Grave Doll

From 19th Century Art Of Mourning's collection comes this extraordinary wax effigy of a deceased infant.

 A popular practice among French and German immigrants to America. Locks of the deceased child's hair were attached to the head of the doll and the doll's outfit was created from the fabric of the infant's christening gown.

Willard Asylum For The Insane

Four hundred suitcases and their contents, left behind by patients that were committed to the Willard Asylum For The Insane in New York are now on display in an exhibit at the South Carolina State Museum. The exhibit, which displays the personal belongings of those admitted, letters, keepsakes, books, cherished items as well as artifacts from the asylum and biographical sketches of patients is called The Lives They Left behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic. 

There is an excellent, but small, archive of photographs of the now abandoned facility that was the birthplace of Cornell University.

The Morgue

Interior of The Pines building

Patient #4 - The Cemetery

Ghost Night

I recently participated in the Ghost Night exhibit at The Eve Gallery  , hosted by friends, Ghost Hunters Of Urban Los Angeles  who were inspired to hold a thematic night based on the belief "...that on this day the barrier between the realm of the spirits and our realm vanishes, and ghosts are free to travel between these two worlds. Thus, a celebration is held on this special day to entertain and amuse these visiting ghosts." 


There was theremin playing, a fantastic thematic playlist courtesy of Creepy LA  , ghostly storytelling and the debut of GHOULA Comix issue #2, to which we contributed a piece centered around the most bizarre bit of LA history we've heard to date.