This week’s historical keepsake from hell
Death Masks
A weekly dose of macabre history, gently pressed into your hands like a haunted educational pamphlet.
Before everyone had 47,000 blurry photos of themselves blinking at brunch, people sometimes preserved a person’s face by making a cast after death.
Yes. A literal mold of the dead person’s face.
The process usually involved oiling the skin, applying plaster, waiting for it to set, and then peeling away a final portrait with absolutely no concern for emotional wellness.
Death masks could be used for funeral effigies, sculptures, portraits, or as keepsakes. Because grief, apparently, needed a 3D souvenir.
Was it beautiful? Sometimes.
Was it deeply unsettling? Absolutely.
Was humanity ever normal? Evidence suggests no.
Seance scent pairing
This one belongs to Dearly Departed — soft, mournful, and romantic enough for anyone who enjoys their sentimentality with a faint whiff of “please do not display my face on the mantel.”
www.seanceperfumes.com · @seanceperfumes
