Victorian postmortem photography was real — families did commission photographs of their deceased loved ones as keepsakes during an era when death was a constant part of daily life. However, a persistent myth claims that corpses were photographed standing upright using posing stands, and that many surviving Victorian photographs show the dead posed as if alive. The truth is that postmortem subjects were always photographed reclining or seated with support, never standing on their own, because posing stands were not built to bear a body’s weight, and a corpse — whether in rigor mortis or not — could not be made to stand naturally. The 40 images below are frequently mislabeled as postmortem photographs; each one shows a living person, a piece of art, or a staged scene.
This little girl looks anxious about having her photo taken, but she is not deceased. She is even holding some money in her left hand. It was probably given to her to calm and distract her during the photo session. You can also see a large motion blur on her left foot. She was definitely alive.
Some say this is the corpse of a famous clairvoyant. However, it is a sculpture by Christine Elfman made of plaster and papier-mâché. The dress is made of torn pieces of paper with the story of her family. Zoom in and you can see the words. Not a postmortem.
This is another one that mystifies us. We see nothing that suggests this boy was dead. He is alert, holding his head up, and looking at the camera.
This couple was not Victorian, and they were not dead. Someone made up a story about the woman being dead for two days, and the man being in denial and having a photo made. It is actually a photo booth photo that has been tinted.
This bride is stiffly posed but she was alive, with her groom standing next to her. Her dried flowers do not mean death. They were an accepted embellishment, especially in the hot summer months when it was hard to keep flowers fresh.
This photo of two women is an artistic portrait. It is called “The Kiss of Peace” — 1869, by Julia Margaret Cameron, a talented early woman photographer. They were both alive.
The baby is sleeping. The writing on the back of the photo says, “Taken September 12th, 1854. The child was 28 days old.”
There is no reason why this one is being mislabeled “deceased.” It makes no sense at all.
People say the dark color of the girl’s arms and the dark circles under her eyes are evidence that this is a postmortem photo, when actually the darkness is from a misfire of the flash.
No one in this photo is dead, but it does illustrate why it is important to keep children still during long shutter exposures. There were only two children in this photo.
This is not a dead person, and it is not a person at all. It is a fictional depiction of a character from The Shadow over Innsmouth, a horror novella by H. P. Lovecraft, written in November–December 1931.
This is a romanticized photo of a daydreaming young woman. She was very much alive. Flowers do not mean death.
This photo was staged to show the tragedy of war. No one in it was dead. This was a bit too elaborate to be a real postmortem photo.
The stands behind these two confirm that they were alive. They do look a bit startled, probably from the flash.
Standing with her hands folded, this little girl was alive and showing off her look-alike doll. Folded hands do not always mean death in photos.
This is not a death photo. It is a pageant photo called “A Christmas Dream.” The children are pretending to sleep and dream; the boy is even smiling. Note the Christmas tree in the upper right portion of the photo.
Many people share this image with a long caption saying it was a postmortem taken right after death. It is no such thing. Its title is “A Portrait of a Young Woman” by Fritz W. Guerin, c. 1902.
Standing tall, with his right hand gripping a table and his left elbow leaning on a chair, he must be alive.
The information with the original photo says: “Here we present a historic image of an Adams family portrait, with man, woman, and baby girl. It was taken in 1846. The image shows Adams, Henry Joseph. Adams, Abigail Ridley Gibson. Kingsbury, Anna Gibson Adams, 1845–1884.” Nothing was mentioned about death, nobody looks like they are in mourning, and the child looks healthy. Everyone with closed eyes is not dead.
Just because her image has been embellished does not mean she was dead. She is sitting tall and holding on to an umbrella.
Some say the child is hugging her deceased mother, but you can see the mother’s hand is blurred on the child’s back from motion. The woman is also holding herself upright. She was alive.
It looks like someone is behind the curtain holding his head, but he is standing alone and is alive.
This photo is damaged and has some foxing, but the baby is sitting up and holding up its own head. There is no reason to think this baby is deceased.
These young men could not look any more alive. It is hard to believe that the middle one is labeled as deceased on some Pinterest boards.
This young woman was alive. She has two attendants; one is cloaked because she does not want to be in the photo. Another photo of her shows her in a wheelchair.
Yes, their eyes do look unusual, but they were alive. They are very blond with light blue eyes that did not register well with the old camera and flash used for this picture.
He is standing alone and sitting astride a cane like a hobby horse. This pose helped the lively little boy hold still. He was not deceased.
This child has been identified as Prince Albert Victor of Wales, Duke of Clarence and Avondale. He died at age 28 in 1892.
Some think the girl on the left is deceased. For some reason, when children are lined up like this, people tend to think that the little one is dead. However, she is standing, so we know she is alive.
Do you see the spirit image in the upper right-hand corner of this photo? This is a staged photo of a live man who is supposedly in a trance to bring the spirit to him. Spirit photos were popularized as soon as photographers were able to fake them by printing double negatives.
This little girl was alive. Her face was a little washed out due to uneven flash coverage, but you can clearly see her holding on to the chair with her left hand.
The posing stand behind her means she was alive and trying to hold still for the camera.
Because this baby has a dark ribbon attached to its back, many people say the baby was dead. In fact, dark ribbons were often pinned to babies and small children when a relative of theirs died. In this photo it looks as if the mother was also in mourning.
This girl looks pretty unhappy about her photo, but she was not deceased. Photographers would often pose their subjects with stiff hand positions, because a stiff pose was easier to hold.
Both of these young girls were alive and well. Victorians seldom smiled in photos; they thought it was undignified.
This photo of two girls and their toys features two live girls and their toys. Nothing here suggests either one is deceased.
These twins were alive, holding up their heads and looking straight at the camera.
Many people have identified this woman as dead simply because she has closed eyes. The facts that she is holding up her own head and sitting upright show that those people are wrong.
Some think this is a mother holding a deceased infant, but if you look closely you can see that the mother is breastfeeding. The older child probably just wants the mother’s attention.
Although this photo is often labeled as a photo of a dead man, it is not. It is a photo of the famous author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) who wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” He was alive when it was taken.
