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.
