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Many tombstones carry the inscription 'Rest in Peace'. For most, this will likely become reality, as our bodies are seldom disturbed until they've decomposed completely. However, for the famous, there's a long-standing tradition of their remains being exhumed, desecrated, or otherwise mishandled. It seems that even in death, some people's mystique endures.
Here are ten instances where famous individuals experienced strange events after their passing.
10. Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was one of the most significant philosophers of early 19th-century England. As a founder of Utilitarianism, he proposed that 'it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.' Alongside his social reform efforts, Bentham also believed there was value to be found in dead bodies, particularly his own.
Bentham argued that creating statues of great individuals was a waste of resources when their remains could be preserved and put on display. He referred to these preserved bodies as 'auto-icons,' and when he passed away in 1832, he entrusted a friend with the task of preserving his own body. It’s said that, for years before his death, Bentham carried around the glass eyes that were meant to be placed in his head.
Unfortunately, the preservation process didn’t go as planned, and Bentham’s head ended up resembling a deflated, brown leather soccer ball. A wax version of his head was eventually used as a replacement. The real head, however, was occasionally taken by mischievous students and ransomed back to the University authorities. Today, Bentham’s body can still be seen at University College in London. The rumor that he is wheeled into university council meetings and listed as 'present but not voting' is sadly false.
9. The Cadaver Synod
The worst fate most popes face after death is the failure to be declared a saint. However, holding the papacy has historically been a perilous undertaking. Rivals were always ready to denounce your actions, and angering a king could lead to invasions of Rome. Even after death, your troubles might not be over.
Pope Formosus, from the 9th century, made the mistake of aligning with one Italian faction against another. Seven months after his death, his body was exhumed and put on trial by his successor, Stephen VI. Dubbed the Cadaver Synod, the trial saw the deceased pope dressed in his full regalia, propped up on a throne, and accused of various crimes. When an earthquake interrupted the proceedings, some interpreted it as a divine sign of disapproval, yet the trial continued.
Formosus was found guilty of illegally seizing the papacy. His papal vestments were stripped from him, the fingers he had used to bless others were severed, and his body was discarded into the Tiber River. Stephen VI's victory was short-lived, however. The supporters of Formosus regained control of Rome, and Stephen was imprisoned, where he met a quiet end by strangulation.
8. Oliver Cromwell
The saying 'if you come for the king, you better not miss' should come with a warning. Even if you succeed in killing and replacing the king, your own life may still be at risk. During the brutal English Civil War of the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell played a key role in the parliamentary forces' victory and the execution of King Charles I.
Cromwell was eventually named Lord Protector of England, a title that made him king in all but name. After his death, as the English people grew weary of Puritan rule, Charles II, the son of the executed king, was invited to reclaim the throne. Charles II was merciful in most matters, but he had no forgiveness for those who had been involved in his father's execution.
Charles II ordered the execution of all those who had participated in the regicide. It didn’t matter that some of them had already passed away. Even Cromwell’s corpse was exhumed and subjected to execution. Samuel Sainthill, a witness to the gruesome event, noted that Cromwell’s body was remarkably well-preserved. Nevertheless, Cromwell's head was severed, and Sainthill even handled some of Cromwell’s toes, which had been cut off by apprentice boys. It took eight strikes of the ax to remove Cromwell’s head from his body.
The head of the man who killed the king was displayed on a spike outside Westminster Hall for 20 years, until a storm blew it down. Afterward, it was stolen and passed between various collectors until 1960, when it was finally buried in an unmarked grave at Cambridge College, where Cromwell had once studied.
7. Inês de Castro
Inês de Castro came from Spanish nobility, though her birth was the result of an illicit affair between a nobleman and his mistress. Despite this, she was appointed to serve Constance of Castile when she married Peter, the heir to the Portuguese throne, in 1340. However, Peter fell hopelessly in love with Inês, rather than his lawful wife. When Constance passed away, Peter vowed never to marry again unless it was to Inês. Together, they had several illegitimate children. The King of Portugal, frustrated by his son's scandalous attachment, had Inês executed by decapitation.
When Peter ascended to the throne following his father’s death, he proclaimed that he and Inês de Castro had secretly wed, making her the legitimate queen of Portugal. Peter then built magnificent royal tombs so that they could be buried together like a king and queen. Inês's body was even exhumed for reburial in these royal tombs. But another version of the story speaks of Peter’s obsession with his deceased lover.
According to later stories, Peter had Inês’s corpse exhumed, dressed her as a queen, and placed her on a throne. He crowned her and had her hand reattached for the occasion. Then, he ordered every noble of the court to kiss her lifeless hand and swear allegiance to her as their new queen.
6. Eva Peron
Having a musical composed about her by Andrew Lloyd Webber wasn’t the most humiliating fate that Eva Peron, the famous first lady of Argentina, experienced after her death. Alongside her husband, President Juan Peron, she played a pivotal role in governing Argentina and enjoyed immense popularity among the working-class people.
By 1952, Eva Peron had become gravely ill with cervical cancer and passed away at the young age of 33. Three million mourners attended her funeral, but this didn’t mark the end of her posthumous journey. Instead, plans were made for an enormous statue, larger than the Statue of Liberty, with her body entombed at its base. While the statue was being built, her embalmed remains were displayed for two years.
When Juan Peron was overthrown in a military coup in 1955, he was forced to flee the country, leaving Eva’s body behind. The new government outlawed Peronism, creating a dilemma about what to do with her remains. Military officers were instructed to hide the body, but no matter where it was hidden, flowers and candles appeared nearby. With assistance from the Vatican, her body was smuggled to Rome under a false name.
In 1971, it was decided that Eva’s remains could be returned to Juan, who was in exile in Spain. Upon receiving the body, he laid her on a table and, with help from his new wife, gently cleaned her remains with cotton pads. The body was still remarkably well-preserved. When Peron returned to Argentina in 1973 to become president once more, Eva’s body traveled with him. He died a year later, and plans for a grand tomb for the two were made, but these plans were dashed when another military coup occurred.
Today, Eva rests in a sturdy tomb alongside her family, where—hopefully—her posthumous journeys have finally come to a peaceful end.
5. Einstein’s Brain
Occasionally, it's not the entire body of a famous figure that embarks on an afterlife journey, but just a single part. And when it comes to the world’s most celebrated scientist, what part would one steal? For Dr. Thomas Harvey, the pathologist who conducted Albert Einstein's autopsy in 1955, the answer was clear: he removed Einstein’s brain. Surely, by studying this historically significant organ, the secret behind his extraordinary intellect could be uncovered.
In 1978, a journalist went on a quest to find Einstein's brain, locating Harvey, who was reluctant to speak about the missing organ. Harvey had divided the brain into small pieces, hoping to work with other scientists to unravel the mysteries of Einstein’s mind. Unfortunately, no such collaboration had occurred. When the reporter asked to see images of the brain, Harvey revealed that it was being stored in a beer cooler and even showed him the remains.
Following the release of the article that exposed the brain’s location, several researchers did examine it. They discovered minor abnormalities in the structure and density of the brain cells, but nothing that could entirely explain the genius that once resided within this grey mass of tissue.
The brain is now only accessible to serious scientists, who treat it with considerably more respect than it once received. When the BBC visited Dr. Harvey in 1994, they filmed him using a fork to pick a piece of the brain out of its jar and placing it on a cheeseboard before cutting it with a kitchen knife.
4. Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin came from a family so impoverished that he was often placed in grim Victorian workhouses. Despite this rough start, he ascended to become one of the world’s most celebrated and wealthy stars. His career spanned 70 years, and when he passed away in 1977, he likely expected to finally rest. Unfortunately, his fame would continue to follow him—even after death.
Just months after his passing, Chaplin’s body was stolen from its grave in Switzerland. His widow received a call demanding a ransom of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the return of his remains. She refused to pay and alerted the authorities. The kidnappers then threatened her children. Fortunately, the police quickly apprehended Roman Wardas and Gantscho Ganev, the culprits who had turned to grave robbing to solve their financial problems. They led the police to a nearby cornfield where they had hidden the body.
Chaplin was returned to his final resting place, with a new concrete layer added to discourage future attempts to profit from the late star’s remains.
3. Philip the Handsome
Philip I of Castile, commonly referred to as Philip the Handsome, was given a moniker that suggested he was quite the ladies' man. Indeed, one lady in particular was completely captivated by him. In 1496, Philip married Joanna, the heir to the Spanish crowns, and she became utterly infatuated with him. History, however, remembers her as Joanna the Mad, which may shed light on the dynamics of their relationship.
Their marriage was far from blissful. While Joanna loved Philip intensely, he had numerous affairs that pushed her into bouts of rage. Moreover, he constantly sought to undermine her authority. Many historians suggest that Joanna wasn’t truly mad but was instead severely depressed by the situation she was in. The rumors about her madness, however, played into Philip’s hands as he sought to seize control from her.
When Philip suddenly passed away, Joanna claimed that he had been poisoned. She refused to let his body be buried where he died, insisting that it be transported on a long journey of over 400 miles. Along the way, she had the coffin opened so she could hold her dead husband in her arms.
Unsurprisingly, this behavior only fueled the growing rumors of her insanity. Eventually, Joanna was confined to a convent, and the rule of the Spanish kingdoms passed to her son, Charles.
2. Catherine of Valois
Catherine of Valois, the daughter of the French king and wife of England's Henry V in the 15th century, was laid to rest with great ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Today, visitors can still view the wooden effigy of the queen, which was placed atop her coffin during her funeral. But for many years, it wasn’t just the effigy that people could see. In fact, some visitors took the opportunity to do a little more—if they dared.
When Henry VII made alterations to her tomb, the lid was moved, and tourists soon began to examine the queen’s body. In 1699, the famous diarist Samuel Pepys made his own visit and wrote about the experience.
“Here we did see, by particular favour, the body of Queen Katherine of Valois; and I had the upper part of her body in my hands, and I did kiss her mouth, reflecting upon it that I did kiss a Queen, and that this was my birthday, thirty-six years old, that I did first kiss a Queen.”
It wasn’t until the reign of Queen Victoria that Queen Catherine was properly reburied in a respectful manner.
1. Alexander the Great
In the 4th century BC, Alexander the Great carved out the world’s largest empire, but his early death at just 32 meant that his military victories could not protect him from the inevitable. With no clear heir to his throne—his son being too young to rule—his generals, the Diadochi, fought fiercely over who would control which regions of the empire. One of the first disputes was over who would claim Alexander’s body.
Though Alexander died in Persia, it was believed his body should be returned to Macedon to rest with his ancestors. However, Ptolemy, who had seized control of Egypt, had other plans. While the body was being transported, Ptolemy intercepted it and took it to Memphis. Holding Alexander's body was seen as a sign of legitimacy for rule, and ancient prophecies also suggested that whoever possessed it would be unconquerable.
For centuries, Alexander's body was displayed in Alexandria, Egypt. It became a popular site, with both Julius Caesar and later Roman emperors visiting the tomb to pay their respects and view the remains.
