Cat Irving
LightNews LightNews
banner
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Cat Irving
@anatomicalcat.bsky.social
8.1K followers 810 following 670 posts
Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall. Snake charmer. Beagle feeder. All-round general necromancer
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · Nov 17
Hello #bluesky!

What does a human remains conservator do?

I work at Surgeons’ Hall, Edinburgh (and other collections) to ensure human remains are correctly preserved and cared for. I also research the history of dissection and the variety of ways humanity has tried to stop decomposition
A picture of me, a woman in her mid 40s with a lot of red curly hair, in gloves and arm protectors bent over a very large glass jar (contents out of sight)
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
The ossuary of Eggenburg in Austria
Human bones arranged in the shape of an eye, with the pupil as a amalgamation of skulls, the lower lashes as femurs and the upper lashes as skulls. Behind is a wall of skulls.
November 15, 2025 at 5:14 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
This is Udny Green Morthouse, Aberdeenshire, a round building with a heavy oak door. Inside is a 5.5m cast iron turntable. Coffins would be put in and moved around for up to 3 months before being taken out for burial - by which point they were no use to anatomists
A side view of an oak door with metal studs in a round building. Behind gravestones can be seen
November 11, 2025 at 6:51 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
If you’re in Edinburgh come and join me for an exploration of the Dance of Death. Tomorrow night!
edinburghforteansociety.org.uk Edinburgh Fortean Society @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk · 21d
Next EdFortSoc: 12th Nov 2025, 7.30pm

@anatomicalcat.bsky.social will be speaking on:

Will You Join The Dance? A brief history of the Danse Macabre

Plus!
Grand auction of books, etc.!
The Royal Oak
1 Infirmary Street
Edinburgh
7.30pm, £1
Will You Join The Dance? A brief history of the Danse Macabre The Dance of Death was an artistic trope that began in the fifteenth century to show death as the great leveller: everyone will die, from the lowliest peasant to the king and the pope. Death is depicted as a skeleton, leading people from all walks of life to join his dance. This talk will look at the origins of this image, and the way it evolved, and tied in with other memento mori images, as well as reflecting shifts in anatomical understanding. Cat’s Bio: Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University, where she is now Consultant Human Remains Conservator. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history. She recently carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke. Auction There will also be an auction of donated books etc. So please bring any Fortean related books or other things you would like to donate, and also some cash. The auction proceedings will be split between group funds and a charity to be decided on the night. Wednesday 12th of November The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1 The Dance of Death as depicted in Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film "The Seventh Seal", with the knight and his five companions, now dead from the plague, dancing in a chain behind the Grim Reaper.
November 11, 2025 at 6:22 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Forgot to post the ghosts I made last weekend (delicious, though some of them vomited their filling over their own eyes while in the oven.)
a plate with glazed pastries shaped like ghosts.
November 8, 2025 at 5:58 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
A plate from Anatomie générale des viscères by Jacques-Fabien Gautier D’Agoty (1752). It is an early example of colour printing, using engraved metal plates to make four separate impressions in black, red, yellow, and blue inks to produce the final image
An illustration showing a person with their head back with the lower part of their face and neck dissected to show the anatomical structures. Below the neck they are stripped to the bone, with the left side of the chest opened to show the heart. The nerves are visible. To the left of the person is an illustration of the brain and spine with the spinal nerves emerging, and of the dpibs’ cord itself. Against a turquoise background
November 8, 2025 at 5:19 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
A scene from the Totentanz - Dance of Death - in Bleibach, Germany, which dates to 1723, and still has all 34 scenes - made up of 33 couples and a skeletal band - along with the accompanying text, making it one of the most complete in Europe. This scene shows Death with the Burgher.
A painting of a male figure in stockings, a tricorn hat over curled hair, and a long brocaded jacket turns away from a capering skeleton who lays a hand on his shoulder.
November 5, 2025 at 7:20 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
I said that I would post more about my visit to the Chiesa dei Morti. The church contains 18 preserved remains which have been displayed in cases since 1833. The majority were preserved by natural processes which occurred in the burial ground, and were discovered when the bodies were being relocated
A series of preserved remains stood in arched wooden cases with elaborate carved plaques above, and skulls lining the tops of the cases
November 4, 2025 at 8:30 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
A bisected skeleton in the University of Siena. This is very useful to help understand some anatomical features - here you can see clearly see the arterial grooves for the middle meningeal artery insid the skull. These grooves come from pulsation of the blood putting pressure on the bone
A skeleton split down the middle and pictured from the mid torso upwards. Against a white background
November 3, 2025 at 9:54 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Our house.
pietersender.bsky.social Daniel Pietersen @pietersender.bsky.social · 19d
🎶 ‘Ware ye, child, of the Turnip-Man / With turnip head and turnip hands / His turnip heart’s as cold as ice / And at his belt gleams a turnip knife 🎶
October 26, 2025 at 10:39 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
A wax model showing the anatomy of the eye. The sclera - the white of the eye - is peeled back to reveal the nerves going to the iris. Doesn’t it look like a flower?
A model of the eye made from wax, showing the sclera folded back in four leaflets like petals. Underneath the nerves radiate out around the central pupil. They are silvery against a dark dark blue. The optic nerve comes down at the back like a stem. The whole thing lies against a wooden background
October 26, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Cat Irving
edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
Next EdFortSoc: 12th Nov 2025, 7.30pm

@anatomicalcat.bsky.social will be speaking on:

Will You Join The Dance? A brief history of the Danse Macabre

Plus!
Grand auction of books, etc.!
The Royal Oak
1 Infirmary Street
Edinburgh
7.30pm, £1
Will You Join The Dance? A brief history of the Danse Macabre The Dance of Death was an artistic trope that began in the fifteenth century to show death as the great leveller: everyone will die, from the lowliest peasant to the king and the pope. Death is depicted as a skeleton, leading people from all walks of life to join his dance. This talk will look at the origins of this image, and the way it evolved, and tied in with other memento mori images, as well as reflecting shifts in anatomical understanding. Cat’s Bio: Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University, where she is now Consultant Human Remains Conservator. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history. She recently carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke. Auction There will also be an auction of donated books etc. So please bring any Fortean related books or other things you would like to donate, and also some cash. The auction proceedings will be split between group funds and a charity to be decided on the night. Wednesday 12th of November The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1 The Dance of Death as depicted in Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film "The Seventh Seal", with the knight and his five companions, now dead from the plague, dancing in a chain behind the Grim Reaper.
October 25, 2025 at 6:44 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Skulls of Santa Croce…
A stylised two dimensional skull on the corner of a tomb, on black marble against red tiles. Looking right. A painted skull with mandible detached sitting on the ground amongst streams of blood A stylised two dimensional skull on the corner of a tomb, on black marble. Looking left.
October 22, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Cat Irving
angryalgonquin.bsky.social
@drlindseyfitz.bsky.social @bschillace.brandyschillace.com @anatomicalcat.bsky.social @moviessilently.bsky.social @gnofhorror.com

I covet this poster as I have never coveted anything

The IMAX poster for Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, by artist James Jean.

I am ENTHRALLED
The IMAX poster for Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, by artist James Jean. It is GORGEOUS but hard to describe! Combines so many elements, primary color red with pops of dark blue and yellow. Font LOOKS Cyrillic but is not. I love it. At middle is a giant rib cage with wings extending from it, in red. Frankenstein at lower middle. It's like a fever dream.
October 18, 2025 at 9:40 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Dissected torso produced in wax by the famed Florentine modeller Clemente Susini
A female torso showing the anatomy of the thorax with the right shoulder and through also dissected. The face is still intact, and lies serenely tilted back, eyes shut. The hair is dark and curling, and the figure is in a glass case with a wooden back, with white cloth between the figure and the board
October 17, 2025 at 2:06 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
This is the Capella dos Ossos in Faro, Portugal, with autumnal light slanting beautifully over the bones. I could hear small children laughing in the playground behind the chapel, emphasising the fragility of the boundary between life and death, reminding me to appreciate the small beauties in life
A skull without its mandible mounted in a wall of long bones.
October 14, 2025 at 7:08 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Went shopping. Came home with a skeleton.
A window with lots of greenery and a medical plastic skeleton standing to one side.
October 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Cat Irving
lucyformaldehyde.bsky.social
Excellent evening yesterday attending the online 'meet the author' event, hosted by @surgeonshall.bsky.social and the brill @anatomicalcat.bsky.social, chatting to the wonderful and inspiring @mollyconisbee.bsky.social about her beautiful book, and all things death studies. Thanks all!
October 10, 2025 at 8:56 AM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
One of the places I visited whilst on holiday in Italy last week was the wonderful anatomy museum at the University of Siena. This is a preparation showing eye anatomy made from human bone and wax dating to 1887.
A portion of skull from around the left orbit with blood vessels injected in wax, and the eye and surrounding structures modelled in wax
October 9, 2025 at 8:46 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Very much looking forward to chatting to @mollyconisbee.bsky.social about this extraordinary - and beautiful! - book tomorrow for Dissecting the Author at @surgeonshall.bsky.social .This is an online event, and you can join us by getting a ticket here:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dissecting...
A book called No Ordinary Deaths: A people’s history of mortality by Molly Conisbee. The cover is black with a white funerary urn flanked by two skeletons.
October 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Cat Irving
surgeonshall.bsky.social
In 2017, Jessica was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. During a chance visit to the museum she encountered a thyroid with a nodular Goitre. Recently she sat down with our Human Remains Conservator, Cat Irving, to discuss how this visit helped her come to terms with her cancer diagnosis.
[1/2]
October 6, 2025 at 11:43 AM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
I ended up spending longer in Bologna than expected this week, and this was one of the unexpected delights of that extra time. It’s an early sixteenth century tondelli - round stained glass window - showing the Triumph of Death, made in the German regions, and based on an engraving by Albrecht Dürer
a portion of stained glass showing a skeletal figure in a winding sheet flying in the air and holding a scroll À différent portion of the same stained glass showing a skeletal figure wrapped in a sheet brandishing an arrow and riding into a crowd. The full round stained glass showing the precocious two figures with Germanic text rubbing around the outside. The colour palette is yellow and brown
October 5, 2025 at 3:20 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Revisiting the wonderful models of La Specola today.
A room crowded with 18thC wood and glass cabinets with a red haired woman in a black dress looking happy in the middle
October 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
My husband’s book cover as a t-shirt! Direct from the British Library!
pietersender.bsky.social Daniel Pietersen @pietersender.bsky.social · Oct 1
*unearthly shrieking intensifies*

TALES OF THE WEIRD MERCH IS GO

@blpublishing.bsky.social @britishlibrary.bsky.social #TalesOfTheWeird
October 1, 2025 at 6:49 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Today I visited the Chiesa dei Morte - the Church of the Dead - in Urbania. I’ll post more about this soon…
Three mummified bodies in wooden cases. The central figure is in religious robes holding a staff with a skull and cross bones and wearing a silver badge with memento mori image A yellow sign which reads chiesa dei motto sec. XIV
September 30, 2025 at 8:53 PM
anatomicalcat.bsky.social
Another one of Dr Louis Auzoux’s ‘anatomie clastique’ mannequins - life-sized anatomical statues made from his own special papier-mâché, which can be taken apart to explore the anatomy. I’ve seen many of these, but they always make me happy. This particular one is in the Medical Museum in Brussels
The head and shoulders of an anatomical model with a downcast expression
September 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM