mortality
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The War of the Magic Mushrooms Collection #2
You may recall the first part of this collection which provided some background to the events of Skail in 1871. It became known as the War of the Magic Mushrooms and resulted in tragedy. At least thirty village people were shot by a ragtag army made up of police, locals and scientists. Some of these…
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Skink Magazine: The Victorian BDSM Catalogue Collection #5
We have seen the Victorian obsession with death before in other collections. It’s not difficult to understand why it existed. Medical science was still at a stage where the routine illnesses of today could have been certain death 130 years ago. The child mortality rate was abysmal and the life expectancy in England for a…
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Asylum Artwork by Peter Trout Collection #2
You may have noticed that compared to the other asylum artworks, Mr Trout’s are fairly clean. There are no desperate scratches or manic scribbles; the subjects are at least fathomable in a literal sense. We believe that this is because Mr Trout had a background in illustration. It is possible that after the trauma he…
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Asylum Artwork by Peter Trout Collection #1
Today we begin archiving the artwork of Mr Peter Trout. Mr Trout had carved a living out of painting medical illustrations. He had graduated aged 16 at a technical college in Oxford where he excelled in the artform. He worked extensively with universities and book publishers across the world. After visiting the theatre with his…
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Post-mortem Photography (All That Remains) Collection #2
You may remember that when we archived the first collection of post-mortem photography, we promised one more collection centred around widows and their late lovers. A few weeks ago somebody (who wishes to remain anonymous) contacted us with the above images and supporting evidence of their authenticity. It was sometimes the case that the grieving…
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Asylum Artwork by Malachi Alexander Collection #1
Photograph #10 We don’t know much about Malachi Alexander except for what’s in the public records which isn’t very much. He was forced into the Horsehay Lunatic Asylum in Warwickshire as a danger to all. He was 22 years old and tragically committed suicide not long after a failed escape attempt a couple of months…
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Asylum Artwork by Noah Tar Collection #3
You may remember that back in June we looked at the tragic circumstances surrounding Noah Tar’s death. The ruling was suicide which was patently absurd. However, short of getting permission to dig up his remains to carry out a forensic investigation, we can’t officially prove the real cause of his death. Out of respect for…
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A Murder of Scarecrows Collection #2
This is the second and final scarecrow collection for a while. Photograph #9 depicts one of the biggest working farms of the Victorian era. At the very peak of the bird epidemic, Melrose Farms employed forty people to trudge through wintery fields while dressed as scarecrows. On average, working in the scarecrow trade for Melrose…
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Quoth the Raven “Nevermore”
We know that Edgar Allan Poe spent several of his formative years in London. Some scholars also believe that Poe set many of his stories in the capital and had returned there over the years to rekindle childhood memories. As can be seen in photographs #1 and #2, it is believed that he would spend…
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The Importance of Cards During the Victorian Era Collection #7
As promised, here are some more ‘cursed cards’ from this particular collection. As we research these more and more, we’re learning that anyone who used these cards for casting spells ended up either dead, destitute or diseased. While we don’t entertain pseudoscience and superstition at the Fellowship, we do find the backstories fascinating. We are…
Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project 