Photographing dead children was a common practice years ago during Late Victorian & Early Edwardian times. (1860 - 1910) Infant & child deaths were very common. For many children even a common sickness could be fatal. I've seen tombstones in graveyards here in Canada from the late 1800's where 3,4 or even as many as 6 young children from a single family who died from sicknesses are buried there. Today many of us are isolated from deaths, especially infant deaths due to modern medicine, whereas in those times it was a common thing. I wonder how many parents or children today would pose for a realistic photo with a dead family member?
Thanks to the O.P. for a insight into the past.

Tnx

So so so sad. How can you not cry when your looking at photos of dead babies?

Becky,
from laughing at the terrible poses.

Because of the nightmare fuel ones where the kids' eyes havent' been closed, it took me a little while to decide which of the sisters was the dead one.

"I wonder how many parents or children today would pose for a realistic photo with a dead family member?"

It's common with babies who were stillborn or died shortly after birth. After all that is the only photograph there will ever be of that baby and its family (siblings included) together.

common in the past, oh my yes. still creepy as hell though.

The practice is still common today, although thankfully infant and child death is much less common. Still many families with stillborn babies, or infants that die very shortly after birth will choose to take and keep a photo to remember their lost child. There are still plenty of modern examples of this type of photography.

The little boy on the horse looks so shocked...."WHAT!, I'm dead!! What"!!!

this is sick. im gonna have nightmares

Agree with Robin... you can still see that the boy's death was not a peaceful one...
The pics scare the hell out of me but it's very interesting nonetheless.

Greetings from Germany, L.

haha.... this is crazy funny .

Greetings from Ivory Coast

I just assume everything back during that time was scary as hell. The overall look and feel of the entire time period has an odd feel to it.

I'd feel bad for laughing at some of these, but I've spent too much time in the dark corners of the internet.

To be fair, this was probably the only picture of the child the parents ever got.

i met a lady once who kept a picture of her dead baby on her desk. and her screensaver was something to the effect of (living son's name) angel on earth......(dead baby's name) angel in heaven.

it's sad and all but i think surrounding herself with it wasn't very healthy.

You can find hundreds more here: http://thanatos.net

AHHH!! the ones with the open eyes scared the shit out of me. Most of them looked like they were sleeping, which is okay. But the rest...shudder. im not gonna sleep well.

omg its so sad

Just a FYI They used to paint on eyes onto the eyelids.. So many of the ones you see that look open are really painted. Prob why some look shocked also.

MORD #17 somehow managed to find a website with "hundreds more", wow !! what a guy....

creepy

Robin,
I don't think any of this is funny , i find it disturbing

What is behind the 10th picture?

Andrew,
I'm pretty sure its the mom or someone, holding up the baby so it doesnt topple off the chair during the photo.

you guys shouldn't be creeped out be this in my opinion...death is something that we all must deal with. the families want something to remember them by and choose to take a photo with their bodies. bodies are just shells. i think today's media has gotten many to associate death with creepy

omg this is wrong is soooo many ways. why would you want memories of things that cause you only pain?

dor e diferente de lembrança! ser esquecido e mais dolorido!!! lembrar de alguem que amamos e bom!....nesta epoca acontecia muito das pessoas lembrarem de tirar fotos so quando a pessoa morria...ve se pelo fato de ter crianças grandes!!...se bem que se um filho meu morresse eu também tiraria uma foto,e conserteza eu não me sentiria bem interra-lo sem uma despedida, ou seja uma foto....e uma forma de eternizar alguém...

In 1984 my baby brother died 2 days after birth due to malformed lungs. I was 2 at the time. I have photographs that my mom took of us. I thought nothing of it. I still think nothing of it. He was in his casket and I was giving him a kiss.

I agree with dalliance, death is natural and unavoidable and there oughtn't to be anything inherently disturbing about the sight of a dead body... but boy, am I still creeped out right now. It's the eyes.

I got on here trying to find the causes of a lot of infant deaths in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I went to a cemetery the other day and was shocked to see as many as four to five little graves from the same family, all or most died the day they were born or lived only a few days. Six of them were under the age of 2 years. Still don't know what CAUSED their deaths. Anyone know of an epidemic or plague about that time? Such a sad thing. I was curious but depressed the rest of the day!

This is so sad, and it troubles my heart that parents actually dressed up and posed their dead little children for photo shots, as if their were still alive. I am lost for words!

i think the one with the little girl and her dolls is incredibly sad, she looks so peaceful.
the one underneath just creeped me the fuck out!

sad, creepy, odd

It's all just so...Weekend at Bernies...

the pics are creepy . so are the clothes and furniture...so depressing...eek

I went to my mother's funeral and i took some pictuers of her i got them difelup and they didn't show up but the other's did my family everything what does this mean

also my mom never like her pictuer taken and she said if i took her pictuer at her funeral it would be okay and she would show up in the photo but she didnt this bothering and want to know what this means my mom died on april 10, 2013 i need some answer plez thank you if you answer