iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Sarah Chavez

Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles @esotouric.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Scoop: As redevelopment begins at the Rancho Los Amigos Poor Farm Cemetery, a ground penetrating radar survey shows regular rows consistent with burials. LA County falsely claims there are no burial records. Rev. Dylan reads the names of the dead out loud. esotouric.substack.com/names

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Order of the Good Death @ordergooddeath.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Win an entire library on death, grief, and what it means to be human. Which book are you reading first? Enter today by becoming a Tier 2 Order Member by December 19th: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership *Must have a U.S. mailing address.

graphic featuring a painting of a woman holding a duster reading a book in a library

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

1/7 December 13th is St. Lucy’s feast day, who, according to legend, brought food and aid to Christians hiding in catacombs wearing a candle-lit wreath to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible #GothicAdvent #Folklore #Witchsky

Graphic black background with artwork of st Lucy at the center

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

It’s Halloween season and people want to talk about death, so I’m booked and busy like Lizzie www.eventbrite.com/e/inviting-d...

Flyer for Inviting Death to Dinner event featuring image of the cover of Rosie Grant’s book To Die For

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Don't You Be Afraid Of Ghosts! They're Your Best Friends, Says Woman Freeport Journal-Standard, Illinois, 1923

Newspaper headline reads Don't You Be Afraid Of Ghosts! They're Your Best Friends, Says Woman

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

With all eyes on LA the past few days I can’t help but note the eerie similarities in events that played out here over 80 years ago from June 3rd to 8th—the Zoot Suit Riots. A time when Chicanos & other poc were targeted, their communities terrorized & subjected to violent attacks.

Black and white photograph from the zoot suit riots in La in 1943. A large group of white men some wearing sailor suits and other military uniforms, many of them holding clubs in the streets of dtla

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Ghost bike memorials make a site of death visible, but they can also reveal the social and economic vulnerabilities of those who died #WorldBicycleDay www.bicycling.com/culture/a347...

bicycling.com

I Build Ghost Bikes — Here’s What It’s Taught Me About Who Dies on a Bike

Here’s what these white-painted tributes can tell us about who dies on a bike

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

In today’s What the Helly? An AI generated video of a man killed in a road rage incident was allowed to “talk” to the courtroom & provide the victim’s own impact statement at killer’s sentencing hearing. Family said judge was “moved” by video & gave max sentence www.10news.com/science-and-...

10news.com

Road rage victim in Arizona resurrected through AI to deliver his own impact statement

A man who was killed in a road rage incident in Chandler, Arizona was brought back to life through artificial intelligence to deliver his own victim impact statement during his killer’s sentencing.

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Craterellus cornucopioides were referred to as "The Trumpet of the Dead," as it was believed the dead buried beneath played them *doot doot* #FolkloreThursday

Vintage illustration of a trio of brown toned mushrooms that resemble trumpets

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

April 30th, is Walpurgisnacht (Witches’ Night), also known as the ‘other Halloween’ — a night that belongs to WITCHES

Black and white artwork of a group with witches in brooms

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Folk Horror Revival 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @folkhorrorrevival.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Tonight is St Mark's Eve, when, according to English #folklore, if you sit in a church porch tonight and stay silent from 11 pm to 1 am you will see a procession of the ghosts of all the people in the village who will die during the coming year.

Extract from the poem 'The Vigil of St Mark' (1806) by James Montgomery:

Tis now, replied the village belle,
St. Mark’s mysterious eve,
And all that old traditions tell
I tremblingly believe;
How, when the midnight signal tolls,
Along the churchyard green,
A mournful train of sentenced souls
In winding-sheets are seen.
The ghosts of all whom death shall doom
Within the coming year,
In pale procession walk the gloom,
Amid the silence drear.

Full poem here
https://rictornorton.co.uk/gothic/montgom.htm

A vintage photograph of a procession of ghostly figures walking along a pavement in front of a large wooden door and brickwork.

Picture credit: Anonymous, "The ghost of Bernadette Soubirous", 1890, Albumen silver print

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

First, paging #horrorcommunity #horrorsky #filmsky #mutantfam - we’re hosting a The Shrouds giveaway over at @ordergooddeath.bsky.social I have a LOT to say about Cronenberg’s latest film as it sits firmly at the center of my horror + funerals + the dead body wheelhouse. For now, I’ll share this

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Order of the Good Death @ordergooddeath.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Modern funeral options like casketed burial and cremation contribute to deforestation, and create carbon emissions and toxic byproducts. Over 60% of Americans are interested in greener options, but what are they? #EarthDay

Green graphic with white text and illustration of partial earth

Green graphic with white text and partial line illustration of earth. Text reads what are my green death options?

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

"You and i are Earth 1661” A tin-glazed earthenware plate found in a London sewer #EarthDay

Photo of white plate found in sewer with the words you & i are Earth written on it in blue

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Gabby DaRienzo @gabbydarienzo.com · 15/04/2025

I’m so excited to introduce a new game: Seasonala Cemetery – explore the serene beauty of an urban cemetery and see how it changes in real-time with the time of day and seasons. A completely free game coming soon to Windows/Mac Wishlist: store.steampowered.com/app/3272690/Seasonala_Cemetery/

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

#Yellowjackets season 3 finale screening with Sophie Nélisse, Samantha Hanratty, Sophie Thatcher, Courtney Eaton, & Liv Hewson

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

currently waiting to get into the #Yellowjackets finale screening & a man is out here going up & down the line asking “Have you heard about Jesus?” SIR, HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE WILDERNESS?

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Good to know that the morgue has the ideal conditions for both bodies AND books pasadenanow.com/main/pasaden...

Screenshot of linked article headline. Black text in white background Pasadena Library Moves Rare History Collection to Former Hospital Morgue for Safekeeping

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Not a resident of Texas & still want to support? I’ve included ways you can help at the link provided! I’m also looking for Texas funeral directors to testify in Austin on Monday morning, so if you’re interested lmk!

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Order of the Good Death @ordergooddeath.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Our next Mortal Media Club is coming up next week 3/26! We’ll be discussing reproductive justice & the important role the death positive movement has to play with @sarahcalavera.bsky.social & the Abortion Conversation Project www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership

Illustration of a grim reaper surrounded by pop culture representations like a video game controller, movie ticket, cell phone in pink and blue

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

The neighborhood children are outside playing and the eldest (8 years old) is leading them in an “Elon Musk Sucks!” chant while my dog barks along. This is powerful magic

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

For Pi Day here’s a bit about the history of funeral pie, served at funeral meals among Old Order Mennonite and Amish communities whatscookingamerica.net/history/pieh... 📷: @thepieous

Photograph of a pie with ornate crust work? Crust art? Yes, this is art, featuring crust formed into fancy filigrees, with skulls. To be clear this is not an example of a funeral pie as mentioned in the post, but I WOULD love to have this served at my funeral, so…

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

If you want to join any of my spring cemetery happenings, in person in Brooklyn and Buffalo to talk trees and grave history, and online to talk symbolism, I have a new newsletter for you mailchi.mp/ab8d89c57e2d...

mailchi.mp

As Winter Fades, Cemetery Events Revive! 👻 🌸

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

someone just asked me about my weekend plans and i

A skeleton sculpture laying (relaxing?) on its side in a red velvet lined open casket, all cozy and content looking and how I’m trying to be this weekend. Source: Johann Christian Ludwig Lücke, Skeleton in a coffin (1743)

Overhead view of a skeleton sculpture laying (relaxing?) on its side in a red velvet lined open casket, complete with luxurious tassels pillow all cozy and content looking and how I’m trying to be this weekend. Source: Johann Christian Ludwig Lücke, Skeleton in a coffin (1743)

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

In today’s research find of the day—when a female embalmer is asked if she’s afraid of the dead, she says no, just snakes and drunk men. (From the Birmingham Post, 1932)

Screen shot of headline from 1932 newspaper reads “woman embalmer fears snakes and drunk men”

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Order of the Good Death @ordergooddeath.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

TOMORROW come learn about the important work of Finding Ceremony with @intersectionist.bsky.social —a descendent-led reparationist process for restoring the lineages of care, reverence, & spiritual memory to the work of caring for their dead. Register: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Graphic with pink, blue, and lavender abstract spaces background, with a photo of Dr. Lyra Monteiro, wearing a black and white plaid shirt. Text in black reads Finding Ceremony for Ancestors Held in Colonial Institutions, Wednesday February 26th, 4pm PST

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Isabella Segalovich @isabellasegalovich.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Jewish Burial Society pitcher from Mikulov, Moravia, 1836. Note the beautiful use of negative space. I also love the way these figures are painted, and how the Hebrew letters kind of echo their silhouettes

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

🤍 edit of my annual Valentine’s Day watch, Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Every year I do a Goth Love Stories series for Valentine’s Day, but with everything going on I only have the capacity for a single post—but it’s a good one 💖 This artist created a monument to her & her wife’s marriage for their future burial site in Woodlawn Cemetery www.pride.com/lifestyle/20...

Photo of memorial to a marriage, a sculpture depicting two women laying in a bed, embracing in Woodlawn cemetery

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

1/3 CALL TO ACTION What: Help protect Moses Macedonia African Cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland

Photo of cardboard headstones attached to a chain link fence surrounding a burial ground. The signs have save Moses cemetery written on them.
Photo via The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

I recently went to a lecture by Vikram Tamboli who founded the Healing & Harming Garden at UCLA, & remembered the Sinister Garden, created by a Kaiser pediatrician in the 70s to educate the public about common household & garden plants that were poisonous & even fatal

Black and white photo from the 1970s of two men, one in a suit the other in a white doctor’s coat, kneeling on either side of a young girl, about 4, wearing a plaid dress. They are outdoors surrounded by small trees and vegetation, in front of them on the ground is a large white skull, possibly a mosaic, with the words sinister garden written across the top of the skull

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

just saw a Tesla truck AND Jojo Siwa so, things are not looking good for me today #LAOmens

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

As the Eaton fire raged, employees at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena & neighboring funeral homes banded together, using shovels & drums of water to extinguish hot embers, while others moved quickly to place bodies in vans & move them to safety www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/u...

nytimes.com

As the Living Fled, a Race to Save the Dead at an Altadena Cemetery

Workers at the Mountain View cemetery had unique concerns the night the Eaton fire broke out. The 55-acre expanse may also have spared some homes from the flames.

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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 24/01/2025

Reminded of and crying about the fact that Rev. Budde is also the person who provided Matthew Shepard's family with a safe haven for their son's remains. This is the person these fascists trying to brand themselves as Christians are targeting with hate, right now. www.npr.org/2018/10/26/6....

npr.org

'You Are Safe Now': Matthew Shepard Laid To Rest At National Cathedral

Twenty years ago, the brutal killing of a young gay man in Laramie, Wyo., drew national attention and led to an expansion of a federal hate-crimes law.

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

LA FIRE VICTIMS—Cremated remains recovery assistance. If you or anyone you know had to evacuate & leave behind the cremated remains/ashes of someone—this team of volunteer archaeologists can help! Please help spread the word. Info & intake form to request help here: altahf.org

Flyer for cremated remains recovery from the Alta heritage foundation with a QR code that will take you to the link provided in this post

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

1/3 CALL TO ACTION What: Help protect Moses Macedonia African Cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

nytimes.com

As the Living Fled, a Race to Save the Dead at an Altadena Cemetery

Workers at the Mountain View cemetery had unique concerns the night the Eaton fire broke out. The 55-acre expanse may also have spared some homes from the flames.

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

1/2 Located in Orkney, an archipelago off the North coast of Scotland, this remarkable yet unusual memorial was created by a couple as a fitting tribute for Betty, a friend who died unexpectedly #BookWormSat

Photo of exterior of a lovely brick building with the sign Betty’s reading room

Interior of Betty’s reading room with two cozy couches facing each other, a fireplace and mantel at center surrounded by shelves of books

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Ways to help people displaced by LA wildfires (from someone displaced by the LA wildfires) First, some thoughts. I know from working in death + grief how hard it can be when you feel you can’t help someone who is experiencing a loss.

Photographer Estevan Oriol’s iconic photo of LA Fingers

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Had to evacuate quickly (we are safe) But heartbreaking to see people frantic and struggling to save things that they cherish . A box full of someone’s precious family photos had fallen out of a car and were scattered to the winds. Scared animals being coaxed into cars

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

We’ve got ‘life-threatening and destructive’ winds in LA today, which started me thinking about #folklore and fear of winds that resulted in death, illness, and even dismemberment daily.jstor.org/when-europea...

daily.jstor.org

When Europeans Feared the Wind - JSTOR Daily

In early modern Europe, various sorts of winds were associated with illness and even death.

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Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Wood was beloved by the Chicano community here in LA. Many lowrider clubs quickly organized to hold memorial cruises throughout the city in Wood’s honor this past weekend

Flyer for memorial cruise for Brenton Wood

Flyer for memorial cruise for Brenton Wood with photo of Wood wearing a zoot suit

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Reposted by Sarah Chavez

Sarah Chavez @sarahcalavera.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

January is the season of the witch. Prior to the Christian church taking over January 6th as Epiphany or 3 Kings night, this was the holy night of Berchta, goddess of winter, witchcraft, and animals.

Image source unknown. Photo of person dressed as perchta the winter witch figure in red cape with mask, hands with claw-like fingers are upturned at their side

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