Category: 19th Century
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Will You Be My Vinegar Valentine?
No declarations of love this year? It could be worse, you could be receiving a pile of vinegar valentines.
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The Big Grave of Little John in Hathersage
While Little John’s existence is disputed, his presence in folklore and in the landscape of Nottingham and Derbyshire is inescapable.
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The Curious Phenomena of Spirit Blush-Writing
When Victorian mediums weren’t delivering messages from the dead and manifesting spirits, some claimed to produce words on their bodies. Introducing, blush-writing.
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The Curious History of Bin Men at Christmas
Tipping your refuse collectors is a long-established festive tradition, and one that used to involve a lot more poo…
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The Bealings Phantom Bell Ringer
Now regarded as the work of a poltergeist – or a perturbed servant – the incidents in Suffolk made newspaper headlines, and eventually became the…
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Robert Snook: Grave of the Last Highwayman
In the middle of a field, surrounded by enormous cows, sits a tiny white grave encircled in black fencing. This is the grave marker of…
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The Everyday Heroes of Postman’s Park
Postman’s Park holds a series of beautiful memorials to Londoners who lost their lives committing heroic acts.
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Record Breakers at St Peters Church, Kington Langley
St Peters is a stunning little church built by public donations, boasting a real ‘record breaker’ in its graveyard.
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A Trip to Portobello Cemetery, Edinburgh
Portobello Cemetery is a relatively modern burial ground on the outskirts of Edinburgh, opened in 1877 and in continual use to modern day.
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A Trip to York Cemetery
Opened in 1837, York Cemetery was one of the UK’s earliest Victorian garden cemeteries.
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The Woman Who Jumped and Lived
In 1885, Sarah Ann Henley was 22 years old and working as a barmaid at the Rising Sun pub in Ashton.
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The Grave of XYZ
In December 1899, the Deep River Savings Bank in Connetticut received a tip-off that a robbery was about to take place.
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‘Grave in a Field at Oldfield’ On the Hunt for a Woodland Grave
A Victorian grave, a field and a garden burial…
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The Legend of the Chained Oak
An enormous and infamous oak tree in Staffordshire has been bound in huge chains for over a century.
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Death of a Wombat
In the latter part of the 19th century, some artists developed an obsession with keeping exotic Australian animals as pets.
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A Trip to Bunhill Fields Burial Ground
Bunhill Fields is a relic of London’s overcrowded inner-city burial grounds.
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Empress Elisabeth’s Mourning Mask
A closer look at the world’s most famous mourning mask.
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The Alien Grave of Aurora, Texas
In 1897, 50 years before the Roswell incident, a UFO complete with alien passenger was said to have crashed in Aurora, Texas.
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The Shoe Grave of Buster Brown
“Hi, I’m Buster Brown; I live in a shoe. This is my dog, he lives there too!”
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Georges Rodenbach: The Grave Escape
Coming outta his grave and he’s been doin’ just fine…
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Hunting for Mary Wollstonecraft’s Grave
Today the Wollstonecraft/Godwin grave survives as an unassuming block of stone beside far grander memorials…
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The Hardy Tree
The Hardy Tree is a centuries-old ash tree surrounded by a radiating circle of densely-packed headstones. But why was it created?
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The Hangman’s Locket
As much as the Victorians revelled in beauty and sentimentality, they really were a bunch of morbid sods at heart.
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The Ghost Dog of Tingewick
Spectral spaniel or fake Fido? You decide…
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London’s Secret Victorian Pet Cemetery
Hyde Park’s hidden pet cemetery’s once described as ‘the most horrible spectacle in Britain.’
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The Car Park Grave of Mary Ellis
Beneath the tarmac of Loews Theater car park in New Brunswick lie the remains of Mary Ellis. For the last 193 years, she has occupied…
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Whitby’s Hidden Quaker Burial Ground
Whitby’s Quaker burial ground is impressively well hidden. To most passers-by, it looks like a garden extension to some of the more grander Georgian houses…
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Ye Olde Eco-Burial: The Trapdoor Coffin
In the 16th and 17th centuries, plenty of rural parishes in Scotland utilised a communal coffin of sorts called a ‘common mortkist’, ‘bier’ or ‘parish…
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D.C. The Demon Cat
The snappily named ‘Demon Cat’, or ‘D.C.’ for short, is one of several reported ghosts that haunt the sprawling government buildings in Washington D. C
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Big Surprises and Bigger Vaults at Laceby Cemetery
A village on the outskirts of Grimsby isn’t exactly the typical location for an enormous Norwegian funerary monument.
Burials & Beyond 