Victorian History - Tumblr Posts
I left a comment on the video, but I really wanted to make an infodump post about it to because I’m a spooky little autistic. The newest Ghost Files episode reminded me of one of my favorite spooky history facts that I wanted to share:
CW: Dead people in photos (nothing graphic, very peaceful, but content warning all the same)
So the photo of Joyce and Tim in the archive room, they say one of them is dead and they don’t know which, but in a lot of these “post mortem” photos, if you look closely, there’s an interesting way to tell who’s dead and who’s alive.
“In the 1800s, taking a photo of a dead body wasn’t creepy—it was comforting. In an era when photos were expensive and many people didn’t have any pictures of themselves when they were alive, post-mortem photography was a way for families to remember their deceased loved ones. This was especially true for children, whose mortality rate was much higher than it is now” (Little).
Now, back in good ol’ 1867, there was a little more to taking a photo than a button on an iPhone 13, and it could often a couple of seconds for the photo to actually be taken, in which time people would naturally sway and twitch slightly, which is why people and faces are often blurry in these old photos. It’s like when it’s dark and your phone can’t focus, and it makes you hold your phone still while it takes the shot, but no matter how hard you try, it always comes out fuzzy.
Now, I don’t know if you know this, people 9 times out of 10, dead people don’t move. So when taking these photos, they remain still for the duration of the photo process. I tried to pick some pictures that would really demonstrate this, but it’s super chilling to see just how clear dead people are in these old photos, especially when put against living counterparts.
The one above is one of the clearest examples of this I could find online, but if you’re ever in the Winchester Mystery House, they have some super cool pictures hanging up that demonstrate this concept.
So Shane, Ryan, if you ever see this—well first of all I think I’d probably scream because my favorite creators saw my post—know that you can tell more than which looks “dead inside” because, hey, don’t we all?
Asking Victorian era knowers if those children who went to school during the Victorian era (mainly rich boys) had holidays, or days off, or how many days a week did they go, and how many months a year, and if there were like school years or what
Hogwarts Legacy Weird Headcanons (Pt. 1)
If you guys like learning about the 1890s, which I'm assuming some if not all of you do because of our beloved interactive electronic experience, turn your attention to this very interesting info I found:
Self-defense classes were advertised in the 1890s to women due to recurring attacks on them from criminals (which also happened to be increasing in numbers at the same time. Fantastic.). These classes gained popularity in the 1900s and continued on from there.
One such class instructed women on how to maim, disable or even kill a two-legged brute with an umbrella.
"With the modern umbrella, which is not a slender wooden stick, but a wire rod, as deadly almost as a rapier, the girl who must rely upon her own arm to protect herself from attack in the street is armed with a weapon, the terrible nature of which few realize. But she must learn how to use it skillfully and quickly so as to put a quietus at once upon her opponent’s dream of easy conquest.
The classes at the physical culture establishment referred to are especially organized to make women competent to kill if necessary the man who attacks her while she is armed with an umbrella.
There is, it seems, such a thing as a solar plexus blow with an umbrella that will place the strongest man hors de combat. But the most deadly blow of all is one delivered at the neck of an opponent, driving the sharp steel ferrule straight for the spot an inch or so below the Adam’s apple.
The umbrella should be held in both hands and driven forward with the full weight of the body following it. If the blow lands on the right spot, that is on the neck, past below the apple, it is very likely to make the party attacked a subject for the morgue. The umbrella could be driven right into his neck with the force exerted by even a delicate girl if her weight follows the blow.
The girls who attend this new self-defense class are taught to jab at the eyes of a man who attacks them. All is fair in a case of this kind, for the man who attacks an unprotected woman in the street is deserving of no pity. The girls are also taught to defend themselves against the attacks of two men who come at them simultaneously, stabbing at the face or neck of the nearest and giving the other a back handled blow with the butt. Apart from the usefulness of teaching a girl how to take care of herself if attacked, it may be said that the students derive great benefit from the exercise they go through in the daily drill."
So, if any of your fine OCs are feeling pressed, perhaps have them consider taking up the umbrella.
Pretty neat stuff.
Sources, if you want to read more:
