Strange & Unusual Tales from Hollywood Graveyard | vol.1

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Hello, I’m Arthur Dark. Uh, no, over here. That’s better. Welcome to Hollywood Graveyard. Something a little different for you today in the spirit of the Halloween season. Sometimes the stories surrounding a grave can be as intriguing as the individual themself. So today we’re going to explore some of the strange and unusual tales we’ve come across in cemeteries around the world. I myself am strange and unusual. Rest in Peace – that final request we make of our loved ones, that their eternal slumber be peaceful and uninterrupted. May their sleep as it is lasting so be deep, soft may the worms about them creep, as Edgar Allan Poe once said. But finding that eternal slumber is not always the fate of those we put to rest, particularly the famous dead, whose public fascination follows them beyond the grave. The famous dead often have to take extra precautions to avoid falling prey to ghouls, vandals, and treasure hunters. We’re in Switzerland, where movie legend Charlie Chaplin is laid to rest. He’s one of the great icons of cinema, remembered for his silent films and the Little Tramp character. He spent his final years here in Switzerland, passing away in 1977 at age 88. He was laid to rest here, but the following year, in 1978, two graverobbers dug up his body and held it for ransom, re-burying it in a cornfield in the nearby village of Noville. The bodysnatchers demanded money from his widow, Oona, for the return of his body. The two were soon arrested, and Chaplin’s body was found and returned to this site… this time placed in a reinforced concrete vault. This is Eden Cemetery in the San Fernando Valley. Here we find the niche of another comedy legend, Groucho Marx. He was one of the famous Marx Bros, Groucho being particularly renowned for his quick wit. He died, curiously, the same year as Charlie Chaplin, 1977, and his remains would experience a similar fate. Groucho was cremated, his ashes inurned here at Eden. In 1982 the urn containing Groucho’s ashes was stolen from here. But what makes this story even more unusual is the fact that his ashes were left the next day without explanation or demand at the gates of another cemetery, Mount Sinai, some 15 miles away. His ashes were eventually returned here and inurned in this room, now outfitted with security cameras. Our next unusual tale of disturbed slumber takes us to London, and the Golders Green Columbarium. This is the urn of Sigmund Freud, known as the father of modern psychoanalysis. He died in 1939 at age 83 and was cremated. You’ll notice his urn is now protected behind glass. That’s because in 2014 thieves broke in and attempted, unsuccessfully, to steal his ashes, but broke his urn in the process. I’ll let the caretaker here at Golders tell From London England to Milan Italy. If you’ve seen the musical Evita, you know the story of Eva Peron, first lady of Argentina, wife of President Juan Peron, hero of the working class and women in Argentina. But the story of Eva’s body after she died from cancer in 1952 is just as intriguing as her real life. Shortly after her death Eva’s body was embalmed and perfectly preserved. Her body was on display to the public for years while a memorial was being built. But before the memorial could be completed, Juan Peron was overthrown by a military coup, and was forced to flee the country, before he was able to secure the body of his beloved Evita. The new dictatorship of Argentina wanted Eva’s body out of the way, removing her in the dead of night. The whereabouts of her body after that remained a mystery for 16 years. Graffiti even began to appear in Argentina asking “Where is the body of Eva Peron?” In 1971 it was discovered that Evita had been buried here in Milan under the name Maria Maggi. Her remains were exhumed and returned to Juan, who lived then in Spain. Juan kept and maintained her corpse right there in his home for years. Juan Peron eventually returned to Argentina as President, and Eva’s body soon followed. Juan suddenly died shortly thereafter, and once again Evita’s preserved, and recently restored, body was placed on display next to her husband. But civil unrest would once again derail plans for a grand monument. Eva Peron was finally laid to rest in a fortified tomb at Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, some 24 years after her death. Sometimes those who disturb the slumber of the deceased aren’t strangers or obsessed fans, but friends and loved ones. We’re in Joshua Tree, at the Joshua Tree Inn. This is room 8, where popular singer/songwriter Gram Parsons would spend his last night. It is now appropriately known as the Gram Parsons room. In 1973 Gram died from a drug overdose at the age of 26. Before his death, Gram had expressed a desire to be cremated and his ashes scattered in Joshua Tree. However, after his sudden death, his stepfather organized a funeral for him back in Louisiana. In an attempt to fulfill Gram’s final wishes, two of his friends borrowed a hearse, and stole his body from the Los Angeles International Airport. They then drove it back to Joshua Tree, to an area known as Cap Rock. There they would attempt to cremate Gram Parsons’ body, dousing the coffin in gasoline, and setting it ablaze. This is the site of the attempted cremation of Gram Parsons. His body only partially burned though, and what was left of him was eventually flown to Louisiana for burial. As for the two friends, since there was no law against stealing a body, they were fined for stealing the casket he was in. For a time, there was a memorial here at Cap Rock to Gram Parsons, but that has since been moved to just outside room 8 at Joshua Tree Inn, which is now said to be haunted by the ghost of Gram Parsons. Gram Parsons wasn’t the only entertainer whose friends took their deceased body for one last ride. This is the Calvary Mausoleum in Los Angeles. Here we find the crypt of the great profile, John Barrymore, one of early Hollywood’s legendary actors -- a giant of silent and early talkie films. He was the grandfather of actress, Drew Barrymore. John died in 1942 at age 60. Distraught by his death, close friends Errol Flynn and Raoul Walsh sought to drown their sorrows in booze. While the details of what happened late that night are varied and sketchy, the essence was this: Walsh left the bar before Flynn, and with a few other cohorts, went to the mortuary and “borrowed” John’s corpse for one last fling. They took the body to Errol Flynn’s house and propped it up on a chair. When Flynn returned home and saw his dearly departed friend sitting there in the chair, he ran from the house screaming. That’s one hell of a story, recently confirmed by Drew Barrymore herself. But this wasn’t the end for John. He wished to be cremated and laid to rest next to his parents in Philadelphia. But as a catholic he could not be cremated, so he was entombed here. Nearly 4 decades later John Barrymore’s son and grandson exhumed his corpse from here, and transported it to a crematory. His cremated remains were then re-interred next to his parents in Philadelphia, so this crypt is now empty. Where most folks have one final resting place, others have two, or more. Here in chapter II, we explore the unusual cases of notable figures who rest in pieces. We don’t mean those with multiple monuments or cenotaphs, but those whose physical remains are actually divided amongst multiple locations. Take Dinah Shore for example. She was one of the most popular female vocalists of the Big Band era, and would go on to be a major television star. Dinah died in 1994 and now has two graves: one in Los Angeles, the other in Palm Springs. She was cremated, half with half of her ashes placed in a crypt at Hillside Memorial Park, the other half placed in a niche at Forest Lawn Cathedral City. In our tour of Paris, we found several French notables entombed in the Pantheon. Among them is Louis Braille, the namesake and inventor of braille, which is a system of raised dots used by the seeing impaired to read. Being blind himself, Louis invented the system in the early 1800s. After his death in 1852 he was laid to rest in his hometown of Coupvray, but on the 100th anniversary of his death his remains were moved here to the Pantheon. However, in a symbolic gesture, his hands were removed and left buried in his hometown. Our most recent tour brought us through Italy. If you saw that tour, you’ll remember our visit to the tomb of Galileo at Santa Croce in Florence. Galileo was a famed Renaissance scientist who made pioneering observations and discoveries in astronomy and physics. After his death Galileo was denied a burial of prominence, having been deemed a heretic for his teaching that the Earth went around the sun. Nearly a century later he was moved to this grand tomb. In moving Galileo’s body here, three fingers and a tooth were removed, which are now on display in the Museum of History and Science in Florence. The removal of body parts to be put on display for veneration as relics was a common practice at the time for saints… but quite unheard of for a man deemed a heretic by the church. Which of Galileo’s fingers is on display? The middle one – interpret that as you will. Also here in Italy, in Rome to be precise, we found Percy Bysshe Shelly. He was one of the great Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and John Keats. Percy Shelley died in a shipwreck off the coast of Italy at the age of 29. His body washed up on shore days later. There, on the sands of Viareggio, a small funeral was held and his body was cremated. But parts of him didn’t burn completely, including, famously, his heart, the remains of which were given to his wife Mary, who kept it with her for the remainder of her life. Mary Shelley, you’ll recall, wrote Frankenstein. That piece of Percy Shelley’s heart that went to Mary would eventually be interred in the family vault in England where Mary and their son Percy are laid to rest. Our next stop is Westminster Abbey in London England. This is the grave of novelist and poet, Thomas Hardy. He’s best remembered for stories like Tess of the d’Urbervilles. He died in 1928 at age 87. After his death, his ashes entombed here… though, not all of Thomas Hardy is here. Hardy had expressed a desire to be buried in Stinsford with his first wife, Emma, but his estate executor wanted him at Westminster Abbey. As a compromise, before cremation, his heart was removed, and buried here alongside his beloved. Burial of the heart separate from the rest of the body was not as uncommon as you might think. At Pere Lachaise back in Paris we find the grave of Frederic Chopin, one of the great composers and pianists of the Romantic era. He wrote this song that you all know. After his death in 1849 at the age of 39 he was buried here in Paris. But being Polish, Chopin left his heart in Poland… literally. Before burial his heart was removed and entombed at Holy Cross Church in Warsaw. If you’ve ever wandered a cemetery, surely you’ve come across a monument or epitaph that stood out among the rest. Within these unique monuments is imbued the very personality of the deceased, a life summed up in a sculpture or witty phrase. Some can make you laugh, "That's All Folks!" others can be thought provoking, or leave you with more questions than answers. In chapter III of our treatise of the unusual we explore some of the most unique monuments, grave markers, and epitaphs we’ve come across. Most people have two dates on their markers. Actor Richard Conte, of Godfather fame, has a third open-ended date. Planning a comeback perhaps? The most sought-after grave in Westwood is the crypt of Marilyn Monroe. Sometimes people have trouble finding it, and Steviedon Cochran here was well aware of that fact. So, he was kind enough to put directions on his own crypt to Marilyn’s which is just around the corner. This is one of my favorites, which you’ll recall is an allusion to the final line of Billy Wilder’s Some Like it Hot. "Oh you don't understand, Osgood! I'm a man!" "Well, nobody's perfect!" We’re in Salt Lake City Utah, Zion, home of the Mormons, the last place on earth you’d expect to find the most devilish epitaph on earth. Here lies Lilly Gray, “Victim of the Beast 666.” And beyond just the obvious epitaph, the flowers engraved here are known as Devil’s Lantern. Even the dates of her birth, June 6, 6-6. And 1881… 1+8+8+1 is 18, which is 6+6+6. No one knows what Lilly’s husband meant by this epitaph on his wife’s stone – was she a victim of some Satanic ritual? Not likely. Most people chalk it up to mental illness on the part of her husband. But that hasn’t stopped stories from spreading about strange experiences people have had after visiting the grave of Lilly Gray. This is New Boston Cemetery in New Hampshire, where we find the grave of one Sevilla Jones. A casual stroll by this grave might not grab your attention, unless you read the epitaph. Sevilla, murdered by Henry N. Sargent, age 17 years. Thus fell this lovely blooming daughter. By the revengeful hand - a malicious Henry. When on her way to school he met her, and with a six self-cocked pistol shot her. This chilling inscription is perhaps one of the only examples where the victim’s murderer is called out by name, on the victim’s very own tombstone. And adding to this unusual tale, just a stone’s throw away, in this same cemetery, is the grave of her murderer, Henry, whose last name was left off the tombstone, for the disgrace of what he had done, before turning the gun on himself. If you’ve visited Rudolph Valentino, you may have noticed this crypt high on the opposite wall. It contains a strong indictment of our healthcare system: “Named after actor Marlon Brando, looked a lot like actor Sean Penn. My son had no medical insurance, that’s why he’s here today.” Barbara Sue Manire had a wonderful sense of humor. On her grave here at Highland Cemetery in Oklahoma, is a parking meter, which reads, “time expired.” Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris is full of unique monuments. One of the most unique here belongs to Fernand Arbelot. A likeness of Fernand lies in repose here on his grave, holding what looks like a decapitated head. But the truth of this monument is far less gory… quite sweet actually. Fernand died in 1942 during Nazi occupation. It was his dying wish that he be able to forever gaze upon the beautiful face of his beloved wife. And so this monument was sculpted, in which Fernand gazes into the face of his wife for all eternity. His epitaph reads: “They marveled at the beauty of the journey that brought them to the end of life.” Some graves we’ve visited aren’t even graves at all. If you’ve wandered the southern end of Hollywood Forever Cemetery you may have come across this odd-looking tombstone. Well, it’s not a tombstone at all. It’s a large slate chalkboard shaped like a tombstone. And this little trap door is where the chalk and erasers are kept. This is known as the Epitaph Project, where visitors can write their own epitaphs, or leave messages, or even artwork, all in a spirit of reflection on self or upon death in general. Also here at Hollywood Forever is a headstone that reads DEF. You music fans will know the label DEF Records. This is where DEF was laid to rest, symbolically at least. DEF Records was founded by legendary producer Rick Rubin, known for producing artists like Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, and Run-DMC. In 1993 Rubin decided to change the name of his label to American Recordings, and in doing so he held an actual funeral for DEF, filling an open casket with flowers and record albums, with a eulogy given by the Reverend Al Sharpton. The casket with the various DEF memorabilia in it was then closed and interred here. This grave that isn’t a grave is found at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills. Magicians Penn and Teller purchased this plot and placed this marker featuring the three of clubs as the payoff of an elaborate magic trick. They help you set up this magic trick in their show Penn & Teller Bullshit, in the episode titled “Death, Inc.” “We thought it would be nice when we die for y’all to get some fun out of it, so we bought a grave plot at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, and we set up a grave marker. We did all the hard work, and here’s how you use it: take a friend, a pen, an envelope, any pack of cards, and a camera, to Hollywood.” When you think of a grave, you invariably think of a cemetery, graveyard, or a mausoleum. Where else would one find a grave, after all? Well, you’d be surprised. You never know where you might stumble upon an unexpected grave or final resting place. Here in chapter 4 we hop the fence out of our local graveyard to discover graves off the beaten path. This looks like your average, ordinary desert graveyard, right? Wrong. This is a car graveyard. Actually, it’s an art installation known as the International Car Forest in Nevada. If you wander amongst these cars that are sprouting from the ground like tombstones, you’ll find an actual tombstone. Jessie S. Linebarger, 1916- 1989. It’s unlikely this is an actual grave. There’s a grave to a Jesse Linebarger with these same dates in Tonopah cemetery a few miles up the road, but he spells his name Jesse, not Jessie as it is here. So this likely is a discarded tombstone with a spelling error. That’s one expensive typo. In 2019 we took a trip to Interlaken New York to film the grave of Rod Serling for our Twilight Zone Special. While there we stayed in a charming old bed and breakfast. When we mentioned we were visiting the cemetery, the owner told us there was a grave in the basement of his bed and breakfast and asked if we would like to see it. Of course, we said yes, among the first of his guests brave enough, or foolish enough, to follow him into his dark basement to find a grave. Sure enough there in the basement of this quaint little bed and breakfast was the tombstone of one Hester Ann Avery, died at age 25 in 1848. The owner had no idea where the actual grave of Hester is, or how her tombstone ended up in the basement. Every grave we’ve ever visited has been on planet earth. But not every human’s remains remain on planet earth. Dr. Eugene Shoemaker was one of the founders of planetary science, and is the co-namesake of comet Shoemaker-Levy. After he died in a car accident in 1997, a portion of his ashes was carried to the moon aboard NASA’s Lunar Prospector spacecraft. So now every time you look up at the full moon, you’re looking at Dr. Shoemaker’s grave, the man on the moon. Other notable figures have had portions of their cremated remains launched into space, including Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, and soon Gene’s wife Majel Barrett, who also appeared in Star Trek, will have portions of her ashes, along with more of her husband’s, launched in to space. Some of these orbited the earth for a time before burning up on re-entry, others were brought back to earth upon return. From the final frontier, to the deep blue sea. A voyage across the sea has long been a metaphor for death… but for some, the love of the sea transcends death. As long as men have travelled the sea, there have been burials at sea. But The Neptune Memorial Reef off the coast of Florida has taken burial at sea to a new level… that level being about 40 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. This is the world’s largest man-made reef, and quite literally an underwater cemetery – a columbarium to be precise, which can hold the cremated remains of those who literally wish to spend eternity swimming with the fishes. Cremated remains are mixed with cement and poured into molds to form features of the columbarium, like starfish or sea shells, which feature the name of the individual on a plaque. This is the only cemetery in the world you need to be a certified diver to visit. Among those who chose the Neptune Reef as their final resting place is famed TV chef, Julia Child. From under the sea, to the happiest place on earth. Now what could we possibly be doing at Disneyland in our exploration of unusual final resting places? Those familiar with Disneyland urban legends might guess that we’ll be getting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean. When the ride was originally created in the 60s, some of the original skeletons were real, donated from UCLA. Over the years though these real skeletons have been removed and buried, replaced with artificial bones… except one. At least according to the remnants of this urban legend, there remains one genuine human skull on the ride: this one, which sits on the headboard of the bed in the captain’s quarters. If true, some random lucky dude from a bygone era gets to call the Pirates of the Caribbean ride his eternal home. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous. If I had my way, after I die my skull would be placed on display somewhere in Pirates, or in the Haunted Mansion. But of course, such is impossible. I’m not the only one, though, who has mused about spending eternity in the happiest place on earth. From time-to-time Disney has had to contend with people bringing ashes of loved ones who wished to spend forever in the parks, scattering those ashes on rides like Pirates or the Haunted Mansion, or in flower beds, or pretty much anywhere that had special meaning to the individual. For our next stop we hop a plane to the Savannah International Airport in Georgia. Then from here we head… well, nowhere actually. This is right where we want to be. Notice anything unusual on the runway? No? Let’s zoom in a little closer. How about now? See those two blocks on the runway that looks oddly like graves? Those are graves. The airport and runways were built on farm land that once belonged to the Dotson family. One of the runways in particular went right over the burial ground. Most of the 100 graves were moved, but the family did not want the graves of Richard and Catherine Dotson moved, believing they wouldn’t want to abandon the land they had cultivated. So, the graves were left in place, and the runway paved right around them. So next time you fly into Savannah, keep an eye on the runway, you might just be landing on the graves of Richard and Catherine Dotson. Chapter 5. This one’s dedicated to the just plain bizarre – like me wearing my sunglasses indoors at night bizarre. One of the most visited graves in the world is the crypt of Marilyn Monroe, here at Westwood Village Memorial Park. Perhaps you know the story of the man entombed just above Marilyn. Richard Poncher happened to meet Joe DiMaggio as Joe and Marilyn were divorcing. Joe was looking to offload crypts he had purchased in Westwood. Richard and his wife bought two of them. After Marilyn died years later, Richard realized that his crypt would be directly above Marilyn. Not wanting to have his back turned to the legendary starlet for all eternity, he made an unusual final request. “If I croak,” he said to his wife, “if you don’t put me upside down over Marilyn, I’ll haunt you the rest of my life.” And so it was. After Richard’s funeral, his wife and the funeral director turned Richard over in his casket before entombment so he could face Marilyn forever. What do you plan on being buried in after you die? A coffin? A Casket? Perhaps you’re going green and will be buried in natural linens? Well Sandra West had another idea. This is Alamo Masonic Cemetery in San Antonio Texas, and this oversized grave here belongs to Sandra, who died in 1977 at age 38. At her request, before burial she was placed not in a coffin, but in the front seat of her favorite car, a blue 1964 Ferrari, and buried in it. It was so large it required her grave to occupy several adjacent plots. There are countless stars whose final resting places we’ll never be able to visit since they were cremated, their ashes either scattered or privately held. One such individual is Al Lewis, best known as Grandpa Munster in the The Munsters. “Come on everybody, hop in! I’ll take us all for a ride through the cemetery!” He loved a good cigar, and after his death, he was cremated, and had his ashes placed in his favorite cigar box. In a curious moment of foreshadowing, Al hinted his final destination on an episode of The Munsters, some 40 years before his death. "Oh, it's a box of cigars!" "And the box, you see, is a great place to keep your ashes." Have you ever seen the 2014 film, Burying the Ex? If so, you’ll certainly recognize where these scenes were shot: Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The movie starred Anton Yelchin. Tragically, Anton would die 2 years later at just 27 in a freak car accident. Anton was laid to rest here in Hollywood Forever, his grave overlooking the lake marked by the amazing statue. But back to Burying the Ex. What makes this shot here so haunting, so unusual, is that it is likely the only scene in movie history in which an actor is filmed in the same shot as his own figure grave. Off in the distance here in this shot you can see where Anton would be laid to rest just 2 years later. “It’s a nice night for a zombie movie surrounded by a bunch of dead people.” “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Here’s another tale from Hollywood Forever. This one concerns Cyril and Addie Thorn. The two were married, but Addie died in 1946 at the age of 38 an was laid to rest here. Afterwards, Cyril’s fascination with death grew. He became eager to experience death and the afterlife. After a number of failed suicide attempts, in 1953 Cyril came here to Hollywood Forever, placed flowers on the grave of his first wife Addie, then sat on the grass under a nearby cypress tree. He then strapped on a breathing mask connected to a carbon monoxide cannister. Within minutes he was dead, right here on the grounds of the cemetery. He had left a note with instructions for his funeral, which contained his plans to demonstrate existence after death. He requested that some light, tall object be placed on top of the coffin in full view of everyone. He went on to say, “I will try to knock it off if I can. If I don't succeed it will prove nothing to those of you who do not understand. If I do, it will prove much." The experiment was carried out at his funeral. The funeral attendees watched in anticipation, waiting for Cyril’s spirit to knock the cylinder off his own coffin. It never moved. Hereward Carrington, a noted investigator of psychic phenomena and director of the funeral, told the crowd, "After the transition there must be a period of confusion, of disorientation to the new surroundings, which perhaps adversely effects attempts to perform such an experiment." As he sat next to Thorn's coffin, Carrington urged him to try again -- "Cy, we will now ask you to try to influence the objects, as you said you would. Try, Cy." Again, the objects didn't move. Cyril was later laid to rest here next to Addie, just feet from where he died. This next bizarre tale takes us to the other side of the world. There are a number of sites that claim to be the tomb of the biblical prophet Daniel. This one is found in Uzbekistan. The first thing you’ll notice about this sarcophagus is just how long it is… 18 meters to be precise, nearly 60 feet. Was the prophet Daniel 60 feet tall? No, but according to one legend, the reason the prophet’s tomb is so long is because Daniel’s body, buried next to a natural spring with healing powers, has continued to grow year after year, even after his death. We’re back in California, to re-visit a tragic tale that will be familiar to you Disney fans. Bobby Driscoll was Disney’s first child star. He was the voice and model of Peter Pan in Peter Pan, and starred in a number if Disney’s early live action films, like Song of the South, and Treasure Island. His performances in So Dear to My Heart and The Window earned him a Juvenile Academy Award in 1949. As he grew through adolescence in the 50s his career began to decline. His life and career became plagued by drug abuse, run-ins with the law, and bullying from other kids about his film career. The downfall of Bobby Driscoll is a tragic early example of a fallen child star. After spending time in a narcotics rehabilitation center, he moved to NY in hopes of reviving his career on the Broadway stage, but was unsuccessful. Penniless, Driscoll disappeared into Manhattan’s underground in the late 60s. In march of 68, in a scene eerily similar to the plot of The Window in which he starred, two boys, playing in a deserted East Village tenement, discovered the body of Bobby Driscoll. He had died from heart failure due to drug use at just 31. There was no identification on his body. Photos were circulated to try to identify him, but he went unidentified, and unclaimed. And so Bobby Driscoll, once the biggest child star in the world, was buried in a pauper’s grave, in Hart Island’s Potter’s Field. The following year, his mother sought help from officials in locating her son. This would lead to fingerprint identification that it was Bobby discovered in that abandoned tenement, and buried in the Potter’s Field. So even though his name is here on his father’s marker, his remains still lie somewhere on Hart Island. Our next two bizarre tales come to us courtesy of fellow YouTuber, friend of Hollywood Graveyard, and man whose beard rivals that of my own, Rhetty for History. This is Summit View Cemetery in Oklahoma, where we find the grave of Elmer McCurdy. He was a notorious outlaw of the late 19th early 20th centuries. But his post-mortem exploits would far surpass anything he did in life. In 1911 Elmer was killed in a shootout with police after robbing a train. His body was embalmed, but went unclaimed, so in order to recuperate costs of embalming, the funeral home dressed up McCurdy’s body and put him on display, charging people a nickel to see “The Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up,” as he was branded. A short time later, two men claiming to be McCurdy’s brother claimed the body. But they were not his brothers, but rather two owners of the travelling carnival, who wanted to exhibit Elmer’s corpse as “The Outlaw Who Would Never Be Captured Alive.” Elmer would later join the Traveling Museum of Crime, which featured wax replicas of other notorious criminals. By the 30s, Elmer McCurdy’s body had become completely mummified. He eventually wound up in storage in Los Angeles, even making a brief appearance in the 1967 film She Freak, as a prop. In the 1970s Elmer’s corpse was hung in the Laff in the Dark Funhouse in Long Beach. By this time, no one was aware that Elmer’s body was a real body, people just assuming it was a mannequin. In 1976 the production team of the television show The Six Million Dollar Man was filming a carnival scene. A prop man moved what he thought was a mannequin hanging from the gallows. In doing so, the arm broke off, and it quickly became clear that this was not a mannequin. The police were called, and through extensive forensic investigation, it was determined that this was the body of Elmer McCurdy, who went on a 65-year cross country adventure, appearing in movies and spooking people in funhouses, after his death. Do you believe in aliens? The people of Aurora Texas do. This is Aurora Cemetery. Let’s read what this historical marker says. “This site is also well-known because of the legend that a space ship crashed nearby in 1897, and the pilot, killed in the crash, was buried here. That’s right folks, there is a grave here in Aurora that purportedly contains the remains of an extra-terrestrial – an alien grave. As the story goes, a UFO crashed on a farm here in Aurora after striking a windmill. The pilot, who died in the crash, was described as “not of this world,” and a “Martian.” The wreckage was dumped into a nearby well, and the alien pilot was buried near this spot in the cemetery, marked only by a rock and offerings from visitors. UFO enthusiasts have petitioned to exhume the body, but according to Texas law, to do so requires permission from next of kin. So, unless anyone can phone home and reach ET’s next of kin on Mars, this grave will remain undisturbed. Do you believe an alien rests hereunder, or is this just another UFO hoax? Someone call Fox Mulder. For more stories like these, be sure to check out Rhetty’s YouTube Channel. The final stops on our journey through the strange and unusual brings us back to Paris. It’s not uncommon to see nude, non-sexual monuments in cemeteries around the world. But this next one, quite the opposite, is non-nude, but notoriously sexual. As such, we’ll slap a PG-13 advisory on this one. This is the legendary tomb of Victor Noir. At face value, just the effigy of a man lying in repose, until you see certain areas of the statue a bit more polished than the rest. The act of rubbing parts of a statue for good luck is as old as statue-making itself. In the case of Victor here, it’s hard to miss the distinctive bulge in his trousers, trousers which have one button undone. Victor Noir’s monument has become one of the most popular here at Pere Lachaise for women to visit because, as the legend goes, placing a flower in his hat, then kissing the statue on the lips and rubbing his manhood will lead to enhanced fertility and a blissful sex life. More specifically - if you want to find a beautiful lover, you should kiss Noir`s lips, and if you want to get pregnant, you should also touch his right foot, and if you want to have twins, you should touch his left foot. Believe it or not, as Ripley would say. This has led to Victor’s tomb being known as the sexiest grave in Paris. And finally, how much money would it take for you to spend a year and a day inside a tomb with a dead Russian Countess? Would a million dollars be enough? That’s a yes from me… where do I sign up? This grand monument is the final resting place of Elizabeth Alexandrovna de Demidoff, a Russian Baroness who died in 1818 at just 39. According to legend, after her death a provision was discovered in her will that offered one million dollars to anyone who would spend a year and a day alone inside her tomb with her. The provision goes on to state that Elizabeth would be laid to rest in a clear glass coffin, and the walls of the tomb would be covered in mirrors, so that wherever the visitor looked, they would be unable to escape the gaze of the dead. The visitor would be brought food, and only allowed to leave the tomb after hours when the cemetery was closed, so as not to commune with any other living soul. It’s reported that a number of men tried, but failed the challenge, one even being driven mad. This has led to Elizabeth being known as the Vampire Baroness or Vampire Princess of Paris. Whether true or some fanciful fabrication, it makes you wonder… would you be brave enough? As you ponder that point, and we close the book on today’s exploration of the unusual, let me leave you with another question…. Did the large glass door of the Freedom Mausoleum just open and close entirely on its own? Yes, yes it did. Perhaps Clara Bow coming out to say hello. Thanks for watching.
Info
Channel: Hollywood Graveyard
Views: 610,957
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: famous graves, celebrity graves, movie star graves, final resting place, cemetery tour, graveyard tour, hollywood tour, funeral, grave, crypt, tomb, mausoleum, arthur dark, hollywood cemetery, alien grave, grave robbers, haunted, ghost story, victim of the beast
Id: fttDCzBWuao
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 45min 12sec (2712 seconds)
Published: Wed Oct 27 2021
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