Death Masks of the Famous - Postmortem Celeb Faces (GALLERY)

Death masks have been around for a very long time. They come from the practice of making a plaster mold of a person’s face postmortem for portraits, paintings, as remembrance etc. Death masks exist of very famous people such as Abraham Lincoln, Alfred Hitchcock, the German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche, pop culture icon James Dean to name just a few.

By nature, humans tend tp shy away from the subject of death; no one enjoys being reminded of their own mortality. But there is the other side of that nature that is morbidly obsessed with and intrigued by the prospect of our inevitable demise.

Now, pull yourself together and take a look at these five masks of famous people. Some are very recognizable while others are not. But they are all fascinating. Do you agree?

1. Alfred Hitchcock
2. James Dean
3. Benjamin Franklyn
4. George Washington
5. George Reeves