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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.
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A 400-Year-Old Murder Mystery, "CSI" Style |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Sunday, 07 January 2007 |
Forensic Exam Of 16th-Century Remains Reveals Evidence Of Arsenic Poisoning Of Medici Nobility
ROME, Jan. 3, 2007
(AP) Scientists in Italy believe they have uncovered a murder — 400 years after it is thought to have taken place. Historians have long suspected that Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife, Bianca Cappello, did not die of malaria but were poisoned — by Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who was vying for the dukedom.
For four centuries, that theory remained just that — a theory.
But following a study into the affair, forensic and toxicology experts at the University of Florence believe they have uncovered clear evidence of murder by poisoning.
Francesco's "was a lethal dose, but progressive, and the symptoms were compatible with arsenic poisoning," Donatella Lippi, a professor of history of medicine and a co-author of the study, published in the British Medical Journal on Dec. 21, told The Associated Press.
As rulers, art connoisseurs and financiers of kings, the Medici flourished for centuries in the rough and tumble alliances of old Europe, ruling first the city of Florence and then Tuscany from 1430 to 1737.
Francesco ruled from 1574 until his death on Oct. 17, 1587, at age 46, 11 days after first taking to his bed and a few hours before his wife.
Scientists Francesco Mari, Aldo Polettini, Elisabetta Bertol and Lippi collected and tested beard hairs from Francesco's grave in the Medici chapels in Florence, as well as other remains found in clay jars in a crypt about 12 miles west of Florence. Bianca's grave was never found.
Tests on the beard hairs proved inconclusive. But samples of Francesco's liver taken from the crypt showed levels of arsenic that were "significantly higher" than those normally found in humans, the scientists said.
But if Francesco was murdered, who did it?
Experts say that although there is no proof, Ferdinando was the only person with an obvious motive. He wanted his brother's dukedom, and his behavior at the time was suspicious — for example, he took charge of his brother's illness, compiling the medical bulletins and minimizing the gravity of Francesco's illness in dispatches to the Holy See.
After their deaths, he ordered immediate autopsies — an unusual step which could have been designed to cover up evidence.
"These important findings, in addition to the historical data collected on the events before and after the almost simultaneous deaths of the grand-ducal couple, allow us to rewrite the historical reconstruction of those events," the study said.
"It sounds pretty reasonable," said Richard J. Hamilton, a medical toxicologist who is Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
"They've established what they have; they've done an efficient job of matching the DNA," said Hamilton, who read the study but was not affiliated with it. He added that the results were consistent with poisoning.
The only surprising aspect is that Francesco — who had an interest in alchemy and chemistry and was suspected of having poisoned his first wife — could have been poisoned so easily and so quickly, Hamilton said.
However, Angelo Moretto, a clinical and experimental toxicologist with the International Center for Pesticides in Milan, is not entirely convinced.
"They make accusations that are quite strong," he said. "I would have been more low key about it."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/03/world/main2327291.shtml |
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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
Taphophilia Facts
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According to the Japanese Shinto religion, each person becomes a supernatural "kami" at the time of death. Kami continue to influence the daily lives of the living, one of the reasons ancestors are revered in Shinto homes.
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Quote Repository
“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.” Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811-189
Grave Epigrams
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A pleasant child a morning flower
bent down and withered in an hour. Dedham, MA 1796 |
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Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
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