specially trained Illamasqua make-up artist, the Final Act of Self-Expression encourages people for whom making-up is an intimate part of their identity to plan their final transformation - one that pays tribute to who they were in life and how they want to enter the afterlife....Illamasqua encourages people to self-express and embrace their alter ego in every way. Why should this be any different when you pass away? It is a celebration of life, and one that should be indulged for your last glamorous look."

As a member of Illamasqua's art team, premier fashion artist Alex Box has turned many heads with her designs (above) and won much praise. Although she is also capable of applying highly-regarded straight makeup, Box's "face paintings" have been called visionary (see her at work here preparing for the Spring 2011 launch of Illamasqua's Toxic Nature product line). As characterized in the description of her self-titled book:

"She is nothing less than a master of colour, detail and form; never viewing her model's face as a limitation but rather as a canvas with no boundary. In Alex Box, she weaves the most surreal and outlandish of creative concepts into and around the features of her muses, morphing them into divine otherworldly creatures. Alex Box's touch is alternately garish and lurid, then deliberate and considered; a splurge of rainbow colour, then soberly monochrome; sweeping and brazen, then calculated and graphic."

Box (interview here and more designs here) trained as a fine artist at Chelsea College of Art & Design, and has on occasion made her application of make-up into performance art, accompanied by music and scented with fragrance. She tells Woman's Wear Daily:

“I really wanted to bring it back to makeup being a performance and an experience. A friend of mine said ‘You never get to see a painter paint,’ and I think that is one of the magical moments...the fact that you get to see [the looks] evolve.”

There's no guarantee that your post-mortem makeover would be done by Box, but Leverton is providing training to the Illamasqua cosmeticians for their work on the less lively.

Grim eater

In "Harold and Maude" (1971) - my best friend Cris's favorite movie of all time - the title characters meet at the funeral of a stranger. Maude (Ruth Gordon) likes to be reminded of how wonderful it is to be alive, while Harold (Bud Cort) attends out of morbid fascination. Though they are not technically paying their respects, they are behaving with respect. Not this guy. Dubbed the "Grim Eater," he is crashing funerals in and around Wellington, New Zealand, for the food. He has been spotted at wakes filling Tupperware containers, which he carries away in his backpack - and none too discreetly, although he is quiet and polite. After they observed him at 4 funerals a week in March, the management of the Harbour City Funeral Home distributed his image to the staff at all their branches and have warned the man that he may attend the services, but is not allowed to take home leftovers. Families have also been notified, but Funeral Directors' Association president Tony Garing explains, "If it's in a church, or even in a funeral home, if a notice has been published in the paper, it's essentially a public event. That makes it a bit hard to keep people out."

Ulysses S. Grant, postmortem

The 1st photograph shows American Civil War general and 18th president Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) in the prime of life and the 2nd photograph shows him at the end of his life, penning his memoirs. He had withdrawn to a cottage in Saratoga County, New York, after learning he had throat cancer, and died just days after finishing his well-received autobiography. Here is what happened to his body.... Grant died, medicated against the pain and emaciated by the illness, on a July morning. The sad news began spreading by telegraph within minutes, after which expressions of sympathy began pouring in - including one from President Grover Cleveland - and dense crowds formed around the cottage. The mayor of New York wired an offer of a site in any of the city's parks for a tomb. The doctors in attendance asked his family twice about performing an autopsy, but they refused on both occasions. Sculptor Karl Gerhardt was on hand 20 minutes after Grant's demise to make a death mask. Local undertaker Ebenezer Holmes was summoned and arrived within hours to prepare the body until clergyman and undertaker Rev. Stephen J. Merritt could arrive from New York City. Holmes placed Grant's remains on ice in the corpse cooler that he had patented in 1878. Grant had left explicit instructions before his death that his body should be embalmed, so that it would not decompose in the summer heat before the funeral could be arranged. Holmes therefore carried out the relatively new procedure of arterial embalming over the next two days. The body - said to look very natural by some of the estimated 300 people who viewed it - remained at the cottage, guarded by the military, for 2 weeks, when a local funeral service was held. A polished red cedar coffin had arrived from Rochester on July 29th and in it the remains were transported by train to Albany, where Grant lay in state in the state capitol for 3 days and 2 nights. By then, conflicting accounts described the body as discolored, deteriorating, and somewhat disheveled from the journey. The press criticized Holmes' work, and there Grant was touched up by Merritt. Grant was taken by train to New York City, where he was viewed by some 250,000 people as he lay in state in City Hall. More than a million people attended and 50,000 participated in the day-long funeral parade in New York City on August 8, 1885. A public burial service was held, and Grant's body was deposited in a temporary vault in Manhattan's Riverside Park until it could be transferred to Grant's tomb, which was completed and officially dedicated in 1897.

Evelyn Waugh

British author Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) had a strange book in his - yes, his - collection. Waugh (pictured at age 26 in 4th image, a portrait by Henry Lamb) was given his first name on a whim of his mother’s. "He disliked the name for the same reason that most of us are puzzled when we first hear it. Man or woman?" His 1st marriage, which was annulled, was to a woman with the same name, so their friends referred to them as "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn." Waugh was a "difficult" and notoriously bad-tempered man. When he was introduced to Salvador Dali (1904-1989), he attemped to pull off Dali's moustache, thinking it a joke, so the Spanish artist never spoke to him again. Coincidentally (since this post was not timed to coincide with the Christian holiday), Waugh - a converted Catholic - died on Easter Sunday.

The "Victorian Blood Book" (sample pages pictured), as it is known, was among the 3,500 volumes in Waugh's personal library. Described as a large oblong folio decoupage book, it was made by Newfoundland politician John Bingley Garland (1791-1875) for his daughter Amy in 1854. The 41 plates were collaged from hundreds of Christian and natural images from books, including etchings by William Blake (1757-1827), which were then sprinkled liberally with drops of red India ink. It would have taken Garland hundreds of hours to put the "Blood Book" together and add his extensive handwritten commentary. The folio was acquired by Waugh, who was a collector of Victoriana long before it was fashionable.

I have read only 1 of Waugh's novels, The Loved One, which is a satire about the much-maligned American death care industry. The story is set at the cemetery that symbolizes posthumous excess, Forest Lawn Memorial Park - visited more than once by Waugh. The title is a euphemism for the dead body, which is so lovingly and gingerly handled by the mortuary staff as it is prepared for "slumber" (embalmed), to become the centerpiece at the "leave-taking" (wake). The funeral director in the novel is portrayed as performing miracles behind the scenes on a daily basis:

"Next he took a visiting card - one of a box of blanks supplied to the florist below - and a pair of surgical scissors. In one continuous movement he cut an ellipse, then snicked half an inch at either end along the greater axis. He bent over the corpse, tested the jaw and found it firm set; he drew back the lips and laid his card along the teeth and gums. Now was the moment; his assistant watched with never-failing admiration the deft flick of the thumbs with which he turned the upper corners of the card, the caress of the rubber finger-tips with which he drew the dry and colourless lips into place. And, behold, where before there had been a grim line of endurance, there was now a smile! It was masterly. It needed no further touch."

Like Forest Lawn, the fictional funeral home of Whispering Glades is full-service, from the preparation of the "loved one" to his or her "inhumement, entombment, inurnment, or immurement" on the grounds of a manicured cemetery replete with gaudy statues and piped-in music. In contrast, Waugh was buried - presumably without being embalmed - in a churchyard in Somerset, England.

Oscar Mayer dies

Oscar Mayer, Jr. has passed. The most recent patriarch (there have been 3) of the Oscar Mayer meat, cold cut, and hot dog manufacturing company died on Monday at the age of 95. The company was founded in 1904 by his grandfather Oscar F. Mayer (1859-1955), under whose tenure the first wienermobile took to the streets to advertise their most famous product. As a personal aside, I was waiting in traffic for the light to change at 7am one morning on the way to work when the wienermobile sailed by - the other drivers and I exchanged amused grins! In summer 2007, the wienermobile was featured in the weird news for receiving a parking ticket, and in looking it up earlier today, I found that the wienermobile has gone green and is now based on a Mini-Cooper! Although it has made an appearance at other funerals in the family, Oscar Mayer left his wishes known: he wanted a small private funeral and thought the wienermobile would make it too much of a spectacle.