Halloween
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Godbert Lawley and the Original Victorian B-movie Collection #4
We return to the fascinating universe of Godbert Lawley’s B-movies. This time we have included stills from what we believe to be the first zombie movie ever made. It’s called The Workhouse Dead and it played for 6 consecutive years every Halloween to an audience of around fifty viewers in a tent. These viewers would…
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Happy Halloween 2023!
‘May the night be long and frightful, may the trick or treaters be rude and spiteful, Let the lanterns burn big and bright long into the dead of night, See the ghouls be very cruel and the monsters carry some heavy tools, They fill the children up with dread and use those tools to bash…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #7 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #4)
This is the last of this collection for a while. We apologise for not posting as promised yesterday. We had to deal with some trick or treaters who refused to leave the office until we gave them some biscuits. We will return to this collection in the future with more fascinating background information and solve…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #6 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #3)
“Who on God’s Earth is responsible for this?” screamed the Penny Rotten Paper and Illustrated Times headline. It was printed alongside the cartoon in photograph #10. Nobody really knew the answer to this until many years later. The majority of people surveyed in the 1860s believed it was something to do with the paranormal; the…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #5 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #2)
Here is a journal account written by a landlord living in London: “The giant ghouls and monsters hung in the sky, staring down at us as if we were prey. Is this how the apocalypse begins and ends? I have seen people all over London down on their knees, reaching to the heavens and praying…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #4 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #1)
To get into the Halloween spirit, we are going to archive some interesting photos from the second half of the 19th century. They are all in the Ambrotype style and have been touched up over the years by oil paint which explains how immaculate they are. In cities across England, during the month of October,…
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A Murder of Scarecrows Collection #1
Between 1869 and 1875 there was such a profession as a human scarecrow. Because the bird population had temporarily increased owed to industrial displacement, farmers and other landowners experimented with tougher security measures. The idea was to employ poor people to march around their land wearing terrifying costumes, hoping this would deter what one farmer…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #2 (Ghost Edition)
Today we are sharing more Victorian hoax photography, except today the theme is ghosts. As with last time, photograph #1 is the best example of a ghost hoax we have in our archives. You can use it as a yardstick for how utterly terrible the other attempts are. We particularly like photograph #3; you can…
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Victorian Fancy Dress Collection #1
With the coronation weekend upon us, we thought it was the perfect time to look at some Victorian fancy dress costumes. These images were taken on Halloween night in 1877. No background stories today. Have a pompous weekend everyone. TVUP
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