It’s something that we all dread in our lives: the death of a member of our family. It’s something that none of us want to think about but it is inevitable. For many people, when a loved one dies, there is typically a mourning period before something is done with the body. However, this was not always the case in the 1800s.

In the 1800s, they did a very strange thing. They would actually take PICTURES with their dead relatives! Almost like they would preserve them and take pictures so that they could remember what they looked like one last time in life!

This seems like a very morbid way to remember your family but there is one thing to keep in mind. In the 1800s, photography was extremely expensive. You could very rarely afford someone to come take your pictures. Therefore, this is the last remaining memory for some people of the people in their lives that have died.

Here are some examples of some of these photos:

This one is a little hard to tell. If you look closely, you can see that the girl on the left has her eyes closed. They painted eyes over her eyelids to make it look like she was alive!

Here’s a quick diagram of one of the ways they made it seem like a dead person was standing up.

This is another example of someone who is being stood up with a support. At first, it almost looks like he is posing but see that little circle in the bottom-right? You can see the stand for yourself. 

Notice the little girl on the left hand side with her eyes closed? Yep, she was posed with her brothers and sisters after she passed away. 

This man was posed with his twin brother to take one last picture as a family. I thought he was sleeping at first but nope!