The Traditions of Death- Postmortem Portraits

The Victorians had a number of superstitions and rituals around the death of a loved one. In a world where necromancers can raise the dead, magnetists can talk to the departed, and magicians can see ghosts, these taboos and procedures are doubly interesting. Here is a ghoulish tradition followed by a macabre scenario seed.

The high mortality rate in Victorian cities and the proliferation of photography combined to make a new tradition of mourning: post-mortem photography. Pictures were taken of the body before burial. Often the body was posed with objects representing their profession or sitting with their surviving family gathered around them. Efforts were made to make the body appear alive by propping them up supported by relative, keeping their eyes open, or drawing pupils on their closed eyelids after developing the picture. The effectiveness of their efforts varied.
These photographs were cherished by families as they were often the only pictures of the departed ever taken. Once copies could be made from a negative, prints of the portraits were sent to relatives and friends as memorials to the departed.
Looking at this practice today it’s seems very creepy, but to the Victorians it was better than never seeing their loved one’s face again.  

The Souls in the Portrait
Sarah and Abraham Hill have lived with their uncle Simon ever since their mother and father died from a mysterious illness. Of all the keepsakes from their old life, the picture taken of their parents before the funeral is the most loved. Mother and Father were placed in a loveseat together. Abraham stands by his father and Sarah by her mother.
 Lately the surviving Hills are seeing strange changes in their cherished picture. Objects around the family disappear or are swapped with older decorations. The curtains behind the Hills look more like a theatrical backdrop. The flowers on their mother’s lap change species. Even the departed Hills look more alive than the photographer remembers.
Yesterday, the jar father gave Abraham to save his money in appeared in the picture and he found three shillings in the street.
Do these changes carry a message? Are the Hills looking after their children even in the afterlife? Does it have anything to do with their mysterious death?