In this episode I'm joined by Chris Woodyard, where we discuss how people in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries dealt with death. How death was depicted and discussed in the press (including crude jokes), the issues surrounding funeral costs and the idea of a respectable funeral. We also discuss how mourning crepe was used for political protest and criminal disguise. We talk about how some funeral practices persist to this day - not all for the better.

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of death, suicide, child death

About my guest:

Chris Woodyard is an Ohio writer and historian. She took her undergraduate degree in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from The Ohio State University, where her emphasis was on art history. She is the author of The Victorian Book of the Dead, a book on the popular and material culture of Victorian mourning and death, as well as three volumes of Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories. She has given presentations at the Costume Society of America on shroud-makers, Victorian mourning as criminal disguise, and mourning crape as a symbol of protest. She is a member of the Costume Society of America, The Association of Dress Historians, and the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals. Her research interests center on the ephemera of dress, mourning material culture, mortuary practices, death omens, and ghosts. She is at work on the forthcoming A is for Arsenic: A Little Book of Victorian Death.

For more information on Chris' work, check out the links and details below:

Blog: https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/
Facebook: The Victorian Book of the Dead
Twitter: @hauntedohiobook
Podcast: Boggart and Banshee: A Supernatural Podcast (available on Apple, Podchaser)

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: victorianlegacies@gmail.com