Morbid Anatomy Online Journal at Patreon

On The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal at Patreon, you will find exclusive Morbid Anatomy content available no where else, including video and audio recordings of our often sold-out lectures, and illustrated essays by our staff and special guests. Supporters at higher levels enjoy special discounts, exclusive parties and events, swag of various sorts, and much more.

Your support on Patreon is, in essence, a virtual Morbid Anatomy membership. Your subscription fees underwrite our work producing the content, exhibitions, and events you love, as well as the commissioning of new content. It also helps foster the unique community we have cultivated since our launch in 2007. And, at only $60 a year, it also makes a great Christmas gift for your morbid, hard to shop for friends!

Below is a list of content you will find on our Patreon right now. Several new pieces are added per week, and all are available for only $5 a month!

If you’d like to propose an article of your own, email morbidanatomy [dot] exhibition [at] gmail [dot]com.

Video Recordings of Lectures

• Recorded Talk: Queer Anatomies: Anatomical Illustration, Perverse Desire and the Epistemology of the Anatomical Closet with Medical Historian Michael Sappol

• You Cannot Kill What is Already Dead: Evan Michelson with an Illustrated Ode to Goth

• Women Who Bite: Chastity Belts, Castration Anxiety and Feminism: An Illustrated Lecture with Art Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann

• "The Crusade Against Magical Thinking," Recorded Talk by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair Presented at Re-writing the Future: 100 Years of Esoteric Modernism and Psychoanalysis

• Carving Nature at its Joints: A Videotaped Illustrated Lecture on The Philosophy of Collecting and Classifying by Dr Stephen Asma

• The Mysterious Pre-Hispanic Carved Skulls of Mexico's La Casa del Mendrugo: A Videotaped Lecture and Virtual Tour by Museum Founder José Ramón Lozano

• Magical Medicine: A Brief History of the Art of Healing by Invoking Supernatural Forces: A Videotaped Lecture by Clifford Hartleigh Low

• The Devil Drives my Hand: Syphilis and the Price of Genius: Videotaped Lecture by Artist Eleanor Crook

• Anatomical Venus at the Fairground: Sex Education, Public Health, and the Anatomized Female Body, Video recording of a Lecture by Morbid Anatomy Founder Joanna Ebenstein

• Reproducing Bodies: Collecting and Exhibiting Pregnancy, Contraception, and Abortion: A Videotaped Lecture by Dr. Manon Parry of the University of Amsterdam

• Case Histories of 19th Century Hermaphrodites, by Geertje Mak

• Happy Valentine's Day with New Videotaped Illustrated Lecture on Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome, by Ruurd Binnert Halbertsma, curator at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden

• 19th Century Gravestone Iconography as Seen at Brooklyn's Historic Green-Wood Cemetery: A Videotaped Lecture by Writer and Official Tour Guide L. J. Lindhurst

• The False Atrium: Mirrors, Mourning and Vampires: A Videotaped Lecture by Colin Dickey

• Maria Sabina: Shaman, Curandera, Visionary Poet by Mexican poet and author Homero Aridjis

• A Brief History of Professional Mourners by Karen Bachmann

• Walter Potter Panel Discussion at the Adirondacks Experience with Ronni Thomas, Evan Michelson, Carol Holzner and Joanna Ebenstein

• Victorian Martians by Marc Harztman, author of American Sideshow

• "Haunted:" An Immersive Journey Through the Ghost Trains and Haunted Houses of the Northeast by photographer Lisa Kereszi

• Investigating the Supernatural: Scientific Quests to Colonize Hysterical Women and Psychic Mediums by Asti Hustvedt, author of Medical Muses

• Sacred Retablos of the Latin World, a Lecture and Show and Tell by Scholar/Collector Deborah Dwyer

• A Night of Folk Necromancy with Dr. Alexander Cummins, Jesse Hathaway Diaz, and Mallorie Vaudoise

• Placebos, Nocebos and Voodoo Medicine by neurology professor Mark W Green MD, FAAN

• Satan The Prophet: A History of Modern Satanism by Italian Scholar Massimo Introvigne

• Remedios Varo: Bruja with a Brush by author and curator Pam Grossman

• Female Freaks: Sex, Science & Sideshow by sideshow performer Ilise Carter

• In Heaven: On the Meaning of Magic in the Works of David Lynch by Stef Black

• The Doors of Platonic Perception by philosophy professor Dr James Rowe

Interviews and Virtual Tours

• Life, Death and The Pandemic from a Shamanistic Perspective: Interview with Christina Pratt, Author of the Encyclopedia of Shamanism

• Science and Visual Culture, "Deceiving in a Productive Way," and Ecology and the Coronavirus: A Recorded Interview with Morbid Anatomy Beloved Artist Mark Dion

• Interview with Karen Bachmann: Morbid Anatomy Lecturer, Anatomical Jewelry Maker and Teacher of Victorian Hair Art

• Interview with Megan Rosenbloom, Author of "Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin"

• Interview with Cultural Historian Celeste Olalquiaga, Author of "The Artificial Kingdom"

• Interview with Dr John Troyer about "Technologies of the Corpse," Bodies on Display, Cultural Attitudes Towards Death, and Public Health in Pandemics

• Podcast from the Waxwork Workbench: Repairing 19th Century Ziegler Embryonic Brain Models at The University of Ghent

• The Fabulous Museum Amparo of Puebla, Mexico: A Virtual Tour

• Mérida's Cemeterio General and Hanal Pixán, The Mayan Day of the Dead: A Virtual TourMoney Snakes, Revenge Ghosts & Black Market Body Parts: Recorded Talk and Virtual Tour of Poster House's Ghanian Film Poster Exhibition with Curator Angelina Lippert

• Faith, Hope and Fear: Eleanor Crook’s New Sculpture Santa Medicina: Morbid Anatomy in Conversation with Artist Eleanor Crook

• A Virtual Visit to the Semmelweis Medical Museum, Budapest

• Sublimi Anatomie: A New Exhibition Exploring Art and Anatomy Exhibition at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome

• Epic Relics, "Vera Effigies," Wonder Working Madonnas, and Gruesome Crucifixions: A Virtual Visit to Prague's Fabulous Loreto Shrine

• A Virtual Tour of Philadelphia's Eye's Gallery of International Folk Art

• A Virtual Visit to the Cementerio General de Almudena of Cusco, Peru

Audio Recordings of Lectures

• The Carrie Song: Inspired by the Classic 1976 Horror Film Carrie, Sung and Written by the Incredible Comic Songwriter and Performer Angela Di Carlo

• Money Snakes, Revenge Ghosts & Black Market Body Parts: Recorded Talk and Virtual Tour of Poster House's Ghanian Film Poster Exhibition with Curator Angelina Lippert

• Now and at the Hour of Our Death: The Sorrowful Mother in Italy and Italian-American Communities by Mallorie Vaudoise

• The Culture and Commerce of Victorian Mourning: A Recorded Conversation Between Evan Michelson of TV's "Oddities" and Hair Art Collector Jennifer Berman

• Heaven as a Place on Earth: Reflections on the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to Come: Audio Recording of Lecture by Will Baker

• A Cultural History of Mescaline: Recorded Lecture by Mike Jay

• Babel Rousers: The 900-year Quest to Build a Better Language by Arika Okrent

• Book Talk for Honoring Your Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestral Veneration by Mallorie Vaudoise

• Fashion, Gender and the Feline Divine by Jo Weldon, Author of Fierce, A History of Leopard Print

• Dark Secrets Inside Bohemian Grove by Jon Ronson, This American Life contributor and author of The Psychopath Test

• El Helicoide: From Mall to Prison by Celeste Olalquiaga, author of The Artificial Kingdom and Megalopolis

• The Alchemical Wedding, Or, How They Lived Happily Ever After by Alchemist Brian Cotnoir

• Nature Perfected: The Dream of the Artificial Woman by Asti Hustvedt, Author of Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris

• Grand Guignol: Theater of Fear and Terror by Mel Gordon, author of Voluptuous Panic

• Music From Elsewhere, a concert and lecture featuring music of 'non-human people" by Fortean and musician Doug Skinner

• A Brief History of Sex Magic by Italian sociologist and author Massimo Introvigne

• NSK State: Oscillations of Utopia by NSK State Diplomat Charles Lewis

Illustrated Essays by Guest Writers

• Union of the Snake: Life, Death, and the Healing Arts by foreign correspondent Eric Huang

• Fear, Suffering and Alienation in the Art of Edvard Munch, Via The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism

• ‘Saint Corona, Patron Saint of Pandemics!’

• Death as Muse: The Dark Poetry of Joe Frank, by Writer and Musician Stephen Vesecky

• Shoot that Poison Arrow: Saint Sebastian and the Plague, by foreign correspondent Eric Huang

• My Grandfather the Spirit Doctor & Me: On Medicine, Storytelling, Film and the Radio, by Filmmaker and Visual Artist Chiara Ambrosio

• Khahil Gibran on Death, Shared by Edson Mendez

• Tarantism: Dance, Possession and Exorcism in Southern Italy, by Filmmaker and Visual Artist Chiara Ambrosio

• The Strange Posthumous Adventures of Louis XIV’s Heart, by Marc Hartzman, author of "American Sideshow"

• Certosa Monumental Cemetery of Bologna, Italy: A Guest Post by Eleanor Crook

• A Fond, Bitterwsweet Farewell to Obscura Antiques and Oddities, by Co-Founder Evan Michelson

• Taxidermy as a Cultural Object: Notes on Preservation, Death and Art, An Essay and Photo Documentary by Artist and Professor Montse Morcate

• The Brushing of the Bones: Guest Post by Evan Michelson of Obscura Antiques

• Lord Kingsborough's Folly, or The Mayans and the Lost Tribes of Israel: A Guest Post by Cooper Hewitt Design Librarian Elizabeth Broman

• Twice is Nice: Double Burial Around the World by Daisy Tainton

• Traditions of Death and Burial: Book Review by Julia O'Connell

• The Underworld Meets the Earth: A Visit to the Devils Museum, Kaunas, Lithuania: Guest Post by Writer Amanda Kotch

• The Infamous Bohemian Grove: A New Donation to the Morbid Anatomy Library by  Anthony Marinese

• "Looking At Death": A Conversation With Curator and Writer Barbara Norfleet by Cristina Marcelo

• New Book on Fabulous Sedlec Ossuary

• Basil and Beheading: An Illustrated Essay by Eric Huang

• An Official Guide for Demon Hunters: Helpful Advice from Theologians and Witch-Hunters, by Stephen T. Asma, PhD

• The Gustavo Jirón Latapiat Anatomical Institute in Chile, by Álvaro Cabello

• The Uncanny, excerpt from High Weirdness: Drugs, Visions, and Esoterica in the Seventies, by Erik Davis, author of TechGnosis

• Faux Crime by Harold Schechter, true crime writer, author of The Whole Death Catalog

• “Only a Flesh Wound!” Hyperbolic Stoicism in Military Surgery at Trafalgar and Waterloo, by medical historian James Kennaway

• Frightening Fragments: The Representation of the Corpse in Baroque Sculpture by art historian Regina Deckers

• Theodore Gericault, The Raft of the Medusa, and the Anatomical Still Lives by medical illustrator Marie Dauenheimer, MA, CMI 

• The Not-Quite-Lost Art of Bookbinding with Human Skin by Marc Hartzman, author of American Sideshow

• The Making of the Miniature Morbid Musée, An Illustrated Ode by filmmaker Joel Schlemowitz

• The Cold War Gothicism of Lesbian Pulp Fiction, by professor Laura Westengard

• Ivory Ladies and Their Playful Anatomy by art historian Cali Buckley

• What Do the Living Mean When We Say We’re in Purgatory? by Elizabeth Harper, "All The Saints You Should Know"

• The Spirit Houses of Thailand by writer Jane Rose

• In a Lover’s Eye by hair artist, jeweler and art historian Karen Bachman

Exhibition Reviews

• Automatons, Alchemy, Vanitas and Jewels: Marvels and Wunderkammers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Excellent Exhibition Alert: Joe Coleman and The Shadow Self at Andrew Edlin Gallery

Illustrated Essays by Morbid Anatomy

Founder and creative director Joanna Ebenstein

• Pandemic Silver Lining: Museum Curators Sharing the Strangest and Creepiest Objects from their Collections

• Married in a Cemetery: The Black Wedding, Jewish Popular Religion and Attempts to Propitiate the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic

• Taxidermy at Huejotzingo, Mexico's Carnival Celebration

• Ignaz Semmelweis, Cadaverous Particles, and Paradigm Shifts: The "Savior of Mothers" and Hand-Washing in Medicine

• San Miguel del Milagro: The Plague Vanquishing Holy Spring of Mexico

• Witches Caves and Healing Springs: White and Black Magic on My Trip to Mexico's Sierra Norte

• Mummies, Carnival Costumes, and Souls in Purgatory: A Virtual Tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Exconvento de San Miguel Arcángel of Huejotzingo

• Santo Niño Cieguito or The Holy Blind Child: Folk Saint of Puebla, Mexico

• The New Wellcome History of Medicine Galleries at London's Science Museum: An Interview with Natasha McEnroe, Keeper of Medicine

• El Niño Compadrito: The Miracle Working Skeleton Saint of Cuzco, Peru

• Dissection Images from the Golden Age of Anatomy

• Earth Goddess in Christian Form: An Ode to Nuestra Señora de Valvanera

• Happy New Year--And Decade!--From Morbid Anatomy

• Personal Ossuaries and "The Brushing of the Bones": Day of the Dead in Pomoch, Mexico

• Mary Gravida, or Our Lady of Expectations: The Pregnant Virgin in Art and Beyond

• Happy New Year From Morbid Anatomy: A Brief History of The Mummers Parade, an American Homegrown Festival

• The Virgin of the Dry Tree, Petrus Christus, ca. 1465

• A Virtual Tour on the Cemeteries and Churches of Izamal, Mexico on Day of the Dead

• A Visit to Walter Potter's Museum: Cabinet of Curiosities, Lucinda Lambton, BBC, 1987

• Santa Muerte Procession and Festival in Mérida, Mexico: Video (!) and Photos

• Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria, Fantasia, Walt Disney Studios, 1941

• Happy Day of the Dead: A Traditional Cleaning of the Bones, From the Film "Birds of Passage"

• The Anatomical Venus, The Ecstatic, The Fetish and Falling in Love with Statues

• Angels Bearing Surgical Tools: Pavia, Italy's Anatomical Theatre

• The Palermo Catacombs During Day of the Dead, 1850

• An Ode to the Visual Exuberance of Christian Allegories in Art

• Syncretism, Sex and Death at Lima's Fabulous Museo Larco

• A Mysterious Kachina Doll and an Incredible Smithsonian Manuscript Filled with Hopi Ritual Costumes and Dances Drawn by Native Artists

• Macabre Ditty from The Muppet Show, Circa 1978

• St Wilgefortis, "The Bearded Saint," at Prague's Loreto Shrine and Beyond

• Science Meets Memento Mori at the First Anatomy Museum

• Anatomical New Romantic Fantasy, from Bob Fosse's All That Jazz

• Graffiti from The Museum of the Holy Inquisition, Palermo, Sicily

• The "Cuerpo Santo" or "Cuerpo Relicario" of Mexico

• The Virgin of Guadalupe, The Black Madonna and Santa Muerte: An Illustrated Meditation on Catholicism in Mexico

• Rivers of Life or Faiths of Man in All Lands: A Chart of All Religions in History and their Symbolic Continuities, Circa 1900

• Purgatory and the "The Neapolitan Cult of the Dead" or "The Neapolitan Skull Cult"

• The Enigmatic "Christus Anatomicus"

• The Paris Morgue as Tourist Attraction and the Death Mask of L'Inconnue de la Seine

• A Virtual Visit to the Museo Storico Nazionale dell'Arte Sanitaria, Rome's Medical Museum

• Enigmatic 18th Century Miniature Wax Dissectable Woman

Programming Director director Laetitia Barbier

• The Magic Calendar of Manuel Orazi: Esoteric Compendium and Fin-de-siecle Diabolical Fantasy

• Technicolor “Supein Kaze”: A Bright Eye on Japan and its Spanish Flu Safety Posters

• Mae Niyom: The Ghost of a Beauty Queen in West Bangkok

• Honoring the "Last Act of Kindness": Bangkok’s Medical Museum as a Living Shrine

• The Seven Deadly Sins of Jacques Callot

• "Maquech": Bejeweled Mayan Beetles and a Tragic Love Legend

• A collection of portraits Stereoscopic Skin Clinic by Dr. Rainforth

• Miniatures Holy Matrimony: The Strange Church Dollhouse from the Toy Museum in Mexico

• The Demonic Madonna of Antonio Vivarini

• Rocaille Tombs and Broken Flowers: A Virtual Tour of a Ruined yet Charming Southern France Cemetery

• Mournful Still-Lives: A Donation of Victorian Funerary Arrangements

• The Madonna and The Mummy: Robert Doisneau at the Muséum D'Histoire Naturelle

• A Quick Drink at Cabaret du Neant

• Our Lady of Modern Despair: A Favorite Waxwork and Her Peculiar History

• The Weeping Virgin of La Salette Under the Snow

• The Birth of Eve

• Mademoiselle Claire: The Automaton Nurse of Bretonneau Hospital

• The Other Side: 19th Century Newspaper From the Land of the Dead