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Nec mortem effugere quisquam nec amorem potest.* Invitation to a Hanging and Gallows Rope This is a Real Invitation to a Victorian Hanging! The invitation reads: Admit Mr. W. N. Ferins (or Asst.) County Supt. of Schools to witness execution of Ernest Lacore at Will County Jail, 10 a.m. Friday, January 19, 1894 Thos. Kennebry, Sheriff. Not Transferable. 
You can read all about his hanging by clicking here. The amazing thing about this particular invitation is that there is a nice piece of rope sewn onto the invitation which is of course, a piece of the gallows rope that was used to hang Mr. Lacore. Haunted Attic! The very nice folks at Haunted Attic featured my website! She did an amazing job, thank you!!! 
Please check out her very informative and fun blog by clicking here. New Items on the Website I put a few new items up on the website, a few vintage medical tools and also a few books having to do with the French Guillotine, Necrophilia, and the Funeral Industry. 
If you are interested in this item, you can go ahead and click here. Venice Beach Freakshow Business Card Design Here is a business card I designed a few years ago for the Venice Beach Freakshow. I think it turned out pretty good! 
You can visit their Facebook page by clicking here. Victorian Tanned Human Skin Prison Walking Stick This is the item that I was talking about and it just arrived earlier today. I am very excited about this particular piece because there are only two that we know of in existance. 
This walking stick was made at the Ohio Penitentiary in the winter of 1885 using real human tanned skin . It is real. I have tons of documentation on it and will post more details about it later this week. Absinthe Poster Copyright Violation The copyright violation regarding my Absinthe Poster has been resolved. Mr. Rockwell took down the images like I had originally requested of him. He did relist his items on Etsy, but he changed the artwork on the tins. I own the copyright for the Absinthe poster which anyone (including Mr. Rockwell) can access on the U.S. Copyright office. You can read the whole copyright debacle here.  This is the story of Count Carl von Cosel.  Throughout his childhood his ancestor came to him in his dreams and showed him the face of a beautiful dark haired woman and told him that this was his soul mate. In 1926, he immigrated from Germany to the United States and moved to Key West, Florida where he became a radiologist at the U.S Marine Hospital.  It was on April 22, 1930 when he first met a beautiful dark haired Cuban-American woman. Her name was Maria Elena Milagro "Helen" de Hoyos, and immediately the Count recognized her as the dark-haired woman from his dreams. He had met his soul mate. Elena became ill and was diagnosed with tuberculosis which at that time was considered a fatal disease as there really was no cure. Carl tried to cure Elena with a variety of machines such as the x-ray and various electrical equipment. In the process of treating her he showered her with jewelry and clothes, which she accepted, and confessed his love to her numerous times, which she rejected. Elena died on October 25, 1931.  He immediately had a death mask made of her lovely face. Carl paid for the costs of the funeral and, with her family’s permission, built a mausoleum and her coffin was placed inside. For nearly two years he visited her every night at the mausoleum. He believed that she was speaking to him and telling him how much she hated it in the cemetery. She pleaded with him to take her out of there and for him to take her home with him. Carl removed her body from the mausoleum April, 1933. In October of 1940, Elena's sister heard rumors. She eventually confronted Carl and discovered Elena's body in his bed. She promptly had him arrested. An autopsy was performed on the remains of Elena in 1940.    Because she was so badly decomposed, he had done some extreme crafting. He wired her bones together with piano wire so her limbs wouldn't fall off, and had her empty eye sockets fitted with realistic glass eyes. He had replaced her decomposed skin with silk cloth soaked in wax and plaster of paris, using scented oils and perfumes, disinfectants, and preserving agents in order to at least try and cover the smell of the rotting flesh and spoiled meat. She wore a wig that had been created from her own hair, long since having fallen out. Carl had filled the abdominal and chest cavity with rags hoping to keep her original figure in shape. He had dressed Elena's corpse in stockings, jewelry, and gloves, and kept her tucked in his bed as if waiting for him. Being true to his bride, Carl had also maintained a sexual relationship with Elena's corpse for nearly seven years. The autopsy revealed that the breasts felt real and lifelike. And in the lower regions of the corpse was a rubber tube just large enough to permit sexual relations. After the autopsy was completed, the doctors cleaned up her body and reassembled her in order to put her on display for the public to gawp at!  Over 6,000 people shuffled past her exhumed, defiled and newly made-up corpse.  Three days later, her body was then buried in an unmarked grave so that the Count would not be able to steal her back once again. Carl spent his remaining years writing in his journal and speaking to tourists about his story and showing them a wax effigy that he had made of her using her death mask. In July 1952, Carl was found dead while lying next to the wax effigy of Elena. Here is a video about Dr. Von Cosel: If you are interested in purchasing the book, please click here. *No one is able to flee from death or love. 
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