Ep. 102 - Metallic Immortality: Cast Iron Coffins & Electroplating The Dead

Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: My Victorian Nightmare
Host: Genevieve Manion
Episode: Ep. 102 - Metallic Immortality: Cast Iron Coffins & Electroplating The Dead
Date: July 6, 2026

Genevieve Manion immerses listeners in this morbidly fascinating dive into two of the Victorian era’s strangest obsessions: ornate cast iron, airtight coffins designed to preserve the dead for eternity, and bizarre scientific proposals (and perhaps experiments) to forever immortalize corpses through the process of electroplating—a way to turn your dearly departed into golden or silver statues. The episode artfully balances historical curiosity, dark humor, and genuinely unsettling details, exploring what these practices reveal about Victorian attitudes toward death, beauty, preservation, and the spiritual world.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction: Victorian Fascination with Death

• Genevieve sets the tone by expressing her comfort with the era’s “heebie jeebies,” noting the Victorians’ blend of romance, sorrow, ornament, and macabre preoccupations.
• The episode focuses on how the dead were handled: from elaborate preservation efforts to bizarre preservation and display fantasies.

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2. The Cast Iron Fisk Coffin: Purpose & History

[07:31 – 20:41]

• Design & Purpose

  • The “Fisk coffin” (patented in 1848 by Almond Fisk) was a cast iron, airtight casket molded in the shape of a draped corpse—often adorned with flowers, acorns, angels—featuring a glass window to view the face ([07:31]).
  • Main purposes: to preserve the body for transportation (especially during the Civil War), to prevent disease spread, and to keep the body intact for religious reasons (resurrection beliefs).

• Victorian Egyptomania

  • Coffins' design played into the era’s fascination with Egyptian burial practices—owning a personal “sarcophagus” was appealing ([16:46 – 18:02]).
  • “They may have believed that to be buried like Egyptians, they would retain a closer tether to the living.” ([18:08])

• Preservation Success & Myths

  • Fisk claimed the coffin was so airtight that decay could be “entirely prevented” ([16:33]):

    “From a coffin of this description, the air may be exhausted so completely as to entirely prevent the decay of the contained body. On principles well understood.” – Fisk ([16:36])

  • In reality, decomposition was only slowed, not stopped—exhumed bodies were impressive, but still obviously dead ([15:34 – 16:31]).

• Marketing vs. Reality

  • Coffins were marketed as the ultimate solution for disease prevention and eternity, but most were too unsettled by the display and the sense of the uncanny ([19:01 – 19:53]).
  • Costs ranged from $6 for infants to $100 for luxury—affordable to the middle class as a status symbol ([12:45 – 13:09]).

• Notable Incidents & Backlash

  • Reports of coffins “exploding” due to gas build-up appeared in the press, sparking public concern. Genevieve highlights one account from the 1858 New York Times ([20:41 – 24:38]), but notes that details are sketchy:

    “This article has a number of hallmarks that we see in the Illustrated Police News of made-up stories. There are no names, the location... not mentioned.” ([22:41])

  • Manufacturers denied such incidents, pointing to successful preservations (e.g., Henry Clay's transportation) ([23:13]).

• Eventual Decline

  • Declined in popularity by the 1870s–1890s; today, few survive outside of museum displays ([24:38 – 25:25]).

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3. Electroplating the Dead: Victorian Immortalization Fantasies

[26:40 – 42:17]

• Origin of the Idea

  • Electroplating was an exciting Victorian innovation: using electricity to coat objects in precious metal ([26:56 – 29:07]).
  • Scientists discovered they could make delicate organic items (flowers, leaves) conductive using graphite and then electroplate them ([29:38 – 30:02]).

• Electroplating Bodies: Patents and Proposals

  • A wave of patents and articles suggested “preserving” bodies (or making death masks) through electroplating ([31:34 – 33:37]).
    • Notably, Dr. Thomas Holmes (“father of embalming”) held a patent intending to turn bodies into statues ([31:36]):

    “[Holmes] had a patent on electroplating dead bodies, specifically as he described, to turn dead bodies into statues.” ([31:36])

• Feasibility and Practical Limitations

  • Proposed methods usually involved embalming, coating the body in wax and a conductive layer, then plating it ([33:31]).
  • A satirical article from the Anaconda Standard (1890) mocks the idea:

    “You can have the life size statue of your mother in law, should she happen to luckily die, as an ornament for your parlor.” ([32:36])

  • Period articles argued it was “no different from” cremation—presenting a “grandma-shaped urn”—and even “better,” since the physical form is retained ([34:46 – 36:03]).

• What Would Really Happen?

  • Genevieve debunks the promise: decomposition gases would rupture a thin electroplated shell; gold is a weak metal and would likely crack ([36:47 – 37:16]).
  • Egyptian mummification preserved by drying and ventilation; sealing in metal would trap moisture/gases, causing rot and potential explosions ([37:16 – 37:39]).
  • She jokes:

    “Now, I am not a scientist, I am a vampire. … But I did do some research on the science of all of this, because of course I did.” ([36:03])

• Claims, Evidence, and Urban Legends

  • An 1886 publication claims electroplating was “not just theory, but fact,” with 11 plated corpses exhibited in Paris ([40:14 – 40:54]). But Genevieve finds no verifiable evidence:

    “There were no Paris World Fairs in those years... Not every exhibition at those events would have even been listed somewhere that still exists.” ([41:33 – 42:03])

  • No known electroplated bodies survive, but the rumors and patents persist.

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4. Morbid Victorian Attitudes: Preservation, Mourning, & Scandal

• The episode explores deeper cultural reasons Victorians sought immortality for their corpses:
  • Fear and reverence for the dead
  • Religious ideas of bodily resurrection
  • Obsession with beauty, remembrance, and scandal
  • Desire to display or keep loved ones close—even literally in the parlor

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On odd conversation starters:

  “You are going to learn so many completely unacceptable conversation topics for the Thanksgiving dinner table ... If you're ever on a really bad date, I have got you covered.” (03:15)

• On Victorians’ sensibilities:

  “Most people found these coffins kinda creepy, which is really saying something considering how much the Victorians loved creepy stuff.” (19:01)

• Satirical perspective:

  “You can have the life size statue of your mother-in-law, should she happen to luckily die, as an ornament for your parlor.” (32:36)

• Scientific honesty & dark humor:

  “Now, I am not a scientist, I am a vampire. I have said this many times before, but I did do some research on the science of all of this, because of course I did.” (36:03)

• Medieval marketing:

  “It was advertised that certain gases or even fluids could be filled into the coffin to prevent putrefaction altogether. This isn’t possible, not in this way.” (14:55–15:01)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [07:31] — Introduction to the Fisk coffin
• [09:29] — Purposes (contain disease, preserve for display/travel)
• [11:39] — 19th-century embalming methods explained
• [16:33] — Fisk’s claims about eternal preservation
• [17:16] — Egyptomania and Victorian fascination
• [20:41] — New York Times “exploding coffin” story
• [26:40] — Electroplating technology and its rise
• [31:34] — Electroplating patents for dead bodies
• [34:46] — Explanation of the theoretical electroplated “urn”
• [36:03] — Scientific assessment of electroplating feasibility
• [40:14] — Claims of Paris-exhibited electroplated corpses debunked

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Tone and Style

Genevieve’s delivery is witty, conversational, and cheerfully macabre—making light of the bizarre without losing sight of real history:

“This guy is making me want to get electroplated myself. That sounds lovely, but it’s not true.” (36:03)

She balances academic depth, storytelling, and wry asides—offering both comfort and unease in the world of Victorian death.

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Takeaways

• The Victorian era’s obsession with death and immortality took forms both practical (airtight coffins) and fantastical (electroplating corpses as family relics).
• Technological innovation met spiritual longing and a certain morbid humor—a blend unique to the 19th century.
• Despite wild patents and rumors, there’s no evidence any actual person was successfully “transmuted” into a family statue.
• The episode makes clear: sometimes fact is almost as weird as fiction, and the Victorians' nightmares continue to enchant the macabre-minded today.

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If you enjoy dark, quirky explorations of history’s stranger side, filled with unexpected challenges to decorum and delightful “date enders,” this episode is essential listening—or at least, according to Genevieve, a surefire way to dominate your next awkward social event.

Transcript

[A]

And we're live on Matchday as Doug reaches for a buffalo wing. He's got it. Oh, and he's gone for a can of Pepsi, too. What a finish. There's no doubt about it. It just tastes better. Matchdays deserve Pepsi.

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[C]

Hello, and welcome to My Victorian Nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Manion, 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

[D]

intriguing, creepy, and oddly comforting about horror

[C]

and mayhem from the 19th century. So listener discretion is adv. Hello, friends, and welcome to this, my 102nd episode. And have I got a creepy factoid

[D]

packed episode for you today.

[C]

In the mid-1800s, ornate, airtight cast iron coffins promised something extraordinary to preserve a body for years, perhaps even forever. They were adorned with acorns, flowers and angels, and included a glass window so you could view the pale face of the deceased one last time.

[D]

The only problem was that even for the Victorians, they were a little too macabre and stranger still, in the same

[C]

era, serious scientists were experimenting with electroplating the dead, offering to seal your dead grandmother in gold for all eternity. Were the numerous patents for this process just hypothetical, or did scientists secretly successfully turn corpses into to statues?

[D]

Today, for you, dear listener, I will

[C]

be discussing the cast iron fisk coffins of the mid 19th century and the

[D]

shockingly bizarre and disturbing proposals to electroplate dead bodies so that they may become

[C]

golden, silver or brass statues that you

[D]

could keep in your home forever. Seriously, this episode is going to be bananas.

[C]

I try to vacillate between spooky topics, like as in haunted spooky topics, murdery topics, dark Victorian obsession, or belief topics. But every once in a while, I like to dip my toe into weird, fascinating Victorian science regarding the dead and death.

[D]

And that is where we have landed today. You are going to learn so many completely unacceptable conversation topics for the Thanksgiving dinner table that if you're anything like me, you'll be so excited to share. If you're ever on a really bad date, I have got you covered with

[C]

date ending conversation starters.

[D]

You are going to learn how they kept Lenin perfectly preserved for the last 90 years. You are going to learn all about embalming techniques in the early 19th century. You are going to learn how to turn a dead body into a copper coat rack and what would happen to that body inside if it were. Say you're on a date and a guy says something like the thing about females is you can interrupt him and say, but the thing about unembalmed dead bodies is that weather drastically affects how long it takes them to decompose and here's what you can expect if it's say, 80 degrees outside, et cetera. I'm going to arm you with all of the details on today's episode. You're welcome. Don't mention it. It usually takes me about three to four full ten hour days to produce these episodes.

[C]

Most of that time is research and writing.

[D]

I banged this entire episode out in two days because it virtually wrote itself.

[C]

I just couldn't stop falling down rabbit

[D]

holes and each one had even more fascinatingly twisted little rabbits than the last. So I think you are going to enjoy what I have cooked up.

[C]

But first, thank you to those of you who have joined the Patreon, those of you who are responsible for keeping the show going without you, it could if you too would like to receive the show ad free receive True Crime extras, witchy content and dark poetry. You will find the link to the free trial in the Episode Notes.

[D]

And thank you to everyone who has subscribed to the newsletter, which you will

[C]

also find a link to in the Episode Notes. I post pictures from the episodes, horrifying illustrations from the Illustrated Police News, I share important updates about Toby and his exploits and much, much more. Subscribe at your leisure. And thank you everyone who has left comments lately. You have said the sweetest things about how you first found the show and

[D]

what you like about the show.

[C]

That really means a lot to me.

[D]

I put stuff out there that I like, but I never have any idea how it is going to be received

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until you tell me. I want to make content that we

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all enjoy, not just me and the twisted goblins that live in my brain.

[C]

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[D]

Now let us talk about the Fisk

[C]

coffin, which is not a fitting name

[D]

at all for this horrifyingly beautiful object. It sounds so clinical. I feel like it something like Sarcophagratica

[C]

or Sarcophagorama because I'm speaking about a cast iron coffin in the shape of a draped corpse with details like flowers, acorns, angels and best of all, a

[D]

glass window so that you can view

[C]

the face of the beloved dead.

[D]

I put a photo on the Instagram link in the episode Notes the popularity

[C]

of the Fisk coffin peaked in the 1850s and 1860s, especially during the Civil War. They were mostly popular with wealthy families, politicians. They were used to transport the bodies of decorated soldiers and generals. If you saw Del Toro's Frankenstein, you

[D]

saw an artistic reimagining of what this looked like.

[C]

Victor's mother and father were buried in them in the film.

[D]

And you can see Mia Goth's pale

[C]

dead face peeking through as he placed a cap of sorts with a sculpture of her face or female face on top. Hers was white, but I, I don't believe they made them in white. All of the examples that I have seen have been unpainted iron, but they may have and they didn't have a piece to place over the face in such a way, like a loose part. The goal was to keep the body far more effectively preserved airtight.

[D]

So a thick piece of glass was

[C]

installed over the face.

[D]

There was like a hatched piece that opened and closed over the face, but

[C]

the face would be behind the glass underneath. This cast iron coffin served a number of purposes. To preserve the body, but also to contain disease which the body of a dead person who say died of cholera or yellow fever, would continue to spread after death.

[D]

There were a few other purposes as well.

[C]

So let's discuss the history of this fascinating object. In 1848, a man named Almond Fiske

[D]

patented the cast iron coffin.

[C]

Couldn't he have called it the almond coffin after his first name instead of his last name? Even that would have sounded prettier.

[D]

Any I just lament a missed branding opportunity of thought provoking funerary objects.

[C]

It was also called the Fisk mummy,

[D]

which still not doing it for me. It was created for the purpose of,

[C]

as mentioned, preserving the corpse for travel or other delayed internment. Say you were an inexperienced British adventurer who climbed Machu Picchu and had an unfortunate accident at the top and didn't live to tell the tale. Your family may have you returned in one of these coffins in hopes of preserving you well enough for folks to see your face one last time at the funeral. In these days, you were buried where you died.

[D]

With very few exceptions. Shipping bodies, especially in summer months, was not practical.

[C]

Embalming technology and techniques that we now use are considerably more advanced than they were in the 1840s.

[D]

In fact, embalming of any kind was rare.

[C]

A mortician named Dr. Thomas Holmes, otherwise

[D]

known as the father of embalming, did

[C]

create a solution for arterial embalming that worked really well in the early 1800s. It included arsenic, zinc chloride, mercuric chloride, alcohol, turpentine and water. His exact recipe has never been fully determined. He kept it secret and charged $100 to embalm a body with this solution. That was equivalent to about $4,300.

[D]

But that was the price that he gave to Lincoln for embalming.

[C]

Civil War Soldiers. He also embalmed big shot politic royalty laying in state and likely charged them much, much more because again, his solution worked well. It would keep bodies in presentable condition for anywhere between a few weeks to even a few months, depending on the weather.

[D]

But again, this was incredibly expensive, only

[C]

used by the very wealthy and few lucky civil war soldiers. Embalming for the masses in the early to mid-1800s meant washing the body, applying a preservative to the skin's surface, perhaps

[D]

packing body cavities with her, packing a body in salt or in barrels of alcohol. These practices were, however, not even regularly done for the average person and would only provide an extra day at best

[C]

of preservation in terms of keeping you presentable without any embalming in say, 80 degree weather, bodies will show outward signs of early stages of decomposition within 12 to 24 hours.

[D]

Within only 48 hours, odors will begin to develop. So suffice it to say, the notion of putting a dead body on a train was completely out of the question

[C]

until coffins like the Fisk coffin came on the market.

[D]

And although they were mostly popular with the wealthy, you didn't actually need to

[C]

be particularly wealthy to afford one of

[D]

these truly beautiful coffins. They ran about $30,40, which was about $1,200 today.

[C]

Some were as inexpensive as only $6 for like an infant size. Of course, there were luxury models though that would run about $100. This would have been around 43 do to $4,500 in the late 1840s when the patent was first created. In both England and the United States,

[D]

churchyards were packed, overflowing with bodies.

[C]

It was believed that people must be buried in consecrated ground if they were to go to heaven or return on judgment day.

[D]

But there were not enough churches with yards to accommodate folks anymore.

[C]

And this was not only leading to

[D]

overcrowding, but the rampant spread of disease.

[C]

As mentioned, cholera and yellow fever were

[D]

seeping into groundw from the bodies of

[C]

those who died of these diseases and continuing to spread. The magnificent seven large cemeteries in England began construction between the 1830s and 1840s. But some people still wanted to be buried closer to home. Those cemeteries were placed on the outskirts of London. In episode 26, I talked about how the Necropolis railway was created to transport families to the cemeteries. And people were still choosing to be

[D]

buried in local churchyards at this time, despite the overcrowding. But this coffin again would allow family

[C]

to be rest assured that their family member wasn't contributing to any disease spread. And they could also Be rest assured that their body would stay intact. I've discussed the Victorian preoccupation with the idea that bodies should be as intact as possible when they're buried, so that they may rise from their graves on Judgment Day. This is why surgeons could only legally

[D]

dissect the bodies of criminals at this time. People already considered to be damned and in no need of their bodies for

[C]

Judgment Day as they would not be returning.

[D]

Allegedly, this coffin took that preoccupation to

[C]

the next level, promising to preserve a

[D]

body so well that it may not decay at all. It was advertised that certain gases or

[C]

even fluids could be filled into the coffin to prevent putrefaction altogether.

[D]

This isn't possible, not in this way. Now what was true is that his

[C]

design was virtually airtight.

[D]

It fitted closely around the body, allowing

[C]

very little air around it. And this did slow decomposition. The coffin would prevent insects from getting into the coffin, which would also slow down the decomposition process. The metal case would prevent moisture from getting into the coffin. All of these things did indeed slow decomposition and preserve bodies remarkably well. A number of these coffins have been unearthed over the years and the preservation

[D]

of the folks inside is impressive.

[C]

Their skin, hair, clothing, even facial features have been notably well preserved. There's an unidentified woman, referred to as the lady in red, whose Fisk coffin was exhumed. And although she died over a century

[D]

ago, she looked great for her age in her red velvet dress.

[C]

Another Fisk coffin was opened in 2011 and at first the corpse was believed to be a recent homicide victim because

[D]

she was so remarkably preserved. But researchers identified her as an African.

[C]

African American woman named Martha Peterson, a 26 year old woman who died 160 years ago.

[D]

But in neither of these instances did the coffins prevent decay entirely. The bodies very much look like dead bodies, but the way the coffins were marketed, they really did intend to make people believe that they would not decay at all and would remain fresh as

[C]

a daisy for Judgment Day.

[D]

Fisk himself said from a coffin of

[C]

this description, the air may be exhausted so completely as to entirely prevent the decay of the contained body.

[D]

On principles well understood. End quote.

[C]

The coffin not only appealed to Victorians sensibilities of preserving the body for Judgment Day, but also to their fascination with Egypt and all things Egyptian. Egyptomania, as it was called, included notions that ancient Egyptians had a more effective way of tethering themselves to the dead, and thus the dead stayed more effectively tethered to the living. Many Victorians felt that Egyptians could interact more intimately with spirits of the Dead than western folks could. This was due to the discoveries of ancient tombs and other Egyptian archaeological discoveries in the late 18th and 19th century. Ancient Egypt was only understood through the Bible to most people in England and America until these discoveries were publicized and found artifacts that showed elite elaborate burial techniques. Talismans, obelisks, objects that had been used to honor and pay reverence to the dead, really spoke to spiritualists and the many other Victorians who infused death and mourning into every aspect of their society. Their art, their fashion and poetry. The notion that you could now have a sarcophagus of your very own, well,

[D]

some folks were delighted at the idea for that reason alone, not necessarily the preserving aspect.

[C]

They may have believed that to be buried like Egyptians, they would retain a closer tether to the living. Some of the designs of the coffin included religious symbolism. Thistles, roses, oak leaves, acorns and berries. It had an ornate burial shroud with folded iron material. The edges were molded with carefully draped tassels and a strategically placed window for you to view the face of the deceased.

[D]

In an advertisement for the coffin, it

[C]

said that the window allowed people to quote, behold again the features of the departed.

[D]

Now, these coffins did not fly off the shelves. Fisk believed that they would because of

[C]

Victorians love of beautiful funerary objects, their obsession with Egypt, and practical desires to prevent the spread of disease and need for preservation for transportation.

[D]

But most people found these coffins kinda creepy, which is really saying something considering how much the Victorians loved creepy stuff.

[C]

It is difficult to so dramatically change people's funerals, literary customs, especially those that have been practiced for thousands of years. Fun fact, burying people in wooden coffins as opposed to just like digging a hole and burying someone without anything else, goes back 3,500 years. In Europe, the earliest examples of wooden coffins have been found dating back to the Bronze age. These were tree trunk coffins that were made by splitting thick oak trees in half, hollowing out the inside and using the other half as a lid. The oldest of these tree trunk was actually found in Denmark.

[D]

So suffice it to say, people weren't

[C]

particularly interested in this new fangled iron

[D]

sarcophagus on a mass scale.

[C]

And tragically, just a year after Fisk got his factory up and running, it burned down and he was caught in the fire. He did survive, but he suffered many injuries and died only a year later.

[D]

I imagine his coffin must have been magnificent.

[C]

That wasn't the death of the Fisk coffin, however. Other manufacturers created and sold them, but people became more interested in using them for preserving until burial rather than for their Egyptian nests or even to prevent the spread of disease. Some folks would remain inside them after transportation and be buried in them, but in some cases it would be used only for transportation, and the body would be removed and buried in a wooden coffin. As we approach the mid-1850s, but folks

[D]

still had their hangups, and an article that I found in the New York Times likely caused folks to have even more concerns. There's an article called Explosion of a metallic coffin in the New York Times, November 6, 1858 edition, and it reads,

[C]

a few years have served to bring into extensive use for burial purposes the now common metallic cases or coffins, especially whenever it is desirable or necessary to delay the interment. When first introduced, it was the practice to exhaust the air in these cases after the body had been put in to secure them fully. It was said against change by contact with the atmosphere. For various reasons this practice has fallen into disuse, the only precautions now taken being to completely cool the remains before

[D]

sealing up the case from some neglect. In this latter respect, a circumstance took place not long ago which, originating here, is worth relating. The case containing remaining an adult who

[C]

had suddenly deceased, while apparently in good

[D]

health, was sealed up to be sent

[C]

for internment to a neighboring state. The conveyance for half a day's ride was by railroad and then by wagon for 30 miles.

[D]

The day was warm and the road was rough, and much motion was doubtless

[C]

given to the remains. The persons in charge stopped for a

[D]

brief rest at a tavern and were in the house when they, as well as all in the vicinity, were startled by a very loud report, and it was found. The burial case had, by rapid generation of gas, exploded with much violence, entirely

[C]

blowing out the heavy French glass faceplate

[D]

which it shattered into a thousand pieces.

[C]

Nothing could be done but to seek a hasty interment in the vicinity and await the coming of cold weather to

[D]

allow the removal of the remaining remains to their destined place of burial. The original article was first published in

[C]

the Chicago Press and Tribune, and it

[D]

appears to have been republished in a number of other papers. But despite the fact that the Chicago Press, Tribune and the New York Times were not considered yellow journalism papers in their day, this article has a number of hallmarks that we see in the Illustrated police news of made up stories. There are no names, the location for where this happened not mentioned. It's missing a lot of important details, and a manufacturer of cast iron coffins

[C]

actually had a letter published in the

[D]

Times not too long after this article was printed. Saying that this could not have happened with their coffins. They said, quote, we could give many

[C]

instances from among the many thousands of cases made and sold by us for the last six years that they have been submitted to the severest tests in the transportation of bodies, not only to and from distant parts of our country, but to Europe and the West Indies. Perhaps no more notable occasion or severe test was ever applied than in the case of the transportation of the remains of the honorable Henry Clay from Washington

[D]

during the hottest weather in July, with

[C]

many delays to their final resting places in Kentucky, which was done to the entire satisfaction of the Senate committee who

[D]

had the matter in charge, end quote. It is hard to verify if this happened, but it definitely would have been possible.

[C]

Wooden coffins are built with a certain amount of venting in the design. They leak gases around the edges and joints.

[D]

Wood is porous, not completely solid. We release methane when we die, also

[C]

carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia.

[D]

And these gases would build up in an airtight cast iron case without any venting whatsoever. So it's not. Not that outlandish. But important to note the exploding coffin

[C]

story, often cited in a few sources

[D]

that I found not verifiable.

[C]

The peak of the cast iron coffin was in the 1850s, but it fell largely out of style by the 1870s. And by the 1890s, you couldn't find one.

[D]

They're very rare.

[C]

Very few of the coffins were saved.

[D]

They were sold, used and buried. But they occasionally are found.

[C]

One was found when a plough mistakenly

[D]

burst through a burial vault.

[C]

Tennessee. It held the body of a man buried in 1854.

[D]

What a find. The body of the man was removed and reinterred. But they took the coffin and it

[C]

is now on display in the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, which, funny enough, was named after the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis, which stood on the Nile river side.

[D]

Note it was named as such by

[C]

John Overton, Andrew Jackson and James Winchester.

[D]

They were not spiritualists.

[C]

The city was named by them in 1819. It wasn't until the 1840s that spiritualism

[D]

officially solidified as a movement.

[C]

But the interest in Egypt was already in the Zeitgeist when the city was named. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, he brought about 160 scientists, artists, engineers and scholars with him to measure the period pyramids, copy inscriptions, draw the temples, document the plants, animals and people.

[D]

So the cast iron sarcophagus was something

[C]

of a natural progression in Egyptomania of

[D]

that part of the country. I just find those random connections Very interesting. Okay, I've got a question for you. If you could say, silver plate the body of a dead relative so that you could keep them in your home forever as like a metallic coat rack statue, would you? Luckily, Victorians, of course, asked this very question in earnest and wholeheartedly replied, yes, that sounds great. Let's discuss the proposal of metal embalming, otherwise known as electroplating dead bodies, proposed by a number of legitimate inventors and scientists of the 1800s, and not just Frankenstein type scientists or psychopaths. Legit scientists proposed this with their whole chests, apparently. But first, a little history of electroplating.

[C]

Electroplating is the process of using electricity to coat metal with a very thin

[D]

layer of another metal, not corpses per se. It became one of the most important

[C]

industrial technologies of the Victorian era and was widely used from the 1840s onward.

[D]

Still is. Instead of making an entire spoon or

[C]

teapot from solid silver, manufacturers could now make it from brass or copper and electroplated with silver or gold or any metal. Until this technology was introduced, plating cheap metals with more expensive ones was done by hammering or melting sheets of metals onto others. And doing this with small objects like spoons, coffin handles, wasn't necessarily easy or cheap. Now, an object like a candlestick or spoon could be placed into a solution containing dissolved metal ions. An electric current would then be passed through the solution, and quickly the metal ions would be attracted to the object and bond to its surface, creating a thin metallic coating, essentially painting it with metal. Now silverware was more affordable, and not just for the wealthy. Middle class. Folks could wear gold jewelry, gold watches, religious figures and churches could now be plated with gold, and no one would be the wiser. Not to mention, coating metals with nickel or chromium would prevent other metals from rust. Rusting. This was a major scientific discovery that really took off around the turn of the 19th century. In 1800, Alessandro Volta invented the first practical battery that would later be used by Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli, who first successfully coated a thin layer of gold onto silver using electricity. Then, in the late 1830s, John Wright discovered that potassium cyanide produced an excellent plating solution. And then two years later, George and Henry Elliot Pulkington industrialized the electroplating process. For the Victorians, it was one of the era's most astonishing technological innovations. Using the newly understood power of electricity to permanently bond precious metals onto everyday objects, it helped fuel the explosion of ornate, affordable decorative goods that are so characteristic of the Victorian period.

[D]

So naturally, naturally, they would want to electroplate their dead relatives. But there was a problem, just the one problem. Electroplating works by bonding metals onto other metals. They wouldn't simply bond to organic materials. So scientists got to work, not necessarily at first, with the goal of electroplating dead bodies just yet. They discovered that you could say, coat

[C]

leaves, flowers, insects, shells and even animals

[D]

like mice in graphite, powdered silver and conductive materials.

[C]

And copper in particular would bond fairly well. So once copper bonded, then other metals could be electroplated onto the copper.

[D]

So naturally, some anatomists began experimenting with electroplating human organs.

[C]

Some death masks were made using an

[D]

electroplating process, but this was not done by dipping the faces of corpses in anything and electroplating them. This was done by making a mold of a face, then making a mask, then electroplating the mask.

[C]

Quick side note, death masks, just in

[D]

case you're new here, were often made

[C]

to create busts of family members, but they weren't common. They were mostly made for monarchs, military leaders, writers, poets, scientists, artists, spiritual leaders, and occasionally notorious criminals and killers. Sometimes unidentified murder victims had death masks made in hopes that they may be identified after they begin to decompose.

[D]

Now, there is no official evidence that a full body was ever electroplated, but with all of the patents for the process on how to do is likely that it did happen, but not legally. So no one officially trotted out their electroplated corpses. Some claimed to have, but there's no proof that they did. Surgical study was highly regulated and this could, I think, easily be considered desecration of a. There were no laws that I'm aware of regarding this kind of thing in the US or Europe, and I'm sure scientists didn't necessarily want to be the cause for laws being created regarding this until they were certain they had a legitimate result. But again, despite the fact that there

[C]

is no official proof that this was

[D]

done, the father of embalming, Dr. Thomas Holmes himself had a patent on electroplating dead bodies, specifically as he described, to turn dead bodies into statues. He was a very, very wealthy and well connected man with easy access to cadavers. It is very likely that he gave this a try. There were a few outright what appear to be advertisements for electroplating dead bodies

[C]

in newspapers from the late 1800s.

[D]

But they appear to me not to be really advertisements, but stories suggesting that electroplating dead bodies is being done elsewh in France. It was discussed as a service in a newspaper in 1890 in the Anaconda Standard, an article states in from 8 to 10 days at a price varying

[C]

from 300 to 3,000 francs. You can have the life size statue

[D]

of your mother in law, should she happen to luckily die, as an ornament for your parlor. Now that is obviously written in a comical way. It doesn't sound like an advertisement. But the article goes on to say the process was developed by a Parisian

[C]

physician who promised that modern Cleopatras may now smile in their last moments, knowing

[D]

full well that their beauty will be handed down to future generations. End quote. This sounds like another typical made up article, typical of the day's yellow journalism papers. But it is possible that it was inspired by the patents and experiments that were were at the very least being honestly discussed if not done in the

[C]

early 20th century we see even more

[D]

patents for preserving dead bodies using electroplating.

[C]

There is a patent from December 10,

[D]

1835 using electroplating to preserve a dead body.

[C]

It is attributed to someone named Levin G. Kasabian. It involved, quote, the coating or plating of the bodies which have preferably been

[D]

embalmed with metal or metals. Furthermore, the process includes coating the body

[C]

with a wax and covering it with a conductive solution before wrapping it with

[D]

copper wire and then following with the electroplating process with the metal ions of your choice. You want a golden grandma? This is how this individual proposed to do it. Now you may be asking yourself, let's say we give this a shot Rot. Won't the body inside begin to rot within?

[C]

Well, according to an article from 1887 called Electroplating the dead, it explains why

[D]

everything will be totally cool. Don't worry about it. It says the method is briefly the

[C]

body is washed with alcohol and sprinkled over with fine graphite powder to ensure the perfect conduction of electricity. It is then placed in a bath of metallic silver solution containing a piece of the metal to be used to. This is attached the positive pole of a strong battery. The negative pole is applied to the

[D]

corpse and a fine film of the

[C]

metal at once begins to cover the body perfectly and evenly. In effect, it transforms the corpse into a beautiful statue. Form, features and even the expression being perfectly preserved, the body being hermetically sealed within its metal enclosure. Enclosure merely dries up and assumes the aspect of a mummy.

[D]

End quote. Well, if you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad. The article goes on to make a pretty solid argument for why this isn't weird.

[C]

It says that the process end result in essence is no different than the new cremation method, which at this time in the late 1800s was only just starting to be acceptable.

[D]

The article posits that you now have

[C]

like a grandma shaped urn for her ashes which will remain inside the forever.

[D]

It also suggests that it's even better

[C]

than cremation because the feeling of desecration of the human form divine, which its reduction to a handful of ashes causes to many people is entirely done away with. As no rude hand is laid upon the once loved form, no change is brought about in appearance, except that the face and figure are covered with a shining veil through which the familiar lineaments of appear with all their well remembered characteristics and expression.

[D]

This guy is making me want to get electroplated myself. That sounds lovely, but it's not true. Now, I am not a scientist, I am a vampire. I have said this many times before, but I did do some research on the science of all of this, because of course I did. But I don't say know exactly how certain metals may react in the following situations, but I did do my best, very best, to find factually accurate explanations for what would happen if you were hermetically sealed in a thin layer of metal. Here's why this would not work. You would need a very thick layer of metal to have a result where a body inside just decomposes and it's not a big deal.

[C]

As mentioned, when a body decomposes, it

[D]

releases gases and fluids. And if you used say gold to plate your grandmother, gold is not a very strong metal. Gases would likely bust through the metal. Especially if it were as thin as standard electroplated metals. It may crack. And a body wouldn't dry out inside a sealed metal shell. It would likely do the opposite.

[C]

Egyptian mummified bodies dried out so well.

[D]

Not because the bodies were hermetically sealed in airtight sarcophaguses. They were firstly in Egypt, a very dry climate.

[C]

And Egyptian crypts and pyramids were built with strong ventilation. Moisture was able to escape the bodies before bacteria could destroy the tissues. There were of course other techniques used to ensure this process preserved the bodies as well as they did.

[D]

But allowing for the escape of moisture was an essential part of it. If you seal a human body within a metal shell, the opposite will happen. You're sealing the moisture in. And I do not want to explain what would be happening inside a metal shell where moisture can can't escape and gases are building up. All I'll say is it wouldn't turn out well for anyone. But this guy who wrote the last

[C]

article was probably imagining what would happen would be along the lines of what has been done to keep Lenin perfectly preserved. For the last 90 years, the embalmed corpse of Lenin has been on display in an airtight glass case in Russia,

[D]

and he looks as fresh as a daisy. But it isn't because he's simply in an airtight case.

[C]

There's a lot more going on behind the scenes. This has been achieved in the following.

[D]

A team of anatomists, biochemists and surgeons

[C]

work around the clock to maintain what

[D]

remains of his body. They are called the mausoleum group. Lenin died in the bitter cold of

[C]

winter, allowing him to stay fairly well preserved at the time of his death. And a biochemist named Boris Zabarsky of the Moscow Medical Institute was asked to apply a newly developed biochemical method of embalming. They did it and said that he

[D]

would require re embalming regularly and the

[C]

temperature of his coffin would need to be carefully regulated.

[D]

His brain, vital organs, veins and arteries

[C]

were all removed, so it's only his

[D]

skeleton, skin and muscle tissues that have been preserved. Every other year, his corpse is re embalmed by submerging him in several different

[C]

glycerol, formaldehyde, potassium acetate, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid and acetic sodium. It takes six weeks to soak him, Then he returns to his mausoleum.

[D]

His face, however, is not the ogee. His nose, eye sockets and several other

[C]

parts of his body are now made with paraffin, glycerin and carotene to make him appear more youthful, lively.

[D]

Oh, my God. Where even was I? Long story short, electroplating a dead body wouldn't work, at least not by applying the exact same process as, say, silver plating a spoon. There would need to be other processes to ensure the statue didn't crack or explode. This simple fact would make one believe that this was all just hypothetical.

[C]

It couldn't have been successfully done.

[D]

But in an 1886 edition of the

[C]

Sanitary Era Bulletin by William C. Conant,

[D]

this man claimed that electroplating bodies was,

[C]

quote, not just the theory, but fact.

[D]

What's more, he claimed that, quote, more than 11 human corpses have been treated

[C]

by this method, and samples of the results were on exhibition at the Paris exhibitions of 1881 and 1885. End quote. He claimed that it is, quote, sanitary, cheap, highly aesthetic, and avoids one great objection which can be validly urged against cremation, that it gives opportunity for the defeat of justice by destroying the evidence of a crime.

[D]

In other words, he's saying that electroplating dead bodies instead of cremating them was

[C]

ideal because if someone was, say, poisoned the body would be more effectively preserved. With the advent of cremation becoming more,

[D]

I don't want to say popular, but people were just starting to do it.

[C]

In the late 1800s.

[D]

This was a serious concern of folks

[C]

about cremation in a time when poison was the murderer's weapon of choice.

[D]

People were concerned that killers who murdered

[C]

their husbands or wives would have them cremated before an autopsy could be performed. Sealing a man in copper was a way to prevent someone from getting away with murder.

[D]

But let's back up a bit. Is it true that 11 dead metal coated bodies were shown at the Paris exhibitions of 1881 and 1885? What acclaim. I dug into that. There were no Paris World Fairs in

[C]

those years, but there were other kinds of exhibitions. There were industrial exhibitions, salon exhibitions, medical electrical exhibitions.

[D]

But because this guy wasn't specific, there's no way to verify his claim. Not every exhibition at those events would

[C]

have even been listed somewhere that still exists.

[D]

And even if they were, they could have simply been statues paraded as metal plated corpses.

[C]

We do not have that.

[D]

I am aware of any existing electroplated

[C]

bodies to confirm that this was ever successfully done.

[D]

However, if you yourself have any strange

[C]

family heirlooms packed away in the attic, any copper statues tucked away in the

[D]

basement with odd facial expressions that have uncanny resentment resemblances to old relatives, do

[C]

let me know if you enjoyed this podcast and would like to hear more. Please rate the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Leave me comments because I love them so much and for ad free listening, true crime extras, dark poetry and witchy content. Join the [e-mail] Be kind, take a yourselves and I will see you in your nightmares.

[E]

Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile Now. I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

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of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for a 12 month plan required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow when network is busy.

[F]

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