Earlier this year, the art world was shaken by one of its greatest controversies since the theory that suggested that the Mona Lisa had Syphilis. This story had it all: intrigue, corpses, astrology, and a very special mustache. Yes, you guessed it, I’m talking about the exhumation of Salvador Dalí’s body. After a lengthy legal battle, María Pilar Abel Martínez, who claimed to be the daughter of the eccentric painter, won the plea to exhume his body to do a paternity test. The woman claimed she was the product of an affair between the artist and her mother, who worked at his house for some time. But anyway, the exhumation was even more of a controversy because they actually had to dismember the body in order to get the necessary samples. The other thing that every media outlet was talking about was the surprisingly good state of his iconic mustache, which, according to various witnesses, was exactly in the same position as the day he was buried. After a couple of months of research and investigation, the Gala-Dalí Foundation gave a statement declaring that Salvador Dalí was not this woman’s father. Still, people are wondering who will pay for the damages done to the body of the celebrated artist.
Stories like this are not unusual in history: theft, superstition, intrigue, scientifical research. You name the cause, and there’s at least one case of a famous character in history whose body was unearthed for that purpose. So, if you want to know about some of the weirdest and most shocking ones, we’ve dug them out for you:
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
Mistakes happen, but burials are one of those things people should be extra careful with. You don’t want to mess up a burial. Still, that’s exactly what happened to the body of this important scientist after his death in Poland. Due to human error, his tomb wasn’t identified properly when he was allegedly buried at Frombork Cathedral without anyone being informed about it. In 2005, after two centuries of relentless searching, a cage with the body of a man that fit the description of Copernicus was found. The Polish Forensics department used the skull to recreate the face, and they were surprised at how much it looked like the portraits of the scientist. But the uncanny resemblance wasn’t enough for them to confirm anything, so they collected DNA samples, hoping to find any living heirs of the astronomer, but it was futile. The mystery was finally solved when a librarian found some hair samples inside one of Copernicus’s calendar books, which led to a 100% positive match.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
Without a doubt, Lincoln’s name is filled with impressive and sometimes strange stories, but perhaps the weirdest one is the one about the failed attempt to steal his body from the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. As the story goes, in 1875, a group of criminals dedicated to counterfeiting wanted to get one of their members out of prison, but going to court and appealing for a new judge wasn’t feasible for them. So, they decided that the smartest thing to do was steal the president’s body and ask for a ransom of about 200,000 USD as well as their pal’s immediate release. They decided to carry out their plan on the night of the election. It wasn’t easy, but they somehow managed to dig out the marble tomb where the president was resting. However, they didn’t know there was an undercover police officer among them, who had told the authorities everything about their plan. As a result, the theft was stopped, and the thieves were caught. But, when a robbery was attempted for a second time, the caretakers of the cemetery decided to do something definitive. They took the body without telling the authorities, and buried it in one of the anonymous graves, where it rested for about a decade. Now, Lincoln rests with his beloved Mary in a secure steel box many meters below ground.
Christopher Columbus (c.1451-1506)
More than anything else, Columbus wanted to be a wanderer to see the world. Apparently, even his body suffered an acute case of wanderlust. When the explorer died in Valladolid, Spain, he was buried there, naturally. But, according to the terms of his son Diego’s will, the body was exhumed and transported to a monastery in Seville, where it rested only for a short time because in 1542 he was taken to Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic). Tired of all this moving around? Hang in there, because there’s more. When France took over the island, his body was taken to Havana, where it rested for about a century until Cuba won its independence from Spain, and the body was once again unearthed to be transferred to Seville (again). But this isn’t the end of Columbus’ story. Sometime later, a tomb with Columbus’ name was found in Santo Domingo, and it wasn’t until the twenty-first century that the mystery was finally solved, or at least part of it. It turns out that the explorer’s remains matched the DNA samples of his brother, but since the Dominican government hasn’t allowed scientists to examine the tomb on their domains, there’s still some doubt about the authenticity of the corpse. But anyway, if those bones actually belong to Columbus, we could say that he’s resting in his most important discovery.
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)
All the stories we’ve seen until now have had a happy ending. Well, at least their bodies did. That’s not the case of the famous Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. Cromwell was very involved in the revolution that led to the execution of King Charles I. In fact, he was the one who signed the execution order (in the painting above you can see him inspecting the body of the late king). So, when he died, he was honored as a hero and buried in Westminster Abbey, where only very, very important people are meant to rest in peace. And so he did, at least for three years, when King Charles II restored the monarchy. Naturally, those responsible for the death of his father deserved the worst punishments, so he ordered the exhumation of Cromwell’s body, so it could be publicly “executed”. He was actually hanged and his body was thrown in a pit. However, as if this weren’t enough, his head was displayed on a spike outside the famous Abbey for some decades as an example of what happens to those who dare to fight against the monarchy. There are many stories about things that happened to the skull over the years, but it’s said that in 1960 it was finally buried at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge.
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If you’re into the darkest and most macabre episodes in history, don’t miss these:
The Most Fearsome And Heartless Executioners Of History
The Cruel Experiment That Resulted In African Americans Dying From Syphilis
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