Archive for October, 2009

There is a lot of misunderstanding going on about antique post mortem photos showing the deceased standing upright and the use of the posing stand.
The purpose of the posing stand was to keep the posers fixed and in position because of the time it took to take the photographs.
Here’s a good article about the whole process.
“The subject is placed in front of the camera. If necessary, the pose is held with the assistance of adjustable head rests, clamps and posing stands.”

There’s an increasing number of sellers on EBay who try to sell photos with standing people as post mortems. The discription mostly refers to the posing stand, slack jaws and droopy eyes. With all respect for the dead but have they ever tried to lift a limb body and make it stand upwards only with the help of a posing stand ? They are not like mannequins who you can bend and pose as you like !
One seller even refers to this website for his research on post mortem photography. That’s a good thing but not as a reference on standing post mortems like the ones they are selling and I don’t think the other references mentioned neither. As far as my knowledge goes there’s no written evidence that in the 19th and early 20th century it was a common practise to pose and photograph dead people standing upwards. On the post mortem albums there are 3 positive and without a doubt standing upright post mortems but all 3 under different circumstances.

Below some examples of so called standing post mortems offered for sale on EBay. Sadly there are still too much unknowing buyers who blindly believe on the “knowledge” of the sellers. Be warned !

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There’s a series of photographs in the post mortem albums of 2 young boys dressed in white suits laying together in one casket.
At first we thought the 2 boys might be the Schuessler brothers, but it turned out they were dressed in brown suits and buried in seperate caskets .
Both have visible damage and bruises on their faces which could indicate an accident or murder.
This must have taken place in the 1950’s in California and the cemetery is Forest Lawn Cemetery near Los Angeles.
That’s all info we have. We hope someone will recognize the cemetery and location of the grave so we can identify these boys.
There are more pictures of the brothers in their casket in the Post Mortem Galleries.