Field Research - Local 19th Century Legends

I live on the Texas coast.  In the 19th century, there were a LOT of plantations in operation along the coast.  In fact, there's at least three in my home county (that are open to the public).  One of them was having a little Halloween celebration by discussing various ghost stories of the area.  They also were going to have an exhibit on Victorian-era mourning traditions and practices.  Since Automaton of Second London opens with the protagonist still in mourning, I definitely needed to at least see that part.  And it was only thirty minutes away from my house  so I really had no excuse not to go (except that I had no one to go with me, but I never let a silly thing such as that stop me).  And so my first round of field research for the book began!  Here's a summary of what I want to apply to the book.

The Victorian funeral part was very informative.  A lady dressed in traditional mourning clothes (all black, veil over the face, big ol' skirt, the works) walked us around the plantation house to explain how it worked.  Women mourning their husbands (or teen/adult daughters mourning their father) were in the all-black mourning outfit for one year.  The next year, they still wore mostly black but could add in other colors.  They did not socialize beyond going to church during these two years.  Interestingly enough, men mourning their wives only had to mourn for three weeks before they were free.  HMMM.  Another interesting concept was that they covered all of the mirrors and photographs in the house after someone passed away.  That is because they believed that the deceased spirit was still in the house, and if the spirit saw a mirror or photograph then they could possess those and then proceed to possess any people who looked at them.  That might have been the scariest story I heard all evening.

I also gleaned one important lesson from the various Texas ghost stories: Texans in the 19th century were WILD.  One guy made a preacher dance naked in his house for random lulz and killed a horse because it bucked him off after he bit its ear - somehow, he died of a fever instead of in a dramatic shootout...and was buried standing up and facing west with his gun and his (hopefully already dead) dog, but they forgot his whiskey jar which is why he's a ghost now because he really wants it.  Another man killed his brother, pushed him down the stairs, beheaded him, threw his head in the nearby lake, cried about it, and then was almost immediately attacked by an owl.  And don't get me started on the poor introverted lady who vanished, then her husband who moved back home - only for the lady's body to be discovered in the well with a noose tightened around her neck so hard that it was embedded.  I grew up learning about  (and being obsessed with (the 19th century has always been interesting to me, apparently)) Texas history, all the good parts and all the bad parts - but I never realized how bloody it was.   I was worried my book would be too violent once the murder parts started, but honestly if I really want to capture the vibe of the times so to speak then I don't think it's violent enough.

Also I got to make a pew doll, which is something I actually just got interested in this week.  These are little hand-sewn or hand-tied dolls made from a square of fabric (bandana, handkerchief, fat quarter, etc).  The dolls are quiet no matter how hard the kid playing with them drops them or smacks them against things, hence why they were the go-to toy for church services while kids were seated in the pews.  They're called poppets over in England and are thought to be magical; here in America, the magic was just how good they were at keeping kids entertained and quiet.  I like these cute little dolls and want to integrate them into the book.  Also, if ever I get a merch store started, I want to make and sell Jack and Eyre pew dolls.  I actually tried making an Eyre one before I went to this thing, she turned out cute.

That's the summary of my first field research trip for Automaton of Second London!  Learned a lot that I will apply to my writing and had a nice time.