No Rest for the Legendary

You would think that passing away and securing a nice, quiet plot of land would guarantee some permanent peace and quiet. Unfortunately for many of history's most famous names, the drama didn't actually end when the coffin lid was screwed shut. From greedy ransomers looking for a quick payday to obsessed scientists wanting to study legendary brains, grave robbers have targeted the elite for centuries.

Joseph Karl Stieler on Wikimedia

1. Abraham Lincoln

A gang of counterfeiters hatched a wild plot in 1876 to steal the president's body from his tomb in Springfield, Illinois. Secret Service agents managed to infiltrate the group and ambushed the bumbling thieves just as they were lifting the marble lid off the sarcophagus. To prevent anyone else from trying it again, Lincoln's son eventually had the coffin buried under a massive block of solid concrete.

Alexander Gardner on Wikimedia

2. Charlie Chaplin

The beloved silent film star was quietly laid to rest in a peaceful Swiss cemetery near Lake Geneva in late 1977. Just a few months later, two mechanics dug up his coffin and vanished into the night with the cinematic icon. They called his widow demanding a massive fortune for the safe return of her husband's remains, but she flatly refused to negotiate with them.

Unknown authorUnknown author on Wikimedia

3. Albert Einstein

The brilliant physicist explicitly stated that he wanted his entire body cremated and his ashes scattered secretly to discourage idol worship. The pathologist on duty, Thomas Harvey, decided that the rules didn't apply to him and quietly stole Einstein's brain during the routine autopsy. He spent the next few decades carrying the brain across America in a couple of ordinary glass mason jars.

Photograph by Orren Jack Turner, Princeton, N.J. Modified with Photoshop by PM_Poon and later by Dantadd. on Wikimedia

4. Thomas Paine

The famous political activist and author of Common Sense passed away in New York and was buried on his modest farm in 1809. An eccentric admirer named William Cobbett dug up the bones a decade later and shipped them all the way back to England. He intended to build a magnificent monument to honor the revolutionary writer, but he ran out of money before he could even start the project.

Auguste Millière / After George Romney / After William Sharp on Wikimedia

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The musical genius was buried in a simple, unmarked pauper's grave in Vienna according to the standard city customs of the late eighteenth century. A graveyard worker who claimed he remembered the exact location of the musician's body decided to sneak in and steal the skull ten years later. The relic was passed around among various scientists and anatomy enthusiasts for generations.

Barbara Krafft on Wikimedia

6. Oliver Cromwell

The controversial Lord Protector of England passed away from natural causes and received a grand, royal-style burial in Westminster Abbey. When the monarchy was restored a few years later, the furious new king ordered Cromwell's body to be dug up for a posthumous execution. They decided to humiliate Cromwell even after his passing.

Robert Walker on Wikimedia

7. Eva Perón

The beloved First Lady of Argentina passed away at a young age, and her body was meticulously embalmed to be displayed in a massive monument. A military coup overthrew her husband's government shortly afterward, and the new leaders became absolutely terrified that her body would become a rallying symbol for the resistance. They stole her remains and spent years hiding them.

Unidentified photographer on Wikimedia

8. Louis XIV

The long-reigning Sun King was buried in the grand Basilica of Saint-Denis alongside generations of French royalty. During the chaotic heights of the French Revolution, angry mobs stormed the royal crypts, dug up the king's body, and tossed his heart aside. A wealthy British lord eventually purchased the dried organ and kept it on his mantelpiece.

anonymous  on Wikimedia

9. Inês de Castro

This tragic Portuguese noblewoman was assassinated on the orders of her lover's father, the king, and buried in a quiet monastery. When her lover eventually inherited the throne, he dug up her decomposing body, dressed her in royal robes, and forced the entire court to swear allegiance to her body. He then placed her in a magnificent royal tomb where she could finally rest as his official queen.

Nicolas Ray~commonswiki on Wikimedia

10. Mata Hari

The notorious dancer and convicted World War I spy was executed in 1917. Nobody claimed her body, so it was donated to an anatomy school in Paris. Her head was stored separately in the university's anatomy museum with several other dignitaries.

Koene & Com / Batavia-Amsterdam on Wikimedia

11. Dante Alighieri

Florence tried for generations to recover Dante's bones after he passed away in exile in Ravenna. Afraid the Pope would force them to relinquish them, some Franciscan monks dug from their monastery into his crypt. They smuggled out his skeleton in a small wooden box.

After Sandro Botticelli on Wikimedia

12. King Tutankhamun

Robbers broke into King Tutankhamun's tomb soon after his burial. They left the heavy gold coffin alone and went straight for the mummy. Looking for jewelry that would have been close to his skin, they ripped through his wrappings.

Jon Bodsworth on Wikimedia

13. Saint Nicholas

Santa Claus was laid to rest in his hometown of Myra in present-day Turkey. Italian pirates thought Saint Nicholas's bones were too precious to remain there when the country started fighting. They plundered his tomb and stole his remains.

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14. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Writer Mary Shelley was buried next to her parents in London. When her son moved their graves to a cemetery in Bournemouth, he found his father's heart was not with them. His father, Percy Bysshe Shelley, had his heart removed from his funeral pyre so someone could keep it.

Richard Rothwell on Wikimedia

15. Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull was buried at Fort Yates, North Dakota, after his death in 1890. Great-grandsons exhumed his grave in 1953 and had him reburied in South Dakota. They paid thieves to sneak into the fort and steal his remains so he could be buried in his birth territory.

David Francis Barry on Wikimedia

16. John Paul Jones

The American Revolutionary War naval hero passed away in Paris and was buried in a royal cemetery that was eventually abandoned and forgotten. President Theodore Roosevelt launched a massive search in 1905 to locate the legendary commander's remains and bring them back to the United States. Workers spent years digging through city basements before they finally uncovered his lead coffin.

Charles Willson Peale on Wikimedia

17. Geronimo

Apache leader Geronimo passed away as a prisoner of war. He was buried at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, but was supposedly dug up by Yale secret society members. They allegedly stole his remains to keep parts of him on display.

Adolph F. Muhr on Wikimedia

18. Ludwig van Beethoven

Iconic composer Ludwig van Beethoven's grave was excavated twice in search of answers. Scientists wanted to examine his skull to diagnose his deafness and perhaps unlock his musical talents. Visitors took small pieces of his skeleton during both investigations as keepsakes.

W.J. Baker (held the expired copyright on the photograph) on Wikimedia

19. Francisco de Goya

The celebrated Spanish painter passed away in Bordeaux, France, and was buried in a local cemetery far from his homeland. When Spanish authorities finally got permission to return his body to Madrid decades later, they opened the coffin and gasped. Goya's skeleton was completely intact, but his skull was missing.

Vicente López Portaña on Wikimedia

20. Andrew Jackson

The 7th president of the United States was buried on his Tennessee plantation, called The Hermitage. A man won Jackson's old marble coffin from the ancient Roman Emperor Alexander Severus at an auction. He offered it to Jackson as a gift for his tomb, but Jackson indignantly refused.

Mathew Benjamin Brady on Wikimedia