This is a Scream Queen production.

I'm Jen Carpenter, and this is So Dead Podcast.

Happy Taco Tuesday, Deadheads.

It's time for another taco break. Today we're going to talk about

one of my favorite creepy things, death in the Victorian era. The Victorian area was the period of time

that Queen Victoria ruled England, hence the name, and lasted 63 years from 1837 to 1901. This was during a time in which it was

common for families to have, you know, a dozen or so children, because inevitably at least half of them

would be dead before their 10th birthdays. Death was a part of everyday life back then, which led to some morbid as fuck customs and practices.

It didn't help that when Queen Victoria's husband died in 1863, leaving her alone with nine children,

thank God for royal nannies, am I right? She fell into a deep depression, embraced morbidity, and wore black

every day for the rest of her life. Many of her own subjects and Americans alike followed suit.

So let's talk about some of those morbid customs that came about during that time frame, shall we?

Probably my favorite is Victorian morning photos.

Back in the 1800s, getting photos taken

was expensive and time consuming.

And as a result, it was pretty uncommon among the peasants.

Until someone in the family died,

and then reality said in that once they were buried,

nobody would ever see their face again.

The solution? Post-mortem photography. The family would hire a photographer to come into the

home and take a photo of the deceased, often propped up in an unnaturally natural pose and surrounded

by their grieving families. You can pick the deceased out in these photos by

...