What you may not realize about this photo upon first glance, is that it is not real; it is of a diorama, a dollhouse. Francis Glessner Lee was the founder of modern forensics, which she accomplished by recreating actual crime scenes for officers to study. The meticulous detail mimicked and taught the true nature of a scene; clues and details come small and large, important and completely trivial. She became an officer herself, the first female officer in the United States. These dioramas, "The Nutshell Studies Of Unexplained Death," have been tools of study for over 70 years now. This study, about the size of a shoebox, is one of a man who reported finding his wife frozen in bed in their cabin. It was one of the least violent displays: most depicted blood pools and spatter from gunshot victims, a baby dead in a crib, two were hanged in barns, and another two suffocated by car exhaust and natural gas. The emotional and visual impression these 'dollhouses' provided was uncanny. After all, they are models of real death scenes, in all their candor and snuff. Each study cost what an actual house would cost, and took a year to complete. There are 18 surviving in total. Our host Bruce was very accommodating in letting us see them, and I would highly recommend the trip to anyone with a historical, architectural and/or forensic interest. Thank you. &. (at The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death)
