Make Descansos to Mark the Macabre

I first learned about the concept of Descansos when I read Clarissa Pinkola Estes ‘Women Who Run With Wolves’.

Estes describes how when you travel in Old Mexico, New Mexico, southern Colorado, Arizona, or parts of the South, you will see little white crosses by the roadside. These are descansos, resting places. The concept of marking resting places is not confined to the United States or Mexico. They may be found in Greece, Italy and many other countries, including Australia.

Recently I photographed this small cross that so clearly marks a spot for someone. It is not in a cemetery but in a reserve which memorializes the gold rush in this region. As I took the photograph I was actually thinking about the very dark side of the Victorian Goldfields that have been so well documented by Goldfields Guide – Exploring the Victorian Goldfields. I considered ways to mark, document and lay to rest some of the important moments in the history of this region in Victoria that so many choose to forget.

It may sound macabre but it can be cathartic to mark, with crosses, events that have impacted your life or, for that matter, macabre world events which have changed the course of history.

Metaphorically perch yourself high in a pine tree, in a place where you can see the whole picture. Mark things which still need to be mourned and consider spending time noting what has seemingly been forgotten, but which like the spirit of Joan of Arc lives on. For example, indigenous Australians are well aware of the trauma of colonisation but those of us whose ancestors were forcibly bought to this country in chains can forget what they were forced to endure and how those events changed the course of history for everyone involved.

Working with Descansos

Descansos and the Lunar Eclipse

Alexander Khan

Dagmar Overbye (1887 – 1929)

This piece is just the first of a series for those who are interested in researching and portraying a female serial killer.

Danish serial killer Overbye murdered anywhere between 9 and 25 children during a seven-year period (1913-1920) although some historians believe the figure could be as high as 200. She was born in 1887 and little is known about her early life. Overbye worked as a professional child caretaker where she was supposed to look after children born outside of marriage. It was known as a ‘babyfarm’ or an unofficial adoption agency, and it was the scene of her serial killing spree.

All of the murders happened in Copenhagen, Denmark and she killed the unfortunate victims via strangulation and drowning or else she burned them to death. Overbye buried and burned the corpses or else she hid them in the loft. There are scant details regarding her arrest in terms of how she was eventually caught. It is remarkable that she was able to murder so many children over such an extended period without arousing suspicion. Her trial was one of the most talked about in the history of Denmark and her actions resulted in changes to the nation’s childcare legislation.

During the trial, Overbye’s lawyer tried to defend his client by saying she was abused as a child. This cut no ice with the jury as she was found guilty of nine murders and the judge had no hesitation in sentencing her to death. Only three women received the death penalty in Denmark during the 20th century, but like the other two, Overbye’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

After her arrest, over 180 children were reported missing from her ‘baby farm’. There is a possibility that these reports came from parents who committed their own misdeeds and they sought to cover things up, but one has to assume that Overbye almost certainly killed more than 25 children. She never spoke about her reasons for murdering the children; perhaps she saw herself as a missionary whose job was to get rid of unwanted babies. Whatever the reason, Overbye took it with her to the grave as she died in prison in 1929.

Therapeutic Power of Macabre Art

Art and art therapy is part of the technique of visualization, a technique which is actually a form of meditation. When undertaking visualization you may simply make something up. However, another form of visualization is to spend an extended period of time simply looking at an image, taking in all the detail and seeing what you want or need to see within.

Viewing any and all expressive art can have an amazing effect on your health. Consider how you felt the last time you walked through a gallery and perused the art. Reflect on how different pieces gave you different feelings? Did some of the dark and macabre art actually seem most appropriate at the time?

Everyone feels something different when they view a piece of expressive art, and it’s likely that your feelings are different than those of the person that made the art as well. It’s not really what the artist believed to be the point of the piece, but rather it is about what it does for you.

The fridge magnet shown here appeared on Etsy. This expressive face may, like the famous ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch depicts feelings we are not always encouraged to feel. Perhaps it sums up how you have felt at times, or how a character you are working with feels.

Take yourself to a gallery or check out some macabre art online and meditate upon the emotions depicted. Who knows! A character you are working with may gain depth as a result of this simple exercise.

Le Mante – Macabre Viewing

Have a Hannibal-shaped hole in your heart? Are you a lover of international crime dramas? Do you love to binge watch crime dramas? Allow us to introduce you to La Mante – “The Mantis” – a new Netflix original series that puts a fresh spin on the serial killer thriller. Starring Carole Bouquet, Fred Tesot, and a handful of other famous French actors, the French-language series wastes no time in introducing us to a grisly murder that sets up what is to come.

Bouquet stars as Jeanne Deber, a serial killer who terrorized France over 25 years ago and has since spent her days alone in prison. When the news of this murder and others like it reaches her and it becomes apparent that it is a copycat killer, she offers to lend her assistance – on one condition: her son Damien, who has not spoken to her since her arrest and is now a police officer, must work by her side. Desperate to help catch the killer, Damien agrees – even if it means throwing his own life into turmoil.

Internet Homicide – A Prompt

A recent crime study has shown a sharp and drastic rise in strange and mystifying homicides around the world. Dozens of unsolved murders occurring monthly for the last several years have eerily similar statistics. Most occurred while the victims were surfing the internet on computers, or smart devices when they were murdered. According to the new study, thirty per cent of victims had their heart removed, while forty-two per cent of the victims were found dismembered using an undisclosed method. The other victims had met their horrible deaths in equally strange circumstances like broken necks, and loss of blood due to deep lacerations all over their bodies.

In almost every one of the cases specified by the study, the victims were found murdered in locked rooms or domiciles. In thirty per cent of these cases the alarm system was found to be active and on when their bodies were discovered. Various law enforcement agencies have simply no explanation for the murders, while many feel unofficially they could be the work of a serial killer cult.

What a back story! This is surely something for a creative mind to work with!

Macabre Crime – A Story Starter

IF THE WALLS OF THE former Centralia High School in Illinois could talk, they’d probably tell us the story of a bizarre crime wave that swept the campus in the 1940s. How else could 15 wallets from that decade end up stashed in an air duct in what was the women’s restroom?

Three weeks ago, an unsuspecting plumber—working on converting the old school building into a new space for the City Hope Church—pulled the wallets out of the bathroom wall as he tore it down for remodelling…. read more

Using material provided create a character who was responsible for collecting these ‘trophies’ from their victims.

Visiting The Other Room – A Writing Prompt

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.” – Helen Keller

“Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room”. – Henry Scott Holland

Find a place where you will not be disturbed.

Sit comfortably

Take three deep breaths to calm yourself.

Close your eyes.

Feel your body relaxing from the centre of your being outward, through your chest, through your arms to your hands, up to your back, through your neck and jaw. Relax your face, relax your eyes. Let the relaxation radiate through your pelvis and down your legs until it reaches the very tips of your toes.

Now that you are relaxed imagine you see a doorway in front of you. Move through that doorway into another room. The room is pleasant and open. At the other end of the room is something sitting, waiting patiently. Take three deep breaths and as you breathe begin to wiggle your toes and your fingers. Take note of all the sounds and sights in the room around you.

When you are ready to write start your timer and write freely for twenty minutes.

Now alter your perspective and write as though it was someone else who entered the room.

Just Seven More Minutes

If you had seven minutes with someone you’ve loved and lost, how would you spend it?

Kutna Hora Bone Church

Kutná Hora is known for the curious “Bone Church” or Ossuary (in Czech Kostnice). It is located in the suburb of Sedlec. The Ossuary is in the underground chapel of the Church of All Saints. It contains the bones of about 40,000 people who died of the plague in 1318 and during the Hussite wars in the 15th century. They were originally buried at the church cemetery. When the cemetery was closed at the end of the 15th century, the exhumed bones were transferred to the chapel and compiled into pyramids. In 1870, František Rint of Česká Skalice arranged the bones and skulls into creative decorations that include bells, the Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, and a chandelier.

Featured on countless travel lists and videos online, Sedlec Ossuary’s reputation had preceded it. I mean how often do you get to see a chandelier made of bones? If you’re the kind of person who likes the spooky, bizarre or macabre things in life then Kutna Hora Bone Church will not disappoint. I know that the day trip to the Bohemian town was certainly a highlight of my trip to the Czech Republic.

Cemetery Exploring With Akari

Many years ago my late husband and I hopped from one National Trust Garden to another in the United Kingdom because our Australia National Trust membership gave us free access. Cemetery hopping not only introduces you to many well-manicured, serene spaces and can provide a focus for the traveller who does not want to follow the most popular tourist routes.

While Waiting For Godot

Workers and players have earned their repose.
Soon on their names all in vain we shall call,
For even the grandest old landmarks must fall.
Just a warm hand-clasp ere one disappears—
These are the last of the old pioneers.
John Sandes

Turn off the Castlemaine to Maldon road onto the gravel Sandy Creek road and follow the old Cobb & Co route, past the old hotel, where they stopped for a break and drive on towards Welshman’s Reef through Box-ironbark country.

Welshmans Reef is a former gold mining town 15 km west of Castlemaine and 110 km north-west of Melbourne. The name presumably came about from a Welshman discovering the gold-bearing reef: there were numerous Welsh and Methodist settlers at neighbouring townships such as Fryerstown and Vaughan.

West of Welshmans Reef there were the Loddon flats, which enabled miners to diversify into farming. A school was opened in…

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