Life in Newburgh on Ythan

By Talpa

An early photo-bombing.

Today is Hallows' Eve, or Halloween, a celebration observed on the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including the saints (hallows), the martyrs, and all the faithful departed.
On Halloween in 1829 the Grim Reaper photobombed the inauguration of a primitive morthouse in the  kirkyard of St Colm's at Belhelvie. If you should so wish you can take a peek inside the morthouse!
Morthouses were built to protect the dead from the 19th Century bodysnatchers and anatomists. They are to be found mainly in the North-East of Scotland, stretching from Crail in the South to Marnock in the North. (The Irish built similar structures but referred to them as corpse-houses). Bodies were stored under lock and key in the mort-house until too decomposed to be of interest to the anatomists and were then retrieved and buried in the usual way.      

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