Today’s Completely Bedridden Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
At exactly 8:15:17 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the ‘Little Boy’ atomic bomb was released from the bomb bay of the Enola Gay as it passed over Hiroshima. Here’s an excerpt detailing the literal fall-out of the bombing.
The U.S Strategic Bombing Survey reported that:
All or nearly all pregnant women in various stages of pregnancy who survived and who had been within 3,000 feet of the center of the explosion have had miscarriages or premature infants who died shortly after birth.
And that:
Sperm counts done in Hiroshima by the Joint Commission have revealed low sperm counts or complete aspermia for as long as 3 months afterwards in males who were within 3,000 feet of the center of the explosion.
But those who had to experience it were less matter-of-fact:
We were being killed against our will by something completely unknown to us… It is the misery of being thrown into a world of new terror and fear, a world more unknown than that of people sick with cancer.
Mother was completely bedridden. The hair of her head had almost all fallen out, her chest was festering, and from the two-inch hole in her back a lot of maggots were crawling in and out. The place was full of flies and mosquitoes and fleas, and an awfully bad smell hung over everything. Everywhere I looked there were many people like this who couldn’t move. From the evening when we arrived Mother’s condition got worse and we seemed to see her weakening before our eyes. Because all night long she was having trouble breathing, we did everything we could to relieve her. The next morning Grandmother and I fixed some gruel. As we took it to Mother, she breathed her last breath. When we thought she had stopped breathing altogether, she took one last deep breath and did not breathe any more after that. This was nine o’clock in the morning of the 19th of August. At the site of the Japan Red Cross Hospital, the smell of the bodies being cremated is overpowering. Too much sorrow makes me like a stranger to myself, and yet despite my grief I cannot cry.
At least the flies weren’t bothered by the radiation
Culled from: Eye-Witness Hiroshima
Post-Mortem Portrait Du Jour!
ESCINO JR TEN TE GENERAL DON MANUEL DE ENA
HABANA, SEPTEMBER 20, 1851
S F BEULING
DAGUERREOTYPE 1/2 PLATE, SIGNED & ETCHED
This memorial image melds the photographic history of three countries: Cuba, Spain and Sweden. Taken in Havana it is a part of Cuban history. This picture of a dead general, a Spanish colonial, documents the occupation of Central and South America by Spain. Taken by S. F. Beurling, a Swedish daguerreotypist who traveled the Americas, it is also an important piece of Swedish visual history, as it helps document the establishment of photography in Scandinavia. Beurling was one of the few photographers who routinely designed and etched their daguerieian plates. The subject’s name, date, and location were engraved on the plate, which was signed by the photographer. This postmortem photograph also represents the European practice of photographing dead notables.
Culled from: Sleeping Beauty II
Garretdom!
Many years ago, a fascinating collection of scrapbooks containing newspaper articles from the 1880’s/90’s appeared on eBay. The scrapbooks were obviously compiled by a kindred soul, as all of the articles were Grim, and were meticulously pasted into old textbooks. I tried to purchase the collection from the lucky soul who found them at an auction, but he quickly realized what he had and started selling them on eBay where they went for astronomical amounts. I was able to talk him into making copies of the books for me before he sold them off, and I’ve been slowly using them for my vintage newspaper Garretdom collection over the years. Here’s one of the entries:
His Third Attempt at Suicide.
ITHACA, N. Y., Sept. 27.—Peter Sausman, formerly a wealthy man and the owner of one of the best farms in this country, cut his throat in a bath-room here yesterday. He is still alive, but cannot recover. This was the third attempt at suicide he had made within a week. His action was caused by melancholia, resulting from losses and poverty.
Culled from the collection of The Comtesse DeSpair
1886 Morbid Scrapbook