It was never about my grand-aunt's asphyxiation

For the last five years I was trying to explore, understand and prevent forgetting two stories of my family members. Every day I feel them fade away, which I cannot accept. Perhaps these pictures are about a desperate attempt to persevere.

This was supposed to be about my grand-aunt, who got poisoned with carbon monoxide in the 1930s. My great grandfather’s sister and his wife went to a party in the mountains where all of the participants were contaminated with it. My great grandfather’s sister, Maria, asphyxiated.

When she was being transferred to the family chapel, the coffin fell off the wagon and opened. The body had disheveled hair, her fingernails were ripped off and covered in blood, the inside of the coffin was horrifyingly scratched. She must have asphyxiated twice then. This tale has been revolving around my family as well as my hometown.

There is a group on social media where local citizens have been sharing dreadful stories about Maria. Over 60 people were being scared by their grandmothers with this one particular tale.

I would often talk with my dad about how we would like to be buried - I think it was because of our nostalgic nature and a little bit because of my grand-aunt's case. His wish was to be cremated and so is mine. In 2019 I had this unpleasant duty to honor his wish and now he rests at the very same chapel as Maria.

It was out of a blue. Mom asked me to go to a local hospital because my father was taken there few hours before, during the night. At 6:30 a.m. I got to the place with the plastic bag full of hospital’s must-haves and accidentally witnessed my dad’s sloppy resuscitation. In the movies the staff is always in hurry and they would fight for the person’s life. It was nothing like that in this case, but I did not realize it at a time. They simply did not seem to care.

His name was Marius.

Marius and Maria. Two people from two different sides of my family. They have never met, never even would. Sharing the place of eternal rest and the contribution of causing me thanatophobia.