Letters From Dead People is an ongoing ephemera-based story delivered monthly by New Orleans artist L. Delaney.
Step into a world where past and present merge. Where meanings are hidden between lines, and heroes and villains disguise their secrets in code. When you open a box, the scent of age-stained pages greets your nose....
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Letters From Dead People
The Cost: $12.99 per month; shipping is free. A 3-month subscription is $34.99 ($11.66 per box).
The Products: 'A monthly letter delivered from New Orleans – 100 years ago.'
Ships to: Worldwide
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Note: I will show all the items that I received – there are spoilers ahead!
Everything came wrapped in this pretty tattered ribbon. I love little scraps like this and will definitely be repurposing it.
This torn advertisement offers a $500 reward for information leading to... well, I assume the capture of Mina Bird. For those newly joining this mystery story set in 1927 New Orleans, Mina Bird is a spiritualist who is said to have contacted Bitsy Corwin, the deceased teen daughter of the local Prohibition officer, through the process of 'automatic spirit writing'. Now Mina's vanished and it's up to us to investigate her disappearance! If I figure it out, I'm totally going to claim this reward.
This is an interview that took place before Mina Bird's disappearance. It gives us a little bit of insight into Mina Bird's earliest days and her discovery of her mysterious psychic powers.
I love the detail of the rusty paperclip holding the papers together. This subscription is great about including materials printed in different ways on all kinds of papers with little vintage embellishments. Everything works together to tell the story.
The previous parcel included page one of this letter, and now I finally get to read the rest of it! It explains that Bitsy Corwin 'met her untimely end when a faulty gas fixture in their bathroom asphyxiated her.' I've always thought it would be neat to live in a house with gas fixtures, but maybe I should rethink that.
Cemetery Print by Lauren Marie – Value $6?
The final item is this beautiful print of a New Orleans cemetery by local artist Lauren Marie. I love the artist's use of color, and this is a perfect display piece for October. As for the mystery... perhaps Mina Bird hid in the cemetery? Is she lurking behind one of the graves?
Verdict: This is the second time I've received this subscription, so I had a better idea of what to expect this time. I enjoy the narrative style of the written materials. It's fun to go through everything and there's definitely a sense of discovery. I love the print that was included this month. I don't feel any closer to discovering the whereabouts of Mina Bird, but I'm enjoying the investigation so far. It's hard to put a value on these items, but for $13, I read a well-written story, received a lovely print and added some interesting ephemera to my collection.
What do you think of October's Letters from Dead People? If you were hiding out in 1927, where would you go?
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