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I found this photo on one of my favorite historic image sites, WV History on View. Taken in Fairmont, WV in late 1928, this strange image depicts a funeral being held in the downtown area.
The funeral, sponsored by the WMMN radio station in Fairmont, is for none other than Old Man Gloom! But...who IS Old Man Gloom? From what I can gather, in the 1920's, it was an annual tradition in many parts of the country to personify all the gloom and doom of the year and bury it as a way to usher in a more prosperous new year. The funeral procession and mock burial, complete with coffin and headstone, would take place during the last days of the calendar year. With Old Man Gloom safely six feet under, hope for a better year ahead was given to the city.
I hope YOU have a much improved year in 2018! Say goodbye to 2017 and make sure to take any gloom you may have acquired over the past 12 months and bury it safely away...at least, metaphorically!
Hi, This is very difficult to accept, funerals are held in different ways, each nation has different traditions of seeing the deceased to the end of the journey, I think no one has asked questions like how the body decomposition in casket or something like that
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