And another picture: a flower left for the dead. Many people think of ossuaries as macabre places, but the truth is they can be beautiful sites of memorial and contemplation
08.03.2026 20:38
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And another picture: a flower left for the dead. Many people think of ossuaries as macabre places, but the truth is they can be beautiful sites of memorial and contemplation
A wooden alter with a cross sitting on top and an large elaborate metal crucifix leaning against the front. There are skulls piled on top and round the base. The wall behind it is made of nearly stacked long bones interspersed with skulls.
The beautiful ossuary of Marville in France, which has featured on the title slide of a number of my talks (and do get in touch if you’d like me to give a lecture on ossuaries!). I’m off on a road trip on Friday and looking forward to seeing a few ossuaries that I’ve never visited before.
A skull, tilted back, and vertebrae down to t2 with some of the facial muscles and nerves depicted in wax. The right first rib is also present. Mounted on an ebonised wooden base against a dark grey background
Some of the anatomical features of the face and neck modelled in wax over bone. This was done by surgeon André-Pierre Pinson working in the late nineteenth century. He became much better known for his models than for his surgical endeavours
Thank you for all the amazing things you do Sam!
Thank you for giving me lots of new perspectives on cannibalism!
As always Cat Irving's talk for #GothsForBreakfast was amazing!
We explored Burke and Hare (NOT Bodysnatchers), bodysnatchers and the representations of both on screen. Definitely added to my to watch (and to read) lists!
I realised I missed one of my intended films - corridors of blood (a horror film about anaesthesia!) which features Christopher Lee as resurrection Joe!
Thanks Bill, great to see you there!
Thank you so much Sarah!
Such taste!
I’ll be speaking at 3pm on the subject of The Sack’em Up Men on Screen: Body Snatchers Go To The Movies (amongst a whole array of amazing speakers!). It’s online, and for a great cause
A wax model shown from the manubrium sternum up. The anatomical structures of the neck are visible. There is a wax pillow behind the neck, and the head - with face undisected - lols back
An anatomical wax model made by Joseph Towne, who spent more than 50 years making wax models for Guy’s Hospital, having been employed there by Astley Cooper in 1826. Cooper was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and had been impressed by seeing a wax skeleton Towne had made
Lovely visit today from @anatomicalcat.bsky.social chatting all things Jeremy Bentham and human remains!
It was an absolute delight - thank you so much!
Our Macewen exhibition will be on until July 2026 so there's still plenty of time to come along and learn about this remarkable, surgical pioneer.
A museum interpretation board entitled William Macewen: at the cutting edge, featuring text around an anatomical illustration of an écorché figure
À muséum display wall featuring three views of sections of the head in white and yellow
The cover of an exhibition guide for this exhibition featuring a photo of William Macewen and the title.
It was great to see the current exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow on pioneering neurosurgeon William Macewen. I’ve worked with some of the head slices that Macewen cut as part of the preparation for his Atlas of Head Sections, published in 1893.
@drlindseyfitz.bsky.social @anatomicalcat.bsky.social Would make a great sign for an independent medical practice. #Medicine #Doctors
A painted scene on wood where a man in red ecclesiastical dress pulls away from an animated skeleton who reaches for his hat
The Totentanz - or Dance of Death - in Bleibach, Germany dates to 1723, and still has all 34 scenes presents. There are 33 figures and their encounter with an anthropomorphised Death plus a skeletal band. In this scene, Death is coming for the cardinal.
When our friend Helena died a group of us met at her flat to help tidy and take some mementos. I found this book on Ithell Colquhoun by Amy Hale and thought it fitting. Last night Amy was our honoured guest and kind enough to sign the book. Funny how these things come around
Shrove is the past tense of shrive, the act of making confession. The noun form, shrift, gives us “short shrift”; the brief, cursory confession offered to condemned prisoners and, therefore, any meagre thing.
Ironically, offering short shrift in pancakes is a capital offence in Castle Pieterstein.
A small green lizard climbing down the stand for the head in the previous photo
(And aren’t you in love with that little wax lizard creeping up the stand?!)
Wax anatomical models of a forearm and a head, on ebonised black stands
Some of the beautiful work of @nathalie.latour.501 spotted on a recent trip to Paris in the Librarie Alain Brieux. I’ve been a fan of Nathalie’s beautiful anatomical waxes for ages - and you might have seen them recently when it featured prominently in Guillermo del Torro’s Frankenstein!
Still time to grab a ticket to listen to me talk about chlamydia from the comfort of your sofa tonight! What better way to end Valentine’s weekend…
An illustration of a women with a scab on her lower lip and an ulcerated forehead
An old fashioned book spine which reads atlas of venereal diseases
It’s Valentine’s Day - so here’s an illustration from McLaren’s Atlas of Venereal Disease from 1889
I’ll be talking cocks with @k8lister.bsky.social in Edinburgh - the perfect Valentine present!
An advert for an event entitled ‘dissected from history’
The Edinburgh Science Festival programme is now live! Come and see me on 14th April
www.edinburghscience.co.uk/event/dissec...
This image, from the Sisters of Mercy’s Body and Soul EP, shows Dante and the poet Virgil in the lowest levels of the Inferno. Here there is only silence, as the sinners are engulfed in ice.
This and more fun facts can be learned in my Goths for Breakfast talk!
What’s a better haunted house than Hell itself? I’ll be speaking about Dante’s deeply gothic Inferno at this day-long event but, more importantly, so will @anatomicalcat.bsky.social and @gothicbodies.bsky.social !
This is an amazing cause, and I will be speaking at 3 on body snatching on film - come and join us!
A skull without mandible set in a wall of long bones. Behind, further layers of very neatly stackef skulls and bones can be seen
The extraordinary Capella dos Ossos in Faro, Portugal. I had the chapel to myself for a while when I visited, and through an open window behind me there was the sound of very young children laughing and playing in the garden of a nearby nursery. It was an incredibly moving experience.