|
Welcome
Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
A Taphophilia Thank You...
Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From its conception and early development, DarkestWeb was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
Announcements
Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!
Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
|
|
Celebrity obsession extends beyond the grave |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Monday, 12 July 2004 |
By Whitney Matheson
Upon hearing about Marlon Brando's death last week, several stars, including Robert Duvall and Eva Marie Saint, came out of hiding to share their memories of the legendary actor. Magazines raced to include his obituary in upcoming issues.
And 48 people came a little closer to winning $2,000.
Stiffs.com, an online "celebrity death pool," has thrived on famous people's obituaries since 1995. How it works: For a $15 fee, visitors submit the names of 10 stars they predict will die before Dec. 31. At the end of the year, prizes are awarded to the top participants.
The site, which features a smiling skull on its home page, is shamelessly morbid, crude and tasteless. But that hasn't deterred 1,036 people from registering this year. In fact, it's spawned quite a wave of dead-pool competition, although most sites don't offer cash to the "winners."
Brando, in case you were wondering, was Stiffs' 47th most-popular entry, a notch below Psycho's Janet Leigh and one above former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello. The top 10 celebrities include Pope John Paul II, King Kong star Fay Wray, Lady Bird Johnson and 99-year-old former boxing champ Max Schmeling.
Queasy yet? As cruel as the list can be — imagine Jerry Lewis' shock upon discovering he's No. 16 — the dead pool provides some insights into people's most morbid thoughts: Saddam Hussein, for instance, made No. 20 this year. (Osama bin Laden ranks 51st.)
It looks like many participants didn't believe Roy Horn was going to pull through his tiger attack, either; he's at No. 58. And poor Ozzy Osbourne may only be 55, but more people predicted he'd die this year than 94-year-old Titanic actress Gloria Stuart or 85-year-old actor Jack Palance.
Other sites manage to satisfy people's need for morbid celebrity gossip without turning it into a sport. Sign up at CelebrityDeathBeeper.com, and they'll e-mail you the minute a celebrity or sports figure dies. The more serious Blog of Death links to notable obituaries daily, and lets users post their own tributes.
Dead or Alive? specializes in answering water-cooler stumpers such as, "Is Abe Vigoda still with us?" (Although I think I'd rather visit this site to find out.) Ditto for Who's Alive and Who's Dead, the Dead People Server… you get the picture. Judging by the wealth of death sites, it's only a matter of time before Dead Celebrity Magazine pops up next to Star on the newsstand.
It's no secret the media keep dozens, if not hundreds, of obituaries on file, "just in case." (One of my first college journalism assignments, in fact, was to pen an early obit of James Earl Ray.) It wouldn't surprise me if some editors peruse dead-pool sites when compiling their databases.
In a February article for New York Times, music critic Neil Strauss revealed an editor had recently asked him to write Courtney Love's obituary. "Nobody actually believed that Courtney Love had died," he wrote, "but many thought she was heading in that direction."
Courtney might be relieved to learn that only 12 of Stiffs.com's participants think she's headed "in that direction." Then again, the same number of people said the same about Tony Randall.
What is it about our fascination with dead celebrities? Isn't our world dark enough? It would be so much cheerier to see celebrity pregnancy pools, marriage pools — even plastic-surgery pools — surpass the popularity of online death watches.
But I'd be a fool to bet on it.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/popcandy/2004-07-06-pop-candy_x.htm |
|
Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“The Impartial Friend: Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all -- the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.” Mark Twain
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
|
