Buzz
A common tradition for honoring the deceased involves marking their final resting place with a headstone, often featuring their name and the dates of their birth and death. Occasionally, an epitaph is added, offering a reflection on the life of the departed.
However, some individuals choose to break away from tradition in favor of more memorable tributes. Instead of a conventional headstone, they opt for elaborate crypts or tombs. These structures can range from grandiose to the truly odd, some even unnerving or unsettling. Here are 10 strange tombs from around the world.
10. The Inez Clarke Monument
The Inez Clarke Monument is an eerie and mysterious statue of a young girl holding a parasol, perched atop a pedestal in Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery. While the sight alone may not be overly unsettling, the fact that the statue is encased in glass adds a haunting element. Legend has it that the statue is haunted, with reports of the young girl mysteriously coming to life during stormy weather, wandering the cemetery.
Security guards and bus tour drivers alike have reported seeing the statue disappear during the night, only to return to its original spot by morning. However, another mystery looms over the monument: Who is truly buried there? The plaque states "Inez Clarke 1873–1880," but speculation persists about the real occupant. Helen Sclair, a Chicago cemetery expert, suggested that the grave may actually belong to a boy named Amos Briggs.
9. Russia’s City of the Dead
Tucked away in one of the five mountain ridges that divide the Caucasus range, Russia’s City of the Dead is a remarkable site. This area, officially known as the village of Dargavs, features a collection of peaked roofs and single-window brick houses, surrounded by scenic farmland and steep cliffs. The village is home to the graves of approximately 10,000 individuals. Several theories explain the origin of the city, one of which suggests that during a plague, infected residents isolated themselves in the houses, awaiting their demise.
Another theory about the city’s creation links it to the 13th-century Mongol-Tatar invasion. It’s believed that locals in the Caucasus mountain valley began constructing house-like above-ground tombs to save space. A third theory points to migrating Sarmatians who settled in southern Russia and buried their dead above ground, in keeping with Indo-Iranian customs. Whatever the truth, the City of the Dead houses some truly unique tombs.
8. The Russian Countess Who Desired Company in Her Tomb
Elisabeth Demidoff came from a Russian industrialist family that profited from salt and fur trading. She married the Russian Count, Nikolai Nikitich Demidoff, who also inherited an industrial fortune. Sadly, their marriage ended in separation.
Following the split, Elisabeth moved to Paris, where she passed away in 1818 at the age of 40. While her life may not have been particularly remarkable, her final wish was quite unusual. According to the tale, after her death, her relatives were stunned to find that her will specified a bequest of millions of francs to anyone who would spend a year and a day in her tomb, sitting beside her coffin in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Many tried to fulfill this challenge in hopes of a fortune, but none succeeded, despite continued attempts into the 1900s.
7. The Tomb of Florence Irene Ford
Florence Irene Ford succumbed to yellow fever in 1871 at just 10 years old. Throughout her life, she was terrified of storms and would always seek comfort from her mother whenever one occurred. After her death, the mother requested that Florence's tomb be fitted with a small glass panel at her daughter's head. While unsettling, it wasn't entirely bizarre.
However, the mother’s request grew even stranger. She asked for a narrow stairway to be built, leading nearly 2 meters (6 feet) down to the coffin. At the top of the stairs, a metal trapdoor was installed so that, during storms, the mother could seal the door, protecting herself from the elements as she sat by her daughter’s grave, reading or singing until the storm passed.
Florence Irene Ford's grave is situated in Natchez City Cemetery, located at 19-27 Cemetery Road, Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi. The cemetery is also the final resting place for several other notable tombs.
6. The Tomb of Mary Ellis
Mary Ellis' story begins in the 1790s when she came to New Brunswick to stay with her younger sister, Margaret. It was during this time that she met and fell in love with a sea captain, who was also rumored to have been a Revolutionary War officer. The couple became engaged and made plans for their future together. One day, the captain sailed off over the Raritan River. Before leaving, he gave Mary his trusty horse and promised to return. Mary waited, but the captain never came back.
Mary Ellis continued to ride the horse every day to the riverbank where the captain had set sail, hoping to embrace her love when he returned. But he never did. By 1813, the captain had still not returned, but Mary did not give up hope. She purchased farmland along the river and kept waiting. In 1828, she passed away, and her family buried her near the Raritan River.
In the 1960s, plans were made to construct a store on Mary’s property, resulting in the clearing of the woods, leaving her headstone standing alone in the middle of the site. Several construction projects have taken place over the years, but Mary’s grave remains untouched. Today, the solitary grave of Mary Ellis sits in a parking lot in New Jersey, making it one of the most unusual tombs in the world.
5. The Tomb of Cyrus the Great
Pasargadae, one of the earliest homes of the Achaemenid kings, was established by Cyrus the Great, who ruled Persia from 559 to 530 BC. The area resembled a sprawling park about 2 kilometers by 3 kilometers (1.25 miles by 1.85 miles) in size, featuring numerous monumental buildings. Strabo, the Roman geographer from Amasia, noted that the palace at Pasargadae was constructed on the very ground where King Cyrus triumphed over Astyages, the leader of the Medes, in 550 BC.
Cyrus the Great's tomb was built in the summer of 530 BC. The structure stands about 13 meters (42.5 feet) long and 11 meters (36 feet) high. It consists of two main sections: a lower and an upper part. The upper part includes two chambers: the first, the actual tomb, is a square room, and the second is an attic. A rayed disk, about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter, is placed on the gable above the door, although its purpose remains unclear. When Cyrus was buried, the tomb chamber contained a gold sarcophagus, his weapons, jewelry, and his cloak. While time has weathered the monument, leaving it a mere shadow of its original grandeur, the tomb still remains notable for its distinctive architecture.
4. The Okunoin Cemetery
The Shingon Buddhist sect, based on Mt. Koya, holds a unique view regarding the deceased. They maintain the Okunoin Cemetery for those who have been cremated, but they do not regard it as a resting place for the dead. Instead, it serves as a space for waiting spirits. In Buddhism, the body and spirit are not considered separate entities but as an inseparable whole. The bridge leading to Okunoin is seen as a boundary between the realms of the living and the dead, with the cedar trees lining the path appearing to open a passage to the spirit world. A nighttime visit to the cemetery amplifies its eerie, otherworldly atmosphere.
The Okunoin Cemetery is situated in a 1200-year-old forest and is home to the largest cemetery in Japan, containing over 200,000 graves. Many of these graves follow the traditional Japanese format—a headstone accompanied by wooden sticks engraved with names, a compartment for the deceased's ashes, and spaces for flowers, incense, and the family seal. These graves are arranged around the mausoleum of Lord Kukai, also known as Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism. Among the many peculiarities of the site, there is the Miroku Stone—a large stone believed to judge one's sins. When lifted, it becomes heavier for the sinful and lighter for the righteous, symbolizing one's judgment.
3. William Jeffreys Was Buried in a Rock
William Jeffreys, elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1844 at the young age of 28, had a promising start to his political career. However, a year later, he fell ill with a fever that caused hallucinations. This illness also led him to develop a fear of being buried in the earth, consumed by worms. As a result, he made a rather unusual request: he wanted to be buried inside a rock instead of being laid to rest underground, and he shared this wish with anyone who would listen.
Initially, no one took Jeffreys’ condition seriously. He was young, full of energy, and everyone believed he would recover from his fever. But as days passed, Jeffreys’ condition worsened, causing doubts about his survival. His father eventually agreed to his request for an unconventional burial. A stone mason took more than a year to carve the rock, and a marble slab was made with an inscription to honor Jeffreys. Sadly, the slab broke during transit, and it would take another year before the tomb was fully completed.
2. The Nubian Pyramids of Sudan
On the banks of the Nile River lies a remarkable collection of ancient pyramids in eastern Sudan’s desert. These pyramids are the final resting places of the kings and queens of the Kush Kingdom, who ruled for nearly a thousand years. The Nubian Pyramids have become an important tourist destination in Sudan.
Constructed between 2700 and 2300 years ago, these pyramids feature decorative elements inspired by the cultures of Pharaonic Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Unlike Egypt’s pyramids, the Nubian pyramids are distinct in their design. Built from sandstone and granite, the steeply sloped pyramids house chapels and burial chambers adorned with artwork and inscriptions in hieroglyphs and Meroitic script, commemorating the rulers’ lives in Meroe, a wealthy city along the Nile and the heart of the ancient kingdom of Kush, Egypt’s rival.
1. Love Struck Even in Death
The Père Lachaise Cemetery is not just any burial ground. Established by Napoleon in 1804, it stands as the largest cemetery in Paris, covering over 40 hectares (98 acres). The cemetery is a prominent landmark, housing the graves of many legendary figures from the worlds of music, film, literature, and performance.
Among its famous tombs is that of Fernand Arbelot, who passed away in Paris in 1942. Arbelot is remembered for his unusual last request—to have a monument created for his grave showing him gazing at his wife. The monument depicts a man lying on his back, holding a severed head and staring into its lifeless stone eyes. An epitaph reads, 'They were amazed at the beautiful journey which led them to the end of life.' One version of the story suggests that Arbelot hastened the need for this monument by murdering his wife before taking his own life. The grave monument, designed by Belgian sculptor Adolphe Wansart, was completed in 1946.
