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I'm a PhD student researching the role of the archaeological dead in contemporary British society. Think of this as a scrapbook of all the interesting links, snippets of information and random bits and bobs I come across pertaining to death, dying and the dead. Enjoy?!

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    Lockerbie bombing: Pan Am 103 returned to Scotland ONE of Scotland’s most visited museums hopes its bid to display aircraft wreckage from the Lockerbie bombing will be boosted by the remains of Pan Am flight 103 being moved north of the Border. The Crown Office yesterday confirmed the wreckage had been moved from an Air Accidents Investigation Branch hangar in Hampshire to a storage facility near Dumfries. The investigation into the 1988 attack, in which 270 people were killed, is ongoing, although Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence agent convicted of the bombing, died last year. The Riverside Museum in Glasgow, which attracts more than a million visitors a year, is seeking part of the wreckage to add to its permanent display about the disaster, which was developed with the victims’ families. A source said: “We continue to hope some of the fuselage will be made available to help us to tell this important story.” Museum officials have previously told The Scotsman they were seeking “something which is identifiably part of the aircraft rather than just a piece of metal”, such as a seat or one of the black boxes. Curators have previously said: “We want items that tell a story, such as a piece of fuselage which shows blast damage, or something which illustrates the forensic investigation.” (Source: Scotsman)

    Lockerbie bombing: Pan Am 103 returned to Scotland

    ONE of Scotland’s most visited museums hopes its bid to display aircraft wreckage from the Lockerbie bombing will be boosted by the remains of Pan Am flight 103 being moved north of the Border.

    The Crown Office yesterday confirmed the wreckage had been moved from an Air Accidents Investigation Branch hangar in Hampshire to a storage facility near Dumfries.

    The investigation into the 1988 attack, in which 270 people were killed, is ongoing, although Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence agent convicted of the bombing, died last year.

    The Riverside Museum in Glasgow, which attracts more than a million visitors a year, is seeking part of the wreckage to add to its permanent display about the disaster, which was developed with the victims’ families.

    A source said: “We continue to hope some of the fuselage will be made available to help us to tell this important story.”

    Museum officials have previously told The Scotsman they were seeking “something which is identifiably part of the aircraft rather than just a piece of metal”, such as a seat or one of the black boxes.

    Curators have previously said: “We want items that tell a story, such as a piece of fuselage which shows blast damage, or something which illustrates the forensic investigation.”

    (Source: Scotsman)

    Plans for Titanic replica set sail as Australian billionaire avoids sink jinx It looks like the Titanic. It is meant to feel like the Titanic. But the Australian billionaire who on Tuesday unveiled blueprints for a successor ship to the doomed ocean liner is confident his dream project will not sink like the Titanic. At a news conference in New York, mining tycoon Clive Palmer said his ambitious plans to launch a copy of the Titanic and sail her across the Atlantic would be a tribute to those who built and backed the original. “We will complete the journey. We will sail into New York on the ship they designed,” he said at the event being held inside the Intrepid aircraft carrier that is now a museum in the city. But Palmer, a jovial and brash mogul who likes to style himself “professor”, refused to be drawn into predicting that his new boat would be “unsinkable” – and thus avoided repeating an act of hubris that the backers of the first Titanic famously made. “Anything will sink if you put a hole in it,” Palmer admitted of Titanic II. But he joked that due to global warming the risks of travelling through the waters near the Arctic circle had lessened considerably. “There are not so many icebergs in the North Atlantic these days,” he said. Read more here. 

    Plans for Titanic replica set sail as Australian billionaire avoids sink jinx

    It looks like the Titanic. It is meant to feel like the Titanic. But the Australian billionaire who on Tuesday unveiled blueprints for a successor ship to the doomed ocean liner is confident his dream project will not sink like the Titanic.

    At a news conference in New York, mining tycoon Clive Palmer said his ambitious plans to launch a copy of the Titanic and sail her across the Atlantic would be a tribute to those who built and backed the original.

    “We will complete the journey. We will sail into New York on the ship they designed,” he said at the event being held inside the Intrepid aircraft carrier that is now a museum in the city.

    But Palmer, a jovial and brash mogul who likes to style himself “professor”, refused to be drawn into predicting that his new boat would be “unsinkable” – and thus avoided repeating an act of hubris that the backers of the first Titanic famously made. “Anything will sink if you put a hole in it,” Palmer admitted of Titanic II. But he joked that due to global warming the risks of travelling through the waters near the Arctic circle had lessened considerably. “There are not so many icebergs in the North Atlantic these days,” he said.

    Read more here. 

    From Julius Caesar to JFK: Visit the top assassination tourist sites Tourists still flock to see the building JFK was shot from but he’s not the only assassination victim to draw a crowd: JFK Dallas, Texas November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. Visitors to Dallas can find out more about President John F Kennedy – and his untimely death – in a number of ways. The somewhat inappropriately named Big D Fun Tours’ JFK Assassination Tour takes in key locations, while The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is on the site of the former book depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald is believed to have fired the fatal shot. The 50 sq ft John F Kennedy Memorial, on Main, Elm and Market Streets, is also worth checking out. http://www.bigdfuntours.comhttp://www.jfk.org Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi Smriti, New Delhi Gandhi Smriti is the Delhi museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi – it’s also where Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948. The museum houses a number of artefacts associated with Gandhi’s life, and there are tours of the building, including the room where Gandhi lived. It’s also possible to visit the spot on which he was shot while taking his nightly walk. Eerie. The exact location is marked by a Martyr’s Column, with a trail of concrete footprints acting as a reminder of the leaders’ last steps. http://www.gandhimuseum.org John Lennon, New York City John Lennon was shot dead by Mark Chapman at the Dakota, an apartment building on the north-west corner of Central Park, on December 8, 1980. The park’s 2.5-acre (1ha) Strawberry Fields memorial in New York comprises a circular mosaic bearing the title of his most famous song, Imagine. ‘I saw roses, candles, works of art and even a hand-made Lennon doll placed on the Imagine memorial,’ says Kris, founder of http://www.theyellowbrickroadtrip.blogspot.co.uk. ‘These impromptu memorials are common and often attended by famous musicians and admirers of Lennon.’ Other locations for Beatles fans include 105 Bank Street in the West Village and The Plaza Hotel, where the group stayed before their famous first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. http://www.nycgo.com Martin Luther King, Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee Martin Luther King was assassinated by James Earl Ray, an escapee from Missouri State Penitentiary, on April 4, 1968. King was a regular at the Lorraine Motel – usually staying in room 306 – and it was while standing on the second-floor balcony that he was fatally shot. Visitors to Mulberry Street will now find the National Civil Rights Museum, a complex that incorporates not just a museum but several other important sites, including the Lorraine Motel and the Young and Morrow building on 422 Main Street, from which the fatal shot was thought to have been fired. http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org Julius Caesar, Theatre of Pompeii, Rome Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in March 44BC by 60 Roman senators who called themselves the Liberators. The attack took place at the Theatre of Pompeii, one of Rome’s first permanent theatres. Its largest intact remains can be found at the spectacular Renaissance Palazzo della Cancelleria in the heart of the city. However, some buildings were constructed on top of the theatre’s original curved foundations. For this reason, visitors to modern-day Rome will be able to spot several curved buildings and streets. The Palazzo della Cancelleria itself is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture. http://www.rome.info Yitzhak Rabin, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv Yitzhak Rabin was the fifth prime minister of Israel, serving two terms. His second term ended with his assassination in 1995. On November 4, Rabin had attended a political rally held in support of the Oslo Accords, a peace agreement which gave Palestinians more control over the West Bank and Gaza. The rally took place in Tel Aviv’s Kikar Malkhei Yisrael (Kings of Israel) Square: Rabin was about to get into his car when Yigal Amir, a right-wing extremist, fired three shots at him. Two bullets hit Rabin, who was rushed to hospital but later died on the operating table from blood loss. Many of Israel’s streets were subsequently named after Rabin, including the square in which he died. Rabin Square is now also home to a monument dedicated to Rabin.

    From Julius Caesar to JFK: Visit the top assassination tourist sites

    Tourists still flock to see the building JFK was shot from but he’s not the only assassination victim to draw a crowd:

    JFK Dallas, Texas

    November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. Visitors to Dallas can find out more about President John F Kennedy – and his untimely death – in a number of ways. The somewhat inappropriately named Big D Fun Tours’ JFK Assassination Tour takes in key locations, while The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is on the site of the former book depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald is believed to have fired the fatal shot. The 50 sq ft John F Kennedy Memorial, on Main, Elm and Market Streets, is also worth checking out.

    http://www.bigdfuntours.com
    http://www.jfk.org

    Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi Smriti, New Delhi

    Gandhi Smriti is the Delhi museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi – it’s also where Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948. The museum houses a number of artefacts associated with Gandhi’s life, and there are tours of the building, including the room where Gandhi lived. It’s also possible to visit the spot on which he was shot while taking his nightly walk. Eerie. The exact location is marked by a Martyr’s Column, with a trail of concrete footprints acting as a reminder of the leaders’ last steps.

    http://www.gandhimuseum.org

    John Lennon, New York City

    John Lennon was shot dead by Mark Chapman at the Dakota, an apartment building on the north-west corner of Central Park, on December 8, 1980. The park’s 2.5-acre (1ha) Strawberry Fields memorial in New York comprises a circular mosaic bearing the title of his most famous song, Imagine. ‘I saw roses, candles, works of art and even a hand-made Lennon doll placed on the Imagine memorial,’ says Kris, founder of http://www.theyellowbrickroadtrip.blogspot.co.uk. ‘These impromptu memorials are common and often attended by famous musicians and admirers of Lennon.’ Other locations for Beatles fans include 105 Bank Street in the West Village and The Plaza Hotel, where the group stayed before their famous first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.

    http://www.nycgo.com

    Martin Luther King, Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee

    Martin Luther King was assassinated by James Earl Ray, an escapee from Missouri State Penitentiary, on April 4, 1968. King was a regular at the Lorraine Motel – usually staying in room 306 – and it was while standing on the second-floor balcony that he was fatally shot. Visitors to Mulberry Street will now find the National Civil Rights Museum, a complex that incorporates not just a museum but several other important sites, including the Lorraine Motel and the Young and Morrow building on 422 Main Street, from which the fatal shot was thought to have been fired.

    http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org

    Julius Caesar, Theatre of Pompeii, Rome

    Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in March 44BC by 60 Roman senators who called themselves the Liberators. The attack took place at the Theatre of Pompeii, one of Rome’s first permanent theatres. Its largest intact remains can be found at the spectacular Renaissance Palazzo della Cancelleria in the heart of the city. However, some buildings were constructed on top of the theatre’s original curved foundations. For this reason, visitors to modern-day Rome will be able to spot several curved buildings and streets. The Palazzo della Cancelleria itself is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture.

    http://www.rome.info

    Yitzhak Rabin, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv

    Yitzhak Rabin was the fifth prime minister of Israel, serving two terms. His second term ended with his assassination in 1995. On November 4, Rabin had attended a political rally held in support of the Oslo Accords, a peace agreement which gave Palestinians more control over the West Bank and Gaza. The rally took place in Tel Aviv’s Kikar Malkhei Yisrael (Kings of Israel) Square: Rabin was about to get into his car when Yigal Amir, a right-wing extremist, fired three shots at him. Two bullets hit Rabin, who was rushed to hospital but later died on the operating table from blood loss. Many of Israel’s streets were subsequently named after Rabin, including the square in which he died. Rabin Square is now also home to a monument dedicated to Rabin.

    (Source: metro.co.uk)

    Auschwitz: How relevant is it in today’s society?

    A while ago, I was having a conversation with friends; the Holocaust came up and we began to tentatively discuss it. After a few minutes, one friend, who had been keeping very quiet, looked up and said, slightly confused: “What even is the Holocaust?”… I know: I was completely stunned. She is a relatively sensible person, yet seemed to have no knowledge of this massive historical event. The Holocaust, this significant chunk of world history, this stain on life in the 20th century, and probably one of the most discussed atrocities in the whole of history, had not even registered its existence to her.

    I was particularly offended by her comment, due to feeling slightly more acquainted with the event than many other people I know. For, as part of a project engineered by Holocaust Educational Trust, in March 2012 I visited the site of Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

    As well as being deeply moved by the horrific personal stories and deathly atmosphere of the place, I found it extremely hard to know how to react to the place as a museum. Looking through some of the few pictures I took from the day, I’m struck by how uncomfortable and serious I look; it’s not like smiling for the camera as a visitor abroad, or in a conventional museum; the whole place demands respect, especially in the photos you take as a visitor. But is it even right to be a visitor, taking snaps for the album, labelling the place as a museum?

    Full article here.

    In pictures: Auschwitz-Birkenau, then and now

    A new publication by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland shows photographs taken in the extermination camp during World War II alongside pictures of the same locations today. More than a million people - most of them Jewish - were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II.

    theossuary: From the article “The Morgue” by Rachael Weaver in Meanjin. midnightgallery: Paris Morgue 1883. A kind of dark tourism was commonplace in the nineteenth century, with a variety of different spectacles and events associated with violence, death and deformity often becoming framed or experienced as macabre and sensational forms of entertainment. Executions, the trials of infamous criminals, waxworks and anatomical museums, and even slums and opium dens could all be relied upon to draw fascinated viewers whose expressions of horror in response to what they saw most often equalled their curiosity and enjoyment. The newspapers played a crucial role in sensationalising the banal details of everyday life in the modern metropolis by embedding them within thrilling narratives of urban danger and excitement. Every fight or brawl, anonymous suicide, railway accident, murder or infanticide became not just an event to be reported in itself, but also a story of the community’s engagement with trauma, death and violence. News reports of the large crowds that flocked to the sites related to notorious crimes such as cemeteries, court houses, prisons and murder scenes confirmed the sensational nature of a case and, in turn, helped to draw increasing numbers of onlookers. The Paris morgue was one of the most famous international sites for this kind of macabre voyeurism in the nineteenth century. From 1864 until 1921 the morgue was located on the quai de l’Archevêché near Notre Dame, nearly within jumping distance of the Seine (from the waters of which many of its subjects were retrieved). The bodies of the anonymous dead were displayed on black marble slabs behind a large glass window for members of the public to view, day or night, seven days a week. Green curtains were hung at either end so that authorities were able to obscure the public’s view when changing the exhibits, intensifying its resemblance to a stage show. Comparisons to waxworks, the theatre and even department store windows were made regularly in sensational newspaper commentaries, which always accompanied the appearance of a new corpse, while the morgue itself was included along with the city’s other tourist attractions in all the guidebooks of Paris.

    theossuary:

    From the article “The Morgue” by Rachael Weaver in Meanjin.

    midnightgallery:

    Paris Morgue 1883.

    A kind of dark tourism was commonplace in the nineteenth century, with a variety of different spectacles and events associated with violence, death and deformity often becoming framed or experienced as macabre and sensational forms of entertainment. Executions, the trials of infamous criminals, waxworks and anatomical museums, and even slums and opium dens could all be relied upon to draw fascinated viewers whose expressions of horror in response to what they saw most often equalled their curiosity and enjoyment. The newspapers played a crucial role in sensationalising the banal details of everyday life in the modern metropolis by embedding them within thrilling narratives of urban danger and excitement. Every fight or brawl, anonymous suicide, railway accident, murder or infanticide became not just an event to be reported in itself, but also a story of the community’s engagement with trauma, death and violence. News reports of the large crowds that flocked to the sites related to notorious crimes such as cemeteries, court houses, prisons and murder scenes confirmed the sensational nature of a case and, in turn, helped to draw increasing numbers of onlookers.

    The Paris morgue was one of the most famous international sites for this kind of macabre voyeurism in the nineteenth century. From 1864 until 1921 the morgue was located on the quai de l’Archevêché near Notre Dame, nearly within jumping distance of the Seine (from the waters of which many of its subjects were retrieved). The bodies of the anonymous dead were displayed on black marble slabs behind a large glass window for members of the public to view, day or night, seven days a week. Green curtains were hung at either end so that authorities were able to obscure the public’s view when changing the exhibits, intensifying its resemblance to a stage show. Comparisons to waxworks, the theatre and even department store windows were made regularly in sensational newspaper commentaries, which always accompanied the appearance of a new corpse, while the morgue itself was included along with the city’s other tourist attractions in all the guidebooks of Paris.

    (via theossuary)

    Jonestown: Guyana ponders massacre site's future

    It’s hard to believe that Jonestown ever existed.

    The patch of rainforest in remote northern Guyana where Jim Jones moved his People’s Temple in the 1970s has been almost entirely reclaimed by the jungle.

    Locals say if you search long enough, you can still find remnants of a tractor used for transport and agriculture and a filing cabinet that would have kept documents about the community.

    The metal drums in which Jones mixed cyanide and fruit punch in preparation for the mass murder-suicide which took place at the site 33 years ago are also still in place.

    “We should make sure it’s not forgotten by the young people. They should know what can happen,” says 80-year-old Wilfred Jupiter, a labourer who helped clear the land and build Jonestown in the 1970s.

    Click through for the rest of the article.