Decidedly Grim » Ghastly!

Homophobia Kills

Comtesse — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:43:51 +0000

One of the saddest, sickest, most horrific things I’ve ever seen. The human race is despicable.

Gay African Man Beaten and Burned Alive By Mob

War Against War!

Comtesse — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:19:05 +0000

In 1924, pacifist/socialist Ernst Friedrich released an anti-war treatise entitled War Against War! which was chock full of brutally graphic World War I injury and death photographs which chillingly illustrated the horrors of warfare. Even after all these years, the photos – especially of the poor soldiers who survived gasp-inducing wounds – are quite shocking.

You can read an excerpt at Thenausea.com:
WAR Against WAR!

And view more photos at GreatWarDifferent.Com:
Anti-War Books

Post-Mortem Ceramic

Comtesse — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:52:21 +0000

Here’s another post-mortem ceramic photograph that I took at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Chicago’s southside a couple weeks back. This one has the full ‘man laying in a coffin’ treatment. This is the mortal remains of Joseph DiSanto who was born Jan. 14, 1914 and died Sept. 1, 1927.

Post-Mortem Ceramic?

Comtesse — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:34:28 +0000

Here’s another ceramic image that I photographed on a gravestone in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Chicago last Saturday: Alfredo O. Bilotti, Born November 12, 1920, Died March 1, 1921. This one instantly struck me as a post-mortem image at the cemetery … although looking at it closer I now think I could be wrong. What do you think? (And why didn’t I remove the grass that caused the shadows over the image? I’m such a frickin’ “mustn’t alter the scene” photo purist sometimes!!)

Click on this close-up for a larger image:

Post-mortem Ceramics

Comtesse — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 04:15:30 +0000

On Saturday I went for a stroll through Mt. Olivet Cemetery on Chicago’s south side. The cemetery itself, established in 1885, isn’t very interesting by Chicago standards – though it does contain the original gravesite of Al Capone (who was moved to Mt. Carmel several years after his death) and the infamous O’Leary’s (though the cow isn’t buried here, sadly). For the most part though, being a Catholic cemetery, it’s pretty boring: the statuary is mostly generic Jesus & Marys and the inscriptions are yawn-inducing Bible quotes. However, there were some great ceramics on the stones. Typically, the majority of them appear to have been stolen, but I did find some gems still left (mostly) intact, including some post-mortems (my favorites, of course). I thought I’d share a few over the next few days.

First of all, here is Maria Rossi who died in 1920 in all her coffin-bound glory:

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Comtesse — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:28:24 +0000

“I don’t care if I ever come back…” indeed.

Texas Rangers Fan Dies Trying To Catch Ball

Ghastly: Krokodil Apocalypse

Comtesse — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:24:55 +0000

Michael sent me the following information about desomorphine – a horrifying drug that is sweeping across Russia leaving ghastliness in its wake:

“The drug is called Krokodil (Crocodile) in Russia, where it’s cheap to make and therefore gaining popularity among the 2 million addicts there. The shit is a highly addictive and very nasty toxin that turns the skin scaly and then literally rots the flesh off the bone.”

I will warn you that these videos might possibly be the sickest, most disturbing clips I’ve ever seen – and you know that’s saying something!!! Michael put it quite well himself: “I spent 3 years working in a funeral home and this shit made me gag.”

First, here’s an article about the drug from the U.K. newspaper The Independent:
Krokodil: The Drug That Eats Junkies

38-second YouTube video showing damage to leg:

Click here to view the embedded video.

34-second YouTube video showing rotting hands and exposed bone in forearm:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And finally, a site called Morrison World Media has a link to a 14-minute video in Russian discussing the drug. This video is SICK, SICK, SICK!!!!! Many graphic scenes. The text on the banner reads “Monstrous sores, lesions of internal organs, painful death. Film FSKN ‘Semi-death’ -the impact of drugs on the human body, desomorphine.”

Morrison World Media

What a world, huh?

Darwin Award Winner

Comtesse — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 02:04:26 +0000

I’m not sure the full story behind this video or whether the driver lived or died, but it takes a special kind of stupid to run yourself over with your own car.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Star Opal for the link.

Ghastly: Bahrain Style

Comtesse — Mon, 30 May 2011 15:33:59 +0000

Mike sent me a link to a particularly grim video of a fatally injured protester in Bahrain being carried to a hospital bed and pronounced dead. Warning: Not for the squeamish!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dead Silence

Comtesse — Mon, 30 May 2011 06:20:00 +0000

I am incredibly sad that I didn’t find out about this until now – long after the show has ended – but Ampersand, a gallery, bookshop, and retail archive in Portland ran a fantastic exhibition of 1930′s morgue photographs last year. Luckily, their website still has copies of the photos for our voyeuristic benefit (and you can purchase prints if you’re incredibly rich). Behold!

Dead Silence

Thanks to Carson for the link.