Necropolis Railway, homicide photos, Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

Right now, I'm borderline okay... I guess that's an improvement. Will be posting my Christmas wishlist soon, since two people have emailed me asking about it. Maybe tomorrow sometime...

Today's Mute Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

In 1854, Brookwood Cemetery (near Woking, England) was consecrated. Sir Richard Broun and Mr. Richard Sprye came up with the idea of transporting both the dead and the bereaved to the necropolis by railway. The idea did not win universal approval, and the Bishop of London found the proposal to have the dead from widely different social backgrounds, all traveling in the same train 'offensive.' Finally, the idea gained acceptance. The Necropolis Railway ran from Waterloo in London to the North Station at Brookwood - for Roman Catholics, Jews, Parsees, and the Dissenting sects - and thence to the South Station, where the Anglican dead were unloaded. The railway continued to operate until the destruction of the London terminal in the Second World War. Today, both the cemetery stations are long gone. Only the platforms remain as a mute reminder of a once-flourishing trade.

Culled from: Death: A History Of Man's Obsessions And Fears

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A photograph of the surviving station can be found here.

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Wretched Recommendations!

Onyx has a book recommendation for us:

Death Scenes: A Homicide Detective's Scrapbook
Text by Katherine Dunn
Edited by Sean Tejaratchi

"Great book, excellent photos. I fell in love with it in Borders last week and alas, had no cash so I was dragged out of Borders, bookless, by an impatient friend after I made him wait around while I read the entire thing. Definitely a book worth owning."

I second that emotion - this is one of my all-time favorite morbid books, a five-skull masterpiece. Here's my review of it from The Library Eclectica:

This is probably the most captivating gore book ever published. Jack Huddleston was an LAPD officer from 1921 to the early 1950's who kept a scrapbook of hundreds of black and white photos showing all variety of horrible: accidents, suicides, murders, illness, execution, and other oddities that must have captivated his fevered imagination. Many of the images are disturbingly graphic - and all the more disturbing when accompanied by Huddleston's plain, "just the facts, ma'am" captions. Addresses are included with many of the images - which makes me wonder how shocking it would be to be looking through the book and see that your kitchen was the site of a grisly baby beheading in 1943. Yes, these are the sort of things that I ponder while falling asleep at night...

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Ghastly!

Here's an occupational injury you should strive to avoid.

Thanks to Sandy for the link.


Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe By:
Serving Size: 1 Preparation Time: 0:00
Categories: Desserts, Cookies, Low-Fat

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

1/2 pound Butter or margarine
1 cup Light brown sugar -- packed
1 cup Sugar
3 Eggs
3 cups Bisquick
1 cup Cornstarch
1/2 cup nonfat milk powder
2 tablespoons Sanka or coffee powder
1 tablespoon Unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Vanilla
1 Package semi-sweet chocolate pieces (12 ounces)
4 ounces Pecans, well-chopped

With electric mixer, high speed, cream butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugars, beating until very creamy. Beat in eggs, then each remaining ingredient except chips and pecans. When dough is smooth, work in chips and pecans with spoon. Make grape-sized pieces of dough for each cookie, placing 1" apart on ungreased sheet. Bake at 350° for 14 minutes or until golden brown. 12 dozen itsy bitsy cookies. Freeze unbaked cookie dough to thaw, shape, and bake in 4 months.