Take a Walk on the Dark Side
Inclement weather forced the Brush Square Museums' staff to reschedule the Halloween program planned for the opening of the new exhibit, "In Loving Memory." On the evening of November 18th , in the Dickinson House, Brook Gaar-Bever, research consultant, conservator, and collector of Victorian Era mourning memorabilia gave a "ghoulishly" interesting lecture on their funeral and mourning customs. Highlights of the talk included death masks, home funerals, and mourning attire. The audience found the practice of photographing the deceased morbidly fascinating. Some of these photographs were part of the museum exhibit.
[Click on the first image to see a slide show]
Included in the program was a guided walking tour, "Murder, Mayhem, and Misadventure". After the lecture, museum guest were invited to join Dale Flatt for a tour of downtown Austin. In 2004, Mr Flatt saw the need for a higher level of maintenance at Oakwood Cemetery and so he founded Save Austin's Cemeteries. At each stop on the map, Flatt went into great detail describing the violent event that had taken place at that location.
You can hear Mr. Flatt's stories on the Internet by following his map with QR codes, Using a mobile device like a smart phone, capture the QR code which will show you a video of Dale Flatt telling the grisly story or you can watch a video from the YouTube video playlist below.
