NECROPANTS! 💀👖💀 It’s spooky season and the Carlaween Countdown continues so I had to post an “oldie but a goodie”. This is one of the weirder human remains stories I’ve come across. It’s a pair of trousers made from human skin called ‘necropants’ or ‘nabrok’ in Icelandic, and they’re displayed in Strandagaldur which is Iceland’s Museum of Sorcery & Witchcraft. Necropants come from 17th century folklore. It was said that if you made some you’d be rich for the rest of your life. The process involved getting permission from someone ALIVE to use their skin after death (quite nice to have consented necromancy – that would satisfy the HTA…) but still you’d need to dig him up post mortem and flay the leg skin to make the trousers. Then you’d have to put them on and shove a couple of items in the scrotal sack: a coin stolen from a widow (like she hasn’t suffered enough!) and also a magic symbol – a nabrokarstafur – written on paper. The trousers will then gruesomely stick to your own skin but it’s worth it as the scrotum will constantly fill with gold…. or so the legend goes… (These are replicas: not real skin). I discussed “5 items made from human remains on the podcast @hardcorelisting a while back (part of the @distractionpiecesnetwork) so I’ll put the link in my stories if you want to hear more 🎙️ https://shows.acast.com/hardcorelisting/episodes/top5thingsmadeoutofhumanbodyparts-specialguestcarlavalentine 🎙️ #remains2beseen #humanremains #anatomy #witchcraft #sorcery #necromancy #necropants #nightofthenecrosuit #iceland #nabrock #flaying #blackmagic #scrotum #runandroll #healthgoth
Given that this is the Halloween Countdown, it seems apt that I post about a mask. This mask could literally be from a modern horror film but it’s actually from the 17th century. It’s made from leather, fabric, false teeth and real human hair – even the beard – worn by Alexander ‘Sandy’ Peden, aka ‘Prophet Peden’. He was a leading figure in the Covenanter movement in Scotland and in 1666 at the age of 40 was denounced as a rebel. He wore this mask to hide his identity while he was giving Coventicles (which is a really cute word for unlicensed church meetings). It’s on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. He died in 1686. I’m not sure whether I would have stayed and listened to what he had to say, or run away screaming..! #humanremains #mask #halloweenmask #carlaween #carlaweencountdown #halloweencountdown #nationalmuseumscotland #humanhair #history
Given that this is the Halloween Countdown, it seems apt that I post about a mask. This mask could literally be from a modern horror film but it’s actually from the 17th century. It’s made from leather, fabric, false teeth and real human hair – even the beard – worn by Alexander ‘Sandy’ Peden, aka ‘Prophet Peden’. He was a leading figure in the Covenanter movement in Scotland and in 1666 at the age of 40 was denounced as a rebel. He wore this mask to hide his identity while he was giving Coventicles (which is a really cute word for unlicensed church meetings). It’s on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. He died in 1686. I’m not sure whether I would have stayed and listened to what he had to say, or run away screaming..! #humanremains #mask #halloweenmask #carlaween #carlaweencountdown #halloweencountdown #nationalmuseumscotland #humanhair #history
My ‘Carlaween’ halloween countdown continues with this beautiful cremation image which is something so few people will have witnessed 🔥 “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire.” (Robert Frost). 🔥 This is one of the most arresting images by photographer Cathrine Ertmann in her series ‘About Dying: Photo Essays from the Morgue.’ She says the series “tries to break down the taboo (of death) by showing something we rarely have access to, and that death can be both hard to look at and also beautiful…It is one of the only things we all share, regardless of gender, nationality, age, or language.” Death: one of the only things we ALL share. I get very tired of having to justify the decision we made – at the pathology museum – to acquire a Public Display Licence and allow “laymen”/the public to view the specimens. We’re currently having some problems with our ability to share the collection with the public and I know similar issues have affected @muttermuseum too. When it comes to death and disease, no-one is a voyeur as these issues affect us all. As long as it’s done in a respectful way and (in the UK, at least) done in such a way as to respect the guidelines set out by the HTA in 1994, then it’s part of our job, as educators, to share this information and these resources. If you agree, please let me know below 👇 Your thoughts, and your support, matter more than ever right now 🙏 #halloweencountdown #carlaween #halloween2023 #humanremains #postmortem #postmortemphotography #remains2beseen #mortuary #morgue #pathology #photography #cathrineertmann #cremation #robertfrost #fire
♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensday
• What Do The Dead See? • When photography was invented in the 1840s, the similarity between the structure of a camera and that of the eye was noted, leading to an idea that whatever a person witnessed at the moment of death could be imprinted on the retina, like a photograph. The pseudo-scientific term for this was Optography, and these theoretical ‘photographs’ were called Optograms. This concept actually has earlier roots than that, when a Jesuit Friar from the 1600s – Christopher Schiener – recorded his observation of a fleeting image on the retina of a frog he was dissecting. But it was the Victorians with their knowledge of photography and endless pseudo-scientific pursuits who took this idea further, in particular German physiologist, Wilhelm Kühne, who claimed to have devised a process to ‘develop’ these optograms temporarily. The most obvious practical use for such a phenomenon would be, of course, forensic – many cases could be solved if it were really possible for an assailant’s image to be preserved on the eyes of the victim; wide-open in terror. Experiments were carried out in Germany at first, and it was even proposed that one of Jack the Ripper’s victims could undergo this procedure. It was such a widespread and enduring belief that when PC G. W. Gutteridge was murdered in Essex, in 1927 by two men who’d stolen a car from London, they didn’t leave the scene after the killing shot: they also shot him through both eyes – to the horror of the postman who found him dead the next morning. I’m lucky enough to have visited the Scotland Yard Crime Museum several times to see this mask which was used in the Gutteridge murder, as well as all the associated guns and accoutrements. More info is in my book ‘Murder Isn’t Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie’. Details of above images will be in the comment below. #forensicscience #forensics #vintageforensics #optography #agathachristie #optograms #scotlandyard #blackmuseum #theblackmuseum #crimemuseum #halloween #hallowerncountdown
• What Do The Dead See? • When photography was invented in the 1840s, the similarity between the structure of a camera and that of the eye was noted, leading to an idea that whatever a person witnessed at the moment of death could be imprinted on the retina, like a photograph. The pseudo-scientific term for this was Optography, and these theoretical ‘photographs’ were called Optograms. This concept actually has earlier roots than that, when a Jesuit Friar from the 1600s – Christopher Schiener – recorded his observation of a fleeting image on the retina of a frog he was dissecting. But it was the Victorians with their knowledge of photography and endless pseudo-scientific pursuits who took this idea further, in particular German physiologist, Wilhelm Kühne, who claimed to have devised a process to ‘develop’ these optograms temporarily. The most obvious practical use for such a phenomenon would be, of course, forensic – many cases could be solved if it were really possible for an assailant’s image to be preserved on the eyes of the victim; wide-open in terror. Experiments were carried out in Germany at first, and it was even proposed that one of Jack the Ripper’s victims could undergo this procedure. It was such a widespread and enduring belief that when PC G. W. Gutteridge was murdered in Essex, in 1927 by two men who’d stolen a car from London, they didn’t leave the scene after the killing shot: they also shot him through both eyes – to the horror of the postman who found him dead the next morning. I’m lucky enough to have visited the Scotland Yard Crime Museum several times to see this mask which was used in the Gutteridge murder, as well as all the associated guns and accoutrements. More info is in my book ‘Murder Isn’t Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie’. Details of above images will be in the comment below. #forensicscience #forensics #vintageforensics #optography #agathachristie #optograms #scotlandyard #blackmuseum #theblackmuseum #crimemuseum #halloween #hallowerncountdown
The Halloween Countdown (“Carlaween”) continues. This amazing image comes from Sanjay Mukhopadhyay (or @smlungpathguy on Twitter) and many of you will recognise this as a Dermoid Cyst or Teratoma. For those of you not quite so familiar I’ll also post the one I have in my collection! – it’s as big as my head and similarly filled with hair, teeth, bone etc. It’s also known – for obvious reasons – as a “monster tumour” which is the Halloween connection. These tumours arise from the female ovary, usually. Ovaries are filled with totipotent stem cells which means cells that have the potential to be any tissue – after all, they’d usually form a baby. In the case of a teratoma they form a benign but strange ‘monster tumour’. I’m posting this one is because Sanjay referred to something called the Rokitansky Protuberance in his tweet (it’s the deformed lumps from which the teeth etc usually arise) and I was surprised to have never heard the term. Many of you know I am a qualified autopsy technician and one of the names most bandied around in our studies is that of Carl Rokitansky (Physician/Pathologist, 1804 – 1878). He has quite a lot of medical terminology named after him and in fact when we eviscerate the deceased at autopsy using the ‘en masse’ method we call it the Rokitansky Method (even though that’s actually incorrect: Rokitansky dissected organs in situ.) Anyway, the moral of the story is that I learned something new because of Sanjay and I guess no matter how much experience we have we are still learning! #humanremains #carlaween #teratoma #dermoidcyst #rokitansky #rokitanskyprotuberance #carlrokitansky #halloween #rokitanskymethod #halloweencountdown
Something to think about when having a cocktail at the Halloween party… This is a lovely example of the top of a skull (the calvarium) carved decoratively to be used as a cup known as a Kapala. This one is from Tibet, photographed by Shizhao, and uploaded to Wikicommons. In Tibetan monasteries these were used to hold wine or bread for ceremonial purposes rather than everyday eating & drinking, so they were elaborately prepared and consecrated before use. The skull usually came from a deceased person who’d had a Sky Burial, still practiced today, which involves the dismembering and scattering of the remains to “give alms to the birds” then retrieving the bones. It’s nearly ‘Halloween’, but of course that holiday originated as a Pagan holiday, Samhain (pronounced sow-EN) and during all pagan rituals, cakes and ale were part of the process. Ritual tools like this have long been used for worship all over the world. #humanremains #halloweencountdown #carlaween #carlaweencountdown #remains2beseen #tibet #skyburial #kapala #halloween #samhain #skull #cakesandale
The Halloween/Carlaween countdown continues with a “Witch” 🧙 This is the skeleton of Joan Wytte as it was displayed in the Museum of Witchcraft in 1998 (The museum is in Boscastle, Cornwall, UK – @museum_of_witchcraft_and_magic). She was born in 1775 and died in 1813 of pneumonia while incarcerated in Bodmin Jail for assault – she was an accused witch but her death came before she could be tried for it. Then her remains were kept as an oddity and eventually displayed in the Museum of Witchcraft which was founded around the 1950s. However, in 1998 the museum’s curator, Graham King, decided to give her a proper burial once an analysis of the bones had been carried out by a professional. Her headstone reads: “Joan Wytte, Born 1775, Died 1813 In Bodmin Gaol, Buried 1998 No Longer Abused” I was near this part of Cornwall in September 2021 and really wanted to go to this museum on my birthday, but the whole petrol situation had us stuck within a few miles of our cottage in Mithian near St Agnes. Next time!!! #humanremains #anatomy #carlaween #bones #pathology #bone #skull #skulls #skeleton #witch #witchcraft #samhain #museumofwitchcraft #cornwall #halloween #boscastle #fridayfright #halloweencountdown #halloween #halloweentheme
Slightly late (because of my exploding eyes…!) the Carlaween Countdown continues with this, an “X-Ray Phantom”, which is a gorgeous medical specimen of a fully articulated human foot set in lucite. Lucite is a plastic (poly methyl methacrylate) and when it was first created in the 40s/50s it became very popular in the manufacture of jewellery, accessories and furniture. It does go by the names acrylic, Plexiglass or Perspex and sheets of it make up our plastic ‘pots’ in the museum. This piece, however, utilises lucite as a resin which in that form is often used for animal preservation rather than humans. The above, however, is an X-ray phantom used for training and you can buy all sorts of these on the internet: hands, knee joints, pelvises etc. Before – once X Rays were discovered around 1896 – the techs used their own hands etc to train on (in fact Rontgen, who discovered them, used his wife…but that’s in another post.) This use of living humans to test the rays led to serious physical complications and if I’ve not posted the sad story of our own Ernest Harnack yet I will soon. That’s why these phantoms were created. In my opinion, if I could take every teaching specimen from my collection at the museum (by which I mean those which are more recent, and kept on the upper floors) and entomb them in lucite resin it would be wonderful! No crappy acrylic/Perspex ‘visijars’ which leak fluid (Kaiserling III) from the joints. No evaporations of fluid through micropores in the plastic, no cloudiness or globules of flat which need to be removed/cleaned and no spontaneous explosions (due to high internal pressure). I LOVE LUCITE!!! Also, am I the only one who thinks “X-Ray Phantom” is a fabulous superhero name? ☠ #humanremains #lucite #carlaween #acrylic #plexiglass #perspex #visijars #specimen #specimens #wetspecimen #severedfoot #specimenconservation #technicalcurator #pathology #medicalmuseum #anatomy #halloweencountdown #halloween2023
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
As a mortician with a green thumb, I own a goth gardening business called ‘Morticulture’ so check out my Instagram @morticult if you have a green thumb. It’s the perfect time of year for plant grave markers, cauldron plant pots, black flowers and more… Link in Bio 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖕 🥀 For Halloween!!! Goth garden plant pots, gravestones, cauldrons and shovel spoons. I’m going to focus on this shop over the next couple of weeks while I have some annual leave, so now is the time to buy!! Once my new book proposal is in, it will go one of two ways: either I can leave my full-time job forever (yey!) and focus on writing and Morticulture full time, or I have to write and stay at work (and therefore close Morticulture ☹️) I’d really prefer the first option so if you’re into goth gardening please consider purchasing, or sharing, or any other type of support and I’ll see what I can do 🖤 🥀 #greenwitch#gothgardening#poisonousplants#prettybutdeadly#prettydeadly#banefulherbs#bloodyblooms#blackflowers#nightbloomingflowers#funeralflowers#morticiaaddams#bloodyvalentine#gloomyblooms#poisonous#thepoisonpath#poisonpath#poisonplants#poisonivy#gothgardener#gothgarden#morticulture#greenmedicine#greenfingersblackheart#greenfingers#greenthumb#bloodyvalentines#littleshopofhorrors#pushingupdaisies#alternativegardening
It’s spooky season and skulls are apt, but I particularly love this dripping orange skull – it has a real vibe of candy melts. It’s one of many “Vanité aux Papillons” by French artist Philippe Pasqua 🦋 💀 From what I can gather, some of his pieces from the “Vanities” series are sculptures, but others are real skulls. His site says: “Another major aspect of Pasqua’s work lies in his series of Vanities’. The technique employed evokes that of the silver and goldsmiths of the Middle Ages working on a reliquary, and also some kind of shamanic ritual. He covers human skulls with gold or silver leaf. Sometimes, he covers them in skins and then tattoos them. Then there is the delicate stage where the skulls are decorated with preserved butterflies, with their outstretched wings and their iridescent colours: the light is refracted on their coloured, powdery surface, or falls into the deep shadows in the eye sockets. He also sometimes pours liquid paint in a thick stream that covers everything and submerges it.” As symbols, both the skull and butterflies are associated with death and mortality: the skull is an obvious one, and butterflies represent the soul, the passing of a loved one, and rebirth. At this time of year – approaching Samhain (pronounced SOW-en) – the veil between the living and the dead is supposedly at its thinnest, Check out his work – all the skulls are lovely and he was originally inspired by his friend Damien Hirst so if you’re a fan of his, you may like Pasqua #carlaween #carlaweencountdown #humanremains #artist #halloween #damienhirst #halloweencountdown #remains2beseen #skull #skulls #vanity #vanitas #butterfly #butterflies #humanskulls #butterflypreservation #goldleaf #philippepasqua
👻 Carlaween continues with the “Ghost” for Monster Monday. This pale, decellularized “ghost heart” is a little miracle for organ donation (shown here with an ordinary heart, image from www.nature.com). The concept is a project started by molecular biologist Dr Doris Taylor and which began around 2008 in the USA. A pig’s heart is placed in a solution which washes or removes the cells that make up most of the tissue, leaving just a protein scaffold behind – and amazingly part of this “washing” process involves baby shampoo! The scaffold, a transparent extracellular matrix, is neutral meaning it won’t be rejected by the new host: i.e. the person receiving the heart. After being re-filled with stem cells from the blood or bone marrow of the host, it’s placed into a bioreactor and left to mature into a fully beating heart with the new ‘identity’. This takes a lot of work and time and is now done in a sterile robotic chamber. The heart can then be transplanted into the recipient as if it was their own organ, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs and improving the post-transplant quality of life as less time is required in hospital. Dr Taylor left academia in 2020 and is currently working with private investors to bring her creation to the public. Human trials are apparently “upcoming”. 👻 I would absolutely LOVE to teach how to make these in a Saturday workshop (like I do with regular heart preservation classes – obviously just the scaffold though; I can’t infuse it with cells!!!!) I could use lambs hearts like I usually do. WHO WOULD LOVE THIS?! 👻❤ Tell me, in comments, if you’d like this or if you’d like me to start doing organ preservation classes again… I miss them! ⬇️⬇️⬇️ #carlaween #humanremains #monster #halloweencowntdown #ghost #remains2beseen #anatomy #pathology #specimen #heart #hearttransplant #ghostheart #halloween #stemcells #organdonation #transplant #monstermonday
Hear me on the “Spooky Sleuthing” episode of Shedunnit https://megaphone.link/AUDD4893765221