Photography and Death - Framing Death Throughout History

PHOTOGRAPHY AND
DEATH
EMERALD STUDIES IN
DEATH AND CULTURE
Series Editors:
Ruth Penfold-Mounce, University of York, UK; Julie Rugg,
University of York, UK; Jack Denham, University of York
St John, UK
Editorial Advisory Board:

Jacque Lynn Foltyn, National University, USA; Lisa McCormick,
University of Edinburgh, UK; Ben Poore, University of York,
UK, Melissa Schrift, East Tennessee State University, USA; Kate
Woodthorpe, University of Bath, UK
Emerald Studies in Death and Culture provides an outlet for
cross-disciplinary exploration of aspects of mortality. The series cre-
ates a new forum for the publication of interdisciplinary research
that approaches death from a cultural perspective. Published texts
will be at the forefront of new ideas, new subjects, new theoreti-
cal applications and new explorations of less conventional cultural
engagements with death and the dead.
Published titles
Brian Parsons, The Evolution of the British Funeral Industry in
the 20th Century: From Undertaker to Funeral Director
Ruth Penfold-Mounce, Death, The Dead and Popular Culture
Matthew Spokes, Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces
Racheal Harris, Skin, Meaning, and Symbolism in Pet Memori-
als: Tattoos, Taxidermy, and Trinkets
Dina Khapaeva, Man-Eating Monsters: Anthropocentrism and
Popular Culture
PHOTOGRAPHY AND
DEATH: FRAMING DEATH
THROUGHOUT HISTORY
BY
RACHEAL HARRIS
United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India

Malaysia – China
Emerald Publishing Limited
Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK
First edition 2020
© 2020 Racheal Harris. Published under exclusive licence by

Emerald Publishing Limited
Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without
either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence
permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright
Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance
Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the
authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality
and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation
implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and
application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to
their use.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN: 978-1-83909-048-6 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83909-045-5 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-83909-047-9 (Epub)
For Roy and Julie, my parents.
I know that all my strange and morbid childhood
fascinations were once a cause for concern. As we see
now however, everything in life has its purpose…
CONTENTS
List of Images vii

Acknowledgementsix
Introduction: Death and Post-mortem

Photography in History 1
1. Romance: Post-mortem Photography 19
2. Anonymity: War Photography 41
3. Continuance: Spirit Photography 63
Pictorial Inserts 85
4. Violence: The Lynching Photograph 109
5. Ownership: Celebrity Death 129
6. Science: Forensic Photography 151
Conclusion: Future Living through Death Images 171
Further Resources 175
References179
Index189
vi
LIST OF IMAGES
Image 1. Camera Obscura

Image 2. Flower Wreath
Image 3. Civil War Era Amputation Saw
Image 4. Antique Chair
Image 5. Mourning Photograph of a Small Child
Image 6. Mother and Deceased Child
Image 7. Study of a Dead Child
Image 8. A Harvest of Death
Image 9. The Home of the Rebel Sharpshooter
Image 10. Bodies Awaiting Mass Burial,
Belsen Concentration Camp
Image 11. Civil War Embalmer at Work
Image 12. Jesse James Death Card
Image 13. Jesse James in Coffin
Image 14. Jesse James Dressed for Burial
Image 15. The Dalton Gang
Image 16. Bronson Murray
Image 17. Double Exposure of a Female Medium
Image 18. John K. Hallowell and 15 Other Faces
Image 19. Medium Eva C
Image 21. Spirit Photograph for Stereoscope
Image 22. Stereoscope Viewer
Image 23. Accidental Spirit Photograph
Image 24. Lynching of Frank McManus
Image 25. Anonymous Lynching Victim
vii
viii List of Images
Image 26. Body of James Brown

Image 27. Grave of Jim Morrison 2018
Image 29. Grave of Elvis Presley
Image 30. Barren tree
Image 31. Clap board
Image 32. Crime scene markers
Image 33. Coffin
Image 34. Camera on Tripod
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A resounding thank you is necessary to all the members of

my personal support crew, mentioned below in no particular
order.
Anne McConnell, who taught me the most important les-
son about proof reading that I have ever learned! Michelle
Meehan for assisting my early research into dead celebrity
figures; Byron Ware for always being proud of me, regard-
less of the direction in which I end up traveling; and Piotr
Jurek for rescuing me when that direction lands me stranded
and exhausted at Kings Cross Station, with a broken suitcase.
I have also been thankful every day for Elwood, who has sat
by my side through endless drafts and tantrums, delivering
judgment only via the occasional purr.
I am deeply indebted to my brother, Elliott Harris, who
was the benefactor for my early fieldwork for this project.
Without that assistance, this book would likely never have
come together.
Finally, Tom, your gentle encouragement, good humor and
endless patience are comforts which continue to be appreci-
ated … I do hope you never tire of finding new ways to say,
“I told you so.”
Beyond all of this, each of you are, and have long been, a
blessing in my life.
You are loved most for that.
ix
This page intentionally left blank
INTRODUCTION
Image 1. Camera Obscura Source: Shutterstock.
DEATH AND POST-MORTEM

PHOTOGRAPHY IN HISTORY
1
2 Photography and Death
We were all born to die.

— Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene IV.
Death has cast its long shadow across the living since the
beginning of time. Disinterested in gender, class or econom-
ic status, but most importantly, disinterested in our dreams
and future plans, death is perhaps the greatest source of life’s
anxieties. Yet, we cannot live without it. Death gives us a
framework for living life, warns us to take no future time for
granted, reminds us to make the most of every moment. It is
because of death that we have the ability to love so power-
fully and live so vibrantly, and although it may not always be
evident, it is death that teaches us the importance of connec-
tion and memory.
So, if death is responsible for creating much of the depth
and richness of the human experience, why do we continue
to fear it?
A primary reason, one which is intrinsically interwoven
with our human fixation on death, is uncertainty. No one has
ever survived dying and thus there is no scientific record of
what it is like to pass on from this world (highly contested
accounts of near-death experiences not withstanding). As
such, what we claim to “know” about death is, not actually
very much at all. The emotions, coupled with the tangible loss
we experience when someone dies (the loss of their physical
presence) continue to cause discomfort indiscriminate of age,
cultural background or social upbringing. It is this unknow-
ing that fills us with fear, grief and anxiety. These emotions,
coupled with the tangible loss, are experienced when some-
one dies (the loss of their physical presence) and continue to
cause a discomfort indiscriminate of age, cultural background
or social upbringing. Begrudgingly, we are led to accept that
death is the universal unknowable, which has forced human-
kind to look at other ways of engaging with the concept of
Introduction: Death and Post-mortem Photography in History 3
what it means to die and mourn those who have gone before
us. Always these are ways which do not involve acquainting
ourselves too closely or directly with death, lest it come for us
too early. In response to our morbid curiosities, we have often
relinquished individual beliefs or practices in favor of those
which reflect the communal whole.
Over the course of recorded history, what has become evi-
dent is that the relationship which humans share with death,
as a concept, a personified figure, a transitional phase or a
definitive ending has varied greatly and often in accordance
with societal attitudes about the purpose of death and the
existence of an afterlife. The traces of these cultural discours-
es are evident in the artistic output of generations of artists,
artisans and everyday citizens. It confronts us in scripture,
music, art and literature. Death has played a vital role in our
creative and artistic outputs as much as in academic discourse
because, until relatively recently, death existed alongside the
living in an intimate, if not always comfortable proximity. In
western societies of the current era however, death has largely
been removed from the public gaze. Like the infirm, elderly or
dying, death has been banished from the public view, perhaps
because it is so at odds with the consumerist society of which
we are all a part. Ours is an era built around the impenetrable
notions of youth, beauty and ownership, forever. Little atten-
tion is given to how we will die, because too much of our time
is demanded in service of convincing other people (as well
as ourselves), how marvelous it is to be alive. Rather than
hoping for a “Good Death” we are programed to live our
“best life,” with no thought of what may come after. Yet,
death persists.
In recent years, we are beginning to see a resurrection of
sorts, with death positive movements and death studies gath-
ering momentum in both the real and virtual landscapes.
Their message is an important one, to assure us that there
is nothing more certain than the fact that we too, one day,
will die. There is nothing to fear, for it is an inevitability, one
which if we can accept it, we can control to some degree.
Control too plays a large role in how we respond to the
idea of death. Now more than ever we believe that it is possi-
ble to control dying, either through the use of medical science,
healthy eating or a range of mysticisms. Humans have a fantas-
tic propensity for self-delusion. Subconsciously, we inherently
know this, of course. Again and again we slowly return to our
fixation with the specter of death, always enamored with the
idea of glimpsing it from a safe distance. Such glimpses have
come in many forms, but it is the photographed image which
renders them most faithfully. Photographs capture a moment
not as we would like it to be, but as it was. In carrying no bias
of subject or object, they can render a scene with complete clar-
ity. Unsurprisingly, the camera has been called the perfect medi-
um for engaging with death and the “authentic” death scene.
From the moment of its invention (around 1816), the cam-
era has been used as a tool for memorializing the departed
and yet, a large amount of its relationship with death and
the dead body remains unconsidered in contemporary con-
versations about dying. During the period of Victorian era
and the Civil War, photographic images played a central role
in commemoration, as well as being conduits for the way
that society understood and discussed death. After the epic
and devastating loss of life experienced during the Civil War
and later, World War I, this tether shifted to include the spirit.
While many longed to contact loved ones on the other side, it
was only the camera that could offer proof of the legitimacy
of such encounters. Although romantic in its intent, spirit
photography was a short-lived fad and one soon replaced
with images of distinctly nefarious intent. The shadow of
murder and genocide, evident in the postcard snapshots of
lynching victims, and later the barbarity scenes of World War
II, marked a turning point in how death was framed in imag-

es. In exposing atrocity in all its forms, photojournalism has
played an important role in educating global society about the
terrors of racial discord and war. The adoption of the medium
for this purpose has not been without casualties of its own
however, for in erasing emotion from its narrative, it has also
removed emotion from its audience. We are now so used to
the site of atrocity images in television and print media that
their relationship to personalized and individual death has
become obstructed. It is unsurprising that the implementa-
tion of these types of death photograph corresponded with a
marked turn away from traditional styles of death photogra-
phy, which remained absent from social view and public dis-
course until the 1970s. Upon its rebirth in the artistic realm,
death became the medium of documentation for a range of
health epidemics such as cancer and AIDS (Linkman, 2012,
p. 154). Using the image to record the impact on the body of
these diseases, what emerged was a photographic reflection
on the lives of these individuals, who had often been stig-
matized within society specifically because of their illness.
Such stigma recalls Howarth’s (2007, p. 211) discussion of
the social death that took place during the Victorian era, in
which the ill would gradually remove themselves from the
public gaze as a means of maintaining dignity in the face of
ill-health and impending death.
In the realm of popular entertainment, television and the
internet have begun to play a more prominent role in how
death and the corpse are visualized, mediated and distrib-
uted across global society (Penfold-Mounce, 2010, p. 261).
Audiences engage with varying forms of death through dra-
ma series that highlight the medical profession, as much as
supernatural narratives in which the dead and undead play
prominent (and frequently romantic) roles. In both examples,
dying, death and the body are central to these narratives.
In the case of the latter however, romantic entanglements with

the undead rarely address the body as deceased. The resurrec-
tion of the soul or essence of the person in these scenarios
distracts from the intimate encounters which living characters
within the narrative are having with death and the dead body.
This changes the way that audiences perceive death by engag-
ing with the desires for self-preservation that are essential to
human survival, whilst also pandering to a fascination with
immortality. In these examples, death is not representative of
finality, and thus, it becomes more palatable. The avoidance
of embracing death within a more realistic framework does
not always meet the needs of all viewers.
Documentaries and docudramas which focus on true crime
offer a popular alternative and continue to command a large
audience on network and streaming services. These examples
will be discussed in more detail later, with attention focused
on the use of the photographic image within the narrative and
how the juxtaposition of still and moving pictures changes
viewer interpretations of death and the death scene. In paral-
lel to television, the ease of access with which we can view
images of the dead online, continues to shape modern ideas
about death and dying. Photography of any kind of death
or death site, particularly those which share a relationship
with atrocity, present a range of perceptual frames (Lennon,
2018, p. 587). A Google search can instantaneously conjure
images of death in any of its guises, some of which once seen,
can never be completely erased from memory. These forms of
popular media, whilst sometimes being unpalatable or fantas-
tical in their representations, create a space in which viewers
explore human mortality, challenge ideas and phobias about
death or delve into the minds of murderers, all while in a safe
space (Penfold-Mounce, 2016, p. 3).
What these trends prove is how photographic images have
become ubiquitous in the current era, so much so that most audi-
ences fail to register how many they witness from day to day.
As a result, we have become numb to photography in many
regards, and in our intimacy with the media, have all too fre-
quently neglected to register its morbid history. The purpose
of this book is to begin to change this attitude, to wrestle back
some of our unconscious witnessing, so that we may once
again begin to challenge how we look at death in the image,
what it has meant to prior audiences and what it means to us
in the contemporary setting.
Of interest to this collection is not only purely the content
of the image and what it conveys, but also the impact it has
on the viewer. In my discussion, there are three audiences to
consider. The first is the audience for whom the image was
intended. While we may not be able to establish a specific
identity for an individual or group of individuals, the style
and content of the photograph will indicate its historical
context. The second audience is myself, writing about these
images as I have seen, interpreted and understood them. The
lens I adopt is both tainted by the contemporary society of
which I am a part, as much as it is by my own feeling and
experience. Finally, the third audience is you, the reader.
In every single image discussed herein, this tripartite relation-
ship is present in the three-way discussion which we conduct
with the image. The outcome and conclusions we reach will
be different, reflecting our own lived experience, knowledge
of history, cultural background and relationship with death;
yet the discussions themselves are essential to conduct.
The act of looking challenges us to notice what it is we are
witnessing in an image. As will become evident, no two death
images will be alike and even those from the same conflict
or time period have the capability to prompt wildly different
responses. Throughout each chapter, attention will be given to
the historical context of the images under discussion, as well
as to the people they depict (where their identity/identities
are known). The photograph is always a product of its time

(Benjamin, 2016, p. 7; Lennon, 2018, p. 591) and in review-
ing it outside of its historical context, the burden is on us as
viewers to accept that now is not then, and that we cannot
apply the societal standards of the contemporary world onto
the past. For cohesion, my conversation will draw on the pro-
duction purpose of the image and what it reveals about the
historical period it represents and how death was discussed
during that time. These ideas will then be related to the con-
temporary period, its attitudes about death, the agency of the
body and the role of the viewer in the death narrative. In con-
fronting death images which are opposed to contemporary
beliefs, as with those which are an affront to our morals and
ethics, is important to understanding the purpose of death
photography. In Ways of Seeing, John Berger reminds us that
it is sight that comes before words, seeing which allows the
individual to establish their place within the world (Berger,
2009, p. 7). Therefore, every time we look at an image, we
must realize that what is being portrayed did at one time exist
in the world (Young, 2010, p. 86). Each of the images I discuss
in this book have one thing in common: death. But it is how
they communicate death that is the nucleus of our discussion.
John Berger’s work on photography and the image has
been influential in assisting me to formulate my approach, as
has the work of Roland Barthes. Elements of Berger’s philoso-
phy on the image will be apparent throughout each chapter,
with some forming the basis of my own discussions on how
death images might be read and interpreted by the contempo-
rary audience. Of note will be instances in which the image
draws parallels with specific styles or eras of art composition.
In contrast, Barthes (2000, p. 9) dissection of the image, spe-
cifically his tripartite analysis of operator, subject and viewer,
is central to my discussion. Barthes, much like Walter Benja-
min (2016, p. 39) before him, had a preoccupation with the
use of photography in the death scene. Unlike other forms of

interpretive narrative, which are often preoccupied with nos-
talgia and the past, in instances where the subject is deceased,
Barthes (2000, p. 21) and Benjamin suggest there is an added
sense of fascination with looking which relates to pondering
our individual mortality.
By his own admission, Berger (2013, p. xi) is indebted to
the work of Susan Sontag (who also cites Barthes as one of
her main influences), specifically her series of essays which
form On Photography. Unlike Berger, Sontag is not a for-
mally trained academic, something which has drawn criti-
cism from other academics within the field (Costello, 2017,
p. 1). Regardless of this criticism, her work is used here as an
accompaniment to existing academic works but also with the
intention of appealing to a wider audience, one which may
not necessarily be coming to this study with academia as a
motivator. By interweaving her interpretations and responses
to the photographic image with those of philosophers such as
Benjamin, Barthes and Berger, my aim is to make this collec-
tion accessible to academics and general readers alike, with-
out surrendering any of the benefits which either the lay or
academic perspective brings.
The more recent scholarship of Margaret Schwartz
has been influential to elements of this project, specifically
in relation to how the dead body can be read as a form of
media. Chapters which consider the celebrity body, and, to
a lesser extent, the celebrity burial site have been informed
by Schwartz, along with the extensive research of Ruth
Penfold-Mounce and Jacque-Lynn Foltyn. Schwartz has also
explored the differing ways in which the lynching image
has been used as a form of social commentary and the
underlying racial tensions which the trade of these images
and their use in the press has represented. In addition to this
discussion on lynching, Jacqueline Goldsby’s extensive work
(A Spectacular Secret, 2006) is essential to any study focused

on the topic, while edited collections such as Thompson,
Friend and Glover’s Death and the American South (2017),
while not explicitly focused on this act, have added clarity
and depth to my understanding of the images and the histori-
cal period in which many of them were produced.
Online resources such as the Thanatos Archive are invalu-
able to any inquiry into the death image. The array of death
photography here has been integral to establishing the com-
positional narrative of both post-mortem and spiritualist
photographs, while archives from the Library of Congress
and the Getty open-access archive were also invaluable to
my discussion. Many of these images feature herein and can
be found between Chapters 4 and 5. Martin Jolly’s work on
Spiritualism and the image (Faces of the Living Dead: The
Belief in Spirit Photography, 2006), along with Clement
Cheroux’s The Perfect Medium (2005) each bring together
a vast array of visual source materials. They have been used
here alongside Jeffery Sconce’s Haunted Media: Electronic
Presence from Telegraphy to Television (2000) to construct a
more detailed narrative around the importance of science and
the role of women in any discussion of Spiritualism and its
death narratives. Audrey Linkman’s Photography and Death
(2012) is crucial to forming a history of how death rituals
and their relation to photography have changed over the past
250 years. Her work has been cited extensively in Chapters 1
and 3 as it represents the most comprehensive study in the field
of American death photography to have been completed.
My goal has always been to construct a study that appeals

to research audiences as much as to general readers. As such,
I have constructed each chapter to consider a different aspect
of the death photograph, to question its purpose in relation
to the historical time period in which it was produced, and
to interrogate how it contributes to the complex ideas society

holds about death in the present. In doing so, the collection
offers a cohesive narrative around how death exists in celluloid
form from a historical, romantic, political, religious, racial, pop-
cultural and scientific perspective. At the core of every example,
however, is the notion that the human preoccupation with death
is felt profoundly through photography because it is primarily
through looking upon images of the dead body that narratives
about death and the afterlife are formed (Warren, 2017, p. 122).
When looking at the death image, it is never the person
captured as they were in life. Instead, we are invariably greeted
with the idea of how we wanted them to be, which is influ-
enced by how we choose to remember them (Berger, 2013,
p. 480). One thing which all death photography has in com-
mon is vanity. These images are all audience focused; the dead
may be the focal point, but they serve the needs of the living.
Always. This is not to suggest that such vanity is nefarious.
In some instances, such as the lynching photograph, it may
be – but more often, death photos appeal to the sense of vanity
which dwells in each of us, which speaks to the hope that
when we die, we will be remembered and missed by the liv-
ing. Examined chronologically, each chapter considers one of
the guises which death photography has worn as an expres-
sion of this vanity. My discussion begins with the birth of
the photograph and its subsequent use as a means of memo-
rializing the dead. In Chapter 1, focus is given to examples
of traditional death imagery. These are images in which the
dead are photographed with the express intention of being
remembered by the family and loved ones left behind. Highly
personal, the death image in this instance was a memento for
bereaved loved ones that may have been absent at the time
of death. Often taken in the era before embalming was wide-
ly practiced, bodies of the dead had to be buried quickly to
avoid contaminating the home. When family members had to
traverse large geographical areas to participate in mourning

rituals, it was often impossible to attend the funeral or wake
and thus the mourning image became a conduit through
which the grief stricken were able to say farewell. The lon-
gevity of these images also made them important to larger
family narratives, in which the dead continued alongside the
living, their likeness displayed so that their memory was not
forgotten. These narratives were often framed by romantic
notions of the Good Death and were underpinned by a larger
cultural familiarity with early mortality and a yearning for
spiritual reunion (Cox, 2003, p. 71; Schimmelman, 2007,
p. 230). Death, in these examples, was a romanticized notion,
in which the deceased were released of their earthly discom-
forts to continue eternally in the grace of God. This notation is
frequently present in the composition of the image, whilst also
being evident in the personal correspondence which accompa-
nied their distribution to family members (Jalland, 1996).
The romanticized death narrative, while recurring through-
out history, particularly in relation to spiritualism and occult
practices, became a point of criticism with the advent of the
Civil War (1861–1865). Chapter 2 examines the morphology
from romantic notions of death and the afterlife to a view
of war and how the mass casualties experienced throughout
America led to a vastly different attitude about death and
the afterlife. These sentiments would remain present through-
out World War I (1914–1918), when images of soldiers were
again used to comment on loss of life. In more recent conflicts,
particularly the Vietnam War (1955–1975), the same genre of
imagery has been more frequently adopted in support of dis-
tinct political agendas. At times, this has been to the detriment
of the subjects within the photograph. Advancements in the
technological capacity of the camera between the Civil War
and World War I would also allow for images to be altered,
giving photographers and artists of this era a wider scope
in which to convey ideas about death on the battlefield.

With the phenomenal tragedies and drastic loss of life during
the Civil War and again in World War I, there was no longer
the opportunity or the emotional stamina to create a roman-
tic death narrative around every dead soldier. The first half
of the chapter considers this with a specific focus on Alex-
ander Gardner and his images of Gettysburg. In addition to
being some of the most well-recognized photographs of the
event, Gardner’s work was also widely mass produced. The
invention of the stereoscope during this period allowed death
to enter the home in three dimensions. Accessing the site of
death in this way drastically changed how death narratives
were constructed. It was around this time too that embalming
was perfected and became an integral part of death rituals.
As such, the chapter develops into a discussion on how pho-
tographs have been used to promote the process of embalm-
ing and how the practices of embalming, in turn, contributed
to the composition of death photography. Where battlefield
images were focused on the brutal and anonymous deaths of
soldiers, embalming provided the opportunity for the dead
to return home, even if only captured in a carte de viste. The
final section of the chapter conducts a brief consideration of
the different photographic techniques which were employed
in World War I. While images of the dead were integral to
these designs, they are also indicative of an evolution in after-
life narratives, in which the dead retained autonomy. These
autonomous souls would become central to the religious
beliefs of Spiritualism and are evident in the spirit photograph.
Chapter 3 moves on to a more pronounced focus of the
afterlife, a theme common to death photography of the early
twentieth century. Popular within the Spiritualism movement,
many death photographs were highly staged or intricate
forgeries, yet their detail and the sentiment of their produc-
tion are important to consider when examining ideas about
death. Scientific intrusion into previously religious cultural

ideas would also go on to have a momentous impact on how
society would look at death and the afterlife (Sconce, 2000,
p. 10). Although scientific breakthroughs, particularly in the
field of medicine, were doing a great deal to dispel previous
superstitions about dying, the need for death narratives and
mementoes remained. These, unlike their post-mortem pre-
decessors discussed in Chapter 1, were about the living and
their search for acceptance and closure (Kaplan, 2003, p. 19).
Through social movements such as Spiritualism, the death
image became tangible proof that there was a life beyond
this one and that the dead mourned the living as much as we
mourned for them (Natale, 2019, pp. 34–35).
Mourning is not the only purpose for death photogra-
phy. While this has undoubtedly always been the motivation
behind the specific genre of image discussed in earlier chap-
ters, the social turn toward engaging with death photographs
purely for the purpose of enjoyment becomes more preva-
lent in later examples. It is nowhere better personified than
in images of atrocity and murder. Chapter 4 looks explicitly
at the lynching image. Rather than purely an assessment of
how the lynching photograph or postcard can be read as a
historic text, my interest here is to consider how it was dis-
seminated as a macabre kind of collectable item and what this
practice tells modern audiences about the divorce of death
from the objectified body. In these examples, unlike those in
the previous chapter, the corpse becomes a symbol for the
social and cultural interests of the living, while the death and
afterlives of the dead are removed from the conversation that
these images project. Unlike previous examples, this deriva-
tive of the death image speaks explicitly to the sense of con-
trol which humans attempt to exercise over death, one which
is played out in causing the deaths of others. When viewed
in relation to the violent periods of war which preceded
the wide spread dissemination of lynching images, and those

which became a precursor to World War II atrocity photo-
graphs, it is unsurprising that images of this era began the
trend of engaging with death in this way. In the present, it is
still possible to see ideas of control and ownership present in
death imagery, albeit in different scenarios.
Chapters 5 and 6 develop this idea by prompting a
consideration of what the image means within the context
of contemporary society and its views on death, the agency
of the body and ownership over it (Haward, 2010, p. 1). The
sense of ownership which the community feels over a deceased
body is interesting when we view it in relation to the celebrity
figure. In Chapter 5, I apply this idea to the photograph of
the celebrity corpse, offering an assessment of how death
images have been used in a variety of contexts and the cultural
narrative which these images curate. As case studies, I use the
death scene photographs of John Belushi and Chris Farley, the
autopsy photographs of John Lennon and Tupac Shakur, and
the grave side photographs of Elvis Presley and Jim M orrison.
In the case of the latter, the body is absent from view, yet the
burial site acts as a substitute for the ownership which fans
have projected on the celebrity image. In looking at the various
ways that the image of the celebrity corpse is circulated, we
begin to understand the role of the body in the composition of
contemporary death narratives. This relationship has a close
connection to fandom, while also being indicative of the darker
emotions present when beloved figures die (Foltyn, 2008,
pp. 156–157). In these examples, brutal death often attracts
more public interest than natural death or death from illness.
Fans demand to see images of the body in its death state, even
feeling as though it is their entitlement (Foltyn, 2016, p. 249).
Haward (2010, p. 3) has described the world as a “medi-
ated crime fest” in which fiction and non-fiction accounts
and representations of crime are constantly overlapping.
Chapter 6 considers the developing field of crime scene pho-

tography and the role it plays in how death is not only deter-
mined but also how the story of crime and death are narrated
to audiences through different genres and forms of media.
In many dramatic or serialized drama examples, this narra-
tive will center on the idea of the corpse as its own form of
testimony – a definitive piece of evidence with a story to tell
(Crossland, 2018, p. 624). In reality, this can be somewhat
different. Of interest to my assessment is the way in which
forensic death images feed the enduring fascination which
humankind has with its own mortality, specifically when it
is at odds with the moral standards which society deems to
be acceptable. The examination of forensic photography also
considers the powerful role which television and true-crime
documentaries have played in how contemporary audiences
understand and view the dead. In doing so, my discussion
of the image adopts the concept that popular culture and its
associated visual media create a safe space for audiences to
relate to death (Penfold-Mounce, 2016, p. 30) in its various
forms and in a safe (and usually private) space.
In history, as in contemporary society, there are a lot of dif-

ferent variations on death photography. Regrettably, it is not
possible to consider every genre of death photograph within
this volume and careful consideration has been made around
which examples provide comprehensive source material,
enough to begin the conversation which needs to take place
around death photography. This collection has been drawn
together in aid of the examination of the different roles which
the death and post-mortem photograph have held within the
social and cultural sphere. While it is by no means an exhaus-
tive study, it acts as the initial step in a larger dialog, one in
which we do not shy away from looking at death but r efocus
the living gaze on a consideration and confrontation of
our own mortality. As the death-positive movement gains

momentum around the world, particularly in the United
States, and writers on death studies such as Caitlyn Dougherty
command a quasi-celebrity status, it is now more important
than ever that academics shift their focus toward a more mul-
tidisciplinary consideration of death and the power of the
death image in the social idea of what it means to die.
While I have tried to include a rich selection of death imag-
es which represent each of the individual chapters within this
book, there are many that had to be omitted both for length
and because of access to printing rights. You will find at the
end of this book an appendix of all the images I have discussed.
For those not included in the photographic section of the
book, a quick search online will bring you right to them.
The benefit of experiencing the death image through a
medium like this is that you may do so one-to-one and in your
own time. As you read this book and encounter these images,
I hope you adopt the spirit of self-reflection in considering
how each of the photographs speak to you. As the discussion
you will have with these images takes place in the privacy of
these pages as opposed to a public forum such as the class-
room, museum or gallery setting, there is no risk of judgment
or criticism. You are not obligated to curate your emotions for
the benefit of those around you, nor in accordance with what
is considered a socially acceptable response to the content.
As a final word of caution, several chapters within this collec-
tion deal with subject matter that can be confrontational. Thus,
I caution readers that they may be confronted with images that
are deeply unsettling and disturbing. It is not my intention to
cause distress to any reader, however I do feel it is important
that we fully realize the cultural and historical legacy to which
we are all recipients – even when that is unpleasant and, at
times, a source of shame. Without looking to the past to educate
ourselves, we risk repeating the same mistakes in the future.
CHAPTER 1
ROMANCE
Image 2. Flower Wreath Source: Shutterstock.
POST-MORTEM PHOTOGRAPHY
19
John Berger (2013, p. 20) suggests that the most popular

use for the photograph is as a memento of the absent. When
considering the death image, it is not difficult to see where
this sentiment rings true, for no other style of image encap-
sulates longing so specifically. There is nothing we long for
more than what we can no longer hold and no absence more
pronounced than that in which the cause of separation is
death. If those we love are far away from us geographically,
they at least retain their ability for correspondence. It is that
correspondence through which we convey care and establish
certainty about our shared relationship. When this avenue is
removed from us by death, it does not remove our need to
feel connected to those we love. If anything, death demands
that we articulate emotion with more clarity, as if that were
necessary to the departed knowing how profoundly they are
missed. Mourning is a customary means for conveying con-
tinued care after the death of a loved one. We mourn not only
for their absence but also for ourselves. It is the living who
suffer the absence of the dead and seek to fill it with memen-
toes of relationships halted by the inevitability of mortality.
The photograph is a tangible representation of that which is
absent.
The invention of photography played a vital role in memo-
rializing as much as it did in the construction of mourning
narratives and death rituals. What imbues the image with
significance when viewed within the context of mourning is
that it captures a complete likeness of the person who is now
absent. Though looking upon this likeness can be painful,
having it ensures that we will not succumb to the fogginess of
memory, that we will maintain an avenue of connection with
the person that has been, even though they are now no longer.
Roland Barthes discusses this concept in his study on photog-
raphy, Camera Lucidia (2000[1981]). Although his discussion
considers the power of images from quite a broad spectrum,
Romance: Post-mortem Photography 21
Barthes is at his most vulnerable and honest analysis of their

power when talking about the relationship he shares with
his collection of photographs of his deceased mother. He
describes returning to her pictures in an attempt to find her,
as though he might uncover something about her personal-
ity, her past, which was previously unknown to him and, in
doing so, might understand her better despite the void which
death has placed between them (Barthes, 2000, pp. 65, 67,
99–100). For Barthes, every photograph is symbolic of death.
It is proof that because we have lived, we will all one-day die
(Barthes, 2000, p.73). The photographs mark the passage of
her life before and after his birth, they provide him an insight
into who she had been before he knew her, whilst acting as
conduit through which he can still know her now that she is
gone. What becomes evident throughout this narrative, is that
in Barthes assessment the photograph has given a new dimen-
sion to the relationship he shares with his mother. Although
she has succumbed to inevitable death, through the image she
can remain present. Still, this is not an easy presence, it is
one steeped in mourning, uncertainty and unknowing. These
sentiments are indicative of the relationships which humans
continue to have with images of the dead.
This chapter grounds itself in the adoption of this aspect

of Barthes scholarship, entwining it with similar perspectives
that John Berger has discussed in his works. Unlike the follow-
ing chapters, which will embrace the same approach however,
this chapter looks most closely at the intimate link between
the beloved dead and the death image. When using the term
“beloved dead” I am referring specifically to lost loved ones.
These are individuals who, while they may be unknown to
contemporary viewers of the image, were known and loved
by family members at the time the image was created. This
sense of love is conveyed through the appearance of the body
within the image (the care which has been shown to its pres-
entation) along with the way the image is constructed. These
are photographs of sentimentality and mourning, which often
formed an outlet for emotions which were not allowed to
be expressed publicly (Blood & Cacciatore, 2014, p. 225;
Hilliker, 2006, p. 247). Regardless of who they portray, it is
this composition which conveys their sentiment and regard-
less of the passage of time, it is sentiment which continues to
speak to a global audience.
The image is a poignant reminder of mortality, for in repre-
senting death, the photograph represents the locus of human
uncertainties. Uncertainty for the living because they have
no means of possessing that which they love, no evidence of
the progress of the soul from one life into the next, and no
proof that autonomy or emotion are eternal – that the bonds
we created with our loved ones in life transcend beyond our
last breath. For the dead, the image represents uncertainty
related to memory, challenging how the individual life can
be remembered based on what tangible proof remains after
life has ended. To account for this uncertainty, memorial
images frequently romanticize rather than challenge the idea
of dying. In casting the dead in a romantic light, the living
become distracted from the inevitability of decay, whilst
being allowed the indulgence of afterlife reunion narratives.
Regardless of the era or mode of their production, any image
of the deceased is a very specific kind of text. It represents
the triple narrative of a relationship lived and living (one
which continues beyond the mortality of one party), as a his-
torical proof of life (this person did live), and as a tangible
locus of absence (this person is no longer). Although the
visage that greets us in the post-mortem image will invari-
ably be of the other, in looking at it we are also always
confronted with the certainty of our death. More often than
not, we cannot look away.
My discussion of variations on the death image will be

divided into three sections. The first provides a brief over-
view of the history of death narratives and how these pertain
to the moment of death and subsequent capturing of human
likeness. I consider examples which capture the subject imme-
diately prior to death as well as in the days following. The
former, while not depicting death, clearly infer that its arrival
is immanent and as such form the foundation for how the
memorial narrative for the individual is related to the con-
cept of the Good Death. Following this will be a discussion
of post-mortem photographs which depict the deceased in a
way that seeks to imitate life. In these examples, bodies are
posed as though sleeping or incorporate living members of
the family into the image to create a death scene. In some
instances, this staging will seek to replicate life, whilst in oth-
ers the living are more clearly engaged in mourning rituals.
The final section looks at death photography in which the
body is displayed within the casket. In these examples, the
dead appear both as solitary figures as well as alongside living
mourners. They differ from the other styles of death image in
that there is no masking of the fact that death has taken place.
There is a clear sense of documentation in these images, with
mourning secondary to confirmation of care: care of the body
and care for the observance of other visual mourning rituals
(Linkman, 2012, p. 16).
1.1 ALTERNATIVES TO PRE- AND POST-MORTEM

PORTRAITURE
One of the earliest attempts to render an artistic likeness of

the deceased was the posthumous portrait. These were very
popular throughout Europe and the United Kingdom, par-
ticularly in between 1810 and 1860 (Nelson, 2016), although
the cost of their production limited availability to the higher

social classes (Lightfoot, 2019, p. 152; Ruby, 1989, p. 5).
Such examples vary wildly in style and design, their success
relying largely on the competency and vision of a specific artist.
While it was not always the intent of the portrait to capture
the deceased in the moment of death, each design bore clear
symbology which conveyed death as its message. Where the
subject was a child (which is the case in the overwhelming
majority of surviving examples) these symbols (over turned
shoes, upside down birds) allowed for the subject to be cap-
tured as they had been, whilst conveying the sentiment of
death in way less confrontational to the viewer than later
portraits would often be (Lightfoot, 2019, p. 153; Schimmel-
man, 2007, p. 227). This style also allowed for the inclu-
sion of multiple family members within the image and cast
the deceased in scenes or places which comprised elements
of life rather than factually accurate settings. In some later
examples of death photography, grieving families can be seen
holding the portrait of a deceased loved one (Linkman, 2012,
p. 134; Nelson, 2016), demonstrating how valuable these
were to family narratives and the importance of including
absent family members in subsequent periods of grief.
Owing to the time and complexity of large-scale artistic
renderings, miniature portraits of the deceased also came to
provide a means of commemorating loved ones, whilst being
easy to carry and conceal during the grieving process. In these
examples, it is commonly only the face and shoulders of the
subject which is captured in the image and, as with most
painted portraits of the era, the prominent or more favora-
ble features of the individual are highlighted above those
which are less desirable or have been tainted by long-term ill-
ness. Even in instances where the portrait is capturing death,
the deceased is always shown to look peaceful and without
blemish.
A primary problem faced by artists of the era was that the

subject of the pre-death or death portrait risked passing away
or deteriorating before the image was completed. This made
these forms of commission undesirable for many working
within the field (Linkman, 2006, p. 319). In other examples,
the posing of the deceased body and its rendering within
the work gave the overall composition an uneasy quality.
While some artists were comfortable working with a recently
deceased body, retaining the ability to recapture the vitality
of life, for others the death of the subject was an obstacle dif-
ficult to overcome. In either case, the undeniable progress of
nature and the natural decomposition of the corpse was a cen-
tral factor to their work. Without the technology of embalm-
ing, the body of the deceased had a limited shelf life. Within
24 hours, it was thought that the corpse began to lose the
essence of life. After 48, the deterioration was evident (Link-
man, 2012, p. 25). While sketches of the deceased could be
used to creature a blueprint from which more detailed works
could develop, these could not capture a true likeness of the
individual. The result was always a gap between the likeness
that had been and the image which had been immortalized.
The invention of the camera and the consequent accessi-
bility of photographic images drastically changed the way in
which the living honored and remember their dead. As with
many styles of art, the outcome of the portrait was reliant not
just on the skill of the artist, but the situation as they chose
to interpret it. In contrast, the camera presented the opportu-
nity to preserve the deceased exactly as they had been at the
moment of passing. Depending on the cause of death, this had
the ability to complicate the task and yet, it is thought that for
many the honesty of the representation was vital to accepting
the death (Jalland, 1996, p. 289). Even instances where illness
was evident in the body, there were a range of options to conceal
much that was unpleasing.
In later years, the photographic process was refined and

improved upon, giving operators more artistic license.
Changes to photographic negatives also allowed for multiple
images to be produced from a single plate, and for a relatively
low cost. When we consider the amount of mourning
ephemera that was collected during the period, it is not
difficult to imagine where this would have been beneficial to
both the photographer and the deceased. For the itinerant
photographer being able to produce multiple images ensured
revenue, which was not only essential to the continuance of
their business but also made the grim task of photographing
the subject more appealing. For families, death images were
important records, which would be distributed to several
relatives (Henkin, 2019, p. 50; Lightfoot, 2019, p. 155).
While there may not have been the financial means or
capability to ensure multiple reproductions of an artwork,
the camera ensured that an adequate number of images could
be distributed among different family members. In instances
where the only photograph of a person was their post-mortem
photograph, this distribution played a vital role in ensuring
the memory of the deceased within a larger family narrative –
sometimes expanding across continents and involving family
members whom the deceased had never known in life
(Schimmelman, 2007, p. 231). Surviving examples of the
daguerreotype suggest that death images of children were the
most popular use for this technology (Cadwaller, 2008, p. 13,
Hilliker, 2006, p. 247).1 The overwhelming sentiment which
all post-mortem portraits convey is that of the Good Death.
1.2 THE GOOD DEATH
At a time where medical care was in its infancy and the spread
of disease was rampant, dying was an ever-present feature of life.
Similarly, nursing home environments and hospice did not exist

as they do today and thus, out of necessity, death was also an
intimate fixture within the family home. In many instances,
the dying process would commence long before the moment
of clinical death took place (Elias, 1985, p. 29). In cases where
prolonged illness was to be the cause of death, the afflicted indi-
vidual began a social death in preparation for their physical one.
The result of retiring from public life meant that the immanence
of death was confined to the family home and it is here where
death narratives played the most prominent role (Kellehear,
2009, p. 135; Lightfoot, 2019, p. 150).
To soften the emotional toll of death on friends and
family members that not only cared for the dying but also
survived them, narratives arose to address the passage of the
soul from mortality into the afterlife. Heavily influenced in
many cases by religious ideas of mortality, the concept of the
Good Death became integral to how death was accepted,
and grief processed by surviving family members. It played
close attention to the idea of an individuals’ need to depart
from life in a way that saw them prepared for reunion with
God. Rather than being a cause for enduring sadness, the
living were encouraged to take joy from this reconciliation.
An important part of preparation for this ascension of the
soul was the atonement for past transgression (which we
continue to see in the reading of Last Rites) and in the earthly
preparations which were undertaken by family in service of
the dying. This may include the preparations of the death bed
and burial garments, along with ensuring that upon death the
body of the deceased was cleaned and groomed in preparation
for burial. As cremation was largely frowned upon, a large
amount of emphasis was placed on the presentation of the
body for burial. This was linked to the popular belief of bodily
resurrection, which states that upon the return of Christ the
faithful will be raised back to life in their earthly bodies for
the final judgment (Lightfoot, 2019, p. 150; Linkman, 2012,

p. 14). With this literal belief as a motivator, it was important
to ensure that the dead were well prepared for this day by
being groomed and dressed in their finest attire.
The Good Death narrative, while not the motivation for

the post-mortem photograph, was integral to the composition
of many of the images produced by post-mortem photogra-
phers. As Philippe Aries highlights in his seminal study The
Hour of Our Death (1981, p. 449), in its earliest incarnations,
beyond a return to God, the Good Death did not extend to
the consideration of an afterlife of the departed. The progress
of the soul beyond mortality was not an object of considera-
tion for the living, whose focus was instead primarily linked
only to their memory of that person. It was remembering that
became important to family identity and to forming a social
history of the family unit. In this sense, the death image acts
as the final reminder of a loved one and it is used to maintain
connections which relate specifically to a past relationship.
It was not until later, particularly during the rise of spiritual-
ism, that more romantic attitudes about the continuance of
the soul began to evolve. In these, the afterlife presented an
opportunity for the reunion between family and loved ones.
So too, the idea of eternal youth and beauty were prominent
fixtures, as was the notion that the afterlife existed in a kind
of parallel to this one. In this plane of existence, the souls of
the departed enacted similar behaviors to the living, including
falling in love with other spirits. As such, it became important
to retain continuing relationships, in which the dead were not
only remembered, but also conducted an active spirit life. In
this realm, they were not only aware of their departed loved
ones but retained an emotional connection to them. These par-
allel narratives would be rejoined in eternity, when all souls
would be reunited with their loved ones and family members.
For modern audiences in particular, the idea of the Good

Death is integral to understanding the narrative which the
death photograph conveys. In much the same way as a written
narrative, the image contained a range of visual cues which
worked with the cultural death beliefs of the time, which are
now read alongside death narrative of the present. At times
what these suggested seems quite strange in comparison to
contemporary belief. Still, the semiotics of the image function
to construct a story in which the Good Death was a peaceful
slumber, in which the deceased awaited the day of resurrec-
tion and their heavenly ascension. This was achieved using
light and shade, positioning the body in certain ways and by
clothing it in specific attire. In some instances, props would
also convey these sentiments, although these were limited to
ensure that the focus of the viewer was not drawn away from
the deceased, who must be the focal point of the image (Fer-
nandez, 2011, pp. 348–350). The following sections address
some of the unique attributes found within the death image.
1.3 COMPOSITION OF THE DEATH AND

NEAR-DEATH IMAGE
How the body of the deceased or nearly deceased is displayed

within the image will vary depending on the age of the subject
and the affluence of the family. In most instances, adults are
photographed in bed (Schimmelman, 2007, p. 226). Linens
will always be plain white, sometimes with lace adornments.
In many accounts, adornments were done within the home
by female family members (Linkman, 2012, p. 15) who were
the primary care givers at the end of life and immediately
after death. The use of fine linens is a mark of respect and
in many instances such linens were purchased specifically
in anticipation of death. They could be reused for multiple
f amily members, but the utmost care was always shown in the
presentation of the bed or bedroom.
Clothing too would be purchased or put aside in anticipation
of the occasion. This remains customary in contemporary soci-
ety, when family members are asked to select an outfit in which
a deceased relative is to be buried. Although it is becoming more
common for the deceased to be interred in their “favorite” out-
fit, in previous eras, the best attire the individual owned was
designated for burial. In several examples, the deceased are
shown fully clothed (even wearing shoes) despite being posed in
bed. The deceased is always posed as if they are sleeping, with
eyes and mouth fixed shut. Long-illness can also sometimes be
determined by the adoption of sleeping attire (which is again
always white). Bonnets can be used to cover hair loss in the case
of illness, though hats and headwear are less common in other
examples. Similarly, if the body has suffered from the effects
of long-illness, linen will be tucked up to the chin, so that only
the facial features are visible. In instances where deterioration
is particularly evident, flowers appear around the face, which
creates contrast with the gaunt appearance.
In all examples, the deceased has been bathed and their
hair fixed in the appropriate style of period. Due to the mono-
chromatic and sepia tone of most of these examples, it is dif-
ficult to determine how much make up has been applied to
the face. Flowers were used to mask the scent of the body,
although it is likely that strong soaps and perfumes would
also have been employed. This recalls death traditions that
reach back into antiquity. In these examples, the perfuming of
the body not only serves to mask the smell of decomposition
but also to pay respect in its demonstration of care.
Flowers and perfumes were also used for the benefit of
the photographer. Long exposure times, lack of air-conditioning
and the general process of time were all contributing factors
to decay (Lightfoot, 2019, p. 153). Being in session with a
body for several hours while photographs were posed and

taken would have been incredibly confronting and at times,
difficult, even for seasoned professionals. Similarly, in instances
where the body was posed upright or in a way that recalled
life, there was the need for the photographer to grapple with
the corpse, twisting joints and securing them so that the
image could be processed. There exists a range of accounts
from photographers who did not like photographing the dead
specifically because of these issues.
From an aesthetic perspective, soft lighting was adopted as
a means of masking the early stages of decay and could also
obscure the type of gaunt features which one might expect
after death from a prolonged illness. In much the same way
as it is used in photography today, soft lighting also invokes
the concept of a dream-like or romantic state. The use of mus-
lin fabrics and drapery accentuated this effect. The intimate
setting of the home, specifically the bedroom or the garden,
was also important to creating a sense of peace. The garden
particularly recalls the idea of a return to nature or paradise,
which itself has strong Biblical connotations. In other exam-
ples where the body has been photographed in a studio, it is
clear that the background has been made to appear as if the
subject is in the home.
Where the deceased is a child, the body is commonly

displayed within the cot or is laid out specifically for the
photograph (Schimmelman, 2007, p. 226; Fernandez, 2011,
p. 347). It is rare to find near-death images of small children,
possibly because death could be the sudden conclusion to
a short-illness or because of a lack of willingness to accept
that a young child was soon to die. Compositions frequently
adopt the use of flowers and, in some instances a toy will
be included. The symbols which are evident in a large num-
ber of child focused death portraiture are relative to death
and to childhood rather than being indicative of the specific

character of a lost child. For instance, a common motif was
children’s shoes and toys, which would feature in the image,
often overturned or resting on their side. The choice of toy
(or shoe) was not relative to a favorite item belonging to
the child, but rather symbolic of the fact that the life of the
child had been cut short. We might read it as the sound of
the home falling silent as the boisterous footsteps of the child
are no longer heard and neither are the sounds of play.
In other quite common examples, a parent (usually the
mother) can feature nursing the infant (Gutierrez, 2015,
p. 52). In many of these, the face of the child retains much
of its lifelike form and confirmation of death can only be
drawn from the expression and attire of the parents within
the image. In examples where one or both parties is visible,
mourning attire will be worn by the parents, whilst the person
holding the child is usually gazing down over the body as the
other parent looks away from the camera. In other exam-
ples, the parent is draped with a black cloth to obscure their
presence in the image. In these examples, children are again
posed to appear as if in a state of natural slumber. At times,
the hands of the parent remain visible, giving the image a
disjointed appearance. It was also not uncommon for parents
to be cropped out of the image once it had been framed. The
small ornate photo frames in which many of these examples
are still housed could be sized to show only a fraction of the
larger image. Cropping is commonly used to display only the
face and shoulders of the deceased.
1.4 THE IMITATION OF LIFE
The traditional death photograph, in which the deceased

is posed as though reclining in sleep is usually devoid of
ossessions or decoration which may draw the eye away

p
from the subject (Linkman, 2012, p. 42). In the case of life
imitation photographs, props can be employed to mask the
post-mortem status of the subject. In some instances, siblings
or entire families will be featured alongside a deceased rela-
tive. In these portraits, the deceased will be posed as if they
were alive (eyes will be opened), sometimes standing along-
side living relatives or seated in a chair. This feat is accom-
plished with the use of a stand and clamps, which held the
deceased in place. In a range of examples, the stand will be
visible within the image, at the feet of the subject. Discolora-
tion of the hands is also indicative of a subject being deceased.
Siblings will congregate around the deceased child, either
holding its hand, touching it or looking down upon its appar-
ently sleeping form. In some rare examples, the deceased will
have their head resting upon the shoulder or knee of a sibling.
In most examples, it is the deceased individual who is the
central point of the image, recalling the idea that death is the
locus of all grief. Considering the age of some of the children
seen in these images and their apparent calm, it can only be
concluded that they felt more comfortable in the presence of
death than most adults in the present day.
Staging of the image not only took place on account of
esthetics, but also as proof of how much love and care have
been shown to the deceased in their preparation for burial.
This was of amplified importance in examples where photo-
graphs included large family groups and/or in which the images
were to be sent to relatives abroad, who were not able to par-
ticipate in mourning procedures (Linkman, 2012, pp. 90–93).
The inclusion of living and dead children within the image is
important for establishing a family line and in a few surviving
examples children appear to be posed in succession according
to their age. When we consider that some relatives may never
have seen or met a young child before it died, having the body
posed in this way was a powerful reminder of their exist-

ence as an individual, but also within the family unit. For
very young children, along with siblings that may be born
after the fact, this variety of posthumous imaging would help
them to retain memories of deceased siblings as they matured.
Although they may not remember the deceased as they had
been in life, the photograph was proof that a relationship had
once been present. For children born later, it was important
to understanding their place within the family and sibling
unit. As surviving children aged, their narratives around the
deceased would incorporate the sense of self which was reveled
within the shared image.
1.5 POST-MORTEM COFFIN IMAGES
Post-mortem images which incorporate the coffin into the design

may differ in the fact that coffins were far more simplistic, than
other props, but their decoration was as individual as the cus-
tom order caskets that are available today. From a socio-cultur-
al perspective, the coffin or casket was a strong indication of
the life and economic status of the individual (Linkman, 2012,
p. 31). At present, one need only look at the funeral industry
to note that this continues to be true. Although they may now
be mass produced instead of made to size, and while they fre-
quently come as part of a “funeral package” coffins are increas-
ingly designed in a wide array of styles. These are chosen both in
accordance with the funerary budget of the deceased and their
family, but also relative to the personality of the deceased. As
open-casket funerals are not as popular as they once were, in
many instances the casket is the final visual reminder we have
of a deceased loved one. As such, it presents a sense of who that
person was – becoming the ultimate memorial symbol, the min-
iaturized tomb in which they are interred.
Unlike the posed image of a child, seemingly asleep in the

arms of a parent, death images which incorporate the cof-
fin are not masquerading as anything other than images of
death. These variations were more common to American
practice than European. In Britain, the use of photography
to commemorate death was viewed quiet differently and as a
result, the number of images which exist is less extensive than
American variants (Linkman, 2012, p. 130; Ruby, 1989, p. 4).
Coffin images went in and out of fashion, depending on the
geographical location of the deceased and the social attitudes
about death at the time, becoming more common after the
turn of the century (Ruby, 1995, p. 78). Although the coffin
image avoids much of the romantic nature of those which
depict a dream-like state, in most instances they too retain a
dignified beauty.
In relation to social hierarchy, the composition of the
image can also be telling. The mourning attire displayed
spoke to the wealth and status of the departed, whilst the
design of the attire itself could also be read as an indicator
of family relationships with the deceased. In so far as where
family members are included with the dead, where the living
are placed in relation to the body makes a comment on the
family ties and also the status of the living in relation to the
dead. As Linkman (2012, p. 137) describes, in some American
examples, there are large family groups featured alongside
the deceased in coffin images. In these examples, those closest
to the body retain a more formal status than those featured
to the back and side of the deceased. There does not appear to
be a blanket formality around the structure of these images,
where the individual is placed remains largely outside the
capabilities of modern research.
In some rare examples, coffin images will show multiple
members of a family within the same coffin. One example
of this is the death image of the Keller family, who died in
New York in 1894 (Thanatos Archive, 2015, p. 132). In this

instance, the coffin contains the bodies of husband and wife,
along with their small child. What makes this an interesting
case is that it was the wife who was responsible for murdering
her husband and child (due to his infidelity) and then tak-
ing her own life. Owing to the tragic circumstances of their
demise, the three are interred together, with the accompany-
ing image being highly suggestive of a loving family reunion
in death.
1.6. COUNTER NARRATIVES
The flip side to images which were designed to promote the

concept of the Good Death are those which act as a proof
of death. These examples usually captured the slain body of
criminal figures and were an effective means of warning audi-
ences of the repercussions of living a criminal life. In societies
like the Old West, visual indicators like the death photograph
could transcend language and literacy barriers. In as much,
the publication and dissemination of the slain criminal body
was a tool through which law enforcement might indicate the
consequences for criminal behavior.
As the death photographs of Jesse James or the Dalton
Gang (see images section) illustrate, in these types of por-
trait the deceased is shown little of the same care afforded
to law abiding members of society. James is unique in that
he has been bathed and dressed in nicer clothing, but his cof-
fin remains unadorned with any of the trimmings one would
expect to find, and neither are there any flowers surrounding
him. Instead, he is ringed by officials, who pose alongside the
body as if to prove that it is in fact a deceased outlaw. In other
instances, the deceased bodies of fugitives and outlaws are
photographed where they have fallen and remain dressed in
the clothing in which they died. The evidence of their wounds

remains clear, along with the dirt and grime which cling to
their corpse. The lack of care and compassion shown to these
individuals, even in death, is indicative of the fact that they
were not part of regular society.
1.7. OTHER USES FOR DEATH PHOTOGRAPHY
The first registered American patent to fit a daguerreotype

portrait to a headstone, came in March 1851 (Linkman,
2012, p. 119). Although the practice of including images of
the deceased within grave artwork was not widespread at this
time, it is evidence of the fact that in some geographical set-
tings, memorialization of the dead at the site of burial was
considered important to the grief process as a whole. In much
the same fashion as it is used today, having a referent image
of the deceased can assist with forming a connection to the site
of their interment. For visitors to the grave, this assists with
keeping a lifelike image of the person in mind when communi-
cating during visitation, while for passers-by, sighting the image
of the deceased can both attract attention and establish immedi-
ate interest into who the deceased had been. Linkman concludes
that the tradition might have been inherited from European
immigrants, as the practice of including pictures at interment
sites was popular among Italian Americans. Unlike standard
death portraits however, these images captured the deceased
during joyous moments of life, important events such as confir-
mation, first communion, graduation or wedding celebrations
(Linkman, 2012, p. 121). With the exception of the gradua-
tion ceremony, these moments all have a religious significance
which underlies their importance as a social rite of passage.
A less common historic practice was seen with bereaved
loved ones depositing images of themselves at the burial site
of the deceased (Linkman, 2012, p. 125). Evidence of such

examples is difficult to locate because unlike images which
were interred within a stone or wooden marker, these were
at the mercy of the elements. While it is difficult to establish
the precise motivation for this tradition we can conclude that
the images were both tokens of love and affection for the
deceased (perhaps to insinuate that the subject of the image
grieved their passing) as well as being a visual indicator of the
role of the subject as mourner at the actual site of the burial.
It is also possible that images placed at the grave were rep-
resentations of people that may not have been able to attend
the burial in person, in which case they stood as proof of the
idea that although absent in body, the subject of the image
had been there in spirit.
If we turn to modern rituals, a similar version of the prac-
tice is more common. This involves family members and
friends leaving tokens in the coffin of a loved one. These can
include pictures or letters and, at times, are invited to be left
from members of the family. Press coverage of traumatic
events will often demonstrate this practice. In the case of sud-
den death, the practice provides the grief stricken with the
opportunity to say goodbye to the deceased as well as to leave
a part of themselves with the departed. Even in a modern con-
text, these gestures of care are symbolic of the belief that the
individual is entitled to a Good Death.
1.8. CONCLUSION
While contemporary audiences may find post-mortem images

difficult to look at, perhaps even slightly unsettling, they retain
a beauty which cannot be denied. They exist in the present
as an enduring reminder of how closely the living once held
their memoires of the dead, reminding us of the importance
of maintaining memory not only for the benefit of personal

history but as part of the grief process. In relation to after-
life narratives, each example suggests that the deceased is at
peace, that they have transcended the hardships of their mor-
tality, leaving a beautiful death image as a reflection of the
eternal beauty in which they now reside. These are the dead
as we most want to remember them and as reflections of how
we too, would hope to be remembered. It is in this beauty that
post-mortem photographs are at odds with most other gen-
res of death image. As we will see in the following chapters,
social upheaval and death on an almost unimaginable scale
would each play their role in shifting social attitudes about
death and the formation of personal narratives among family
members.
In the next chapter, I turn my gaze towards battlefield
photography from the American Civil War, with a view to
the role these images had not only in establishing the field
of photojournalism but in changing the way that death nar-
ratives were told and to the social constructs of the afterlife.
What these images demonstrate is the idea of anonymous
death, in which the act of mourning is not related to specific
individuals but relates to the communal loss of a country.
NOTE
1. While this is an interesting prospect, it behooves us to consider

that perhaps it was sentimental attachment to mourning ephemera
such as post-mortem daguerreotypes, rather than popularity or
abundance of images explicitly focused on children, that ensured
their survival above those depicting people and events of the every
day. It is impossible to determine how many death images were
once in existence and how frequently these were distributed as
cabinet cards or in lieu of funerary cards.
CHAPTER 2
ANONYMITY
Image 3. Civil War Era Amputation Saw Source: Shutterstock.
WAR PHOTOGRAPHY
Staged post-mortem portraits, such as those described in the

previous chapter, served the singular purpose of remembrance.
This form of remembrance was generally limited to a specific
individual and of most relevance to their family and friend-
ship circle. In preserving the deceased as close to lifelike as
was achievable, the photograph was a strong tool in commu-
nicating that the person had lived, that they had experienced
a Good Death and that their earthly body had been loved
and cared for in the transition from death to interment. These
images were also aides for a focused mourning, in which they
represented a tangible link to the deceased, who was physi-
cally absent. It is this specificity of character which makes
them unique examples of mourning ephemera. For modern
viewers, we will likely not recognize the person whom the
41
image depicts, but we understand that they were loved and

missed, that grief was attached to their singular absence.
The advent of the Civil War would change the way that
Americans understood death and, in turn, would reshape their
narratives about the departed. A primary motivator behind
this social shift was the sheer scale of death that would take
place on battlefields across the country (Stapp, 1980, p. 197).
This was a loss of life so grand, so tragic, that there were
neither the time nor the means to document and mourn every
fallen solider in a way that was befitting of previous death
customs. Of course, at the onset of the conflict few could have
understood just how drastically it would reshape the national
identity.
Parent’s whose sons signed up dutifully may have felt quite
differently about the patriotism of their children had they
conceptualized the staggering odds against their return from
battle. It is important to remember that these were not only
individual deaths, but in many instances would signify the
end of a family line. Such was the loss of life that for many
parents, an entire generation and thus, the possibility of a
continuing family narrative, was sacrificed in conflict. So too,
for many families, not only would there not be any opportu-
nity to grieve for the loss of their husbands, fathers or sons,
but there would be scare if any confirmation as to the exact
circumstances of their death.
During large scale battles, such as Gettysburg, where there
were thousands of fatalities, multiple thousands missing and
tens of thousands injured, bodily remains were almost cer-
tainly not returned for interment. In many cases the how,
when and where of death remained unknown, along with the
final resting place of the body. What this demonstrates is an
involuntary shift from highly personalized death to anony-
mous death. Death of this scale became the the shared loss of
Anonymity: War Photography 43
the entire country. With a list of casualties so profound, there

was little option for the bereaved other than to adopt a sense
of communal mourning but even this was difficult to articu-
late until the intervention of the photograph. As this chapter
will examine, the introduction of battlefield images would
alter the way in which war narratives were told, by shining
a light on the realities of battle. In capturing scenes from the
battlefield, audiences of these images were unable to avoid the
true horror of war and the epic toll which it took on human
life. As I will discuss, by focusing not on the individual but
the communal body, Civil War images played a central role
in reconfiguring the way in which war death was, and still is,
discussed and absorbed by society.
The opening of the chapter will look at some examples
of well-known images from the Civil War period. Drawing
heavily on the iconic work and documented experiences of
Alexander Gardner, the discussion will consider the role of
composition in narrative construction and the importance of
the image as a communicative tool. In these images, there is
none of the beauty and grace of the embalmed corpse, no con-
cept of peaceful rest, even the concept of nobility in death is
difficult to negotiate. Audiences are confronted with the sight
of young men, slumped into the mud, their bodies often hav-
ing been pillaged for shoes, coats or useful weapons before
being left where they had fallen. In some of the most well-
remembered examples these bodies are bloated and decaying,
such is the scale of the loss that they cannot be buried before
the onset of putrefaction. Until this moment, images like these
had rarely been seen and certainly not by a national audience.
This discussion leads into a brief consideration of later
conflict images and how photographers active during World
War I, World War II and later conflicts captured scenes of death
during times of war. What this discussion will demonstrate is
the important role which Civil War death photography played
in the development of photojournalism and the aim of cap-

turing the “truth” of a scene. This was not always a factual
truth as much as it sought to represent the emotional truth
and toll of conflict on the soldier. In aide of this later point,
my assessment will also include later developments in pho-
tographic technique, which allowed photographers to blend
multiple images into a single scene, with the specific purpose
of conveying narrative sentiment to their audiences.
The second portion of the chapter will then examine a very
different use for death photography, which was to advertise
embalming and to promote the business of embalmers. Before
the outbreak of the war, embalming techniques were largely
shunned by society; however, the longevity which embalming
gave to a corpse quickly changed the opinion of bereaved fami-
lies, desperate to have the remains of loved ones returned them.
It is difficult to estimate what the trajectory of embalming
would have been had it not been for its development and use
within this setting and as such, it is important to consider here.
While each of the images under discussion presents a
strongly oppositional idea of death and either challenging or
embracing the long-held concept of death as the long slumber,
each played a similarly significant role in shifting death atti-
tudes and the way in which photography is used to preserve,
discuss and communicate death narratives.
2.1. PHOTOJOURNALISM AND DEATH
Prior to the birth of photography, stories of battle had been

reliant on textual and oral accounts of conflict or upon the
sketched recollections of war artists. In each example, the
account of a particular time and place would invariably
be colored by the narrator and often in accordance with the
audience with which they were trying to engage. In some
instances, this may encompass the removal of graphic details,

or the absence of emotion – perhaps both. For those removed
from the scene of the conflict it was difficult, if not impossible,
to truly understand what it meant to fight and die in these cir-
cumstances. While artistic depictions did their best to convey the
sentiments of soldiers and their experiences of the battlefield,
these too were problematic in that they were invariably done
after the fact and were incapable of capturing the scene in the
same authentic and visceral way that an image would.
It was not until the birth of the wet collodion plate that
photography was able to transition into the realm of “real-
time” photojournalism (Stapp, 1980, p. 198). Prior to this,
exposure times were quite lengthy, requiring the subject to
remain still in a single pose. Obviously, this was of no use for
capturing action shots, which by nature are not staged and
must be taken immediately. While still bulky and difficult to
transport, the wet collodion plate required a far shorter expo-
sure time, giving photographers the ability to capture images
which had previously been impossible. Although they were
still of little use during an actual exchange of gunfire, they
gave access to the immediate aftermath. This is what is cap-
tured in images of the Civil War and it is here that death first
becomes present and accessible to the viewer.
In addition to allowing the photographer greater freedom
regarding location shooting, the collodion process was also
capable of capturing a scene with more clarity within the image
itself, giving greater detail to the subject. In these examples, it is
often the clarity with which the photographer has caught the
figures of the dead that gives the images their haunting quality.
The Civil War, while largely recognized as the con-

flict which gave birth to photojournalism, was not the first
instance of photography being used to document the brutal-
ity of conflict, although it was responsible for seeing images
disseminated into multiple national news publications, thus

ensuring that no member of American society was removed
from the realities of war.
Italian-born British photographer Felice Beato accompa-
nied the British army through India in 1857 as an official
photographer and it is here where the photojournalism
found its earliest form. Whereas previous photographers had
focused on images of living soldiers and the landscapes of
conflict territories, Beato broke with tradition and decided
to photograph the aftermath of the storming of the Secun-
dra Bagh in Lucknow, Northern India (Stapp, 1980, p. 200).
The photographs which came about in response to this
decision showed a battlefield littered with corpses (Trafton,
2016, p. 73). This was not the image of noble and victori-
ous death, which had been raised as the cultural ideal, but an
anonymous and violent end. Bodies were strewn haphazardly
around the battlefield, decomposition settling in before there
was hope for them to be claimed by loved ones, let alone for
the proper Christian burial which the narrative of the Good
Death demanded. Challenging the notion of glorious death
in this way would become important for the conflict images
which followed Beato’s early foray into the field of war pho-
tography (Trafton, 2016, p. 79). This is not to say that new
narratives of glory did not spring up in response to the ano-
nymity of loneliness of the soldier’s fallen corpse, only that
these new narratives would erase the concept of the Good
Death, replacing it with an immortality of a different kind.
Bridgette Bennet (2007) estimates that during the Civil
War around 42 percent of deceased soldiers remained uni-
dentified (p. 149). Many of these bodies were never returned
home, but were interred anonymously in mass graves. While
their journey between life and death remains a mystery, it is
not difficult to image the pain and suffering that the unknown
bought to the families and loved ones that were left behind.
For this reason, it was important to capture scenes from vari-

ous battlefields across the country. While these would have
undoubtedly been a cold comfort to grieving families, they
did allow for some insight into where their loved ones had
died as well as the scale of life lost. To see that death was not
experienced only by their beloved, but by hundreds, if not
thousands of men in unison, created an avenue through which
a new narrative of comfort could emerge. The soldier, in his
anonymity had become part of a communal body, which was
grieved for by the nation.
In subsequent conflicts, particularly those which did not
take place exclusively on American soil, there was similarly
little if any chance that remains would be repatriated. In these
instances too, images were the only conduit between the liv-
ing and dead. While they may not have provided closure to
families on specific deaths, their depictions of the soldier on
the front, in the trenches and in the aftermath of battle were
integral to establishing the idea that every soldier died a noble
death and that their memory would endure as one of heroism
and triumph. In the present day, this same concept of nobil-
ity remains a key focal point of the death narratives which
pertain to soldiers. This is evidenced in the national days of
mourning that take place across the globe, which are specifi-
cally concerned with the remembrance of the war dead. Any-
one who gives their life in service to country retains their right
to a distinct kind of Good Death, while for the rest of us, these
concepts of sacrifice, virtue and externalism are largely absent.
The legacy of Civil War photography is dominated by the

work of Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner, who existed
as collaborators and rivals throughout the conflict. While it
was Brady who first established a troupe of photographers
to capture several of the pivotal moments throughout the
duration of the war, he was not a highly skilled photographer
himself and many of the images credited to him were taken

by photographers in his employ (Lightfoot, 2019, p. 162).
One of these was Alexander Gardner. The two men started
out as colleagues and friends, with Gardner running one of
Brady’s photographic studios in addition to working for him
(Meigs, 2012, p. 5). Upon growing wearing of Brady’s abuse
of his staff, however, Gardner broke off from his dealings
with Brady to start his own business. It is Gardner who was
responsible for capturing the images from Gettysburg, many
of which have come to be symbolic of the Civil War in its
entirety. Due to their recognizability, it is these I turn to now.
2.2. PHOTOGRAPHING THE DEAD: THE BATTLEFIELD
Accounts of Gardner’s work in Gettysburg suggest that he

and his crew arrived at the scene mere days after the bat-
tle had concluded and not before the clean-up crews had
finished their unhappy task of burying the bodies of the
deceased (Lightfoot, 2019, pp. 161–163). This allowed Gard-
ner unprecedented access to the landscape of the conflict but,
more importantly, unparalleled access to the dead. It was
through the bodies of the fallen soldiers that he would be able
to convey the true cost of this war and thus, he and his men
worked with the singular mission of capturing the dead as
the focal point of their images. Although the resultant scenes
give the impression of having caught the moment as it hap-
pened, many of them have been staged to some degree, with
Gardner (like Brady before him) admitting that bodies were
moved to create a more engaging composition and to tell the
story of what he and his fellow photographers had witnessed
(Trafton, 2016, p. 75).
Unlike previous death rituals, in this instance the living
were not engaging with the dead (whom they did not know)
to show care and respect for the corpse. Instead, bodies were
moved with the express purpose of creating a scene. Gardner’s
ambition was to create a national narrative, an elegy of war
in which the corpse of soldier appeared to be at home in its
foreign grave (Huppauf, 1997, p. 21). In their anonymity, the
dead thus became props in service of a lager goal: to convey
the “truth” of the Civil War. Here again, we see evidence of a
communal mourning in which the identity of the individual
and the subsequent care of their corpse is sacrificed in favor of
the larger cultural narrative. For Gardner and his team, there
was no ill-will intended toward the dead, whom they maneu-
vered into various positions, only a sense of urgency in which
they felt compelled to tell the larger story of the war. It was
this story which would make the concept of death in the face
of conflict accessible to those far removed from the front lines
and this which would haunt the American identity long after
the conclusion of the conflict. Even today, after many subse-
quent wars, it is difficult to look upon these images without
questioning whether the cost of life outweighs the purpose.
In the aftermath of the Civil war, Alexander Gardner
released a compilation album which featured many of the
images he and his team had taken in Gettysburg, along with a
range of shots from other sites of conflict. Rather than focus-
ing on the heroic portrait of the survivors or high-ranking
members of the military, Gardner’s Photographic Sketch
Book of the War (1866) focused on the dead. It has become
synonymous with the historic memory of the Civil War (God-
bey, 2012) and remains unparalleled in the complexity of the
narrative which it depicts. At the time of the books release,
the price and size made it a commercial failure, although criti-
cally it was celebrated. Among contemporary viewers, it is a
highly sought collector’s item. One compelling reason to con-
sider when assessing why the publication may not have been
a staple of many family homes (apart from the cost), is that
these and similar images had previously been mass-produced

for audiences to view in stereoscope. Similarly, they had been
incorporated in a range of touring exhibitions, which utilized
them in varying formats (including 3D) ensuring that they
were accessible to all members of society.
2.3. INTERACTING WITH THE DEAD: MASS

PRODUCTION OF IMAGES
Books and newspapers were not the only avenue through

which images of the war entered the homes of American citi-
zens. Despite the brutal circumstances which they depicted,
battlefield scenes could be (and often were) bought into the
home (Stapp, 1980, p. 197) for entertainment, reflection and
discussion. Well-known prints of the conflicts which depict-
ed episodes from the Civil War were exhibited throughout
America as a means of making the reality of the war more
accessible to a large audience. These proved to be quite popu-
lar among men and women, who attended in droves to exam-
ine these enlarged images. In some accounts, attendees took
opera glasses, so as to examine the faces more closely in the
hope of identifying someone (Godby, 2012, p. 271).
Geoffrey Klingsporn (2000) suggests that the fame
of many of Gardiner’s images, specifically A Harvest of
Death is a direct result of the age of mass reproduction
(p. 8), that its popularity relied on the notion of the image
as trinket or collectable of war, which could be purchased
as a keepsake of national loss. Although viewers might first
encounter these images in the grainy newspaper publication,
they were able to interact with them on a larger scale in the
gallery environment. This fascination could then be taken
into the home through the purchase of prints. Collectable
images were often stored in large albums, which became a
conversation piece when entertaining guests, as well as being

a constant reminder of loss (Godby, 2012, pp. 271–273). Such
examples might also be read as a conduit through which the
individual was able to engage directly with mourning despite
the anonymity of the victims. Although the death toll was
representative of a national loss, the core of that narrative
still rested on the fact that survivors were often enacting grief
rituals in memory of individual men, albeit in new ways. When
this concept is coupled with the invention and subsequent
popularity of the stereoscope, it is becomes evident that imag-
es were a means for people to get close to the war, to learn
about the true horror of battle and to indulge their interest in
death from the comfort of their own home and social circle.
In his discussion of stereoscope technology, Oliver
Wendell Holmes suggests that the stereoscope viewer pro-
duced a state
in which we (viewers) seem to leave the body behind

us and sail away into one strange scene after another,
like disembodied spirits. If stereoscope users entered
a reverie in which they became “disembodied
spirits,” they did so while looking at images of the
dead who were reduced by war’s horrors to nothing
by spiritless bodies. (Holmes, 1861, pp. 14–15)
For modern viewers a similar sentiment might encompass

our engagement with online media and the constant stream of
access which is available in any one of millions of webpages.
Although the location and the purpose of modern war have
changed, along with the ways in which it is fought, the fact
remains that every time we engage with a conflict image we
too are swept away. The view retains the place of the disem-
bodied spirit, watching on as the spirits of the dead depart to
the next world, while we are left to ponder the purpose of such
gruesome atrocities as are seen in any act of war.
2.4. LATER WAR IMAGES
Despite advancements in photography and photographic

methods, war photographers on the front during World War I
and World War II also reported that the photograph was inad-
equate for capturing living soldiers on the battlefield (Gough,
2018, p. 22). There are a range of reasons for this, but prima-
ry among them is that no camera can reproduce a faithfully
rendered account of the soldier’s experience of being in battle.
In the following sections, I will look briefly at both World
War I and World War II, with the purpose of providing further
insight into the changing way that war and death came to be
depicted in the photographed image. In the case of each con-
flict there is a phenomenal amount of existing scholarship, all
of which is far more detailed than these sections are intended
to be. Similarly, there are a range of different journalistic and
artistic sources from which we might draw. Depending on the
artist of the image, its purpose was dictated by a very specific
goal. In keeping with the themes of this book, I have chosen
to focus on compositional images which strove to capture the
close proximity between life and death, as felt by soldiers on
the front. In the treatment of World War II, my focus will be
on atrocity images. This theme will be continued in Chapter 4,
with my discussion of lynching.
2.5. WORLD WAR I
The Civil War was a starting point from which all subse-
quent mass produced images of war developed. While the
goal of many of these scenes had been to depict the realities
of death in battle, during World War I some photographers
working in the field were challenging the notion of death
and the appearance of the spirit in war images. One example
is Australian war photographer Frank Hurley, who was

deployed to France to capture images from the front. Work-
ing with his partner, Hubert Wilkins, Hurley challenged
perceptions of war photography by working with multi-
ple exposures to create composition shots. The purpose of
this approach was to capture the presence of death on the
front, creating a narrative not only about the loss of war,
but the movement of the soul from this world into the next
(Dixon, 2004, p. 250). Images such as Returned Soldiers
(1918) and The Morning after the First Battle of Passchen-
daele (1918) are composite prints. Returned Soldiers depicts
surviving soldiers reminiscing on their memories of the front,
including those who had not made it home, while Passchen-
daele shows the sun rising over a military camp, where the
bodies of the living and the dead intermingle in the mud. In
both examples, light is implemented exclusively to suggest the
close proximity between life and death. In the first image, the
living gather closely together at camp, the glow of the fire illu-
minates their faces, making those facing the camera feature-
less. To the top right of the image a camera flare recalls what
Spiritualists would describe as the presence of the dead, sug-
gesting that the living and dead exist closely in times of con-
flict. In Passchendaele, the light of the sun, breaking through
the clouds recalls the idea of the soul entering into Heaven.
When viewed alongside the bodies of the deceased soldiers,
the effect suggests that having lingered with their comrades
through the night, the departed are now being welcomed into
God’s kingdom. It is specifically this use of light which, as
Desmond Manderson (2017, p. 168) argues, gives Hurley’s
work its haunting esthetic quality. Although it was contro-
versial at the time, with official war historian Charles Bean
prohibiting the use of Hurley’s images (Jolly, 1999, p. 141), in
time the technique would come to be recognized as one of the
most influential within the genre of war images.
Bean disliked Hurley’s photographic style, feeling that it was

not only fake, but that it was concerned with commercial inter-
est (Dixon, 2007, p. 166). This caused a long-running rivalry
between the two, of which Hurley has been the victor, as his
images continue to inspire the imagination as well as playing an
integral role in the collective cultural memory of the war.
In another of Hurley’s well-recognized photographs,
Wounded on the Menin Road (1917) living soldiers can be
seen walking amid the strewn bodies of their fallen comrades.
While some of the injured raise their heads to face the camera,
others are inert, and it is difficult to discern if those in the
background of the image are alive at all. The sky around both
living and dead is filled with lingering smoke, while the bodies
of the soldiers lay in the mud, reminiscent of scenes captured
by Gardiner 50 years beforehand.
The Menin Road conflict in particular is one of the bloodi-
est to take place in World War I, with tens of thousands of
soldiers either killed in combat or reported missing. The event
has been captured in a range of artistic mediums, including
in the painting “Menin Gate at Midnight” which features the
resurrected souls of the lost, wandering across the deserted
battlefields in search of home. At the site of the conflict a
memorial still stands which lists 54,000 names, each one
related to a missing soldier with no known grave. What
Hurley’s images of Menin Gate and other conflicts highlight,
in a way which other mediums cannot, if the close proxim-
ity between life and death. This is particularly true for those
injured in battle, for whom the relationship between life and
death takes on a new meaning.
In several examples of Hurley’s work, the names of sol-
diers were recorded on the rear of the image. Record keeping
efforts such as this allowed for the identification of several
soldiers lost on the battlefield. These images allowed audi-
ences to not just identify the fallen but resurrect the dead
through the medium of the image (Dixon, 2004, p. 253). For-

mal record keeping in this instance bears some similarities to
examples from the Civil War, in so far as audiences in the gal-
lery setting hoped that in looking at the faces of the deceased,
they would find someone they recognized. Although we can
only speculate as to how one might feel in capturing the fig-
ure of a loved one, anonymous, dead and far from home, it
is safe to say that it would have been unpleasant and that
the willingness of an individual to risk that form of engage-
ment speaks to a profound longing for closure. Unlike other
media, this is an opportunity which only the photograph can
provide.
2.6. WORLD WAR II
While photographic evidence from the battlefields of World

War II does exist in abundance, many of the death images
which first come to the mind of the contemporary audience
are those which capture the atrocities of Nazi Germany and
the deaths of millions of European Jews in prison camps
across the Continent. While we might wonder what sort of
person could stomach photographing such a scene (Huppauf,
1997, p. 33), it is undeniable that these images have become
integral to our historic and cultural understanding of war
time atrocity.
Susan Sontag recalls her first encounter with atrocity imag-
es from Nazi Death Camps (Sontag, 2008, pp. 20–21), which
she states changed her outlook on the photographed image
forever. Unlike other conflicts before it, the mass extinction of
Jews was unparalleled in relation to international conflict and
unlike previous examples, these were images that depicted
innocent citizens rather than soldiers. As images of the condi-
tions of the death camps began to perforate throughout the
global community the true scale of the torture and atrocity

endured by these individuals become difficult to deny. Many
examples of these images recall the battlefield, with bodies
strewn haphazardly across the landscape of the image or piled
in communal groups in preparation for mass burial. Unlike
those of soldiers who have fallen in conflict, what makes
these images stand out is the emaciated frame of so many of
these victims. There is evidence here not of combat but of tor-
ture. Images of mass burial too, depict thousands of corpses,
naked and piled atop of each other, their bodies so tiny that
they appear genderless and featureless. These are truly the
anonymous dead. In the contemporary world, it is the pho-
tographs of these victims which continue to haunt each of us
and while their continued presence can be difficult to bear, it
is important that we continue to engage with these images of
the dead who are too, so often anonymous. Unless we allow
these victims to speak, we risk allowing them to vanish into
obscurity.
After her first encounter with atrocity images, Susan Son-
tag was critical of the ability of the image to convey emotion.
This was based in the saturation of images in the every day.
Rather than encountering the content of the photographs she
describes in a museum setting, Sontag discovers them in a
second-hand store. That they have been discarded, to be sold
amid the other debris of daily life is as difficult to digest now
as it was for Sontag at the time. Yet Sontag is perhaps com-
placent in her suggestion that abundance limits the impact of
the image, a notion she would revisit and revise in her later
work. Judith Butler considers Sontag’s changing stance on
the importance of death photography, specifically as it relates
to images of war and atrocity, in her consideration of On
Photography and Regarding the Pain of Others (of which the
latter title was published over two decades later, in 2003).
As Butler highlights, in her late work Sontag concedes that
the photograph can and must demonstrate human suffering

because it is in doing so that it keeps humans alert to the
pain and atrocity which are taking place in the world. This
is what keeps us human (Butler, 2005, p. 824). Although the
availability of death and atrocity images is more abundant
in the present moment than it has ever been this sentiment
continues to ring true.
While the Civil War was the first example of mass scale
photographic journalism, it was far from the last example of
atrocity photography. Every major conflict which has taken
place around the world since then has similarly been the sub-
ject of photography. More recently terrorism attacks from
both foreign and domestic perpetrators have been included
in this genre of death image. The same is equally true of
immanent death images, which can be more haunting than
the image of death itself. Among contemporary audiences
for instance, it is difficult to forget the lone protester, facing
off against a tank in Tiananmen Square (1989), or the falling
man, captured plunging from the World Trade Centre in the
aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (2001). In both exam-
ples, it is anonymity which lives in proximity to death and,
while neither of these images depicts soldiers in the act of
battle, they are indicative of the fact that conflict is becoming
more present in the everyday and that it is no longer resigned
to the confines of the battlefield.
2.7. EMBALMING THE DEAD: PRESERVATION

OF SOLDIERS
For the contemporary reader, embalming is a process which

has become closely associated with death and the rituals of
dying. It is only recently that we have seen a pronounced
trend away from embalming, which for decades has been

considered a necessity for the interment of the corpse. Much
of this current trend is related to the increased popularity of
cremation, which has usurped the popular position which
embalming once held, although a growing inclination toward
green burial alternatives is also beginning to shape the way to
contemplate the future disposal of our bodies.
Despite its commonality in modern western death narra-
tives, however, the process of embalming is only a relevantly
recent introduction into how we care for the dead. Although
it has varied in forms for thousands of years (the Egyptians
have been using embalming techniques since antiquity), it was
during the Civil War that the magnitude of death allowed for
important progress to be made in its application within the
medical setting and funeral industry. Often this was achieved
on the outskirts of the battlefield, where itinerant embalmers
used the seemingly endless supply of corpses to fine tune and
then promote their unique trade.
There were a variety of ways that the individual might
meet with death during the Civil War. When we consider field
medicine at the time, in one sense, death in battle was one of
the quickest and most merciful. To sustain a serious injury
which did not immediately result in death was to face a long
and uncertain road to recovery, one which, depending on the
severity of the injury, was not only unassured but fraught with
the possibility of further complication. Not only were field
medics ill-equipped to deal with the huge number of casual-
ties, but their methods of treatment were often responsible for
prolonged suffering and death. This was the direct result of
inferior sanitation and sterilization of equipment. It is inter-
esting to note that one aspect of death with Civil War images
do not capture the casualties of field hospitals. Regardless of
how it came, death was the most assured way for the body to
find itself on the embalming table.
Embalming, particularly in the advertising of the service,

is in stark contrast to battlefield photography. There is pho-
tographic evidence of both and what each of these examples
reveals is a very different relationship between the living and
the dead. When used to demonstrate the preservation benefits
of the technique, embalming images convey almost a sense of
pride in achievement. This is evidence of human pride over
the delusion that we might intercede in the process of death.
While death has still taken place, the process of embalming
has arrested its affects, allowing the corpse a kind of morbid
second life. The benefit of this is not for the deceased as much
as it is for the bereaved, who now have a longer period in
which they might interact with the remains of a departed loved
one. Within the context of the Civil War, this would become
important to notions of repatriation. Photography of the hast-
ily embalmed battlefield corpse became a popular means of
advertising the services of embalmers, who promised to return
lost loved ones from the front, back to their families without
the usual risk of decade and putrefaction (Doughty, 2016,
pp. 77–78). Due to the long travel distances and limited means
of transport available at the time, prior to the development of
the embalming process, bodies had been shipped on ice and in
lead coffins, among other, more dubious methods. Not only
was this costly to the families, but unsanitary. Although lead
coffins and blocks of ice had initially been looked to as the
solution to this problem, even they provided little protection
against the forces of nature. Bodies were often so badly decom-
posed by the time they were returned across country (by rail)
that trains frequently refused to carry them as cargo.
For bereaved families, the embalming of the corpse allowed
for it to be transported across the country for a private burial,
thus giving loved ones the opportunity to mourn the deceased
and to enact traditional funerary rituals with the body. In some
instances, the embalmed corpse would also be photographed
for posterity. Photographs of the embalmed body, like the post-

mortem death portraits of previous eras, could then be sent
to other family members, who were unable to attend the site
of a funeral or assist in mourning activities. Even in its ear-
liest iteration, embalming practices arrested the composition
of the body, creating an eerie suggestion of peaceful slumber
(Schwartz, 2015, pp. 22–23). When viewed in relation to the
cause of death, this too was incredibly important for assisting
the living to process their grief. While death images traded
on the brutality and realities of war, the embalmed corpse
allowed the bereaved to wipe away the suggestion of these
truths in favor of a different narrative. In its preserved form,
the body of their loved one reclaimed dignity in death. The
brutalities of battle were erased and replaced with the idea of
peace, something which any soldier is deserving of.
The acceptance of the embalming technique, along with
its perfection during the period, would become essential to
verifying embalming as a legitimate means of corpse dispos-
al, while also allowing grieving families to receive the bod-
ies of their fallen loved ones. This is not to suggest that the
option of embalming was available to everyone. There was
a fee involved with the preservation, while additional costs
for transportation of the corpse were also a reality. All of this
was reliant upon the fact that a body was available in the
first place. In the disarray of battle, it was not always possi-
ble to identify individuals, let alone salvage their remains for
embalming and interment. Similarly, as physicians worked to
perfect their trade, casualties of these attempts were also a
consequence to progress. It is important that when we view
this style of death image that we realize that embalmed corps-
es represent the minority of Civil War casualties and that, for
the overwhelming majority, death remained an anonymous
departure, in which their final thoughts and fears will remain
absent from the historical narrative.
2.8. CONCLUSION
By modern standards, images of the Civil Ware are far from the
most confrontational images that have captured the violence
and tragedy of battle. There have, of course, been dozens of
armed conflicts since. The epic scope of lives lost in World War
I and World War II alone would change the way that death and
grief were understood and practiced throughout the world. Yet
images from this conflict continue to be displayed in the gallery
and among audience of the general public as well as in academ-
ic writing. There is an enduring fascination with these, the first
images of mass casualty. Perhaps, this relates to the fact that
even in their staging, these images still recall a more romantic
ideal of what it was to fight and die in the service of one’s
nation. It is difficult for the modern viewer to look at the faces
of these young men and feel anything other than pity at the
realization that they were hopelessly ill-equipped for the battle
that stood before them. In this moment we are filled with the
hopeless inadequacy which Berger (1980, p. 42) describes. The
gift of hindsight only amplifies this, particularly when paired
with the knowledge that we continue in our failure to learn
from the tragedies of conflict.
Between the Civil War and World War I, the world was
undergoing a massive cultural shift. As progression in science
and technology changed the way in which people lived, their
advancement also threatened to dethrone the grip of religion.
It was in religious belief that many death narratives found their
roots, and, in the absence of faith, many people felt adrift in
their relationship with the dead. In response to public unease,
Spiritualism became a popular alternative to organized reli-
gion. Its fusion of faith and science provided a fertile ground
in which the grief stricken were able to write new stories about
the dead. In these examples, there was not only the possibility
of afterlife reunion, but the suggestion of the autonomous soul.

Although communication between the living and the spirit
realm had been in existence long before the first spirit photo-
graph was taken, it was the power of the image that solidified
the death narratives of the Spiritualists. In the next chapter,
I look at examples of this form of death photography, drawing
on both the practice of death photography and the impact of
the Civil War and World War I to explain its popularity.
CHAPTER 3
CONTINUANCE
Image 4. Antique Chair Source: Shutterstock.
SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY
63
Roland Barthes suggests that what is depicted in the photo-

graphed image has little relationship to what is seen by the
audience (Barthes, 2000, p. 6). Instead, the image is a series of
symbols, which are interpreted in accordance with the themes
and interests of the society which has produced them. While
specific signifiers will always be evident (such as the skull is
symbolic of death or the crucifix of religion), others will be
more specific to the period of production and thus, appear
strange to viewers who witness them from a different time or
location far removed.
Chapter 1 discussed the idea of the Good Death and
the influence which that concept had on the composition
of death imagery and its accompanying narratives. In these
examples, the death photograph was romanticized to sup-
port the larger notion that dying was a peaceful and, often
beautiful experience. Depending on the age of the subject and
the circumstances of their death, these narratives were por-
trayed through a range of symbolic items, positioned within
the image to denote specific ideas about the afterlife and the
continuing journey of the descendant. The symbols were a
communicative tool, through which recipients of death images
immediately understood what the photograph conveyed
(which was important if they could not read) and offered
them consolation in the event that they had not been able to
participate in the death and mourning rituals which were so
important to demonstrating love and care for the deceased.
In light of what they symbolized, these images became beloved
family heirlooms which were preserved as a means of creating
a tangible connection with the dead. In preserving the image
of a lost loved one, that person was able to live on alongside
the family for many years after their death, albeit it as a pro-
cess of memory (Phelan, 2002, p. 981). In some cases, this
could even allow for multi-generational interaction between
the living and their deceased kin. Although they may seem
Continuance: Spirit Photography 65
macabre to modern audiences, in many examples the death

image represented the only proof of an individual’s existence.
Chapter 2 carried on this idea in its consideration of war
photography, in so far as the photograph was used in the con-
struction of social narratives around the glory of war and the
sacrifice of the fallen. Rather than individual stories however,
what the photographs that depict soldiers (living and dead)
create is a mythology of sacrificial victory, in which the casu-
alties of war live in eternity as members of a communal body.
While these narratives were important to accepting the mas-
sive loss of life experienced during the Civil War, the narrative
evolved in the wake of subsequent conflicts. Between the Civil
War and World War I, there were enormous cultural shifts
which impacted every aspect of society, including the way
in which death was perceived, discussed and commemorated.
In time, these would impact how death and the idea of eternity
were discussed. One of the most obvious aspects of this shift is
the move away from the communal body toward the idea of
the autonomous soul (Lightfoot, 2019, p. 150). Here, rather
than the soul returning to Heaven to rejoin a larger collective
and thus surrendering any sense of self or memory, the soul
retained its unique identity. The dead traveled on to an afterlife
which paralleled the living world (Cadwallader, 2008, p. 17).
Perhaps inspired by the technological wonder of the telegraph,
this world was seen almost as a different frequency to the liv-
ing, but one to which specific individuals could be attuned.
What this presented was the possibility of communication.
These beliefs would, in turn, impact the way that photog-
raphy was utilized in the construction of narratives. Although
the dead remain the focal point of the death image throughout
its next evolution, their body in its substantial form is increas-
ingly absent. As I stated in Chapter 1, both Roland Barthes
and John Berger have explicitly argued that the photograph is
a memento of the absent. The first two chapters of this book
approached this idea in relation to the visibility of the authen-

tic body within the image. In this instance, it was the image
of the body that stood in place of its absence of from the
physical world. In this sense, the image was historical proof
of someone who had once been but was no longer part of this
world. In this chapter, I challenge this concept by looking at
a genre of images which are distinctly absent of the physical
body and yet remain, powerful mementoes of the dead. As an
expression of death narratives which were reliant upon the
assumption that communicating with the dead was possible,
I will explore how the use of spirit photography played a cen-
tral role in the reconstruction of a new dialog about death, its
limitations and its possibilities.
3.1. SPIRIT IMAGES AND SPIRITUALISM
Spiritualism was a reflection of the technological advance-

ment of the era. In an age where the telegraph and electric-
ity were illuminating the world and bringing people closer
together, spiritualist sought to unite the living and the dead.
In their doctrines of afterlife reunion, they restored hope
by addressing the desires of the living, which were to over-
come the fracture of death and war (Cox, 2003, pp. 69–70).
The Spiritualist Movement, while claiming a foothold in
the scientific, rose to prominence largely in response to the
scientific attempt to disprove religious ideas of the after-
life. Its doctrines were helped along with the engagement
of several high-profile members, such as Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, who went on several international speaking tours
to spread news of its wonders (Schmit, 2005, pp. 93–94).
Similarly, the popularity of the movement was enhanced due
to an enduring public fascination with electricity and the
exploration between the human body and electrical current.
As Jeffrey Sconce (2000, p. 10) explains, the Spiritualist ses-

sion (like the overarching beliefs of the religion itself) was
as much of a marriage between science and metaphysics as
it was an expedition to prove life after death. In harnessing,
the ability to capture a spirit, or the metaphysical essence of
the departed; Spiritualists sought to legitimize their right to
alternative belief.
When I discuss Spiritualist photography, used within Spir-

itualism to capture a living subject (the sitter) alongside an
“extra” (spirit), I am referring to two distinct styles of image
and these will be discussed in turn. The first will be images
in which the sitter is photographed alongside the appear-
ance of a spirit. It is these images in which the dead seem
to return to the living realm to convey a message to their
living loved ones. That message: I am still with you. What
these examples overwhelmingly project is a longing on behalf
of the sitter for comfort and assurance. As such, it is these
which give us an insight into what kind of death narratives
were taking place at this point in history. While there is much
contention about the accuracy or authenticity of spirit photo-
graphs, the role which they played within the grieving process
should not be understated. For the viewer of the image, par-
ticularly in the present, it does not matter if the appearance
of a spirit is in fact an authentic depiction of an apparition.
What is apparent about these photographs is that the families
who commissioned them believed that they were authentic
(Apraxine & Schmit, 2005, p. 14). With that in mind, modern
audiences are behooved to separate themselves from any quest
to disprove authenticity by approaching these images with a
clinical eye, or to disregard the images as invalid because they
appear to have been created to appease the consumer. The
belief by the bereaved that these images were genuine proof
of the continuing presence of their deceased loves ones is
the primary concern, and there is certainly an abundance of

evidence which suggests that they did believe.
Discussion of this variety of images concludes with a con-
sideration of William Mumler. Mumler is widely recognized
as the father of the spirit photograph, becoming famous
for his uncanny ability to produce spirit images for his sit-
ters. During the peak of his fame, Mumler was engaged by a
range of prominent figures, including Mary Todd Lincoln, for
whom he produced a range of spirit photographs. Later, he
was charged with fraud and tried in front a judge at the New
York county court (Jolly, 2006, p. 14). Although the charges
against him were eventually dismissed, the accounts of the
witnesses who were called in Mumler’s defense provides an
interesting insight into the role of the spirit photograph, not
as a historically genuine artifact, but as mourning object. In
assessing the compositional narratives of spirit images, Mum-
ler provides an important case study, as many surviving exam-
ples are taken from his studios.
The second type of image to be considered from the Spir-
itualist era is that depicting mediums during the séance. In
these examples, the medium or clairvoyant is the focal point
of the image and while they are very much alive, it is their
body which becomes the conduit between the living and the
dead. In many examples, this body will be captured while
in the process of omitting a type of smoke or plasma (also
known as ectoplasm), which is the “proof” of an interaction
with the spirit realm. In more rare instances, the plasma itself
appears to contain the image of a deceased individual who
is trying to make contact. Unlike the spirit photographs dis-
cussed above, the composition of the séance image is vast-
ly different. While still being demonstrative of the ongoing
quest to prove a connection between realms, the depictions
of the dead in these images are secondary to what the images
reveal about the way in which gender roles continued to play
a significant role in the larger discussion on death, spirits and

the afterlife. Although men were not strangers to the séance
room, it was women who more frequently returned to the fore
as active players in these death rituals. While they were not, in
these examples, directly responsible for the care of the physi-
cal bodies of the dead, within the séance room, their bodies
became the active conduit through which the dead commu-
nicated. This gave them an unprecedented amount of agency.
3.2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAR

AND SPIRITUALISM
As discussed in the previous chapter, the loss of life experi-

enced in America as a result of the Civil War was so great that
it did not allow for the identification of individual bodies,
which had to be interred in mass graves before decomposi-
tion made them a health hazard for the living. The impact
of such events on the emotional psyche of surviving fami-
ly and loved ones, in the inability to mourn and undertake
essential mourning rituals, would leave an imprint on the
larger social construct of death and the relationship between
body and spirit. It is perhaps unsurprising then, that the first
accounts of spiritual correspondence arose around the same
time as the conclusion of the Civil War and would continue
to gain momentum throughout America until after the con-
clusion of World War I. In contrast, the religion did not gain
traction in the United Kingdom and Europe until the turn
of the century. This can be read in relation to the fact that
at this period, neither area had suffered comparable human
loss. The outbreak of World War I would drastically change
this however and a subsequent increase in the popularity of
Spiritualism is seen in response to this conflict. As members
of the public sought to reconnect with the souls of loved
ones who had perished in faraway battles, new mediums of

communication were necessary. Paul Gough attributes the
popularity of Spiritualism throughout Europe in the post-
World War I era as a direct response to the trials perpetu-
ated on society throughout the Great War (Gough, 2006, pp.
160–116). Similar sentiments have been expressed in relation
to the Civil War, specifically in relation to the fact that for
many soldiers who were to die in battle there was no option
for a personalized burial. The anonymity of these deaths
has been the motivation behind public memorials, such as
those found at Gettysburg in the United States (marking the
Civil War) or throughout Europe (in remembrance of
World War I). In these instances, it is a public loss which is
mourned, with the magnitude of loss taking preference over
the individuality of those killed. While these public sites of
mourning have a profound way of bringing communities
together (Gough, 2018), monuments such as the Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier or the Menin Gate also highlight the
grief which accompanies the anonymous dead and the
families left behind.
3.3. COMPOSITION OF THE SPIRIT IMAGE
Spirit photographs are dual portraits, which unite the living

with the specter of the dead, without having the rely on the
use of the corpse (Hamer, 2018, p. 146). They gave grief-
stricken family members the option to say goodbye, along
with a tangible hope for the chance of an afterlife reunion.
Spirit photographs varied in their finer details, but the basic
composition of the images is fairly uniform (Cadwallader,
2008, p. 14). The central component of the spirit photograph
is always the sitter, who will appear centrally in the image.
It is this figure who draws the attention of the audience and
through them that the strongest emotions are communicat-

ed. It is those who draws the attention of the audience and
through them that the strongest emotions are communicated.
In contrast to the death images discussed in Chapter 1, in most
instance the living are seated, although there are some exam-
ples where the person is standing. The seated position was
preferable as it allowed for the greatest amount of open space
around the sitter. It was in this space that the spirit image
would manifest. As these spectral images were always insub-
stantial, the quality of the image was reliant upon giving the
spirit a black background into which it could materialize with
enough clarity to be recognizable. A single spectral image, or
several, would ultimately appear within the photograph. In
the majority of surviving examples, single spirit pictures tend
to depict the deceased in direct contact with the sitter. Often,
they will be shown standing or hovering above the seated fig-
ure, looking down (or watching over). In other instances, the
spirit will have one or both hands resting on some part of
the sitter, commonly the shoulders. While the touch cannot be
felt by the living, the image allows it to be read for sentiment.
It is always suggestive of care and affection, to promote the
idea that the deceased is looking in on their living loved one
and that they maintain a care and affection for that person.
There are no examples of spirit images in which the deceased
appears to be enacting a violent or aggressive posture toward
the sitter, perhaps because antagonism does not align with the
sense of longing that inspired the living toward acquisition of
these images. As for disquieted spirits, it would appear that
they were either unable or unwilling to manifest in the images
of living.
In examples where multiple forms are present, it is interest-
ing to note that whole bodies are not visible, but identifiable
portions, usually the head and torso, will appear in a position
which suggests that the figures are standing to the rear of the
sitter. In more rare cases, most of which have been discredited

as forgeries, numerous heads can be seen within the image.
In these instances, the multiple apparitions will seem to sur-
round, or crowd in on, the face of the sitter and seen are with
a higher level of clarity, which is at odds with most “genuine”
examples. Later attempts to capture spirits, and those which
incorporate elements of the séance into their design, will also
occasionally feature disembodied images floating around the
sitter. These can be clear faces, portions of a body, or fingers
of light (which appear like camera flares). Faces and bodies
do not always appear of comparable size to the sitter, and are
often enlarged, obscuring portions of the living body. Rather
than a direct presence, these variations on the theme suggest
an essence of the deceased as opposed to a full bodied and
sentient spirit.
Investigations into all varieties of spirit images frequently
focused on the fact that they were fraudulent and had come
about as the result of glass negative plates being incorrectly
cleaned. The use of composition images has also been heavily
cited as the method behind the creation of such examples.
To demonstrate the ease with which compositional methods
could be employed to achieve this end, well-known photog-
raphers of the era were able to construct spirit photographs
of their own. Unlike the authentic items however, these were
often highly theatrical and tend to invite mockery of the moti-
vation behind obtaining genuine spirit images.
In the genuine image, the spirit is affirming the same kind

of compassionate emotion which the post-mortem image
sought to provide, yet the composition switch the position
of the deceased and the living. In these examples, it is not the
dead who remain immobile, but speak back. The living partic-
ipant, in contrast, is stalled in their grief (Cadwallader, 2008,
p. 17). They are fixed in position, waiting for communication
from the other side, for the same demonstration of care which
had been shown to the corpse in the original death photo-
graph. This shift in power, between the living and the dead,
is what imbues the spirit image with much of its poignancy.
It is not merely a memento of the absent, but a representation
of how that absence and its accompanying emotion dwells
within the everyday lives of living. Rather than just the visage
of the departed, here audiences are confronted with a genuine
example of the tragedy of personified mourning. The dead, in
their absence, are the only ones who can provide comfort to
those who miss them (Firenze, 2004, p. 76). The spirit image is
their medium to fulfill this yearning (Cadwallader, 2008, p. 18).
3.4. WILLIAM MUMLER
In the history of the spirit photograph, William Mumler

(1832–1884) remains one of the most recognized figures
within the medium, his contribution to the field is essential to
consider in any discussion of spirit photography. Mumler rose
from the obscurity of his trade as a jeweler (he specialized in
ornate frames for daguerreotype images) when he produced
the first officially recognized spirit image, quite by accident,
in 1861 (Kaplan, 2008, p. 35). His images have a distinct uni-
formity and are generally straightforward in their delivery.
The sitter is the focal point of the portrait and the spirit will
materialize to the side of them. In surviving examples, faces
of both the living and the dead are clearly discernable and
the dead always appear to be attired in much the same way
as one would expect the living to be dressed. Their clothing
is not always a replica of their burial attire (Kaplan, 2008,
p. 62), which supports the idea of a parallel world in which
the dead continue to partake in many of the same activities as
the living (Gutierrez, 2015, p. 52).
In the few examples where Mumler produced spirit images

of people whom he had also photographed during their lives,
there are clear similarities between the living and the spirit
apparition. In some of these, it is difficult not to conclude
that Mumler employed the use of old negatives in the com-
position of his images. A similar charge was laid against him
in the examples of his photographs which feature prominent
political figures. In an attempt to disprove deception, Mumler
invited his accusers to witness the photography and develop-
ment of his work (Kaplan, 2008, p. 50), which did not result
in any clear evidence of trickery. Still, for the discerning and
perhaps cynical eye of the contemporary viewer such accusa-
tions haunt the interpretation of all his spirit images.
It is virtually impossible to determine how much of Mum-

ler’s work was fraudulent. Perhaps the answer is a simple
one: that Mumler committed no fraud because he was not, in
fact, the inventor of the spirit image. Felicity Hamer (2018)
launches a compelling argument for Mumler’s wife being the
originator of the spirit photograph. In her argument, she cites
the fact that the female owner of the studio in which Mumler
produced his first photograph (Helen F. Stuart), along with
the receptionist who worked there (Hannah F. Green), who
Mumler would later marry, bore a great many similarities in
common, including their Christian name and the initial of
their middle name. Another compelling piece of evidence to
suggest a deeper involvement in spiritualism and the death
industry comes from the fact that Mumler’s wife advertised
herself as the designer of hair and other mourning trinkets
long before she met Mumler. After their marriage, she would
also enjoy a long career as a medium, a role which she con-
tinued after their divorce. When considering the autonomy
and prestige which women commanded within Spiritualism,
particularly when demonstrating ability as psychic mediums,
it is interesting to note that this did not carry over into the
medium of photography. Hamer ultimately concludes that, if
it was indeed Mrs Mumler that was behind the composition
of the first spirit image, it was the divide between genders
which ultimately kept her sidelined while her husband rose
to prominence.
As of this time, not comprehensive conclusion has been
arrived at in relation to how William Mumler, or his wife,
managed to process spirit images. Although some examples
have been labeled as clearly fraudulent, a great many exist
which appear to have some element of authenticity. The crim-
inal case against Mumler was ultimately dismissed by the
courts due to lack of evidence (Jolly, 2006, p. 14), though
Mumler’s career never quiet recovered from the accusations
of fraud which were leveled against him. Despite a brief resur-
gence in popularity, he was unable to achieve the same level of
fame he had originally enjoyed in Boston. After the collapse
of his marriage and the loss of his photography business, he
died broke and in obscurity – having destroyed the bulk of
his negatives (Cloutier, 2005, p. 21). As such, the extent of his
talents will forever remain a mystery. Still, the authenticity of
the images is not really the point of their importance, for it
should not matter to the contemporary viewer if they are real
or how they were made. Instead, their existence should give
us pause to consider what this form of image meant to the
people who paid (often quite a hefty amount) to obtain them.
3.5. SÉANCE PHOTOGRAPHS
It is a natural part of the grief process that people long to speak

with the departed after they have died. In some instances, a
desire to see or communicate with the deceased commands
the use of a clairvoyant or psychic. The goal of such interac-
tion is to communicate with the dead, either to check on their

happiness since having moved onto the next life, or to ask
them for guidance or favor. In some instances, peace can be
drawn simply from the notion that the dead watch over the
loved ones that grieve and remember them (Howarth, 2007,
p. 189). Even if the “message” that is conveyed through a psy-
chic is not completely accurate or does not appear to make
sense to the sitter, it is generally received with enthusiasm, as
though providing evidence of the continued happiness of the
departed soul. One need only look to current television shows
such as Hollywood Medium (2016–) or Crossing Over with
John Edward (2000–) to see that such belief systems retain
their foothold in contemporary beliefs around death and the
afterlife. The drawback with such encounters however is that
upon their conclusion, the sitter has no tangible memento,
no proof of the message conveyed. During the height of the
spiritualist era, this lack was addressed in the production of
photographic evidence from sessions.
Séances were frequently conducted in darkened rooms
which, coupled with the technology of the period, impeded
the clarity of many images. In several surviving examples it
is nearly impossible to decipher the identity of any specific
spirits or entities which are present at the sitting In these
examples, it is impossible to decipher the identity of any spe-
cific spirits that may have been present. As proof of spirit life
and the continuance of the soul however, they allow for a
great amount of liberty in the construction of death narra-
tives. For bereaved family members, the hint of a likeness can
be taken as proof of the soul’s continuance whilst also giving
liberal space to construct the continuing soul narrative for
the afterlife.
Séance images allow for a great deal more variety than

their spirit count parts. We might attribute this to the fact that
they need not account for as much space for the image of a
spirit to manifest because it is not always the physical likeness
of the person that is a necessary component of these images.
Instead, it is the inference of spirit that is frequently, though
not always, the focal point of the séance image. Appearanc-
es of apparitions will vary greatly between almost full body
motifs and those which focus only on the upper torso and
head.
In other instances, the medium is the focal point, and here
composition is usually based around getting an action shot,
in which the medium appears to be in the midst of a trance.
Examples which include ectoplasm are frequently from this
perspective.
Ectoplasm photographs differ from the formality of the
spirit photograph in that they will often show women in
various stages of undress. Similarly, ectoplasm can be seen
pouring from any orifice of the body. This can include the
nose, ears or mouth, but in many cases, it also appears to
come from the vaginal area. Ectoplasm is an undefinable
substance purportedly linked to the spirit world, which
appeared regularly in photographs depicting séance activity.
Photographs of mediums performing in séance sessions would
often include shots of ectoplasm emanating from the body.
On occasion, figures of spirits (faces and hands were most
common) could be perceived within the substance (Wojcik,
2009, p. 13). Although these images have clearly been
doctored to give the appearance of spiritual manifestation,
many were interpreted at the time as proof of the medium’s
authenticity
Although séance images are not concerned specifically
with capturing the likeness of the dead, they play an impor-
tant role in the social discourse of death during the Spiritual-
ist Era. Perhaps, the most interesting aspect of these images
is the fact that in many cases, spirit mediums were women
(Gutierrez, 2015, p. 60). Being successful in this realm of

business gave a woman an autonomy she could rarely hope
to achieve in the outside world. Still, what the role of women
highlights is both an enduring connection between the femi-
nine and death, along with the enduring mysticism surround-
ing the female body.
In relation to first point, and as I have discussed in
Chapter 1, in older traditions, it was the role of women to
bathe and clothe the bodies of deceased family members.
They were intimately interwoven with the death narrative,
present at the moment when the soul lingered most heavily
between earth and the afterlife. When we take their impor-
tance in this process and apply it to the later act of Medium-
ship, it is apparent that the female had once again become the
living conduit between living and dead, she is, as always in
service to the spirit realm.
Women were understood to be suitable to channeling spir-
its because of their more emotional disposition (Wolffram,
2009, p. 158) but what imagery of the medium will also recall
is the long-held superstitions in which women act as witches
or conduits, entering in to contracts with demons, imps and
various other creatures from the spirit world. An important
part of channeling is the ability to surrender to the will of the
spirit with whom one is communicating. With this in mind,
we have to witness these images of indicative of women who
are in a state in which they have lost possession of their own
faculties.
In relation to the female body, the séance image offers
access to the female form which would be unavailable in
most other media. In these examples, rather than the body
of the dead being employed for the dissecting eye of the
viewer, it is the living female body, which is interpreted in
accordance with the act of divination. There are instances in
which the medium remains relatively unseen by the viewer.
It was not uncommon for mediums to work behind a cur-

tain or in a secluded area off to the side of the audience for
which the session was being conducted. In these instances
where the majority of the body is obscured, hands and feet
may be exposed. Where ectoplasm is evident, the site of the
body from which it is emanating will be photographed whilst
the rest of the mediums figure (which may be in a state of
partial undress) is shielded from the view of the camera.
In these examples, skirts and dresses are removed for the pur-
pose of the taking the image. In some rare instances, wom-
en are shown in their undergarments, legs spread, in a pose
that seems both simultaneously medical and pornographic.
Outside of this setting, such images would of course be inap-
propriate for the consumption of the general public and yet,
under the guise of supernatural communication, they were
exempt from many of these judgments.
Images which feature ectoplasm coming from the vagina
highlight the uneasy relationship between society and the
female body. Compared to the male form, the female body
has long been a sign of contention or a social taboo. Intimate-
ly linked with ideas of purity and femininity, it has long been
the duty of the woman to ensure that her modesty is covered
in the presence of men and when in society. The séance room
shatters these ideas of appropriateness because it demanded
the female submit to the spirt realm. In surrendering herself in
this way, she is removed of expectation. Within the context of
the image, vaginal images are especially interesting.
In the case of Eva Carriere, the vagina was a focal point of
her entire performance, which relied heavily on eroticism and,
at times, sexual acts. Carriere worked with a female assistant,
who would check her vagina prior to every session (often in
front of the audience) as a supposed assurance against decep-
tion. It is said that at the end of each session, the medium
would also call upon a male member of the audience to con-
duct his own inspection of her (von Schrenck Notzing, 1923).

Undoubtedly, this type of titillation invited controversy and
there is speculation that sexual activities were also a frequent
and expected part of Carriere’s sessions. Although she had
been previously exposed as a fraud, it is further interesting to
note that, after adding these highly sexualized antics to her
routine, the later investigations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
were unable to conclude beyond a doubt that she was a fake
(Conan Doyle, 1926, pp. 101–103).
Although few in number, vaginal examples such as
Carriere trend toward that idea that the vagina acts as a
conduit to facilitate the relationship between life and death.
In this instance, rather than a child being birthed, the vagina
is symbolic of spirit being reborn into the natural world. This
is linked closely with the idea that female mediums were
suffering from hysteria or disorders of the uterus (McGarry,
2008, p. 126).
In another sense, they demonstrate that it was not above
the psychic medium to employ sexuality and the suggestion
of an intimate encounter with the female form to promote
business. It is interesting to note that there are no surviving
examples of ectoplasm emanating from the tip of the penis,
suggesting that male mediums operated a different set of
social expectations.
To the modern eye, many of the surviving examples of the

séance image look staged. For those of us who have become
accustomed the clarity which modern camera technology
provides, the idea of grainy, out of focus or partially developed
images may seem frustrating. This is true even more so
than the double exposures we see in the spirit photographs
discussed above. Ectoplasm frequently appears emerging from
under copious amounts of clothing, itself looking like a bolt
of muslin fabric, while in other examples, spirit emanations
take on the appearance of offal, clay, putty and even crude

newspaper cut-outs (Princenthal, 2006, p. 109). As with
the spirit images discussed earlier in the chapter however, it
does not matter how authentic these examples appear to our
contemporary eye. The only thing that is of importance to
our interpretation of death and the death narrative when it
is read within this frame, is what it tells us about the period
in which it was made and what it reveals about the beliefs
of its subjects. In both instances, what we see evidence of
in this genre of death image is a profound sense of social
loss and uncertainty. This is not only the product of a
massive loss of life due to military conflict, but also the
breakdown of many of the social pillars concerned with
religion. The ever-increasing popularity of the scientific,
along with breakthroughs in medical science and a more
comprehensive understanding of the human body (especially
in regard to life and death) had long been corroding the
public trust in religious doctrines. Spiritualism arose almost
as a panacea to the friction, an attempt to bridge the
emerging schism, so that religion and science might co-exist
(Princeenthal, 2006, p. 106).
Despite a cultural shift away from romantic death narratives
and religious observance, human grief demands a type of
closure which scientific concepts of death were often unable
to satisfy. The loss of a loved one commanded, among other
things, a narrative through which they might find comfort
in the knowledge of a peaceful afterlife for the deceased.
In the current day, this continues to be true, as evident in
the continuing effort to prove the existence of spirits. From
time to time, this encompasses the use of still photography,
although as technology has improved media such as video and
sound recording have become more prominent. Opposition
to the existence of spirits and an afterlife also continues
and has become perhaps more prominent as society retreats
away from organized religions of any kind, and despite our

investigations of the more spiritual belief systems.
3.6. CONCLUSION
Viewing examples of spirit photography with the inherent

cynicism of a contemporary eye, it is difficult, at times, to
imagine how and why people were able to convince themselves
of the authenticity of such images. The Spiritualist movement
in general is received in the present day with a certain
amount of skepticism, but this is unfair. During the peak of
its popularity, the religion represents a fascinating example
of the ways in which ideas of life, death and afterlife were
being restricted in response to a growing friction between
theology and science. As inventions such as the telegraph and
electricity began to change the face of society, and religious
doctrines were challenged by theories of evolution, many
people felt compelled to find a happy medium. Spiritualism
was an attempt to bridge these two, seemingly incompatible
belief systems (Firenze, 2004, p. 70).
This chapter has briefly examined the evolution of spirit
photography and its relationship to the wider Spiritualist
community. In considering the composition of many spirit
images, I have outlined how the semiotics common to most
forms of spirit photography and how these were used to con-
vey specific ideas about death and the afterlife.
The overwhelming message which spirit photographs
convey is that the living yearned to maintain a connection
with the dead, not only did they hope that the deceased were
keeping watch over them in this life, but that they would
be waiting for them at the moment of their own deaths. In
addition, these images are indicative of the quest for the
Spiritualist movement to link religious belief with scientific
belief, in opposition to a societal fracture away from religious

doctrines.
The next chapter, and those following, will make a pro-
found move away from these romanticized visions of death
and the afterlife, away from the notion of otherworldly reun-
ion or the union of science and religion, to consider some of
the harrowing ways that death has been captured on film. In
these examples, viewers witness a human desire to try and
control death, a fascination with ownership of the corpse, and
finally, the attempt to divorce emotion from death entirely.
PICTORIAL INSERTS
Image 5. Mourning Photograph of a Small Child

(Unidentified). Tintype 4.5 × 5.1 cm (in case).
Note: This example has been dated between 1860 and 1900, at
which time mourning photographs were at the peak of their pop-
ularity. The ornate case suggests that this was a cherished memen-
to. That the larger image has been cropped to focus specifically on
the face of the child would also indicate its purpose as a piece of
mourning ephemera. In many examples, a lock of the child’s hair
would also be kept, creating a tangible memento in which image
and touch combine to create a conduit between living and dead.
Source: Library of Congress.
85
Image 6. Mother and Deceased Child

Dated Between 1860 and 1870.
Carte de Viste 10 × 6 cm card.
Note that the child has been posed upright in the lap of the
mother to give the appearance of sleeping.

Image 7. Study of a Dead Child – 1868.

Photographer: Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879).
Albumen Silver Print 21.5 × 34.5 cm.
Photographing the body in profile was a technique sometimes

used to hide decomposition. It also suggests that the subject is
asleep, although the fact that the child is deceased is indicated
in the crossing of the arms over the chest. The abundance of
flowers placed atop the body and circling it are also indicative
of death. Their presence would have served both an aesthetic
and practical purpose, as flowers were frequently employed
to mask the smell of decomposition.
Source: Image courtesy of the Getty Museum Open Content Program.

Image 8. A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg 1863.

Photographed by Alex Gardner (and team).
Although this image has a look of authenticity, Gardner and

his team arranged the bodies of fallen soldiers with the specif-
ic intent of achieving an image which was visually arresting.
Source: Shutterstock.
Image 9. The Home of the Rebel Sharpshooter,

Gettysburg 1863.
Photographed by Alex Gardner (and team).
Several different interpretations of this image were captured,

each posing the body in slightly different positions.
Image 10. Bodies Awaiting Mass Burial at Nazi-German

Belsen Concentration Camp, 15 April 1945.
In this style of atrocity image, which has become synonymous

with the events of World War II, bodies have clearly been
assigned into anonymous graves for mass burial. The emaci-
ated state of the victims has removed any identifying marks
which might make someone recognizable. In fact, they appear
almost genderless.
Image 11. Civil War Embalmer at Work
A Civil War embalmer working on a corpse. As you can

see from the hasty set up and the tent, during this period,
those practicing the art of embalming would work close to
the battle fields in order to access bodies. These would then
be embalmed and photographed for publicity. Although this
seems dishonorable to contemporary standards, it was essen-
tial to the development of the practice.
The following three images show Jesse James after his death.
James was killed by Robert Ford on 3 April 1882. Prior to
this he had enjoyed notoriety as an outlaw figure.
Image one is an example of an illustrated death portrait.
Note that James has been groomed and is depicted laying on
a pillow. Like most death portraits, the focus is on his face
and, in this instance, the wound that killed him. The image is
not emotive but suggests that it has been recorded as proof of
death. James was a figure of notoriety during the period, so
it is not unlikely that his death would have been a prominent
news story. Images such as these could easily be posted or
retained by the collector in a photograph album.
Image 12. Jesse James Death Card

Jesse James Death Card.
Example 1 is an artistic rendering of the death image. This

could be reproduced for distribution to either law enforce-
ment or as a collectable item.
Image 2 shows James in the process of being prepared for

burial. Unlike the other images, he is not clothed in this shot,
though he has been covered with a blanket for modesty.
Again, the staging of the photograph suggest that it was used
proof that the outlaw had been killed.
Image 13. Jesse James in Coffin.

Circa 1882.
The final image shows James prepared for his burial. While
he has been removed from the simple pine coffin and a cravat
has been added to his attire, he is still without a belt, coat or
jacket. Although the body has been prepared, only minimal
care has been shown, and when compared to more intimate
death portraits of family members, there is a clear lack of
emotion present in these images.
Image 14. Jesse James Dressed for Burial.

Circa 1882.
Image 15. The Dalton Gang Kansas, 1892.
The Dalton Gang (aka The Dalton Brothers) were an outlaw

gang active in the Old West between 1890 and 1892. Their
crimes were generally related to stagecoach and bank robber-
ies. They are featured here immediately after their murder, the
image acting as both proof of death and public warning.
After the death of these four members, a fifth man (Emmett
Dalton) was tried and convicted of an attempted bank rob-
bery. He served 14 years in prison.
Image 16. Bronson Murray.

Photographer: William Mumler.
This is one example of Mumler’s standard spirit photograph.

The subject, Bronson Murray, is being contacted by his wife,
who had also been photographed by Mumler during her life.
In comparing her stance and appearance in this image with
those taken previously, commonalities which suggest reuse or
old negatives are difficult to avoid.
Source: Getty Museum Open Content Program.

Image 17. Double Exposure of a Female Medium,

Circa 1901.
Photographer: S. W. Fallis, Chicago.
This image and the following are indicative of another form

of popular spirit photography. In these examples, the living
figure in the center of the image is commonly a medium, while
the disembodied aparritions are indicative if channeling capa-
bilities. Note that the people featured include well-known
members of society. This suggests that a skilled medium pos-
sesses the skill to communicate even with the departed souls
of the famous. As we will see in later chapters, death and fame
have also retained a long partnership.

Image 18. John K. Hallowell and 15 Other Faces,

Circa 1901.
Photographer: S. W. Fallis, Chicago.
All existing examples of this variation on the spirit medium

have been deemed “forgeries,” created through the use of
superimposition.

French Medium, Eva C. during a séance 1913. Note the piece

of clothing covering her genitalia. Eva C was notorious for
excreting ectoplasm from all of her bodily orifices, notably her
vagina. During many of her sessions she removed her garments
to better facilitate the channeling process. In this instance,
ectoplasm is being omitted in the form of a male figure.
Although at the time many of her clients believed her to
be authentic, her work as a medium has been declared fake.
In instances such as the above, she would employ the use of
newspaper cut outs to create the visual effect of people.
Source: The Public Domain Review.


Eva C during another session. In this image she is clothed, but
you will notice the ectoplasm (which appears like linen cloth)
coming from her shirt and under her skirts. This was a com-
mon phenomenon at her sessions.
Source: The Public Domain Review.

Image 21. Spirit Photograph for Stereoscope

Circa 1880.
No Details Pertaining to the Identity of the Subjects Exist.
Image 22. Stereoscope Viewer

Images were placed into the front of the holder, which could
be extended to account for individual need. Upon placing the
device to the eyes, images appeared as though three dimensional.
Image 23. Accidental Spirit Photograph

G.S. Smallwood, 1905.
The double exposure of the two women nursing their chil-

dren is indicative of the type of process which occurred when
glass plates were improperly cleaned. This created the appear-
ance of “extras” when new images were taken. It has com-
monly been suggested that most spirit photographs employed
this technique, or some variation of it, when producing spirit
likenesses.
Image 24. Lynching of Frank McManus

Minneapolis, Minnesota
28 April 1882.
This image is taken in front of a local courthouse, where it is

estimated that over 1,000 people gathered to see the corpse
of the deceased. Judging from the stance of those in the fore-
ground of the photograph it must be assumed that they were
aware of a photographer working on the scene. In all likeli-
hood, this image would have been produced and sold imme-
diately after the event.
Image 25. Anonymous Lynching Victim. Circa 1925.
Note that in this instance the victim has been hung with
a chain, as opposed to a rope. In many instances of mob
attended lynching, the body would be pillaged after death
and grim mementoes such as chain and rope would be taken
as souvenirs.
Image 26. Body of James Brown

Pictured here during the Godfather of Soul James Brown
Harlem Memorial Viewing, Apollo Theater, New York, NY,
December 28, 2006
Access to Brown’s body allowed fans to pose for photographs

alongside the late singer. Although he is dead and clearly can-
not exchange pleasantries, for many this would have been
their only opportunity to encounter him “in the flesh.” Even
in death, the celebrity body holds a potent power.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, 8 September 2018.
Source: Racheal Harris.
The constant stream of fans that visit the site necessitates

ongoing restorative efforts on within Morrison’s plot as well
as on those surrounding it.
Image 28. Grave of Jim Morrison.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, 2 May 2019.
Source: Racheal Harris.
The site is constantly updated with new flower arrangements

and trinkets, which are left by fans as a form of symbolic
interaction with the site. Although Morrison’s body cannot
be seen, it is still present.
Image 29. Grave of Elvis Presley,

Memphis Tennessee.
Unlike Morrison’s grave, which is in a public cemetery, Elvis’

is interred alongside his family in the Meditation Garden at
Graceland. In order to access his corpse, fans must purchase
tickets and participate in a self-guided tour. Not only does
this dramatically change their experience of encountering
Elvis but is fundamental to perpetuating the cultural memory
of Elvis, in which he is an iconic figure as opposed to a flawed
individual.
CHAPTER 4
VIOLENCE
Image 30. Barren tree Source: Shutterstock.
THE LYNCHING PHOTOGRAPH
109
A photograph can express a multitude of emotions, many of

which are largely dependent on the audience to which it is
speaking. Roland Barthes (2000) argues that the image por-
trays ethnographic details much better than a portrait or any
other form of visual media and that, in doing so, has the power
to appeal to specific fetishistic desire (p. 30). Over time, the influ-
ence of society, along with the setting of both the image and its
viewing will also play a role in shaping the response of the audi-
ence, as will their own experiences and attitudes about the image’s
content. One timeless and universal fact, however, is that photo-
graphs are always relics of a past that has existed (Berger, 1980,
p. 61) and no matter how difficult their content is to comprehend
or reconcile they will continue to exist as proof of actions and
places society might prefer to have forgotten or denied. This is not
to suggest that difficult content has not always been so, rather it
indicates that to see it with fresh eyes can alter the way we think
about history on a cultural and personal level. In these examples,
the dead haunt the living, as a constant reminder of transgressions
for which we can never truly atone.
Where previous chapters have discussed the romantic
vision of death, the hope of an afterlife reunion, or the fall-
out from the devastation of war, these images, even in depict-
ing death, have been comprehendible. In the case of war
photography specifically, enormous losses of life are heart-
breaking to contemplate, but when viewed in the context of
military action, are expected and thus, somewhat easier to
accept. Similarly, while modern viewers might shudder at the
thought of posing alongside a deceased family member in
their coffin, or groan at the psychic “making contact” with
the spirit world, the motivation behind these actions is time-
less. In contrast, death images which take lynching and its
victims as their subject, which are the focus of this chapter,
challenge and arrest audiences because they are incompre-
hensible in their brutality.
Violence: The Lynching Photograph 111
4.1. OWNERSHIP OF THE BODY AND THE

LYNCHING IMAGE
In Ways of Seeing John Berger draws a range of parallels

between the appearance of the female form in artwork and, lat-
er, portrait photography (2008, p. 45–55). Central to his argu-
ment is the idea that, unlike the male body, the female body is
unfailing groomed and positioned to appease the male gaze.
While they may be willing or unwilling subjects of the image,
women never command complete autonomy over the cultural
language related to how their bodies are displayed, interpreted,
or consumed. When this theory is applied more generally to the
display of the body in post-mortem photography, many of the
similarities which Berger highlights, particularly in reference to
objectification, persist. For, in the post-mortem death photo-
graph, as with the female body in art, the figure is positioned
and presented purely for the enjoyment of the living viewer.
Stripped of agency in many cases, its singular purpose is to
appeal, to provoke sentiment, or to recall memory. When we
narrow the scope of post-mortem photographs, limiting our
gaze to those examples which depict violent scenes, such as
lynching, these same issues of tragedy, consumption and objec-
tification are not only horrifically apparent, but amplified. In
these examples, it is not the female form, but the black body
which act in service to the morbid desires of the spectator.
The fact that it is always a black body which forms the
locus of the lynching image is central within this comparison,
particularly when we consider the sense of ownership which
Berger is discussing relating to the female form. As he details,
the female body does not belong to its individual owner, but
to those who see and admire it. In most cases this is men,
who view women as something desirable, and over which they
long to assert dominance and ownership (Berger, 2008: 42).
Historically, black skin too has been cast in this role. Since the
first instances of slavery, the black body was understood as a

possession. It was essential to the wealth of white slave owners
because it provided labor, but in its strength and endurance,
even in the face of brutality and torture, was a constant threat
to dominance. It was also threatening in its representation of
sexuality. This is a legacy which can still be felt in the present
day and which continues to play out in the public eye. While
social movements such as Black Lives Matter seek to bring an
end to generations of inequity, social media and the entertain-
ment industry are indicative of the deeply problematic rela-
tionships between race and gender. We might argue, from a
contemporary viewpoint, that the female body has commonly
been romanticized rather than brutalized in art, regardless of
its display, it is still held in bondage. This may not be as overt
as the examples seen in the lynching image, but both offer
evidence of the quest for ownership, the human form, held
prisoner to the static gaze. The black male body specifically, in
its perceived threat to white women (Stewart, 2014: 419), in
its virility and in its strength, lives in the lynching image as a
direct challenge to the white male gaze.1
In another of his essays, Berger looks at the history of
oil painting, with a focus on the content of these works as
opposed to the style or specific evolutions within the move-
ment (Berger, 2008: 83–85). In these examples, he suggests
that the focal point of the image (be it a bowl of fruit or a
domestic scene) is indicative of the sense of ownership which
the individual commissioning the work felt over the property
which the image captures. In the lynching image a similar sen-
timent might be read through the combination of capturing
the body and the high-volume dissemination of the image. In
this instance however, it is not the life of the individual that
the perpetrators of the crime are laying claim to, rather it is
the death. Death and the ability to deliver it outside the reach
of the law, to torture and photograph the individual as that
death is taking place, is the commodity; and in much the same

way as the oil painting, it is that sense of ownership which
becomes the focal point. For this reason, the identity of the
victim did not need to be retained for the image to have its
power. What mattered to those who dealt in the collection
and trade of these death images was that the moment did take
place and that they were actively a part of it. This perception
of influence over life and death masquerades as the same kind
of power that the accumulation of possessions communicated
in previous eras and across a wide geographical span. In many
examples, the concept of ownership can also be read through
the attempts of the crowd to destroy the body of the victim.
Still, even when it is rendered unrecognizable as a human, the
form is never erased from the image. It exists in opposition
to the attempts at its destruction, it reminds the viewer that
ownership and control are illusionary.
4.2. LYNCHING AND RACE
It is impossible to comprehend the meaning of lynching in

American history without also understanding American ideas
on race, violence, sex, justice and the law (Wood, 2008, p. 6).
This has been the approach which many modern considera-
tions of lynching and the use of lynching images in the historic
and contemporary context have adopted. While each argu-
ment that embraces these concepts has merit and is valuable
to discourse on the subject, they can exclude the internation-
al audience. For those outside of United States and with no
ancestral ties to its history, it is no burden to maintain a moral
and ethical distance from the legacy of lynching, but to do
so is to fail to acknowledge the relationship which the racial
legacy of America has to that of global society, including the
heritage of our own countries. One need not be from America
in order to feel a sense of guilt related to these images. In any

colonized land, the progeny of colonial white settlers must
confront their own history of racism. In the global commu-
nity, we can no longer use the excuse of nationality to remove
the stain of lynching from the lingering unease which these
types of image summon. They are not only photographs that
reference a time, place and cultural disconnect in American
history, but are part of a larger discourse on race which is
ongoing across the globe. Although certain scholarship has
called into question whether we ought to engage with lynch-
ing images at all, precisely because of the narratives they per-
petrate, an alternative viewpoint is to demand that we look
upon and confront the reality of what they communicate.
This is not a reality that can be atoned for, but it is one in
which recognizing accountability can play a powerful role in
the racial healing of many communities.
Berger’s (1980) belief that the industrialized world is ter-
rified of the past and as such, trends toward opportunism by
turning everything into spectacle, employing the lens of the
camera (p. 59) echoes this sentiment. It is particularly poign-
ant when looking at lynching photographs or postcards.
There is a distinct discomfort that comes with looking at any
image that features a victim of lynching. Many of us seek to
distance ourselves from such historical photographs, engaging
with geographical distance and time as a means of disassociat-
ing with the cultural trauma and racial divides of which these
images are indicative. Despite such efforts of avoidance, the fact
remains that these moment did take place and that, while we
would never imagine that an ancestor who is part of our family
line could or would be involved in such a moment, captured
within these images of torture are many faces in the crowd.
Although they may not have been active participants, their
presence speaks to a complicity, and it is here that the core of
our discomfort lies.
The following section will briefly consider what lynching

images from different historical periods convey about racial
identity and race relations in America at the time in which
they were produced. This is important to establishing differ-
ences in how these images were composed, as well as for dis-
cussing some of the motivations behind their dissemination.
Following this, I will consider historical guilt in contemporary
society more broadly and how this influences the response of
modern audiences when they are confronted with these exam-
ples of the death image. Finally, I examine the audience within
the photograph (collectively) and as contemporary readers of
the image (individually). In each section, the enduring theme
will be that in any lynching image, what we are faced with
is the idea of death made manifest in the torture and execu-
tion of another human being. Although different motivations
are often provided for how and why a specific lynching was
committed, there are untold numbers which have vanished
into the ether of time. Ultimately, the excuses behind such
abhorrent acts are just that. Lynching is not a punishment for
crime, it is an act carried out to terrify and control. Within
the history of the death narrative it is a futile attempt to take
ownership over the death of another living person – as if in
doing so we might somehow avoid our own.
4.3. LYNCHING AND SEGREGATION
Historical discussions on lynching have frequently drawn on

its use as a form of threat and torture among black com-
munities throughout America, primarily during the Colonial
and Antebellum periods. During the Antebellum era, particu-
larly, the motivation behind lynching was, in many instances,
reliant upon the dynamic between slave and slave owner.
As a form of punishment, lynching was a powerful deterrent
to other slaves, a warning as to the fate which awaited any

individual tempted to flee. It could also be employed to
assert ownership over the slave body after death, feeding
into the belief that slaves were inferior to whites and did
not possess a soul of their own (Warren, 2017, p. 115). As
such, even death could not remove them from the servitude
to which they had been bound. In other accounts, it was
used as a means of punishment for the living. In denying
family groups the right to care for and bury the bodies of
their deceased loved ones, slave owners were able to assert
control over their surviving slaves, reinforcing the idea that
the rights of any individual in chattel were reliant upon
the whims of their owner (Warren, 2017, pp. 117–119). To
deny grief and mourning rituals is also to depersonalize the
departed, thus feeding into notions of racial inferior-
ity and white dominance. What these motivations largely
highlight is the role of lynching in white death narratives,
where it appeared as a tool for control. How it was dis-
cussed among the black community of the period can
only be speculated, although it is not difficult to imag-
ine that it promoted horror and disgust. Accounts of how
and why lynching took place during these periods differ,
though they are generally told from the white perspective.
It is likely that this is the result of discomfort among the black
population at that time. Even after the abolishment of slavery,
black people were not free and nor were they afforded the
same privilege and opportunity as the white population. They
had neither the means nor the voice to speak up about these
behaviors. For anyone who had lost a loved on to the act of
lynching, it is also unlikely that there was a desire to relive the
grief of that loss.
Throughout the Jim Crow (1877–1950s) era, it became
dangerous for blacks to attempt survival in many parts of the
United States. Segregation rules enforced division, promoting
the idea of racial superiority; while the types of available

employment ensured that much of the population remained
in poverty. During this period a huge number of lynch mur-
ders took place, many of which were conducted publicly and
drew the attentions of local crowds. The solitary purpose of
most of these acts was to provoke fear and terror within the
black community (Garland, 2005, p. 803). In these instances,
itinerant photographers would often also attend the moment
to photograph the event. While some of these images would
eventually find their way to national press publications, oth-
ers became morbid trinkets of death. Known as lynching
postcards, they were distributed through the mail publicly,
until the postal service refused to carry them (Baker, 2015,
p. 38), after which they continued to be exchanged in enve-
lopes of from person to person. While it is easy to believe
that this trade was specific to whites, particularly those with
grandiose visions of racial supremacy, there is compelling
evidence to suggest that they were also terrible mementoes
shared between members of the black community (Steward,
2014, p. 422). Due to the ambiguity of ownership in these
instances, it is difficult to determine if they were exchanged as
confirmation of death or in an effort to keep a record of the
social history of injustice.
4.4. LYNCHING IMAGES
Photographs demonstrate the vulnerability of lives, of people

that are on a path toward their own destruction. The link
between the photograph and death haunts all photographs
of people (Sontag, 2008, p. 70). Baker (2007, p. 36) describes
lynching as “a historical event fundamentally informed by the
dynamics of visual and performance aesthetics.” The lynch-
ing photograph is a tangible reminder of the violent death
experienced by untold numbers of black Americans through-

out the South. Therefore, the image of the lynched body can-
not do anything other than provoke a visceral response in the
viewer. As a method of torture and punishment, it represents
the ultimate act of humiliation.
One of the more detailed studies on this aspect of the topic
can be found in Jacqueline Goldsby’s haunting discussion
of lynching in American history and culture. Chapter five
of her book A Spectacular Secret delves into the history of
lynching photography from a cultural perspective, along
with the relationship this shares with the history and genesis
of the instant camera. What this study reveals is an uneasy
relationship between the photographer and the murderer.
Perhaps more unsettling than the fact that these acts were
perpetrated in public is the fact that keen-eyed profiteers
used the distribution of the images as a source of income
(Wolff, 2016, p. 131).
The common feature among all images which contain a

lynching victim is a body, hung by the neck and generally sus-
pended by a tree. In instances of public execution, a platform
will sometimes be used, while in other cases, a town bridge or
pole has served the unpleasant purpose of hanging (Garland,
2005, p. 805). Depending on the circumstance in which the
image has been captured, other forms of mutilation may be
evident in the appearance of the corpse. Usually, these injuries
will have been inflicted prior to death. In this sense, the image
echoes the three-fold purpose outline by Barthes.2 The image
captures the damage to the body of the subject, it signals to
the audience within the image that death is soon to come;
it reminds the contemporary audience that death has taken
place. In doing so, it forces the audience to acknowledge the
scene of a crime, whilst simultaneously prompting them to
attempt to contextualize the reason for the image’s production.
In many examples, this imbues the image with emotional

impact, even decades after its creation.
One of the most brutal examples in effect can be seen in
the triple image of Frank Embree. Taken on the day of his
execution, the images detail the range of wounds Embree
endured prior to his eventual public murder. The first two
are pre-mortem and show Embree handcuffed and standing
on a truck bed, the third is taken after his death and shows
his body while it is still suspended from the tree on which he
was lynched. In the first two photographs, Embree has been
stripped naked and is chained about the wrists. His hands
cover his genitals. What captures the eye of the viewer are
the cuts and welts that are visible all over his trunk and legs,
many of which appear to still be open and weeping. Unlike
other photographs which depict victims before they have
been murdered, Embree faces the camera with a defiant gaze,
despite the pain he has clearly endured. As the focal point
and victim, he challenges the photographer and viewer to look
away from him (Stewart, 2014,p. 428). In the final image,
after he has died, his body retains this sense of defiance. In
this shot, a blanket has been haphazardly affixed around his
waist to hide the genitalia that his hands can no longer cover.
He is surrounded by a mob, many of whom are in very close
proximity to the body, and yet they do not seem to look at
him, but beyond him. While it would be wrong to condone
the actions of these men, or their participation as bystanders,
we have to wonder how they felt in the wake of such an act.
Was the pride of these accomplices, and others just like them,
simply related to participation? How did they tell the story of
that death in a way sat comfortably within their own minds?
Unlike a state-sanctioned hanging, there is generally a

sense of pride that comes from the crowds featured in a lynch-
ing image, which adds to the sense of disquiet experienced
by the viewer. There appears to be no commonality among

participants, with many examples featuring white men and
boys alongside white women and girls. In many examples,
members of the black community are also present. In every
example, death is inflicted with the intent of shaming the
victim. As written accounts confirm, the victim was always
executed in public, their bodies left on display, sometimes for
days, until they were cut down and removed from the public
eye. Unlike other examples of the death image, there is no
sense of peace in these photographs, no sense of finality of
conclusion, only a lingering sense of unease.
In her discussion of lynching photography, Marga-
ret Schwartz focuses on the use of the lynching image as a
precipitator of social and cultural change (Schwartz, 2015,
pp. 53–83). Using the examples of Emmett Till (in relation to
the civil rights movement) and Hamza al-Khateeb (in relation
to the more recent atrocities in Syria), Schwartz draws on the
atrocity image and its use in the media to discuss how the
implementation and dissemination of these images creates a
public body, which renders the individual anonymous as their
individuality is eclipsed by the powerful message which the
image serves. In these examples, by disseminating atrocity, the
public become aware of the need for intervention into social
issues within their own immediate and, more recently, global
communities. Similarly, Courtney R. Baker (2015) looks
beyond the initial act which of murder which took the life
of Till, toward an assessment of what the media coverage in
the wake of his death and funeral meant to shifting discourse
about lynching in American society (p. 69). Tracing the use of
images throughout the process of burying Till and prosecut-
ing those responsible for taking his life (and their subsequent
acquittal), Baker completes a more personalized and compre-
hensive narrative around the way in which confrontational
and devastating imagery of unjustified death can continue to
mock the victim (Baker, 2015, p. 93) and their surviving fam-
ily members long after a body has been interred. These after-
effects become interwoven with memory and history, so that
the dead are never at peace, but linger on the periphery of a
larger collective vision.
Like Schwartz, Jason Morgan Ward highlights the link
between atrocity images and pertinent issues of global con-
cern. Specific to his study is establishing the connection
between increased participation in lynch mobs and the murder
of black Americans and the end of both World War I and
World War II. While Ward (2017) does not aim to sug-
gest that either of these wars was directly responsible for
encouraging vigilante justice, in both cases the end of
the war coincided with a protracted increase in lynching
victims (p. 232).
4.5. HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY GUILT
Humans like to distance themselves from many of the immor-

al behaviors which human society allows. This is particularly
true of those who are abhorrent. Whether these behaviors
are contemporary or historically abhorrent seems to make
little difference, and we are always seeking separation from
the sins of our forebears (Kempf, 2016, p. 115). In instances
where such behaviors have been caught on film (and lynch-
ing is the example which has been used in this chapter but
is not the only one) the static image continues to arrest by
confronting its audience with the tragic truth of our collective
human nature, the truth that human perpetuated atrocities
have always haunted us. Although we, as individual selves,
may be sickened or repulsed by specific acts, while they grate
on our moral and ethical ideas about ourselves, we cannot
look away. Beneath these images there is a silent knowing
that we are part of a larger whole, in which such atrocity has

been allowed to occur. We must bear witness. In the lynching
image we confront the worst of human nature: fear, prejudice
and hatred. We confront an endless human preoccupation
with mortality and our attempt to control it. Our sense of
shame though, comes from the recognition that at some time
in life we have all been bystanders to a collective cruelty, it is
the burden of our human nature.
For the contemporary viewer, this makes these images
more difficult to negotiate either rationally or emotionally.
There is no reason that the act of lynching, let alone capturing
of the event, should take place other than that people took
some joy from it. In saying people, we must invariably refine
our view to white people. This is not an event which took
place in response to a military doctrine, it was and is a
practice which has been enacted in response to a multitude
of racial undercurrents that continue to have a pervasive
role in American culture. The racial connotations, the social
significance, the suffering which these images contain, seems
almost as if it is part of some far-distant past, and yet, these
examples are generally less than 150 years old. In some
cases, less than 100.
4.6. HISTORICAL EVIDENCE AND THE DEATH

NARRATIVE
It is important to remember that for the lynched victim, death

was only the end of their life. It signified the beginning of a
problematic existence for the body left behind. This is the body
captured in the examples of lynching postcards, which were
bought and traded throughout America during the Jim Crow
era. In the beginning of this chapter, I considered how lynching
could be used as a symbol of ownership over the body, but this

is only part of the picture.
As society began to turn more prominently away from
segregation images of lynching victims, particularly those
in high-profile cases, were used by the press as a means of
highlighting the prevalence of the act in the Southern United
States. Published nationally, images such as those of Emmett
Till were splashed across the front pages of broadsheets across
the country with the aim of enacting outrage and prompting
social change (Baker, 2015, p. 83; Schwartz, 2015, pp. 56–57).
As calls for the perpetrators of lynching murders to be tried
and convicted for their crimes became more prominent, the
black community began to use the desecrated corpses of their
loved ones as a site of protest (Ward, 2017, p. 246). While
this would have been an unimaginably hard decision to make,
viewed from a cultural context it sends a powerful message
about the how the shame of the crime can be viewed.
A refusal to claim ownership over the body and to enact
cultural death rites for the deceased can be read as a powerful
act of rebellion against the class system responsible for allow-
ing such a brutal manner of death to not only take place, but
to do so without legal recourse (Garland, 2005, p. 801). This
act of renunciation in itself is a powerful death narrative, and
one of the few examples which considers the perspective of
this manner of death from the viewpoint of the black commu-
nity. Although it might seem impossible to consider refusing
to reclaim the corpse of a loved one, this makes an incredibly
strong statement and one which pushes back on any sense of
ownership which the perpetrators of lynching where trying
to demonstrate. In holding the same community that would
sanction a murder accountable for the interment of the body,
the family of the deceased were reclaiming ownership of the
death story.
4.7. THE AUDIENCE WITHIN
In recent years there have been a range of touring exhibitions

which have taken lynching as their focal point.3 Of these,
Without Sanctuary is perhaps the most widely toured and
recognizable. It has also spawned a number of special edi-
tion journals and stand-alone academic articles which take its
delivery and curation as a focal point, as much as the content
of the images it portrays. Owing to this existing field of schol-
arship, I will not go into an abundance of detail here in rela-
tion to either the purpose of the exhibition of the criticisms it
has faced. What this and similar exhibitions have highlighted
is a public unease around the role of the lynching photograph
as both a historical image and form of commentary. What
they have engaged with less is a consideration of the composi-
tion of the image and how it might be read in relation to the
comment it makes specifically about death.
Lynching was so often perpetrated with the explicit pur-
pose of attracting an audience. In most cases, it is the public
gaze which gives the act meaning and horror, and which gives
those responsible their sense of power over the victim. It is
difficult to look at lynching images in the present day without
the risk of returning to that sense of spectacle (Wood, 2008,
p. 16). In this capturing, there are distinct elements of pride
(among those responsible for orchestrating the lynching)
and varying elements of torment, grim fascination or disgust
from those in the audience. When we shift our focus to the
bystander, the lynching image opens up a new avenue through
which we can view the way that death has been captured in
the visual narrative of the photograph.
While the identity of the deceased may not be known to audi-
ences in the present, it is more than likely that the those involved
in the act of the lynching and the posing, construction, distribu-
tions and collection of these images were well acquainted with
both the identity of the deceased and their alleged crimes. This
gives the death a personal identity, one that is missing from
images of large-scale atrocity and war. This changes the way the
images are read and received by the viewer. Unlike the victim,
the audience within retains their sense of anonymity, despite the
fact that their faces are often clearly visible. It is these faces, their
expressions, along with the stance of the participants that form
much of how the audience without will read an image.
4.8. THE AUDIENCE WITHOUT
Jean Kempf states that death cannot truly be engaged from

the safe position of the spectator. When we view these images,
in the gallery, online, in print or on the television, we remain
removed from the sights, smells and sounds which accom-
pany a physical closeness. This fact undoubtedly changes our
perspective (Kempf, 2016, pp. 122–123). In the case of a war
image, the illusion of distance between us and the battle scene
is enacted via the distance of time, geographical location and
gender. These battles were fought on far away fields, by men
most viewers will never know and for freedoms that contempo-
rary society have often fail to register. In contrast, in the image
of a lynched body, we cannot use these things to seek shelter.
Such images force us to question how we might react if we were
to see such a thing in person. To confront the truth that perhaps
we too would become relegated to a position of complicity, out
of fear or the sway of mob mentality.
Perhaps what is most unsettling is the fact that the image
of the lynched body may be a moment from the past, but it
is not a relic. As several commentators have noted, the act of
viewing lynching images within the gallery setting provokes
vulnerability and awkwardness from the audience (Harris,
2006, p. 130) because historic lynching images drag the past
into the present time, they confront audiences with the unset-
tling but undeniable truth that what they reveal is not a men-
tality that has been abandoned to the annals of some bygone
era, but one which is alive and thriving in contemporary soci-
eties across the globe. It is part of a communal memory, which
forces us to question what we see when we look at an image
(Huppauf, 1997, p. 13, 15). Accounts of audience responses
have demonstrated that visitors to these exhibitions frequent-
ly feel compelled to offer comfort to each other because of the
confrontational nature of these images (Wolff, 2016, p. 138).
Leaving sentiments in guest books which express a sense of
shame for racial crimes of the past as well as the racial rela-
tionships of the present is also common (Kempf, 2016, p. 199).
These responses, while not surprising, do provide in interest-
ing insight into how we look at, process and narrate images
of death which is the result of lynching. For the modern audi-
ence, lynching photography undeniably highlights a long and
tragic struggle for autonomy and agency, exposing the racial
hierarchies which continue to be problematic throughout the
greater United States (Baker, 2015, p. 35).
Despite the difficulty that comes with viewing these images,
they remain an integral and essential part of the historical nar-
rative (Goldsby, 2006, p. 219). To refuse to see them would be
infinitely worse.
4.9. CONCLUSION
The aesthetics of the lynching image speak to a fascination

with the appearance of death, when death is the result of
human hands. Part of the attraction which exists around the
lynching image is that it suggests a relationship in which the
living have agency over death, that they can dictate when and
how it is delivered. While there are undoubtedly other factors
at play, including those related to racism and the need to exert

dominance over another human, at their core, lynching images
are a terrible reminder of the ways in which humans engage
with the specter of death in service of their own morbid fasci-
nations with it. These photographs differ from war images not
in that they are not brutal, but in their sense of almost being
unreal. When we gaze upon images of the battlefield and wit-
ness such extreme loss of life, it is not an individual sadness
that fills us but a national one. We grieve not for the singular,
but the communal body and for all that its death symbolizes
in society.
Goldsby (2006, p. 241) suggests that in the audience of the
lynching photograph we see the human preoccupation with
death articulated most clearly. This is a fascination and morbid
curiosity which has not abated.
NOTES
1. While women have not been immune to the crime of lynching,

photographic evidence of the female body is more limited than male
examples. It was for this reason that the images I chose to discuss
within this chapter, as well as those included in the pictorial section
preceding it, were focused exclusively on men.
2. Barthes suggests that every photograph is an object of three

emotions, or three intentions. It asks us to look, to see and (in
having seen) to undergo a transformation (Camera Lucidia, 2000,
p.9). In the case of the lynching image, this transformation is linked
to the sense of horror and sadness that we feel when we look upon
the victim, see the circumstances of their death, and understand that
we are looking at the atrocity of a murder.
3. Recent exhibitions have included: New York Divided: Slavery

and the Civil War (2006–2007), Ahistoric Occasion (2007), The
Struggle Against Lynching (permanent display), Silent Witness:
Recent Work by Ken Gonzales-Day (2011).
CHAPTER 5
OWNERSHIP
Image 31. Clap board Source: Shutterstock.
CELEBRITY DEATH
129
Chapter 4 suggested that for the audience of the lynching

photograph there is a sinister pornography in death. Gazing
at the broken body of the victim promotes a visceral response
in which audiences (particularly contemporary) feel disgusted
in the atrocity of the act of lynching and the murder of the
victim, but also captivated by the image of the deceased. The
intent of the image is to provide the viewer a sense of power
over the subject (perhaps racially motivated) or over death
itself (a false sense of control because the victim of the crime
has died as the direct result of human hands as opposed to
the natural order). There is also evidence of this when we can
see the faces of spectators and participants at the lynching.
Similarly, if the victim has been the subject of a “before” shot,
in which they were alive it is possible to measure the change
in audience response. Although the names and circumstances
of many lynching victims will forever be lost to the past, as
viewers of these photographs in the present, we must still take
some ownership over the image of their demise, which exists
as part of the continuing cultural heritage of which we are all
intrinsically a part. Subjects in any kind of death photograph
cheat death to some degree, they live forever in the captured
moment of such images, to be consumed millions of times
over by future audiences, not only in a quest so that we might
better understand that which has gone before, but because we
are, always, in the process of confronting the certainty of our
own mortality.
This chapter examines this theme from a different perspec-
tive, although one which is related to the sense of control
that is evident in the lynching image. In this instance, focus
rests on the concept of ownership of the body. My assessment
begins with a broad consideration of the currency of celebrity
in contemporary society. I suggest that celebrities, while they
may appear to be deities of the modern age, are another form
of chattel. In this instance, their servitude is masked by the
Ownership: Celebrity Death 131
wealth and social status which they are afforded, but the loss
of autonomy which they represent is undeniably linked to
a specific form of slavery. The adoration of the fans which
emulate and worship the celebrity idol can quickly turn to
judgment and disdain. This is particularly evident when the
celebrity figure fails to live up to the ideals their audience
have set for them. This is as true for life as it is for death.
In cases where sudden death, by either suicide or misad-
venture, occur, it invites the moral judgments and scorn which
are frequently expressed in public commentary. In the act of
dying, the celebrity body becomes public property. It seems
to be what is owed by the celebrity for departing the mortal
world before the public has deemed this departure appropriate.
In response, death images become the conduit through which
the entire person of the celebrity is dissected for public dis-
course. To demonstrate this point, I will look at a selection
of examples, which consider different types of celebrity death
and the response which the public has expressed toward the
body in relation to the scenario in which death occurred.
Whether the body is overtly exposed or hidden beneath the
protective shield of a body bag is largely inconsequential.
In the final section of the chapter, I consider how the body
continues to be used within death narratives and death imag-
es even after it has permanently been removed from public
scrutiny. The act of photographing celebrity grave sights acts
as a substitute for photographing the body itself and often
these sites become substitute places of fan worship. This is
after the initial criticism of the celebrity has passed and the
death narrative has been rewritten, with the shortcomings
of the celebrity figure either amplified or expunged from the
public memory.
Photography is unique in that it is a record or proof of
something having been (or been seen), whilst also being a
conduit for continued visitation (in which we might revisit
or review) a place or person (Lennon, 2018, p. 585). Linda

Levitt (2010, p. 63) suggests that in celebrity culture there is a
liminal space between death and burial, and it is here that the
public determine the contribution and impact of the celebrity
figure. It is during this time that much of the posthumous
popularity of the celebrity will be determined. As we have
seen in the tragic deaths of figures such as Elvis, John Lennon,
John Belushi, Kurt Cobain, Tupac or Prince, the manner of
death can also overshadow or eclipse the life of the individual.
Tragic or taboo deaths form the basis of the posthumous
career, in which the celebrity may go on to have earning poten-
tial, but the manner of death continues to be the main refer-
ence point for any future biographical discussions. Although
Elvis was a tireless performer and generous supporter of many
different charities, his death has become a form of cultural
marker around which the rest of his life rotates. Taboo and, in
many respects embarrassing, it has become a punchline for a
multitude of jokes as well as a fable for the dangers of excess
and excessive fame. Similarly, despite years of discussing the
negative impact of drugs, the death of Prince from a Fentanyl
overdose in 2016 has forever tarnished the extensive discourse
he had been having with fans, through the medium of his
music, for more than four decades. Despite being an advocate
for leading a clean life, Prince’s death has come to highlight
the enduring issues around over-prescription of medications
and an increasing cultural reliance on self-medication.
Representing a counter-narrative, John Belushi and Chris
Farley have each become tragic emblems of the conclusion for
a life lived in excess; their deaths acting as cautionary tales
of the inevitable outcome of surrendering to the dark side
of fame. Finally, Kurt Cobain (just one in a long line of male
musicians who have taken their lives) has become a talking
point for the problem of mental illness, while Tupac Shakur’s
death continues to spawn conspiracy theories of murder and
retribution. In the music industry particularly, the endemic

issue of mental health and gang-affiliated violence has been
so long lauded as a prerequisite for artistic success that it has
become glamorized.
5.1. OWNERSHIP OF THE CELEBRITY BODY
In the wake of the celebrity death, Radford and Bloch (2015,

p. 109) suggest that fan mourning rituals allows for the indi-
vidual to engage with a more dramatic and emotional form
of grief than might be appropriate after the death of a friend
or family member. Similarly, Foltyn (2008) and Davis (2010)
have suggested that societal taboos around death are relaxed
when it is a celebrity that dies. The connection which fans
feel toward certain celebrity figures is not purely an act of
idolatry but is important in the way that they shape their view
of themselves (Radford & Bloch, 2015, p. 108). As the vast
majority of fan to celebrity relationships are based around
para-social interaction, it can be difficult to accept that the
celebrity figure has died. As is the case with many high-profile
figures, death ensures that their image is recirculated often
and widely throughout the press, complicating the grief pro-
cess to some degree. In gazing upon the death image, fans are
forced to confront the mortality of their idols and to begin
to transition into a narrative for the death of the celebrity
figure. Depending on the circumstances of the death and the
variations of death photograph, this can become a narrative of
ownership, in which the fan feels both a sense of responsibility
for the celebrity figure (which may manifest in public outcry
about the use of images which portray them in a negative light)
or a sense of ownership (although there is something deeply
unsettling about the death image, it needs to be seen for the
death to be absorbed and for acceptance to commence). It is
the frames we apply to our thinking about the celebrity corpse

that change in accordance with its fame (Foltyn, 2016, p. 246),
determining how they are grieved and the rituals which are
enacted by fans as part of this process.
When discussing the use or misuse of the celebrity image,
different rules of consent apply than in other genres of death
photograph. This is true for the celebrity in death as it has been
in life. The continued sense of ownership which fans feel for
the celebrity, coupled with the fact that any celebrity death can
be perceived as a “news story” renders the issue of consent a
moot point. Legally, the celebrity has few rights in how their
image can be used if it is captured in the public forum. This
is equally true of unflattering tabloid images as it is of death
images. When the celebrity dies in public or has their body
removed in front of a crowd, it is invariable that photographs
will result. This does raise a range of ethical issues however,
which force us to consider if these images should be used. One
of the most controversial settings in which the celebrity body is
frequently photographed is during corpse removal. While the
dignity of the deceased is usually maintained through the use
of a sheet or body bag, the throng of paparazzi, fans and rub-
berneckers that invade the site of a celebrity death, at times
impeding the attempts of medical professionals to render care,
is representative of the chaotic and frenzied sense of ownership
which the public directs toward the celebrity corpse.
5.2. BODY REMOVAL
The deaths of John Belushi and, later Chris Farley, continue

to attract public interest. Unlike the previously mentioned
musical figures, Belushi and Farley’s deaths were taboo because
each celebrity appeared to have been courting death through
their careless lifestyle. Belushi died of a drug overdose while
staying at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood in 1981

(Belushi Pisano & Colby, 2005, p. 260). He was remembered
for his unique comedic style, which incorporated the use of
his entire body and focused on his physicality and obesity,
as much as he was for his drug use and hard partying life-
style. Belushi’s body was removed from his bungalow room in
front of hordes of waiting press photographers. Like so many
celebrities before him (and since), he was covered by a body
bag and taken away by ambulance. Images of the scene show
a melee, in which fans, passers-by and police officials, crush
around the stretcher as it is loaded into an ambulance. The
shape of Belushi’s rotund figure is undeniable and in many
of the images, photographers stand centimeters from it, with
telephoto lenses pressed almost into the fabric. These final
images have since become the punctuation of the late actors
“live fast, die young” lifestyle.
As accounts of his death detail, Belushi had been dead long
before an ambulance was called to the scene. Later images
from his funeral show an elaborate casket, which is accompa-
nied by several of Belushi’s celebrity friends. Actor Dan Ayk-
royd is visible in many of these and appears to be crying as he
leads the funeral cortège from the church. In another scene,
Bill Murray places a flower atop the casket. What is evident
here is that, as a beloved and idolized celebrity figure, Belushi
was denied the right to standard death and burial rituals. In
addition to his own fame, the celebrity status of many mourn-
ers attracted additional press and fan attention. There is a
clear sense of ownership over his celebrity corpse and over
his death scene. This is not the only example of possessive
public behaviors.
The death of Chris Farley, nearly 15 years later, along
with the advent of the internet meant that the limited pri-
vacy afforded to his idol was quickly becoming a thing of
the past.
5.3. SCENE OF THE CRIME
In the 1990s, Farley was described as “the next John Belushi”

(Hedegaard, 1998) and, like his idol, he too would die young,
with images of his death appearing not only in the news
media, but online. Unlike the exposure which Belushi’s death
attracted fifteen years prior, when images are disseminated
online, they exist in perpetuity. While Farley is not the only
celebrity to have suffered this fate, photographs of his death
are particularly troubling because they document the event
with an almost clinical precision. Whereas the morgue pho-
tographs of John Lennon and Tupac (who will be discussed
in the following section) show the body in a cold and clini-
cal light, in the case of Farley there is an added element of
the taboo because these images are taken before the arrival of
the coroner, when his body was still within the home. They are
unflattering, visceral images, in which his bloated corpse is con-
torted in early stages of rigor mortis, foam can clearly be seen
around his mouth. In his hand, he grips a rosary. His obese,
semi-clothed body lays prone.
The Farley death scene photographs demystify the idea of
the glamor of celebrity in that they graphically depict the out-
come of his long-term drug abuse. There is, of course, a trag-
edy in this removal of dignity and yet, as Foltyn (2008) has
suggested, the fact that an audience is drawn to these images
is indicative of our greater urge to see everything when it is a
celebrity that dies. When the celebrity figure dies in a taboo
circumstance, the death image becomes an object of forbid-
den desire. There is a fiscal incentive for members of the pub-
lic to attempt to capture this image, while for fans, it is part
of the acceptance process to want to see it. Unlike witnessing
the death of a loved one or intimate partner, in the case of the
celebrity we can see a sense of ownership as fans, and as the
perpetrators of the para-social bonds which we share with
these figures, we feel a sense of entitlement, a desire, to know

the details of their final moments.
Reading Farley’s death scene alongside his documented
adoration for Belushi, what the death image also illustrates
in this instance is Farley as both celebrity and fan. It is dif-
ficult to determine what his response was to the death scene
photos published of Belushi a little over a decade earlier. Due
to the amount of press which his death attracted however, it
is reasonable to assume that he was familiar with them. As
a self-confessed fan, it is likewise reasonable to assume that
Farley enacted his own mourning ritual for his idol. Either
consciously or subconsciously, his exposure to Belushi’s death
image would have been entwined with this. It is a strange case
of life imitating art that his own demise would then ultimately
mirror that of his greatest hero.
Despite the adoration which we often feel for them in life,

it is easy to look upon the celebrity death image with scorn
or contempt, but what we should be taking note of is the
distinctly human elements of celebrity death, which are not
too far removed from the narratives of any other member
of society. In his essay “The Pornography of Death,” Geoffrey
Gorer argued that mass media and its proliferation of vio-
lent images was a mechanism through which death was made
taboo. Specifically, its over exposure made death something
which society did not want to discuss. While when we think
of violence the first images which often spring to mind are
those of conflict and war, I argue that over exposure to the
glamorization of drug abuse and alcoholism have had similar
effects on contemporary audiences. When we look upon the
image of Farley’s corpse, it is difficult not to feel a sense of this
pornography – in that we are consuming images that not only
dishonor the deceased but that highlight the kind of addictive
lifestyles which society increasingly ignores. Viewers ought
not to want to see another human (celebrity or not) in this

moment. Still, like pornography of the sexual variety, there
is a pull toward death, a lure which is virtually impossible to
ignore; because Farley is a public figure, we are not just inter-
ested in seeing his death, but feel that we have a right to it.
This pornographic death concept has been revisted in
more recent decades (Berridge, 2001, pp. 246–248; Gibson,
2007, p. 417), as death is increasingly part of the social media
and mass media experience. In the case of the celebrity, media
coverage and press bias about the death will dictate the social
narrative and in turn, become influential to how the memory
narrative of that figure is constructed. As an enduring example,
we can look toward Kurt Cobain and Tupac Shakur, whose
respective deaths have resulted in starkly different though no
less prominent death narratives.
5.4. SUICIDE AND AUTOPSY PHOTOGRAPHS
In life, celebrities are considered public property. The enduring

popularity of the tabloid press and its abundance of publica-
tions, are proof of this fact. Celebrity is desirable because of the
material goods, wealth and glamor which it pretends to pro-
vide. In exchange for that, the celebrity figure surrenders their
autonomy and anonymity. As this is becoming an expectation
in life, it is little wonder that the same is expected of the celeb-
rity corpse after death. Adding to this expectation is the increas-
ing intrusion of photographic and social media (Foltyn, 2016,
p. 249), which increasingly provides access to images which
would have previously remained unseen by those outside the
immediate friend and family circles of the celebrity figure. The
emergence of death images on the internet, particularly when
they give evidence of a violent death (or murder or suicide) res-
urrect these celebrity figures, only so that they suffer a second
kind of death – one of public dissection. In the instance of the

autopsy photograph, this second death can be particularly bru-
tal, as well as the inspiration for resurrection narratives.
5.5. KURT COBAIN
Since his suicide in 1994, Kurt Cobain has retained his status
as a cultural and musical icon, becoming the poster-boy for
disenfranchized youth around the globe. Although Cobain
was a highly photographed figure prior to this death, it is the
photographs from the scene of his suicide which have played
a prominent role in the creation of his posthumous celebrity
identity. On the morning of April 5, 1994, Cobain died in his
Seattle home, from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head
(Cross, 2014, p. 342). Existing photographs from the scene
are grainy, showing Cobain’s removal from the property on
a covered stretcher. Both police officers and paramedics are
in attendance as he is loaded into an ambulance. Other pho-
tographs from the scene show a living area in disarray and
drug paraphernalia scattered around the body. It was widely
known that Cobain was a heroin addict and had been seeking
treatment for this, along with other forms of mental illness at
the time of his death. Although graphic photographs of the
body are also thought to exist, these have been kept largely
from the view of the public. Partial images, showing his legs,
arm and mid-section can be found online, although these do
not depict the extent of his fatal wound. In his biography of
Cobain, Charles Cross describes the scene as chaotic, with
Cobain’s body horribly disfigured (although not unrecogniz-
able) from the gunshot wound. As he had lain undiscovered
for as long as 24 hours, the body was also suffering from
rigor mortis and the gun used in the suicide has to be pried
from Cobain’s grip (Cross, 2014, p. 345).
The pervasive popularity of Cobain’s persona is important to

consider when assessing the enduring power of these image.
Although in this instance the crime scene photograph acts
as proof of his death, fans have been unable to accept the
cause of his demise. Long-term conspiracy theories suggest
that another party was ultimately responsible for pulling the
trigger on the rifle which killed Cobain. In many cases, the
prime suspect is Cobain’s widow and fellow celebrity, Court-
ney Love (Halperin & Wallace, 2004, pp. 284–285). In this
instance, it is not the body that fans seek to take ownership
of through the image in as much as it is the narrative itself
which they use the image to shape to their liking. All death is
difficult to endure when it has involved a person or figure to
whom we feel a close personal bond. It is impossible to iden-
tify precisely why fans have responded this way to Cobain,
despite having death images at their disposal.
Cobain has undergone an interesting online resurrection.
The public fascination which has led to this second life can
be viewed as one example of fans creating souvenirs from
the body of the celebrity (Penfold-Mounce, 2016, p. 29).
Fans continue to discuss him in forums and use his image in
art, but most interesting is his rebirth in real person fanfic-
tion (RPF) narratives. In many of the examples which have
appeared in fan-run forums such as Archive of Our Own,
Cobain’s likeness is objectified in narratives which see him
subjected to physical abuse, rape and violence. That these fic-
tional encounters are constructed by, and often at the behest
of, fans presents an unsettling insight into the longevity of
ownership and the blurred boundaries which surround the
use and misuse of the celebrity image. This theme is not cen-
tral to Cobain but continues to be an issue throughout RPF
more broadly (Piper, 2015). As the platform grows, it remains
to be seen how ethical and moral boundaries will be enforced
(or not) on RPF platforms.
5.6. TUPAC
Musician and actor, Tupac Shakur is another celebrity figure

whose death photographs have played a key role in the con-
struction of his posthumous legacy, again forming the basis
for urban legends and conspiracies which deny that he has
died. Unlike Cobain, Shakur was a more mercurial personal-
ity, as divisive as he was inspirational. While many celebrities
construct their public persona around the idea of criminal-
ity, Shakur was a particularly troubling example of the “live
by the sword, die by the sword” mentality that was popular
within the rap music scene of the early nineties.1 Convicted
and sent to prison on rape charges and embroiled in a mur-
der case, Shakur had a history of violent behavior, which was
reflected in the lyrics of much of his early work. In conflict
with this image, he was also a prolific writer of poetry, a keen
actor and a loving and devoted son. In the lead up to his
death, a change in tone among some of his songs would sug-
gest that he was in the process of becoming a more mature
individual, no longer hypnotized by the apparent wealth and
glamor of celebrity but eager to make a change within the
black community.
Gunned down in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting, Shakur
died at the age of 24. After the being wounded, he survived
in hospital for nearly a week, suffering several complications
which may have been exacerbated by former injuries also
sustained from being shot (Scott, 2009, pp. 204–205). This
earlier attack had resulted in sustaining five close range bul-
let wounds, including one to his head (Scott, 2009, p. 92).
In many accounts, it was this episode which lead to the rival-
ry between Shakur and his former friend and fellow rapper,
Christopher Wallace (also known as the Notorious B.I.G or
Biggie Smalls). Wallace would meet a similar fate just six
months after the death of his friend. The unsolved murders
of both men have played a prominent role in their respective

death narratives.
During Shakur’s treatment for the ultimately fatal 1996
shooting, he underwent a series of operations to save his life,
but ultimately these were unsuccessful, and he succumbed to
internal injuries on 13 September. In the wake of his death,
the removal of his body from the hospital was conducted
under intense secrecy, with the intent of avoiding the press
and fans who had kept vigil outside of the hospital in which
he was being kept. As a result, there are no photographic
records which show his body after death. A single photo of
Shakur, taken after the completion of his autopsy, exists. In
the image, one witnesses Shakur’s body before the autopsy
wounds have been closed. His chest is visibly open, and one
can see directly into the chest cavity, which appears slightly
sunken in. Heavily tattooed, the body is clearly recognizable
as belonging to Shakur, yet in spite of this certainty, rumors
that Shakur is alive persist. He frequently appears on social
media, in grainy images which purport to furnish proof of
his continued life. So too, his likeness has been resurrected in
holograph form, for the entertainment of fans new and old.
Recent films and a Netflix mini-series which focused on the
friendship and rivalry between Shakur and Wallace have seen
a renewed interest in the life and work of both men, though
Wallace does not tend to be the subject of resurrection narra-
tives. Like many celebrities before him, Shakur’s posthumous
fame is far from abating.
5.7. THE IMAGE AS KEEPSAKE
The dead continue to act, as long as they remain part of the

narratives of the living. Photography and its accessibility have
led to a drastic way in how the concept of the celebrity is
defined in the public sphere (Levitt, 2010, p. 62). While it is

not the only means through which we perpetuate the figure
of the celebrity persona, it plays a prominent role in how that
figure is preserved in the public mind.
In some cases, the celebrity dead retain their status long
after death (Howarth, 2007, p. 198). Although their bod-
ies may be absent, the specter of their human form remains
enmeshed within the fabric of historical and popular culture,
giving them an amplified sense of importance as figures of
renown. While I disagree with her assessment of Elvis’s corpse
and the fan response to it, Davis discussion of “technological
taxidermy” is an important one when we look at how death
images are employed in the development of the posthumous
celebrity image.2 Similarly, how we engage with these images
is essential to the development of our understanding around
how and why we continue to be drawn to death images which
involve celebrities.
Foltyn (2016, p. 246) has argued that the dead belong to
the living, that it is we who claim them with compulsion. It is
not the flesh and blood of the dead body that has value but
instead the concept of the celebrity makes the spectacle of
the body significant. Popular culture has imbued the living
person with importance and, as they exit stage left from the
living world, the public become eager for one final opportu-
nity to attach themselves to that significance – entwining it
with their own life story. The significance of the body, like the
confirmation of the death itself, can manifest into the para-
social dynamic of the fan/celebrity relationship in a range of
different ways. On example of this is the use of souvenirs.
Whether or not the death image will count as a souvenir
relates largely to how it is obtained. In the case of newspaper
articles, we might look to fans keeping copies of newspapers
which announce the death of the celebrity and feature the
image of the deceased. Later editions which cover the funeral
of the celebrity can also be included here. In this instance,

although the fan has not been responsible for capturing the
image, the newspaper is a tangible item which can be kept
alongside other memorabilia.
Another example of the souvenir, one which evokes
the body image, is the tattoo of the zombified celebrity. The
zombie design can be adapted to incorporate the visage of
any celebrity figure. For the wearer, the individuality of the
design is an opportunity to demonstrate their unique para-
social bond with the deceased figure. These designs can also
reference the pop-culture narrative of consumption, as it
relates to specific iconic figures. Elvis is a popular example of
this. When viewed in this context, what this narrative reveals
that celebrity consumption is no longer limited to the living
celebrity, but is increasingly embracing deceased figures.
5.8. CELEBRITY GRAVE SITES
When a photograph of the dead celebrity body or death

site is unachievable, images of burial sites can provide an
alternative means for fans to enact a final demonstration of
ownership over the celebrity body. Unlike funerals in eve-
ryday life, at which the taking of selfies can be a disruptive
and contemptuous issue (Kohn et al. 2018, p. 237), at the
celebrity death site (or even at the celebrity funeral), they
command a form of cultural currency. Being in proximity to
the deceased and photographing that experience (even when
it does not include the actual bodily remains but only the
suggestion of them) brings a sense of credibility to the fan
experience. Exploring death and memorial rituals through
encounters with celebrity death sites allows for individuals to
explore their feelings about death in a safe space. The imag-
ined relationship which they have shared or do share with
the deceased celebrity imitates an intimacy that provides this

safety.
Where Radford and Bloch (2015, p. 118) have identified
that specific objects or items can assist with the construc-
tion of the celebrity identity in a way that better reflects the
memory which the fan would like to have of the celebrity
figure, a similarly powerful association is linked with visiting
the celebrity grave site. Often, celebrity figures can be difficult
for fans to access in life. Outside of paid photo opportunities
and the rare chance encounter, it would be unlikely that a fan
would ever meet their celebrity idol. In death however, these
boundaries are relaxed. So then, attending the burial site of
a specific celebrity allows fans to create bonds in which they
can speak directly to the celebrity figure. While the relation-
ship continues to function as a form of para-social interac-
tion, the proximity of fan to celebrity adds a level of depth
and realness which is lacking from other variations. Although
the body itself is not visible in images from these encounters,
it is impossible to dismiss the fact that it is present. The burial
site becomes the de-facto body for the fan, who visits it as
a means of interacting with the deceased. By photographing
themselves at the site, or by leaving mementos, they establish
a real-world connection. The photographed grave will then
become a fan item, something which is indicative of devo-
tion to the deceased figure. While we might look at graveside
photographs as something different to the photograph of the
deceased body, these images still suggest a sense of entitle-
ment and ownership over the dead.
Jim Morrison’s grave, located in the Parisian Cemetery
Pere Lachaise, is an interesting example of this phenomenon.
Even forty years after his death, Morrison continue to com-
mand a devoted following, with a selfie by his grave acting
as the ultimate fan accessory. Fan traffic at the grave has had
a negative impact on both Morrison’s resting place and the
surrounding grave areas, with evidence of desecration and

graffiti having a detrimental influence on the way that tour-
ists to the site are viewed by locals and cemetery staff alike.
The grave site originally featured a bronze bust of the musi-
cian, placed atop a marble headstone. The bust was a par-
ticular focus for fans and, after been destroyed and replaced on
several occasions, was finally removed. In the years since the
bust has been replaced with makeshift, framed photographs of
the singer is at the peak of his career. This feature is the focal
point of the larger shrine.
Morrison is not the only celebrity whose grave attracts a
large volume of fans. Elvis Presley’s burial site at Graceland is
another, and one which, in its management as a tourist attrac-
tion, provides an interesting comparison to Morrison’s public
burial site. Much like Morrison’s grave, the graves of Elvis
and his family are similarly decorated with devotional offer-
ings left by fans, although these are distinctly more decadent
than the empty alcohol bottles and chewing gum deposited
with Morrison. As it is housed on the Presley estate, the Elvis
grave is unique in that it functions as both a site of death
but also a targeted tourist attraction. Here, fans are not only
able to visit the earthly remains of the start (thus, enacting
a lived encounter with his corpse, despite it being unseen),
but become participants in a carefully curated narrative of
his life.
Visitors to Pere Lachaise Cemetery are free to roam the
vast and sprawling grounds as they make their way to Morri-
son’s resting place. Admission to the site is free, and as one of
the oldest cemeteries in Paris, there are ample opportunities
to sit and rest, and no shortage of grave and funerary art to
ponder during the pilgrimage to Morrison, who is also not the
only celebrity to be interred there. In contrast, Elvis’ grave is
designed to feature at the end of the Graceland mansion tour,
highlighting the absent body as the apex of the visit. In order
to gain access, an admission price must be paid, and visitors

are limited in the both the amount of time they can spend at
the venue and in what they can explore independently on the
estate. The grave itself is located at the rear of the property,
in an area known at the Meditation Garden, and beside an
inground swimming pool. Despite the lavishly decorated and
immaculately curated grounds, this setting lacks much of the
tranquility that can be found in the grounds of the public
cemetery setting. Guarded by security and under the constant
watch of CCTV cameras and Graceland staff, the experience
of visiting the grave is highly mediated in comparison to the
experience of seeing Morrison’s burial site. Still, fans flock to
visit the shrine of Elvis and, much like Morrison’s grave, pose
for selfies in front of the grave as well as taking pictures of
it. Although there is a clearly defined narrative constructed
around the burial site of Elvis, which is interwoven with the
larger site of his home and which expunges any negative his-
tory about his life, in both cases the grave site itself is clearly
a substitute for the absent human figure.
In contrast to the previous examples, the recent deaths
of Aretha Franklin and James Brown have included the use
of the public viewing, with the body lying in state at several
locations across the United States. In the case of Franklin,
this “tour” even involved several changes of costume, while
for Brown the presentation of his body recalled his upbeat
and high-energy performance persona. These events allowed
fans to come and mourn the figures, giving them a sense of
closure in a relationship which (in most cases) has only ever
been fictitious and one-sided. Press coverage of these events
was also invaluable to establishing acceptance of the death
itself and, because open access was granted to reporters and
journalists alike, the images of both figures are composed in a
way that is respectful and free of the carnival atmosphere of
many celebrity death scenes.
5.9. CONCLUSION
Celebrity bodies are sites of contestation, over which fans

and the pubic media jostle for ownership. In death, they
become the framework for discussions about the perils of
stardom, the price of fame or for moral judgments to be
made about an array of other societal ills. The tradeoff for
being famous, it seems, is the surrender of anonymity and the
acceptance of expectation. In the public mind, the celebrity is
an item of property and the narrative of the celebrity life (its
trials and its tribulations) is something which fans and the
public feel a sense of ownership over. As a result, the death
image is often divorced from emotion even though it depicts
someone that is, if not emotionally, at least visually famil-
iar. This is interesting when we consider that many fans are
involved in rich para-social relationships with the celebrities
whom they follow. In this chapter, I have considered the way
that the cause of death will impact public perception of the
deceased figure, how the death image is received by the pub-
lic and how the narrative of death is narrated in accordance
with this.
In examples where a death is violent, the body becomes a
site on which fans are able to cast judgment, the death nar-
rative becomes interwoven with a larger cultural narrative
about the danger and excess of the celebrity lifestyle. As I
have discussed, it is often the taboo circumstances or grue-
some deaths fans want to see photographed and that in
lieu of being able to view the corpse at the site of death,
autopsy or funeral images are equally objects of fascination.
Depending on the circumstances around the death, autop-
sy images can also become valuable pieces of “evidence”
in the construction of narratives of fake death. In cases
where the body is inaccessible to fans, the celebrity grave
can be employed as a surrogate body. In instances where
the grave is open to public traffic, it is photographed in the

same way as celebrity would be photographed while living.
Fans leave offerings before posing beside the headstone, their
presence near the hidden body enough to both feed their para-
social bonds with the dead, as well as to shape their ideas
about death and dying in the public eye.
NOTES
1. Tupac believed this mantra so blindly that he had “Thug Life”

tattooed across his stomach. This would become one of the
trademark characteristics of his image.
2. Davis argues that Elvis looked esthetically pleasing in the

photographs which were taken in the music room of Graceland,
where the singer lay in state after his death in 1977. This is contrary
to several other reports, which discuss the fact that the corpse
was so bloated and unkempt that it is seen as one of the primary
motivations behind the belief that Elvis faked his own death.
CHAPTER 6
SCIENCE
Image 32. Crime scene markers Source: Shutterstock.
FORENSIC PHOTOGRAPHY
151
Photographs represent a half-language, in which humans inter-

pret an image not only upon what they see within the frame
but based upon their concepts of their experience of life outside
of it (Berger, 2013). While (at one time) Susan Sontag (2008, p.
48) was decidedly less open to the idea of photography having
the ability to act as a communicative tool, it is difficult to dis-
miss the influence it yields regarding human emotion. Similarly,
Barthes (2000) may have shared a difficult relationship with
the messages that photography conveyed to him about its sub-
jects (p. 115) but he could not deny that the signs existed, even
if they were sometimes out of context. Emotional responses,
while not reliant upon words, are invariably influenced by
internal narrative, a dialogue of memory which is triggered
when we engage with a visually stimulating image. While the
previous chapters of this book have been concerned specifi-
cally with the relationship between emotional response and the
narrative of memory, this chapter takes an alternative view by
focusing on the forensic death image. Although the content of
this genre is undoubtedly as confrontational as many of the
others previously discussed, in its composition the aim of the
forensic image is the avoidance of emotion (Yoward, 2012,
pp. 225–226). The reason for this being that it serves the spe-
cific purpose of factual documentation and, in doing so, the
image must engage with death impartially. In most instances,
one does not want to recall the corpse as it appears in a forensic
image, as all too often the purpose of these photographs is to
catalog the scene of a crime, or a violent death. In this instance,
the camera remembers the victim as they were at the time and
place of death so that these facts can be recalled, not for memo-
rializing, but in the pursuit of justice (Huppauf, 1997, p. 40).
Forensic photography has become an integral part of

crime scene investigation and criminal prosecution in the
modern age. Although forensic imagery finds its beginning in
Science: Forensic Photography 153
Belgium around 1850 (Gouse, Karman, Girish, & Murgod,

2018, p. 2), the use of photographic evidence in all aspects of
forensics has exploded since that time to include that which is
far beyond what its originators would probably have dreamt
of. As the use of images in all aspects of criminology is so far
reaching ,to analyze each in detail and with due respect to
their importance in relation to the history of death photog-
raphy is well outside the scope of this volume. As such, this
chapter begins with a framework of some of the primary ways
that forensic photography is used in the cataloging, investiga-
tion and prosecution of criminal offenses. To keep the chap-
ter accessible to a wider readership, these examples will be
limited to texts and cases which have attracted a large and
long-term audience. While the focus will be on photographs
of victims, these will be linked to the relationship between the
body and the crime scene. The medium through which most
of these examples will be discussed is television and film, both
of which share a heritage with the photographic image.
Forensic photography occupies a strange space within the
wider field of death imagery. Compared to examples which
have been used in previous chapters, the relatively recent devel-
opment of this genre of death image means that it is viewed
differently by modern audiences. Where other examples have
been seen as historic, this is seen as a contemporary means of
death narrative formation, one which owes its presence and
reception largely to the field of forensic science. As scientific
methods for processing crime scenes and testing DNA mature,
the forensic image gains credibility as a visual aide within the
court room and medical setting. For this reason, it is essential
to consider it here, as one of the most recent evolutions in the
larger history of death centered photography.
Specific case studies drawing on the above mentioned
forms of media will be used, a decision which has been
made with the purpose of prompting readers to engage with
familiar texts in a new way and one that might renew both
their interest and interpretation of how death and the body are
portrayed through the use of images. I have chosen fictional-
ized or dramatized examples of the forensic image because
the staging of prop bodies and doctored crime scene photo-
graphs, is a safe space in which viewers can contemplate their
own mortality within the landscape of this increasingly vio-
lent world (Penfold-Mounce, 2016, p. 32). In doing so, the
death image serves individual curiosity on three fronts:
(1) in seeing violent crimes solved using forensic images,

audiences feel comforted that if they should die in the
same way medical science will offer the option for their
death to be avenged;
(2) forensic photographs appeal to the enduring morbid
fascination which all humans have with death and its
impact on the body, particularly in early composition, and;
(3) forensic photographs allow us to safely contemplate

death from the viewpoint of someone who has taken life.
While the last is a slightly morbid way to approach our

response to the death image, the enduring popularity of
documentaries which focus on the motivations of killers and
serial killers, along with the endless stream of first person
point of view horror films and video games are all suggestive
of the fact that, on some level, many of us wonder what it
would feel like to control the life or death of another person.
In a sense, this harkens back to the appeal of the lynching
photograph, which for many collectors was a symbol of their
perceived power and authority over the body but also over
death itself.
To bring these concepts together, the chapter closes with
an in-depth assessment of the X-Files episode “Irresistible,”
(02:13) which has been selected specifically for the way it
draws together the forensic image and the body in its por-
trayal of forensic investigation. This example has also been
chosen because the series remains one that is recognizable to
a wide range of people of both varying ages and geographies,
whilest also being one of the earliest examples of a televi-
sion drama involving the corpse and graphic photographs of
it into its narrative.
As a final point, although there is a vast array of scholar-
ship, and indeed an extensive use for forensic photography
that is concentrated on living victims, my focus in this chapter
is on that which is used in the post-mortem setting.
6.1. FORENSICS IN TELEVISION AND ONLINE
Much of what the general public believe they know about

forensic photography has been gleaned through their engage-
ment with film and television. At no point in human history
has there been such an interest in violent crime and the crimi-
nals who perpetrate it. Since the beginning of the decade and
perhaps in response to the horrors of witnessing 9/11 and sub-
sequent terrorist attacks in real time, audiences have become
fixated on procedural crime dramas and, more recently,
documentary series which profile the life and crimes of the
serial killer. As Penfold-Mounce highlights (2016, p. 25), the
introduction of television programs such as America’s Most
Wanted in the 1980s played an integral role in the introduc-
tion of the cadaver into the living room. Viewing the dead
body from the comfort of home encouraged the voyeurism of
the viewing public, opening up new avenues through which
they might consider their own mortality and discuss death
(particularly gruesome, violent and bloody death) without the
fear of being stigmatized as morbid or mentally unstable. The
format of these types of television show constructed a basic
narrative, for which, because the crimes were unsolved, the

image of the dead body was the conclusion.
At the beginning of the century, formulaic “true-crime”
series, such as Forensic Files (1996–2011) and Forensic Factor
(2003–) began to appear on television. Dealing with a wide
array of crimes, the focus of each was not on the police officers
who were responsible for investigating the criminals and mak-
ing an arrest, so much as it was on the scientific work which
linked suspects to the crime. It was the laboratory, not the
interrogation room, in which crimes were solved and often the
body itself was the main source of evidence. The popularity of
these series would go on to influence fictional dramas includ-
ing CSI (2000–2015), NCIS (2003–) and their various spin-
offs, and, to some degree drama focused narratives such as,
The X Files (1993–2018) and Bones (2005–2017). In all these
examples, forensic science is heavily supported throughout the
narrative using still photography. The reproductions of crime
scene photographs are quite often incredibly realistic and are
sometimes used in tandem with a corpse as the protagonists
within the story, explaining how death has taken place. They
also encourage viewers to search for clues which will identify
the perpetrator of the crime, when one is present, or determine
a different outcome, if death has been caused by accident or
misadventure. In other instances, crime scene photographs are
used in both the lab and court room setting. While they may
not be the primary focus of the action within the narrative,
their presence commands the attention of the viewer, becom-
ing a visual aide through which, they can understand and
apply much of the scientific and medical terminology relevant
to the case. The spectator also feels connected to the event on
the screen (Young, 2010, p. 87), allowing a first person perspec-
tive in which death and its resolution are focal points.
Outside of television, the internet is another source for
engaging with forensic crime and many accounts exist of cold
cases being solved based on the engagement of arm-chair

detectives with crime scene images. One of the most recent
and well-publicized examples being the Golden State Killer.
The involvement of online communities in relation to the
case was detailed in Michelle McNamara’s posthumous book
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (2017), which also included many
images of crime scenes, victims, law enforcement officers and
suspects. In this and other examples, the image is engaged
with not in relation to a specific emotion for the deceased, but
with the express purpose of solving the crime.
6.2. FORENSIC PHOTOGRAPHY AS A MEANS

OF UNDERSTANDING DEATH
Forensic photographs, unlike other examples of death photog-

raphy, are designed to capture the narrative of death as it per-
tains to the body. This is the cause of death in its entirety, but
not the circumstance which leads to it. In doing so, they sub-
stitute emotion for fact and prompt audiences to approach
the death scene as the conclusion of a story which is yet to
be told. Examination of these photographs encourages the
viewer to work backwards, away from death. In assessing
the final scene, they must decipher who or what has caused it
and why. Only in doing so can they obtain a clear picture of
the narrative. While the body is a key part in this process, it
is merely one of many considerations which the forensic pho-
tographer must account for. Although some graphic images
may evoke a sense of anger and sadness, again, this is relative
to the injustice which the victim has faced in being the focal
point of a crime, rather than being related to the fact that
they have died and often have little connection with who
the individual had been in life.. The upshot of this engage-
ment is that audiences of the forensic photograph develop
a more robust sense of what takes place after death, along

with the effects which certain kinds of injury and exposure
to the elements will have upon the corpse. In demystifying
the death and decomposition process in this way, viewers of
the death image can engage with the concept of their own
mortality more completely. In these exchanges there is no
consideration of how we will be remembered by the living
after we have died, only the inquiry into what will become of
the corpse we leave behind. When viewed in relation to many
of the inherent anxieties people feel about decomposition,
these avenues can be beneficial in allaying a range of fears
while also allowing more informed decisions to be made
about body disposal.
6.3. FORENSIC PHOTOGRAPHY AS A TOOL

FOR SOLVING CRIME
In some exchanges, engagement with the forensic image can

assist in demystifying death by depicting it in a clinical light.
In others, it provides a sense of security about the ability for
science to highlight wrongful death. The increasing influence
and popularity of the forensic crime drama renders death
and the dead body as a problem to be solved (Gibson, 2007,
p. 418). Popular culture has latched onto the idea of foren-
sic science and reproduced it for mass consumption. In most
cases, this has included the normalizing of scientific meth-
ods and the simplification of complex laboratory processes
(Penfold-Mounce, 2016, p. 20). The result of this engage-
ment is a false sense of security among the public, as viewers
seem to have embraced the notion that death can easily be
explained away in the forensics laboratory and if necessary,
wrongful death can be avenged with the assistance of science
(Crossland, 2018, p. 622).
Although one does not like to imagine meeting their

end at the hands of a murderer, the sad truth of the mat-
ter is that murder is not uncommon in contemporary society.
For women, particularly in domestic violence scenarios, mur-
der remains one of the most common causes of premature
death. In such circumstances, forensic images become impor-
tant to a sense of futurity. To imagine that our own foren-
sic photographs might one day assist in writing the final
moments of our lives does provide a sad type of hope. Sub-
consciously this may account for our readiness to engage with
them through the safety of entertainment television. Perhaps
because we see the potential for solving crime in the forensic
image, there is a perception that death does not need to ren-
der one voiceless. If we were to put ourselves into the place of
any victim, there is little doubt as to the importance of hav-
ing forensic death images taken and cataloged. In accepting
that the image outlasts the corpse and thus can speak on its
behalf, we imbue these images with the agency of the dead.
There is a rationalization that takes place each time we look
upon the forensic image: which is that if it represented the
only opportunity in which we might seek recourse for our
own wrongful death not only would we allow these images to
be taken of ourselves, but would hope for the engagement of
a future audience, one that would also be willing to investi-
gate the final chapter of our lives. In making this justification,
we also permit ourselves to look at the images of other, to
divorce from the emotion of their death in favor of adopting
a scientific lens.
There is an inherent risk that accompanies the marriage of
death and science within the image. A final point that must
be raised in relation to any image is in what way photog-
raphy can and cannot give meaning to facts (Berger, 2013,
p. 71). Although it is important for audiences to engage with
forensic images, the perplexity of information which they
can convey should not be overstated. This is the drawback

of looking at death within the clinical context. The danger
in divorcing emotion and death, in putting too much faith in
the uncontextualized image, has been detailed in the recent
Netflix series Exhibit A (2019) which delves into the specifics
of how forensic evidence is used and misused. In detailing the
ease with which images (along with a range of other forensic
examples) can be misinterpreted, what the series highlights
is that the forensic photograph is only part of the puzzle
piece. While it might be used to assist viewers in riddling out
the means of death, it also risks creating the false idea that
we are somehow more familiar with death as it pertains to the
clinical sense of dying. Without the benefit of a medical back-
ground or extensive exposure to death and the death industry,
this is rarely the case.
For American audiences, these examples also represent a
skewed vision of how crimes are solved within the American
justice system. For international audiences too, they can be
problematic in their depictions, in that they may make local
laws and law enforcement officials seem inferior to their
American counterparts. It is not always possible for real life
crimes to receive the devoted attention, which is detailed in
televised drama, nor is it always possible to source enough
evidence to paint a cohesive picture of the crime that has
taken place. Although we have come to look to science as
a panacea for the relationship between crime and death, it
cannot always deliver.
6.4. WOUND CULTURE ON FILM:

THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE
The term wound culture implies that modern audiences have

become obsessed not just with the figure of the dead body,
but with the idea of seeing within it. The 2016 Netflix film
The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a primary example of how wound
culture continues to occupy the contemporary mindset.
Set in a funeral home, the film is shot in a documentary style
and chronicles an investigative autopsy, conducted by a
father and son, who receive the body of a mysterious young
woman that they are to prepare for burial. The female body
is exposed on the dissection table for most of the film, with
the camera being concerned not with her nakedness, but with
an investigation of the internal. The cause of death, in not
being apparent, becomes the focal point of interest as both
male protagonists attempt to establish both the identity of
the corpse and the cause of her death. As the film progresses
and their investigations advances, the flesh of the woman is
opened and peeled away, ultimately revealing who she is and
how she has come to die. Not only does the delivery of the
film play heavily into the patriarchal idea of the female body
being an object of looking for the man (recalling much of
Berger’s debate on the female form in artworks)1 but invokes
historical ideas about the female as a witch. These ideas are
thinly veiled in the forensic setting of the narrative. The ulti-
mate function of the corpse within the narrative is to act as a
form of currency in communion with the dead.
That the corpse “speaks” within the film, actually reveal-
ing itself to be capable of murder and destruction, provides an
interesting alternative to the way that the body is commonly
depicted via this media. While clues about the origin of Jane
Doe are present within her skin and bodily cavities, photogra-
phy also plays a prominent role in the narrative.
In the film, as in real life, the intention of the forensic pho-
tograph is explicitly to depersonalize the victim. The images
must speak for themselves, without evoking excessive emo-
tion. Backgrounds are free of detail and wounds are cleaned,
with all excess blood removed from the body, so that the
image is clear (Ryan, 2008, p. 266). This adds to the clinical

feel of the forensic image. How audiences react to viewing
the dead body will depend on whether they believe that it is
a living corpse (an actor playing the role of the dead body)
or the genuine article (Penfold-Mounce, 2016, p. 25). In the
true-crime documentary, this is a harder concept to navigate.
In this respect, what makes The Autopsy of Jane Doe unlike
many representations is that image and body come together
not only in a narrative of death, but one in which rebirth
becomes a possibility. In this instance the voyeur, in courting
death too closely, becomes the victim of its grasp; while the
body, revived, becomes an agent in the continuance in death’s
inevitable cycle.
Fictional accounts of death and murder may have enjoyed
a long engagement with audiences, but in more recent dec-
ades it is the serial killer who has best come to represent the
public fascination with wound culture, specifically because of
the emotional distance which many have from their crimes.
Serial killers, their victims and their motivations are the new
spectacle for audiences who, hundreds of years ago, would
have gathered in fascination and glee around the hangman’s
noose, or the platforms of public dissection. In this sense,
the serial killer appeals to an enduring fascination which
the viewing public has with death and the body (Penfold-
Mounce, 2010, p. 254).
6.5. TRUE CRIME AND THE SERIAL KILLER:

NETFLIX AND THE TED BUNDY TAPES
Forensic science, as it appears in popular culture, often har-

nesses the idea that the corpse can speak; that flesh and bone
will always have a story to tell (Crossland, 2018, p. 622).
The sight of a crime scene, the glimpse of a dead body, but
more prominently, the motivation for murder are becoming

increasingly popular in contemporary culture. Even though
such acts disgust us, we are drawn to them (Young, 2010,
p. 83). Perhaps this is because they service our long-held fasci-
nation with mortality, while allowing us to contemplate what
it means to die.
One controversial aspect of forensic science, which has
been exacerbated by the use of photography is the field of
forensic odontology. This practice is focused on the catalog-
ing of bite marks, usually found on the body of a victim.
Images are measured, photographed and preserved for the
purpose of trying to match a suspect’s dental work to the
patterns which their bite mark has left (Ryan, 2008, p. 267,
270). One of the most high-profile cases in which forensic
odontology was used was that of serial killer Ted Bundy.
I have chosen to discuss Bundy specifically because he is also
the subject of a range of Netflix films and true-crime doc-
umentary series which rely on his murders and subsequent
court cases in their stylized depiction of his crimes. In the
following section, I will discuss first how forensic odontology
was used during the Bundy trial, before looking at how these
images have been recreated in the documentary and dramatic
portrayals of his court case.
Forensic odontology is focused on capturing a bite marks
which have been left upon the skin, to show not only bite
circumference, but peculiarities in the bite pattern and teeth.
At one point, it was generally believed that like a fingerprint,
a bite pattern was unique and that in instances where one
could be captured through the clarity of film, it could serve
as proof of guilt (Rule, 2019, p. 376). During composition
these types of photographs must be taken at multiple angles
and, like other forms of forensic images, must be shot close-
up and in relation to the rest of the body (Gouse et al., 2018,
p. 4). This is to provide context around where on the body
the bite is located as well as giving some insight into how it

was inflicted. Although the method has lost traction in more
recent times, largely due to the fact that images can easily be
misinterpreted and bite marks are not as singular as was once
believed, forensic odontology has played a vital role in high-
profile criminal trials of the past. One example is the case
of Ted Bundy, which used the technique to secure a convic-
tion over the 1978 murders of Lisa Levy and Margaret Bow-
man. Interest in Bundy and his crimes has been renewed with
the release of the Netflix series The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019).
Unlike other semi-autobiographical accounts, which have
drawn contempt for their glamorization of Bundy as the
handsome and misunderstood loner, The Ted Bundy Tapes
draws heavily on authentic crime scenes, including detailed
photographs of deceased victims and partial remains, as
well as on actual footage of Bundy during his trial. These
source materials act as supporting characters of the narrative,
although in viewing them in the clinical context it is easy to
remove the emotion from such images.
In the Bundy case, the specific angle of the teeth played
a major role in securing a conviction. One of Bundy’s final
victims, Lisa Levy, suffered multiple, deep bite marks, which
were photographed and compared to a later rendering of
Bundy’s jaw. Several experts testified that the casting and the
bite patterns (which were enlarged for the benefit of the court
audience, and now, the viewer) were a perfect match (Rule,
2019, pp. 382–386). For viewers that come to a knowledge
of Bundy and his crimes through watching The Ted Bundy
Tapes, there is a detailed consideration of this part of the
trial. Graphic images of the bite marks, as they appeared on
the body of the victim, are shown, along with the mold of
Bundy’s teeth. As such, in the viewers mind, the image recon-
firms the belief that forensic images can act both as evidence
or guilt and as a stand in for the deceased body. This in turn,
simplifies what it in fact a complex relationship between

image and fact.
The airing of the documentary, along with the release of the
Zac Efron film (Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,
2019) has seen a renewed interest in Bundy, who has become
something of a cult figure and in some cases sex symbol
(Fallon, 2019). These responses have caused an outcry from
certain members of the public, specifically those who were
related to, or knew, Bundy’s victims. The consensus among
these people is that the victims have been overshadowed. This
further highlights a disconnect in emotions between audience
members (the viewers of the image) and the subjects of the
image (Bundy’s victims), which has been precipitated by the
composition of the image. Part of this reason may lie in the
fact that forensic images of the victims are rarely selected over
portraits of them when they were alive. The bite mark photo-
graphs which are shown throughout the trial only highlight
the area in question and are never shown in the context of
the whole body. As such, the corpse is not so easily associated
with a once living person. In the interest of a conducting a
fair trial, very little is said about the personality of either of
the victims. While both women are named and cursory details
such as their age are provided, the audience gains no sense of
who they were in life and thus, it becomes difficult to view
them outside of the clinical context. They become evidence of
Bundy’s criminality rather than people who, once alive, now
exist only in the memories of their loved ones.
This is an interesting example of the negative influence
which forensic photography can have on an audience. In
examining the victim through the cold light of forensics, it
becomes difficult to associate with the death of that person.
In contrast, the figure of the killer is always shown in full
and developed as a three-dimensional person. These portray-
als can appear to be sympathetic, the result of which is that
the victim becomes a faceless entity, lacking a complete body,

even in the death image. Perhaps it is an overexposure to
death and the death image which has made modern audiences
somewhat numb to the atrocity of serial murder. Culturally,
we have also become desensitized to violent death while at
the same time being avoidant of discussing death from natu-
ral causes. As television becomes more determined to push
the boundaries of social acceptability, in both its depiction
of death and sympathetic view of killers, it is an unavoidable
consequence that images of death, no matter how violent, will
cease to have the same emotional impact they once did.
6.6. THE X FILES: “IRRESISTIBLE”
Dramatic television shows such as The X Files, adopted a similar

albeit it fictional format to their true-crime counterparts.
In the interest of time and viewer attention however, crime
scene processing, laboratory testing and the time required for
autopsy are all accelerated. The X Files is unique among other
long-running series in that it moves comfortable between its
primary narrative of alien invasion and a stream of stand-
alone episodes in which unexplained and unsolved cases act
as the central plot points. Inevitably during the course of
these episodes, a crime would be committed, and quite often
a death would take place, giving Agents Fox Mulder (David
Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) a reason to
investigate the scenario. As the medical professional of the
duo, it was Dr Scully who would act as the interpreter of
medical jargon, explaining complex forensic terms to viewers
through a narration of her autopsy findings or her computer
journal. Quite often the autopsy itself would be featured. In
early seasons of the series, the setting of the autopsy not only
provided the dramatic tension but was the opportunity for
the audiences to engage in graphic detail with the procedure

itself. Mulder’s own narration of events was a counterpoint
to Scully’s scientific one, often looking to more supernatural
elements as the cause of death. It was this balance between
death as a scientific sequence of events and death as a mysteri-
ous hap stance that made the series so popular over the nine
seasons of its initial run (1993–2001). Although Scully con-
ducts a variety of autopsies throughout the series, many with
Mulder in attendance, the most fascinating example of the
way in which the death image is used as a conduit between
the living and dead, and as an accompaniment to the dead
body is the episode “Irresistible” (2:13), in which Mulder and
Scully are investigating a spate of grave robberies.
The episode opens at the funeral service for a young girl,
whose body is displayed in an open casket. This is the first
encounter between audience and corpse. In the following
scene, a mortuary attendant returns to the funeral home late
in the evening, where he interrupts Donnie Pfaster (Nick
Chinlund) interfering with the life-like corpse seen in the
opening shot. The shock of this view is lessened by the fact
that the actress is visibly breathing within the casket, thus
negating the impact of the scene. So too, the subconscious
knowledge that a living body has replaced a genuine corpse
provides a safe space for audiences to engage with what will
develop into a very dark narrative. Donnie is dismissed from
the funeral home for removing the hair of the girl, but it is
later revealed that he turns to grave desecration in order to
fulfill his necrophiliac tendencies. In addition to hair, he is
transfixed with painted fingernails and removes the fingers of
several corpses before the involvement of the FBI (and subse-
quently Mulder and Scully) in the case.
As they are investigating the scenes of these prior crimes,
Scully is confronted with a manila folder full of images of the
corpses which Donnie has come into contact with. In various
stages of decay, these have been removed from their coffins

and returned to the mortuary or forensic setting for further
investigation and processing. As she sifts through the images, it
is her own face she begins to see, highlighting not only Scully’s
own feelings of fear and uncertainty about her mortality, but
those of the audience. These same feelings are later articu-
lated when Scully meets with a psychiatrist to discuss her
response to the case.
As the episode progresses, Donnie is unable to access
corpses from either the funeral home or the cemetery, so turns
to live women to fulfill his needs. Unlike previous examples,
these interactions show the body in life and in death, bringing
the audience much closer to the relationship between living
and dying. Upon finding the mutilated body of a prostitute,
Scully is again confronted with images, this time of a newly
deceased body, and again envisions herself as a corpse. After
a failed second encounter with a potential victim, Donnie
observes both FBI Agents while they are interviewing another
suspect in a cell across from where he is being held. Upon
seeing Scully’s red hair, Donnie becomes fixated. The audi-
ence, for whom Scully is now a conduit, experience her sub-
sequent stalking and horror as she is kidnapped. Although
she escapes and is rescued by Mulder and a barrage of local
detectives before Donnie murders her, what makes this epi-
sode unique is the way in which the figure of death moves
between settings. Beginning in the relatively safe space of the
funeral home (where the corpse of the newly deceased girl has
its hair removed), it transitions into the graveyard (where it
appears in the defiled graves of Donnie’s long-deceased and
decomposing victims), and back into the forensic setting
(where Scully conducts an autopsy on the first living wom-
an that Donnie murders). All the while using the body as a
central point of unease. In this depiction, audiences are con-
fronted with the relatively rare experience of participating in
the journey of corpse decomposition, an experience which is

enhanced through the intersplicing of the physical body with
images of previous victims. As Scully, the confident forensic
specialist begins to imagine herself as a dead person, the audi-
ence is shifted again out of their sense of certainty, where they
are reminded that ultimately, we will all die and that the guise
of the medical doctor and safety of the emotionless forensic
laboratory are temporary.
6.7. CONCLUSION
This chapter has provided a cursory discussion of the differ-

ent ways that forensic photography can be read in relation to
other images of death. Unlike the previous examples discussed
within this collection, forensic photography is the furthest
removed from human emotion, specifically because it is so
often cast in a clinical setting. As a result, the forensic image
allows viewers to adopt a clinical attitude toward death itself,
in which they can depersonalize the body of the deceased
and disconnect from its associated narratives of mourning.
Through an analysis of contemporary examples which incor-
porate the forensic image, I have suggested that on some level,
clinical death images allow the audience to engage with death
from the perspective of a murderer. This is particularly true
of images which are viewed in conjunction with high profile
crimes. In looking at images of murder victims we are simul-
taneously cast in the role of the deceased and the role of the
murderer. While none of us would long to trade places with the
murdered, there exists some form of innate fascination which
prompts us to consider how and why murderers commit their
crimes. This is not new to forensic styles of photography but
could also be found in lynching images of previous eras. Unlike
these, however, by posing death in the medical setting, we seek
to validate our fascination with controlling mortality. Science

affords us a safe space in which to navigate the clinical aspects
of death, while avoiding the inalienable truth that for death to
be explored in this fashion, someone must still die.
NOTE
1. In Ways of Seeing, John Berger puts forth a compelling argument

about the lack of agency of the female in all forms of visual art.
Specifically, he suggests that unlike their male counterparts, a
woman is always an object to be studied, her body is never her
own, but exists ever-ready to be consumed by the (usually male)
gaze. Chapter 4 drew on this idea in its discussion of lynching
photography, by drawing parallels between the objectified female
body and the objectified black body as it appears in the lynching
image.
CONCLUSION
Image 33. Coffin Source: Shutterstock.
FUTURE LIVING THROUGH

DEATH IMAGES
The value of the photograph as a memento is exclusive to the

fact that it captures something, or someone, that is absent
from us. In doing so, it allows what is loved to be held close,
to be carried beside us (Berger, 2013, p. 20, 63). Historically
the beauty and sadness, the longing and emotion of the
photograph belonged specifically to this idea of the absent
other, yet in the contemporary social landscape photography
is so much a part of daily life that it can be easy to lose sight
of its value for this purpose. With ever more frequency, we
are becoming fixated with the self, who is of course, never
absent. Still, even amid this selfie-obsession, we rarely think
on the futurity of the photographs which we take with such
abandon. Never does it occur to us that the last image on our
cell phone camera role might soon become the reminder of
the self who has suddenly been made absent through death.
171
Death occupies a singular space in the human psyche, hold-

ing an inherent attraction in its inevitable certainty. Using the
death image as a focal point, it is this attraction with which
I have engaged in discussion throughout each chapter of this
book. My aim has been to draw attention to the multiplicity
of ways in which death photography has held (and continues
to hold) an almost hypnotic fascination among the living, pri-
marily as a mirror into which we look to see our own death.
In focusing on the image and its role in humanity’s “primitive
theatre” (Barthes, 2000, p. 32), I have fulfilled this aim. Like
death itself, these images dwell on the fringes of appropriate-
ness, becoming almost pornographic (Gorer, 1955, p. 195)
in their honest and detailed depictions of the body and its
role in the death scenario. This is enhanced by the relation-
ship which death and its imagery shares with concepts such
as romance, religion and ownership, as these qualities too,
when in abundance, can be perceived as either pornographic
or sublime.
Within the sphere of death photography, there continues
to exist an abundance of images, far outside of the genres
discussed in this book. These too should be examined with
a critical eye, to discern what they convey about death and
the way in which it is communicated through the medium
of the image. Similarly, the ways in which social media and
image sharing cultures continue to influence the social land-
scape are imperative to consider in any future discussion on
death imagery. As any user of media sharing sites will recog-
nize, tribute photographs are becoming increasingly common
features, while selfies taken at funerals and death or atroc-
ity sites continue to be contested in the comment section of
personal profiles, as frequently as in academic journals. The
personal legacy that will outlast every one of us in the online
world is also a developing area of scholarship, one in which
questions of agency and ownership dominate discussion.
Conclusion: Future Living Through Death Images 173
Then, there are death images which depict animals, as celeb-

rities, influencers and pets. As the landscape of animal and
human relationships shifts in the domestic space and the
online world, the way in which we mourn our animal cohab-
itants is changing in response. Increasingly, they too are
becoming, quite unknowingly, bound up with the legacy of
the human death image. The photograph is like a ghost, and
in it we embed a special significance, a belief that because it
appears to be so lifelike that it retains something of the per-
son (or animal) it portrays.
John Berger (1980) predicted that photography was a form
of “human prophecy” which has yet to be realized (p. 61) and,
with the camera having never been more readily accessible
than it is in this moment, we may be about to see this predic-
tion come to fruition. For every mobile phone user, the cam-
era shutter is only a swipe or button away. We have become
so conditioned to capture things as evidence of our having
been there that the still image no longer retains the gravity
which it had within the society of prior generations. How the
availability and accessibility of snap-shot images will change
the way that we remember the dead, or that we are remem-
bered remains to be seen. They are avenues which it is incum-
bent upon the field of mortality studies to contemplate. It is
my hope that in compiling this volume, I have begun what
will evolve into a more detailed and far-reaching discussion
around how death is captured in the photograph. One small
consolation which we might draw from our fascination with
images of death and the dead body is that they have no bear-
ing on the afterlives of those whom they depict. Regardless of
the circumstances surrounding death, those already departed
have no concern of our preoccupations. How we discuss them
or use their likenesses to mollify our own fears about the eter-
nal cannot change the inevitability of their absence. As Susan
Sontag (2008) reminds us, the dead are always supremely
uninterested in the living (p. 125). Although we find comfort

in looking upon them, they will never return our gaze. We
forgive them of this short-coming, simply because it is always
only ever our own mortality that we are searching for in their
likeness.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Image 34. Camera on Tripod Source: Shutterstock.
175
176 Further Resources
The following is a list of internet sites and publications where

death images discussed in this volume can be located. Please
keep in mind that some of the content on these websites is
incredibly graphic and confrontational.
CHAPTER 1:
Thanatos Archive: https://thanatos.net/

A comprehensive collection of death and mourning photo-
graphs from the Victorian era. Includes British and American
examples.
CHAPTER 2:
National Gallery National Australia: https://nga.gov.au/

A collection of Frank Hurley’s war images can be found
online through the archives.
CHAPTER 3:
Public Domain Review: https://publicdomainreview.org/

Website offers a library of images and account of the séance
sessions of Eva C along with some Spiritualism reading material.
A brief account of Eva C and her spiritualism practices can
also be found in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s History of Spiritualism.
CHAPTER 4:
Without Sanctuary: https://withoutsanctuary.org/

The official website holds an extensive catalog of lynching
images from across America, along with documentary films
and other supplemental reading materials.
Further Resources 177
There are numerous websites which contain the death

images of Frank Embree. OHAFRICA is one example, which
also includes a detailed history of Embree and the events
surrounding his death: https://ohafrika.com/the-story-of-
frank-embree-a-black-man-falsely-accused-of-rape-was-
lynched-in-1899-and-his-gory-photos-used-for-postcards/
CHAPTER 5:
A detailed account of John Belushi’s final hours can be found

in The Castle on Sunset by Shawn Levy (2019).
Weird Picture Archive: https://weirdpicturearchive.com/
Images from the Chris Farley death scene are available
here, along with a variety of celebrity autopsy photographs.
Autopsy photographs of Tupac Shakur are available
online, as well as in Cathy’s Scott’s book (detailed in the ref-
erence section).
Find a Death website: https://findadeath.com/
Operated by Scott Michaels, who also operates Dearly
Departed tours (the official Hollywood death tour) in Los
Angeles. The website has an extensive collection of photographs
and vignettes about celebrity deaths.
CBS News Website has a range of photographs from
the Kurt Cobain death site, which were released by the
media outlet in 2016: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/
new-kurt-cobain-death-scene-photos/
CHAPTER 6:
A detailed source for Ted Bundy and his crimes is Anne Rule’s
The Stranger Beside Me (re-released in 2019). Unlike other
accounts of either Bundy or his crimes, Rule is unique in that
she was a friend of Bundy prior to and during the commission
178 Further Resources
of his murders. Her description of the case incorporates her

personal response to the crimes before she was aware that
Bundy was responsible, whilst detailing their continued inter-
actions after his arrest. In addition to this emotional account,
the novel is essential one of non-fiction and incorporates
detailed information of many of Bundy’s crimes, along with
crime scene images and photographs of his victims.
REFERENCES
Apraxine, P., & Schmit, S. (2005). Photography and the occult.

In C. Cheroux (Ed.), The perfect medium: Photography and
the occult (pp. 12–17). New Haven: Yale University Press.
Aries, P. (1981). The hour of our death. London: Peregrine

Books.
Baker, C. R. (2015). Humane insight: Looking at images

of African American suffering and death. Chicago, IL:
University of Illinois Press.
Barthes, R. (2000). Camera Lucidia. London: Vintage Classics.
Belushi Pisano, J. & Colby, T. (2005). Belushi. New York,

NY: Rugged Land.
Benjamin, W. (2016). On photography. Glasgow: Reaktion

Books.
Bennet, B. (2007). Transatlantic spiritualism and nineteenth-

century American Literature. London: Palgrave.
Berger, J. (1980). About looking. London: Bloomsbury.
Berger, J. (2009). Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin.
Berger, J. (2013). Understanding the photograph. London:

Penguin.
Berridge, K. (2001). Vigor Mortis: The End of the Death

Taboo. London: Profile Books..
179
180 References
Blood, C., & Cacciatore, J. (2014). Parental grief and memento

Mori photography: Narrative, meaning, culture and context.
Death Studies, 38, 224–233.
Butler, J. (2005). Photography, war, outrage. PMLA, 120(3),

822–827.
Cadwallader, J. (2008). Spirit Photography Victorian Culture

of Mourning. Modern Language Studies, 37(2), 8–31.
Cheroux, C. (2005). The perfect medium: Photography and

the occult. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Cloutier, C. (2005). Mumler’s Ghosts. In C. Cheroux

(Ed.), The perfect medium: Photography and the occult
(pp. 20–23). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Conan Doyle, A. (1926). The history of spiritualism (Vol. 2).

London: Cassell and Company Ltd.
Costello, D. (2017). On photography: A philosophical inquiry.

London: Routledge.
Cox, R. S. (2003). Body and soul: A sympathetic history of

American spiritualism. Charlottesville, VA: University of
Virginia Press.
Cross, C. R. (2014). Heavier than heaven. London:

Hachette.
Crossland, Z. (2018). Forensic afterlives. Signs and Society,

6(3), 622–647.
Davis, C. (2010). Technology taxidermy: Recognisable faces

in celebrity deaths. Mortality, 15(2), 138–153.
Dixon, R. (2004). “Where are the dead?” Spiritualism,

photography and the Great War. History of Photography,
28(3), 247–260.
References 181
Dixon, R. (2007). Spotting the fake: C. E. W. Bean, Frank

Hurley and the Making of the 1923 photographic record of
the war. History of Photography, 31(2), 165–179.
Doughty, C. (2016). Smoke gets in your eyes. Edinburgh:

Cannongate Books.
Elias, N. (1985). The loneliness of dying. New York, NY:

The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Fallon, K. (2019). Zac Efron’s ‘Hot Ted Bundy’ Has Sundance

Feeling Awkward After Problematic Film. The Daily Beast,
27 January.
Fernandez, I. (2011). The lives of corpses: Narratives of the

image in American memorial photography, Mortality, 16(4),
344–364.
Firenze, P. (2004). Spirit photography: How early spiritualists

tried to save religion by using science. Skeptic, 11(2), 70–78.
Foltyn, J. L. (2008). Dead famous and dead sexy: Popular

culture, forensics, and the rise of the corpse. Mortality,
13(2), 153–173.
Foltyn, J.-L. (2016). Bodies of evidence: Criminalising the

celebrity corpse. Mortality, 21(3), 246–262.
Garland, D. (2005). Penal excess and surplus meaning:

Public torture lynchings in twentieth-century America.
Law & Society Review, 39(4), 793–833.
Gibson, M. (2007). Death and mourning in technologically

mediated culture. Health and Sociology Review, 16(5),
415–424.
Godbey, E. (2012). Terrible fascination: Civil war stereographs

of the dead. History of Photography, 36(3), 265–274.
182 References
Goldsby, J. (2006). A spectacular secret: Lynching in American

life and culture. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Gorer, G. (1955). The pornography of death. In G. Gorer

(Ed.), Death, grief, and mourning (pp. 192–199). New York,
NY: Doubleday.
Gough, P. (2006). Stanley spencer journey to Burghclere.

Bristol: Sanson and Company.
Gough, P. (2018). Dead groud: A cultural reading of

memoryscapes from the Great War. Bristol: Sanson and
Company.
Gouse, S., Karman, S., Girish, H. C., & Murgod, S. (2018).

Forensic photography: Prospect through the lens. Journal of
Forensic Dental Sciences, 10, 2–4.
Gutierrez, C. (2015). Handbook of spiritualism and

channeling. London: BRILL.
Halperin, I., & Wallace, M. (2004). Love & death: The

murder of Kurt Cobain. London: Allison & Busby Limited.
Hamer, F. T. C. (2018). Helen F. Stuart and Hannah

Frances Green: The original spirit photographer, history of
photography, 42(2), 146–167.
Harris, R. L., Jr. (2006). Lynching and US History. Nka

Journal of Contemporary African Art, 20, 130–131.
Haward, K. (2010). Opening the lens: Cultural criminology

and the image. In K. Haward & M. Presdee (Eds.), Framing
crime: Cultural criminology and the image (pp. 1–16).
Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Haward, K., & Presdee, M. (Eds.) (2010). Framing crime:

Cultural criminology and the image. Abingdon: Taylor &
Francis.
References 183
Hedegaard, E. (1998). Chris Farley: The Wild Ride and the

Sad End. Rolling Stone, 5 February. Retrieved from https://
www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/chris-farley-the-wild-ride-
and-sad-end-186660/. Accessed on February 10, 2020.
Henderson, L. (1988). Access and consent in public

photography. In L. Goss (Ed.), Image ethics: The moral
rights of subjects in photographs, film and television
(pp. 91–107). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Henkin, D. M. (2019). The travelling daguerreotype: Early

photography and the US Postal System. In N. Leonardi &
S. Natale (Eds.), Photography and other media in the
nineteenth century (pp. 47–57). Pennsylvania, PA: The
Pennsylvania University Press.
Henning, M. (2017). The floating face: Garbo, photography

and death masks. Photographies, 10(2), 157–178.
Hilliker, L. (2006). Letting go while holding on: Postmortem

photography as an aid in the grieving process. Illness, Crisis
and Loss, 14(3), 245–269.
Holmes, O. W. (1861). Sun-painting and Sun-sculpture with

a stereoscopic trip across the Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly,
13–29.
Howarth, G. (2007). Death & dying: A sociological

introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Huppauf, B. (1997). Emptying the Gaze: Framing violence

through the viewfinder. New German Critique, 72, 3–44.
“Irresistible.” The X Files: The Complete Second Season. Writ.

Chris Carter. Dir. David Nutter. Warner Bros. 2012. DVD.
Jalland, P. (1996). Death in the Victorian family. Melbourne:

Oxford University Press.
184 References
Jolly, M. (1999). Australian First-World-War photography

Frank Hurley and Charles Bean. History of Photography,
23(2), 141–148.
Jolly, M. (2006). Faces of the living dead: The belief in spirit

photography. New York, NY: Mark Batty Publisher.
Kaplan, L. (2005). Where the paranoid meets the

paranormal: Speculations on spirit photography. Art Journal,
62(3), 18–27.
Kaplan, L. (2008). The strange case of William Mumler,

spirit photographer. Minneapolis, MN: University of
Minnesota Press.
Kellehear, A. (2009). The study of dying: From autonomy to

transformation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kempf, J. (2016). The war/photography exhibition and the

display of death. In E. Stylianou & T. Stylianou-Lambert (Eds.),
Museum and photography: Displaying death (pp. 113–129).
London: Routledge.
Klingsporn, G. (2000). Icon of real war: A harvest of death

and American war photography. The Velvet Light Trap, 45,
4–20.
Lennon, J. J. (2018). Dark Tourism visualisation: Some

reflections on the role of photography. In P. R. Stone (Eds.),
The Palgrave handbook of dark tourism studies (pp. 585–602).
New York, NY: Palgrave.
Leonardi, N., & Natale, S. (Eds.). (2019). Photography and

other media in the nineteenth century. Philadelphia, PA:
The Pennsylvania University Press.
Levitt, L. (2010). Death on display: Reifying Stardom through

Hollywood’s Dark Tourism. The Velvet Light Trap, 65, 62–70.
References 185
Lightfoot, D. T. (2019). The culture and art of death in 19th

Century America. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press.
Linkman, A. (2006). Taken From Life: Post-mortem

portraiture in Britain, 1860–1910 . History of Photography,
30(4), 309–347.
Linkman, A. (2012). Photography and death. London:

Reaktion Books.
Manderson, D. (2017). Chronoscopes in the scopic regime of

sovereignty. Visual Studies, 32(2), 167–177.
McGarry, M. (2008). Ghosts of futures past: Spiritualism

and the cultural politics of nineteenth-century America.
Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
Meigs, M. (2012). Photographic histories of the Civil War

and the First World War and Rebirth. European Journal of
American Studies, 7(2), 1–23.
Meese, J., Gibbs, M., Carter, M., Arnold, M., Nansen, B.,
& Kohn, T. (2015). Selfies at Funerals: Mourning and
Presencing on Social Media Platforms. International Journal
of Communication, 9, 1818–1831.
Mord, J. (2012). Beyond the Dark Veil: Post-mortem and

Mourning Photography from the Thanatos Archive. New
York: Grand Central Press & Last Gasp.
Natale, S. (2019). A mirror with wings: Photography and

the new era of communications. In N. Leonardi & S. Natale
(Eds.), Photography and other media in the nineteenth
century (pp. 34–46). Pennsylvania, PN: The Pennsylvania
University Press.
Nelson, M. (2016). The Strange Art of the Posthumous

Portrait. The New Republic, 31 December. Retrieved
186 References
from https://newrepublic.com/article/139578/strange-art-
posthumous-portrait. Accessed on February 10, 2020.
Penfold-Mounce, R. (2010). Consuming criminal corpses:

Fascination with the dead criminal body. Mortality, 15(3),
250–265.
Penfold-Mounce, R. (2016). Corpses, popular culture and

forensic Science: Public obsession with death. Mortality,
21(1), 19–35.
Phelan, P. (2002). Francesca Woodman’s photography: Death

and the image one more time. Signs: Journal of Women in
Culture and Society, 27(4), 979–1004.
Piper, M. (2015). Real body, fake person: Recontextualizing

celebrity bodies in fandom and film. Transformative Works
and Cultures, 20. doi:10.3983/twc.2015.0664
Princenthal, N. (2006). Willing spirits: Art of the

Paranormal. Art in America, 94(2), 104–144.
Radford, S. K., & Bloch, P. H. (2015). Ritual, mythology,

and consumption after a celebrity death. In S. Dobscha (Ed.),
Death in consumer culture. London: Routledge.
Ruby, J. (1989). Portraying the dead. Omega, 19(1), 1–20.
Ruby, J. (1995). Secure the shadow: Death and photography

in America. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Rule, A. (2019). The stranger beside me. Edinburgh: Sphere.
Ryan, M. (2008). Forensic photography. In F. E. Gallahue &

L. D. Melville (Eds.), Emergency care of the abused
(pp. 265–282). London: Cambridge University Press.
Schimmelman, J. G. (2007). The Tintype in America: 1856–

1880. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society.
References 187
Schmit, S. (2005). Conan Doyle: A study in black and white.

In C. Cheroux (Ed.), The perfect medium: Photography and
the occult (pp. 92–94). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
von Schrenck Notzing, B. (1923). Phenomena of

Materialisation: A Contribution to the Investigation of
Mediumistic Teleplastics. London: Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trubner & Co. LTD.
Schwartz, M. (2015). Dead matter: The meaning of iconic

corpses. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Sconce, J. (2000). Haunted media: Electronic presence from

telegraphy to television. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Scott, C. (2009). The killing of Tupac Shakur. Plexus: London.
Sontag, S. (2008). On photography. London: Penguin Classics.
Stapp, W. P. (1980). “These Terrible Mementoes”: Civil war

photography. Chicago History, 9(4), 197–211.
Stewart, A. R. (2014). Witnessing horror: Psychoanalysis and

the abject stain of lynching photography. Psychoanalysis,
Culture & Society, 19(4), 413–434.
Thomson Friend, C., & Glover, L. (Eds.). (2017). Death and

the American South. New York, NY: Cambridge University
Press.
Trafton J. (2016). The American Civil War and the

Hollywood War Film. London: Palgrave.
Viera, J. D. (1988). Images as property. In Larry Goss (Ed.),

Image ethics: The moral rights of subjects in photographs,
film and television (pp. 135–162). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Ward, J. M. (2017). “A Monument to Judge Lynch”: Racial

violence, symbolic death and black resistance in Jim Crow
188 References
Mississippi. In C. T. Friend & L. Glover (Eds.), Death

and the American South (pp. 229–249). New York, NY:
Cambridge University Press.
Warren, J. (2017). To claim one’s own. In C. T. Friend &

L. Glover (Eds.), Death and the American South (pp. 110–130).
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Wojcik, D. (2009). Spirits, apparitions, and traditions of

supernatural photography. Visual Resources, 25(1), 109–136.
Wolff, R. M. (2016). Persons unknown: Lynching

photographs in the museum. In E. Stylianou & T. Stylianou-
Lambert (Eds.), Museum and photography: Displaying death
(pp. 130–149). London: Routledge.
Wolffram, H. (2009). The Stephchildren of science: Psychical

research and parapsychology in Germany, c. 1870–1939.
Amsterdam: Rudopi.
Wood, A. L. (2008). Lynching’s legacy in American culture.

The Mississippi Quarterly, 62(1), 5–25.
Young, A. (2010). The scene of the crime: Is there such

a things as ‘just looking’? In K. Haward & M. Presdee
(Eds.), Framing crime: Cultural criminology and the image.
Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Yoward, J. (2012). Forensic photography. In J. Roberts &

N. Marquez-Grant (Eds.), Forensic ecology handbook: From
crime scene to court. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
INDEX
America’s Most Wanted, Embalming, 11, 13, 24, 44,

155 57–60
Autopsy of Jane Doe (The),
160–161 Farley, Chris, 15, 132,
134–138
Barthes, Roland, 8–9, Flowers, 30–31, 36
20–21, 64–65, 110, Forensic Files, 156
119, 152 Franklin, Aretha, 147
Belushi, John, 15, 132,
134–137 Graceland, 146–147,
Benjamin, Walter, 8–96 149n2
Berger, John, 8–9, 20–21,
61, 65, 111–112, James, Jesse, 36
114, 161, 173
Brown, James, 147 Lincoln, Mary Todd, 68
Lynching, 4, 9, 11, 14, 52,
Carte de Viste, 13 109–127, 130, 154,
Civil War (American), 4, 169
12–13, 39, 42–43,
45–50, 52, 54, Medium, 4–5, 17, 54,
57–60, 65, 69–70 68–69, 73–80, 82,
Cobain, Kurt, 132, 132, 153, 172
138–140 Morrison, Jim, 15,
Conan Doyle, Arthur (Sir), 145–147
66, 80 Mourning photograph,
CSI, 156 11–12, 14, 20–23,
26, 32–33, 35,
Death mask, 23 39n1, 41–43, 47,
49, 51, 59, 64,
189
190 Index
68–70, 73–74, 116, Spiritualism, 10, 12–14, 28,

133, 137, 169 61, 66–67, 69–70,
Mumler, William, 68, 74–75, 81–82
73–75
Ted Bundy, 163
Netflix, 142, 160, 162–165 Ted Bundy Tapes (The),
NCIS, 156 162–165
Presley, Elvis, 15, 146 Vietnam War, 12

Prince, 132
Psychic, 74, 76, 80, 110 Without Sanctuary, 124
World War I, 4, 12–13, 43,
Séance photographs, 52, 52–55, 70, 121
68–69, 72, 75–81 World War II, 4, 15, 43, 52,
Shakur, Tupac, 15, 133, 55–57, 120–121
138, 138, 141–142
Sontag, Susan, 9, 55–56, X Files (The), 154, 156,
152, 174 166–168

Photography and Death - Framing Death Throughout History

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Photography and Death - Framing Death Throughout History

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PHOTOGRAPHY AND

Editorial Advisory Board:

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India

First edition 2020

© 2020 Racheal Harris. Published under exclusive licence by

Reprints and permissions service

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

ISBN: 978-1-83909-048-6 (Print)

List of Images vii

Introduction: Death and Post-mortem

1. Romance: Post-mortem Photography 19

2. Anonymity: War Photography 41

3. Continuance: Spirit Photography 63

4. Violence: The Lynching Photograph 109

5. Ownership: Celebrity Death 129

6. Science: Forensic Photography 151

Conclusion: Future Living through Death Images 171

Further Resources 175

Image 1. Camera Obscura

Image 26. Body of James Brown

A resounding thank you is necessary to all the members of

Image 1. Camera Obscura Source: Shutterstock.

DEATH AND POST-MORTEM

We were all born to die.

II, marked a turning point in how death was framed in imag-

In the case of the latter however, romantic entanglements with

are known). The photograph is always a product of its time

use of photography in the death scene. Unlike other forms of

(A Spectacular Secret, 2006) is essential to any study focused

My goal has always been to construct a study that appeals

to interrogate how it contributes to the complex ideas society

traverse large geographical areas to participate in mourning

in which to convey ideas about death on the battlefield.

death. Scientific intrusion into previously religious cultural

the wide spread dissemination of lynching images, and those

Chapter 6 considers the developing field of crime scene pho-

In history, as in contemporary society, there are a lot of dif-

our own mortality. As the death-positive movement gains

Image 2. Flower Wreath Source: Shutterstock.

John Berger (2013, p. 20) suggests that the most popular

Barthes is at his most vulnerable and honest analysis of their

This chapter grounds itself in the adoption of this aspect

My discussion of variations on the death image will be

1.1 ALTERNATIVES TO PRE- AND POST-MORTEM

One of the earliest attempts to render an artistic likeness of

the cost of their production limited availability to the higher

A primary problem faced by artists of the era was that the

In later years, the photographic process was refined and

1.2 THE GOOD DEATH

Similarly, nursing home environments and hospice did not exist

the final judgment (Lightfoot, 2019, p. 150; Linkman, 2012,

The Good Death narrative, while not the motivation for

For modern audiences in particular, the idea of the Good

1.3 COMPOSITION OF THE DEATH AND

How the body of the deceased or nearly deceased is displayed

body for several hours while photographs were posed and

Where the deceased is a child, the body is commonly

and to childhood rather than being indicative of the specific

1.4 THE IMITATION OF LIFE

The traditional death photograph, in which the deceased

­ ossessions or decoration which may draw the eye away

posed in this way was a powerful reminder of their exist-

1.5 POST-MORTEM COFFIN IMAGES

List of Images vii

1. Romance: Post-mortem Photography 19

2. Anonymity: War Photography 41

3. Continuance: Spirit Photography 63

4. Violence: The Lynching Photograph 109

5. Ownership: Celebrity Death 129

6. Science: Forensic Photography 151

Conclusion: Future Living through Death Images 171

Further Resources 175

Image 26. Body of James Brown

ossessions or decoration which may draw the eye away