Well, it all gets even more bizarre – ain’t that always the case.  In researching my two posts on mummies, I found two an interesting blog about the mummy photograph fad of the late nineteenth early twentieth century.  The fad involved having yourself photographed in a mummy case and appears to have been started by American society lady Mrs. James P. Kernochan of New York on her return from a trip abroad that included Cairo.

A Cairo photographer obtained a mummy case and cut out the face.  The subject (victim) would climb in and pose with their face sticking out of the hole.  We still see this kind of gimmick at amusement parks.  As the fad grew, intrepid photographers, especially those with access, to mummy cases took a photograph of a mummy case cut out the face and placed this over a portrait of the subject.  What a darling present for one’s beau.  Don’t you think!