Hello and welcome to my Victorian nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Mannion, and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian era. Because to me, there's just something especially intriguing,

creepy, and oddly comforting about horror and mayhem from the 19th century. So, listener discretion

is advised. This is my second podcast, and I have been so touched by the feedback after the first episode.

Strange as it may sound, macabre Victorian history is a strange kind of therapy for me.

I can't explain it, but it means a lot

to know that it's resonating with some other messed-of people, so thank you. I really hope you're

getting help for your problems. If you would be so kind, please rate this podcast in Spotify,

if you're enjoying it. That will let me know if I should continue

digging deeper into this particular abyss. And it will also let Spotify know if I'm worthy

of reaching a greater audience. So that would really mean a lot to me. Thank you kindly.

Today, I'm going to cover the Victorian cult of death. This was a cult whose members were just about all a Victorian society.

From England to Australia, all over Europe to the United States, death was an entire way of life

in the 1800s. It was fashion, literature, photography, spirituality, chotchkes that you'd bake into cakes like frozen Charlotte figurines.

Those were little dead porcelain girls that were all the rage at the time.

It was a creepy, creepy era.

And so, I'm going to do a deep dive into the elaborate funeral traditions,

what was and was not acceptable morning fashion of the day, Queen Victoria's obsession with her

dead husband that sparked the trends, the hardship and power of 19th century widowhood, as well as

the almost fetishistic keepsaking of the deceased.

We'll also take a little tour to discuss exactly what folks were dying of in those days,

and I promise not to describe anything in too great detail,

but what I do mention will probably give you a good idea about why these people needed to try extra

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