Ep 93 - L’Inconnue de la Seine Part 1 - The Most Kissed Woman in the World

We’re kicking off spooky season with what may be one of the eeriest true-history stories we’ve had on the show.

In this two part series, Rowan presents the story of L’Inconnue de la Seine or, The Drowned Mona Lisa. Our hosts discuss the Victorian “culture of looking”, the famous Paris Morgue, death masks, drowning…and how it’s possible that they’ve both kissed a woman from the 19th century (psst…you’ve kissed her too!)

Sources

Wikipedia 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Inconnue_de_la_Seine

The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/27/last-salem-witch-pardoned-elizabeth-johnson-jr-massachusetts

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1183550-something-wicked-this-way-comes

Live Science

https://www.livescience.com/cpr-doll-resusci-annie-face.html

William Gaddis

http://williamgaddis.org/recognitions/inconnue/index.shtml

Dusty Old Thing

https://dustyoldthing.com/victorian-death-mask-cpr-doll/

How Stuff Works

https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/anna-coleman-ladd-helped-disfigured-soldiers-live-better-lives.htm

https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/afterlife/death-mask4.htm

https://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history/19th-century-paris-morgue.htm

New Zealand Herald

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/how-the-kiss-of-a-dead-girl-saves-thousands-of-lives-each-year/BGBUVWCTZI3FXKXEXPGZBAVXBM/

New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/world/europe/paris-mask-picasso-truffaut.html

Cocosse Journal

http://www.cocosse-journal.org/2020/06/the-unknown-woman-of-seine-most-kissed.html

Snopes

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cpr-annie/

The BNJ

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4554

Haunted Palace

https://hauntedpalaceblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/07/the-paris-morgue-dark-tourism-in-the-19th-century/

https://hauntedpalaceblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/07/memento-mori-victorian-post-mortem-photography/

Laerdal

https://laerdal.com/us/products/simulation-training/resuscitation-training/resusci-anne-qcpr/

The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/dec/01/france.art

JStor

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1770855?seq=1

https://daily.jstor.org/the-paris-morgue-provided-ghoulish-entertainment/

Typepad

https://sarahdeming.typepad.com/spiralstaircase/2007/12/the-most-kissed.html

Atlas Obscura

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/paris-morgue-public-viewing