Beginning in the mid-1800s, post-mortem photography (or memento mori) was a popular way to honor and remember the dead. Most photographs were taken shortly after death, and could look incredibly life-like, especially if the deceased was propped up into a standing position. Post-mortem photos of children were particularly common, perhaps because their mortality rate was high during the Victorian era.

Source

updated by @leopoldina: 23 May 2017 02:23:15PM

Rather creepy, but interesting nonetheless.

the one of an entire family....five people...wouldn't you love to know what happened? Fascinating collection of images. Some heart-breakers.

I also thought the same thing when I saw that photo, and on the commentaries where they were originally posted, someone gave the link to their story.

You can find it here.

What a tragedy. Thank you for posting the link.

I think you're right that there has been a change in peoples' sense of creepiness around these photos and I'd add, around death itself. People witnessed death more commonly and it was accepted as a normal part of life. Now, so many natural deaths take place in institutions, it's only the grisly violent deaths we might see in photos, in the news.

Personally I can't imagine wanting to see a photo of a loved one dead. I'm trying to imagine how it would feel to want to have such a keepsake, but that's a part of Victorian sensibility I maybe can understand, but just can't feel -- can't feel the wish to see dead photos any more than I can feel the wish to hide living bodies from neck to wrist to toe!