It's the 10th Creeping Wednesday; imagine that, it's been more than 20 weeks since the first issue! Unfortunately, from the 4 deviants I've asked about an interview, 3 didn't reply at all after reading the note and one had no time to answer the questions, so we have no interview this time. But no worries - today's theme is "Skeletons" and I've prepared a couple of interesting facts about them and connected to them. Thank you ~
JadasArtVision and *
erinclaireb for suggesting pieces for this feature. The next theme is "Dragons"! Please, dear suggesters, remember that I'm looking for not so popular deviations - and from the Traditional Art category, of course.
Skull Chapel
A matter well known to me - they are quite close to my home, one in Poland and two in Czech Republic. There are only 3 such places in Europe. Why they're called like that? Well... they're decorated with human bones. I must admit that the Czech one is much more impressive and complicated, but both can make you seriously shiver.
The Skull Chapel in Poland, Czermna, is a mass grave for people who died in wars in 17th and 18th century, but there are also remains of people who passed away of plague, cholera and hunger.
Another terryfying place is located in Mělník, Czech Republic. Crypt of the Chapel of saint Peter and Paul is a mass grave for people who died of plague. The bones were collected and laid beneath the church in 1520 and formed into several mounds - the largest contains bones of approximately 10.000 people.
Photos of
the Skull Chapel in Czermna,
Sedlec Ossuary and
crypt in Mělník.
Dead's Head Hawkmoth
There are many weird beings around the world, but we need one connected to our theme... so let's talk about Acherontia. Moths of this genus have a couple of interesting features - for example, they can produce a loud squeak when irritated (ever heard about real squeaking insects?). Some of them mimic the bee scent to eat a sweet breakfast in the hive. And, of course, the connection to our theme - they have a colour formation on their throax, looking just like a human skull.
Aokigahara forest
A forest located at the northwest base of Mount Fuji in Japan. A very quiet one, almost totally without wildlife and experiencing almost no winds. Contains a couple of caverns that are popular tourist destinations. Sounds so pretty!
But.
Aokigahara forest is a popular place not only for tourists, but also for people who want to commit a suidice. Wiki says that there were 54 cases in 2010 only, but the number most often reaches 100 every year. The place became popular after the release of Seichō Matsumoto's book in 1960, telling a story of a ghost of a woman, who commited a suicide in the mentioned forest.
Bodies are found very often, but while taking a walk, you can find old bones and private stuff left by the people who killed themselves there - glasses, drugs, bags...
Warning. Photos of the forest can be graphic and very disturbing, don't watch if you're sensitive.
"In 2008, when I was in high school, my class and I went to visit the museum of Auschwitz extermination camp. It was April, but the weather was very warm, so when we reached a small pond, most of the classmates sat down on the ground. The beach was quite nice, it had small white stones here and there. Some girls talked about this (oh, what a beautiful place, this pond and all) and one of the teachers heard that. She smiled bitterly and said aloud "this is no pond and the white objects aren't stones, mind where we are". Everyone stood up immidiately. The little pond appeared to be a flooded dug hole, into which Germans used to throw bones. I think that you can guess what the white stones were."
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
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really nice group this time.