11 After-Death Photos Ranked From Creepy To Disturbing

In our society, we take photographs of all kinds of things. We take pictures at weddings, at birthdays, at graduations, and just anytime we feel like celebrating our lives.

Yet have you noticed we tend not to photograph the sad things?

We don’t take pictures at funerals, and it would seem very odd to pose with the deceased at an open casket. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. In fact, in the early days of photography, it was quite common for people to have a photograph taken with their recently deceased relatives. Often, it was the only image they would ever have of them to keep.

So, we’ve compiled some examples of this decidedly creepy social trend. Wonder if it will catch on?

Obviously, readers should be advised that the following article contains images of deceased individuals, including adults and children. Continue on at your own discretion.

11. Father and Daughter

Originally thought to be part of a series of three images (two of which show the girl in her coffin), this last photo is a touching example of one father’s love for his infant daughter.

10. A Boy With His Toys

The unnatural angle of the boy’s arm in this image certainly lends itself to the conclusion that this is an example of post-mortem photography. Here, a young boy is posed with his favourite toys.

9. Sleeping Girl

One of the things that photographers did was pose the deceased in such a way that they appeared to be sleeping. Here, a girl watches over what is likely her sister, who is deceased.

8. Two Sisters

In post-mortem photography, it was common for the photographers to try and make their subjects appear alive. With this image, the photographer has drawn the eyes in on the girl on the left, who is in fact deceased.

7. Young Girls and Baby

This Victorian style post-mortem photograph had a very ‘horror movie’ look about it, especially as the girls stare off into the distance.

6. Childbirth

Along with child and infant mortality rates, this time period was notorious for the high numbers of women who died in childbirth, like this woman photographer with her baby who also died.

5. Siblings

Child and infant mortality rates were incredibly high at this time, which explains why children are often the subject of these images. Here a brother and sister look over their deceased younger sibling.

4. Boy and Brother

Posed in a coffin with what is likely his older brother holding his hand, this is probably the only photo their parents had of both boys together.

3. Girl With Flowers

Some people chose to pose their loved ones surrounded by beauty, as this girl has been posed with many flowers. These might well be the wreaths delivered to the family in condolence for the girl’s death.

2. Rosy Cheeks

As the technology of photography continued, photographers found more and more ways of making the deceased appear more alive. In this photo, colour has been added to the cheeks of the little girl during production to make her seem alive.

1. Murdered

Thought to be the victims of a murder at a boarding house, this image shows a couple posed in a more traditional way for post-mortem photography — in their coffins.

One Thing

There are a large number of images around the web being touted as post-mortem photography. In most of these cases, the people in the photographs are very much alive. Those who claim that the subjects are dead often note that there is clearly a stand behind them to hold them up. This type of stand was actually common in most photography at the time as the images took between 15 and 30 minutes (sometimes longer) to develop. Throughout this process the subject would need to stay very still, hence the stand.

For this article, we have tried to include only legitimate images to illustrate this unusual trend.

What was the creepiest after-death photo have you ever seen?

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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