The St. Alban's Poisner, 1994
The Electric Chair, 1994
The Brides in the Bath Murderer, 1994
Chamber of Horros
Our ancestors seemed to be less fearful and grievous of death than we are today. To some, it was even an honor to be chosen by the gods as a sacrificial victim,a liberation from the sufferings and strife of this life.
I went to London in 1994 and visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. There I saw the blade that guillotined Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the electricchair that executed the Lindberg baby’s kidnapper,among other exhibits. They all looked very real to me. To corroborate these various murderous instruments invented by civilized men, I took the requisite eye-witness photographs: thus did people in times past face death head on.
Several years later when in visited again, the Chamber of Horrors exhibits were gone. When I asked why, I was told they'd been removed in a gesture to political correctness. Must we moderns be so sheltered from death?
- Hiroshi Sugimoto