7 Morbid Victorian Traditions You Won't Believe Actually Used To Be Normal
Have you ever heard of death portraits?
Victorian life had rules for everything, even death, and some of them are so unsettling you almost miss the fact they were treated like normal housekeeping. From posing next to the body of a loved one to building literal safety systems for the fear of premature burial, these weren’t spooky myths, they were real rituals people paid for and carried out.
Picture a household in mourning, relatives trying to “preserve” a memory, and the entire home adjusting its behavior around a single death. Then there are the practical horrors, like coffin alarms wired to a finger and a bell, meant to catch a worst-case scenario nobody wanted to talk about. And while everyone’s grieving, they’re also covering mirrors, worried a break could mean more tragedy.
It’s the kind of tradition that makes you wonder what was considered respectful, and what was just panic with good manners.
1. Death Portraits
Before the advent of photography, it was common to commission painted portraits of deceased loved ones as a way to remember them. However, during the Victorian era, this tradition evolved with technological advancements, and death photographs became the norm.
These photographs often included living relatives posing alongside the body of the deceased, creating a lasting, albeit eerie, memento of the departed.
The practice, aimed at preserving the memory of the loved one in the most lifelike manner possible, might seem macabre to modern sensibilities; yet, it was a deeply valued custom in a time when mortality rates were high, and such images could be the only visual keepsake of the deceased.
Imgur2. Coffin Alarms
In the Victorian era, the fear of premature burial was a genuine concern, owing to the limitations of medical science at the time. To address this terrifying possibility, an innovative solution was devised: the coffin alarm.
This mechanism involved a string attached to the deceased's finger, which then ran through the soil and was connected to a bell atop the headstone. In theory, if the individual was mistakenly buried while still alive, a mere twitch of the finger could ring the bell, alerting passersby to the grave mistake.
The effectiveness of such a device in practice, however, remains a matter of speculation and historical curiosity.
Imgur
3. Cover the Mirrors
In the Victorian era, the death of a household member triggered a series of peculiar customs aimed at honoring the deceased and warding off further misfortune. One such tradition involved covering all the mirrors in the home.
Though the precise rationale behind this practice remains somewhat murky, it was driven by the superstition that an uncovered mirror could lead to more deaths if it were to fall and break. Additionally, there was a belief that mirrors might trap the soul of the departed, preventing them from moving on to the afterlife.
Furthermore, when it came time to remove the body from the house, it was mandated that the deceased be carried out head first. This procedure was rooted in the belief that it would prevent the spirit of the deceased from looking back into the home and beckoning other family members to join them in death, thereby safeguarding the living from following in their footsteps too soon.
These practices reflect the complex interplay of grief, superstition, and ritual that characterized Victorian attitudes toward death and the afterlife.
Kevin Dooley
4. Coal Jewelry
In Victorian England, the passing of a loved one was accompanied by strict mourning customs, especially for women. During the period of grief, traditional jewelry was considered inappropriate.
Instead, women turned to wearing items made from a fossilized form of coal, referred to as lignite or jet. This somber choice reflects the era's deep-rooted morbid fascinations.
James St. John
5. Hair of the Dead
Following the initial mourning period in Victorian England, women were permitted to introduce a single piece of jewelry into their attire. However, this wasn't just any ordinary adornment; it had to be crafted from or contain the hair of the deceased.
This practice, while considered deeply sentimental at the time, might strike modern sensibilities as quite unsettling.
Alisha Vargas
6. Mourning Veils and Bonnets
In the intricate rituals of Victorian mourning, widows bore the weight of their loss not just in their hearts but also through their attire. During the initial three months of mourning, tradition dictated that a widow wear a heavy bonnet paired with a veil, symbolizing the depth of her grief.
As this period passed, the veil could be set aside; yet, the bonnet remained a part of her wardrobe for nine additional months, serving as a visible marker of her ongoing sorrow. Beyond this, some widows chose to don widow's weeds, a specific form of mourning dress, extending up to two years after the loss of their spouse.
This prolonged period of mourning attire reflected the societal expectations of the time, emphasizing the solemnity of widowhood and the respect and remembrance for the deceased.
Lisby
7. Making the Dead Look Alive
Death portraits served a poignant purpose in Victorian times, offering grieving families a tangible memory of their departed loved ones. To create these keepsakes, photographers employed various methods to imbue the deceased with an appearance of life.
This macabre art form often involved meticulously posing the body, sometimes incorporating the individual's favorite possessions or activities into the scene. Additionally, techniques such as propping open the eyes were used to simulate the essence of life, striving to capture one final, lifelike image.
While these practices may seem unsettling to us now, they were a testament to the era's attitudes toward death and the desire to preserve the semblance of a bond that transcended mortality.
Pexels
It starts with death portraits, where relatives posed beside the deceased because it was the only “lifelike” keepsake they could manage.</p>
Then the fear gets more mechanical, when people clung to coffin alarms, string and bell included, because medicine couldn’t rule out being buried too soon.</p>
And right in the middle of that grief, the house turns into a superstition zone, with everyone covering mirrors after a death in the family.</p>
By the time the mourning customs pile up, the whole home feels like it’s bracing for the next bad break, whether it’s a twitch in the ground or a mirror shattering.</p>
It seems that even in an age of progress, Victorians had a flair for the dramatic, blending breakthroughs with a touch of the macabre. Can you imagine yourself with the dead body of a loved one just to preserve it as a memory in a photograph? Yikes!
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Nobody wants to remember a loved one like this, but the Victorians really did.
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