In 2022, and for most of the 21st century, if you wanted to remember a friend or loved one or maybe capture a special moment, you just take out your camera and take their picture.
We have digital cameras that can take incredible pictures and videos just living in our pockets at the moment, but even back in 2000 you could easily buy instant cameras at convenience stores and drop them back off for development.
Having multitudes of pictures and videos to remember someone by is a relatively new thing, but love—and wanting a tangible reminder of it—certainly isn't. So what did people do before?
Enter TikTok account @TheDyerGhoulHouse; it's an account devoted to all things antique and a little morbid, and a recent purchase proved to have way more bang for their buck than they were expecting.
The team recently purchased an antique book from an online seller but were shocked when it was filled with more than pages.
Envelopes of human hair, anyone?
Given the fledgling photo technology of the 1800s, most people went their whole lives without ever being photographed. Those who did often did so only at some of life's most poignant moments, which is how death portraits became a trend.
One last picture, one last moment of everyone together, was something people desired and the process itself took so long that sometimes the corpses were the only clear thing in the shot as they were the only thing that hadn't moved.
Keepsakes and memories of the living were done in other ways. You might have a portrait painted into a small locket if you had the means, but if you were just a regular-degular-shmegular person you more than likely would have kept small locks of hair.
It makes sense: it grows back, it's very personal, pretty much everyone has some regardless of your wealth or status, it's a tangible, touchable, bit of someone you adore.
So while some TikTok users saw those envelopes of hair and thought "OMG-NO-WHYYYYY..."
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
...others saw them and felt a little more "aww."
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
@thedyerghoulhouse/TikTok
Some wondered if the hair came from a deceased person—which was also a common practice.
But considering the age of the book, the people the hair came from are almost certainly dead now.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter