Frozen in their final moments, casts of over two dozen victims from the ancient eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD is now on display at Pompeii Archaeological Park — a chilling snapshot of a tragedy nearly 2,000 years old. The eerie figures were created using a technique invented in 1863 by Giuseppe Fiorelli, where archaeologists pour liquid plaster into the hollow spaces left behind after victims’ bodies decomposed in hardened volcanic ash. The method preserves the victims’ final poses, twisted in agony as deadly ash and rock rained down when Mount Vesuvius blew its top. Now, 22 of the most haunting casts — dubbed “imprints of pain” by scholars — offer visitors a gut-wrenching look at the men, women and children who were wiped out in the catastrophe.