The Victorian era covered Queen Victoria's reign in the UK, which lasted from her coronation in 1837 to her death in 1901.

 

While the Victorian era saw many fantastic developments, such as the Industrial Revolution and significant social reforms, there were also some downright odd things that people did.

 

 

Don't trust us? Prepare to have your mind completely blown, then!

  1.       The current obsession with looking as sun-kissed as possible is completely at odds with Victorian fashion.

 

To maintain the best possible appearance after death, Victorian women would munch on arsenic-laced chalk wafers.

 

Even though it was extremely addicting and toxic, at least it made the user's complexion a gorgeous shade of white.

 

   2.       Victorian-era images featuring deceased family members

 

We're not talking about taking selfies next to a casket that's open, although we can only guess that some individuals do that now.

 

Victorian families would put their dead in their Sunday best and do their best to support them so they could be photographed with them.

 

The reasoning was that they wanted to preserve the greatest possible image of their loved ones, but really?

 

   3.        Grave robbers were a popular practice to assist doctors in studying the dead throughout the Victorian era.

 

The medical field at the time was making rapid advancements, but for these advancements, corpses were the most essential ingredient, and the fresher the better.

 

Grave robbers, also referred to as "body snatchers," would start their job before the rot set in by waiting until relatives had left the cemetery.

 

For the most recent corpses, doctors paid top dollar to expand their anatomical understanding.

 

   4.       Victorian-era women wearing stylish hats with real birds.

 

Women all around Europe and the USA donned hats with magnificently horrifying taxidermized birds poised upon their brows, proving that taxidermy wasn't just for Walter Potter and his devotees.

 

Evidently, the Victorian fashionista thought a feather on their hat wasn't enough.

A environmentalist calculated that 67 species of birds may be in danger of extinction as a result of this horrible trend because of the demand, which was so out of control.

 

   5.       Victorian society adored unveiling mummies during social gatherings with their acquaintances.

 

Victorian society members would never have dared to travel to Egypt without coming back with a mummy as a souvenir.

 

This kind of curiosity pervaded Victorian England.

 

Upon their return, people held parties where they displayed the mummified remains to guests for their amusement.

 

   6.       Victorian-era residents hired real humans to serve as their garden gnomes.

  

Already, garden gnomes are a bit bizarre, especially when they are gathered in large numbers.

 

If you were wealthy enough (and a little bit insane) to live in Victorian times, you may keep an elderly guy as a pet.

 

These reclusive hermits would reside in the hidden corners of affluent Victorian gardeners' yards despite frequently being prevented from grooming themselves.

 

They were typically not even permitted to talk!

   7.       A depiction of Charles Darwin pursuing strange creatures to eat by an artist.

 

Even Charles Darwin, who is credited with developing our theory of evolution, enjoyed eating anything foreign.

 

Some groups, like the Ichthyophagous Club, had their members eat the most bizarre sea creatures they could locate.

 

Some groups, such as the Glutton Club (of which Darwin was a member), didn't seem to care what they ate as long as it was novel.

  

Undoubtedly, some Victorians appeared to have too much free time and money on their hands.

 

It's extremely difficult to even comprehend some of these strange routines and interests, much less to think that they were accepted by society.

 

Just let's hope hipsters don't try to revive some of these fashions!