LOL. That's frickin great! Fwiw, that's actually a "mortsafe" or mortcage. They were used to keep medical students etc from stealing corpses for research (or to stop grave robbers from stealing corpses to sell to medical students). Fascinating history.
A mortsafe - to stop bodysnatchers ("resurrectionists") from stealing you while you were still fresh and flogging you to anatomists for dismantling. Burke and Hare were the most notorious of these Victorian entrepreneurs.
There's an old cemetery about 20 miles from here that most markings date back to the early/mid 1800s and one of the tombs has something similar on it... It's overgrown and kinda spooky looking and we've wondered WTF is up with that one.. JD
are you sure it not the EX from hell ? kind of looks that way to me. they really wanted to be sure they do not come back.
ReplyDeleteLOL. That's frickin great!
ReplyDeleteFwiw, that's actually a "mortsafe" or mortcage. They were used to keep medical students etc from stealing corpses for research (or to stop grave robbers from stealing corpses to sell to medical students). Fascinating history.
The cage was to prevent grave-robbers (resurrectionists) taking the body to sell to medical students.
ReplyDeleteAl_in_Ottawa
I knew that guy. He died of ingesting gold coins.
ReplyDeleteA mortsafe - to stop bodysnatchers ("resurrectionists") from stealing you while you were still fresh and flogging you to anatomists for dismantling. Burke and Hare were the most notorious of these Victorian entrepreneurs.
ReplyDeleteBurke and Hare were also known for taking their specimens 'on the hoof,' as it were.
DeleteUniv of Saigon 68: Victorian refrigeration wasn't up to the job!
DeletePossibly a deceased werewolf and not wanting to risk occupant to escape ?
ReplyDeleteI believe in real life that the iron work was used to prevent the body from being dug up by grave robbers.
ReplyDeleteYet the occupant will still vote Democrat.
ReplyDeleteMother-in-law grave. I like it.
ReplyDeleteMy mother in law grave is gonna need to be wider.
DeleteAnd deeper.
DeleteThere's an old cemetery about 20 miles from here that most markings date back to the early/mid 1800s and one of the tombs has something similar on it... It's overgrown and kinda spooky looking and we've wondered WTF is up with that one..
ReplyDeleteJD