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Posts tagged Decay:

October 4, 2012 with 187 notes
        tags: Cadaver tomb. Cadaver. Tomb. Grave. Dead. Death. Creepy. Macabre. decay. human remains. History. Medieval. Middle Ages. momento mori. corpse. effigy.

Cadaver Tomb

A cadaver tomb, or “memento mori tomb”, is a type of recumbent effigy tomb featuring an effigy in the macabre form of a decomposing corpse. The topos was particularly characteristic of the later Middle Ages. [Source]

[Image Sources: 1 : 2 : 3 : 4]

July 15, 2012 with 97 notes
        tags: Death. Macabre. Decay. Soap Lady. Mutter Museum. putrefaction. human body. saponification. adipocere. grave wax. soap. corpse. 19th century. nineteenth century. history. bizarre. weird. odd. strange. Philadelphia. Joseph Leidy. Anatomy. decomposition. dead.
The “Soap Woman” is on display at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Her story is truly bizarre. Sometime in the 19th century, a woman who was rather fat died of yellow fever. After her burial in a Philadelphia cemetery, the fat of her body turned into adipocere. This is a fatty wax composition similar to lye soap. She became saponified in this way when her body fat reacted to the combination of chemicals in the soil. She has been on display at the Mutter Museum since 1874 when Dr. Joseph Leidy, a prominent University of Pennyslvania anatomist, donated her body to the museum. According to Dr. Leidy, the “Soap Woman” died in 1792 in Philadelphia. Her body was uncovered by workmen removing bodies from an old burial yard. In 1942, the museum curator, Joseph McFarland, determined that the “Soap Woman” actually died much later. Eight pins and two four-hole buttons of the clothing she was wearing when buried were dated as being from the early 19th century. A “Soap Man” who was buried alongside the “Soap Woman” is sometimes displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Soap on a Rope…

The “Soap Woman” is on display at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Her story is truly bizarre. Sometime in the 19th century, a woman who was rather fat died of yellow fever. After her burial in a Philadelphia cemetery, the fat of her body turned into adipocere. This is a fatty wax composition similar to lye soap. She became saponified in this way when her body fat reacted to the combination of chemicals in the soil. She has been on display at the Mutter Museum since 1874 when Dr. Joseph Leidy, a prominent University of Pennyslvania anatomist, donated her body to the museum. According to Dr. Leidy, the “Soap Woman” died in 1792 in Philadelphia. Her body was uncovered by workmen removing bodies from an old burial yard. In 1942, the museum curator, Joseph McFarland, determined that the “Soap Woman” actually died much later. Eight pins and two four-hole buttons of the clothing she was wearing when buried were dated as being from the early 19th century. A “Soap Man” who was buried alongside the “Soap Woman” is sometimes displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Soap on a Rope…

(Source: canada.com)

June 21, 2012 with 3,392 notes
        tags: Bodies. Death. Mummies. Mummified. Dead. Skeleton. Mystery. Venzone. Italy. Macabre. Weird. The Mummies of Venzone. Decay.

The Mummies of Venzone

For hundreds of years, a mystery surrounded the cathedral of Venzone, a small city in the province of Udine, Italy. Instead of decomposing normally, bodies buried in the tombs beneath the cathedral were perfectly preserved and still recognizable decades later, a fact which led the townspeople to periodically retrieve and commune with their dead loved ones. In modern times, scientists finally traced the source of this wonder to Hypha tombicina, a microscopic, parasitic fungus that rapidly dehydrates the bodies before decomposition can even begin. [Source]

(Source: pasunautre.com)

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