Category: Europe
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Anna Maria Von Stockhausen: The Undead Witch of Germany
The appeal of Anna Maria Von Stockhausen’s image is a curious, gruesome urge to look at the forbidden.
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Let’s Visit a Finnish Plague Park
‘Ruttopuisto’ means ‘plague park’, and is the final resting place of thousands of Finns who died in the great plague of 1710.
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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 Body in the Catacombs
A labyrinth of tunnels and passageways snake and criss-cross for miles beneath the French capital, with countless inhabitants of their own.
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Georges Rodenbach: The Grave Escape
Coming outta his grave and he’s been doin’ just fine…
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Jacques Cazotte and the Dinner Party of Terror
In 1788, one year before the Reign of Terror began, a writer and would-be mystic was at a dinner party. Jacques Cazotte was a man…
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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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The Russian Gangster Cemetery
Russia’s gangsters were never going to settle for a subtle headstone and floral border.
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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.
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The Fertile Grave of Victor Noir
The frankly massive bulge in Noir’s trousers made his memorial a popular destination for women visiting Père Lachaise for over a century…
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The Mosaic Grave of Rudolf Nureyev
Representative of the dancer’s ‘nomadic life,’ Nureyev’s Kilim rug is a phenomenal memorial to his talent.
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“I decided to hide Charlie Chaplin’s body and solve my problems…”
On 12th December 1978, Roman Wardas, a 24-year old Polish refugee took to the stand in Switzerland, accused of stealing Chaplin’s body.
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Love Me, Love My Dead Husband’s Calcified Heart
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was not simply a literary force, but a tragic, romantic, gothic icon whose exploits in sex and death put the rest of…
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Aliens Over Nuremberg
At daybreak on April 14th, 1561, residents of Nuremberg Germany woke up to an alien aerial battle raging above their heads.
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Going Underground: Berlin Cathedral Crypt
Ever have an existential crisis and hop on a plane to Germany to look at dead monarchs? Same mate, same.
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The Grave of Clasped Hands: Love Conquering Death
It’s a twee little statement that love can conquer death, but one that rings romantically true in the adjoining graves of a Dutch Colonel and…
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The Grave of the Potato King: Friedrich Der Große
Friedrich Der Große’s grave is rather unusual, and not just for that of a royal. Why? There are always potatoes nearby.
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Stanisława Tomczyk, Medium – Running with Scissors
Tomczyk’s main draw as a medium was her claim that she could levitate objects with the power of her mind, stop clocks and ‘influence the…
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The Thief’s Arm of Prague
The 400 year old arm, impaled on a meat hook, serves as a warning to all future criminals considering robbing the church.
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Collection Feature: Rev. Timothy Carey
This week, with the help of some wonderful WWI archive websites, I hope to share a little of the life of the Reverend Timothy Carey.
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Bornstedt Cemetery, Potsdam
‘What dies in Sanssouci will be buried in Bornstedt.’
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The Gloson: Demon Ghost Pig of Sweden
The Gloson is not just any normal common or garden ghost pig. The Gloson is special creature…
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The House of Faces
Over a period of seven days, the mysterious stain turned into the clear image of a face. A face that would not disappear, no matter…
Burials & Beyond 