They Didn't Rest in Peace Trivia Quiz

Answer: Amasis II

Cambyses II was a son of Cyrus the Great, and ruled the Persian Empire from about 530 to 523 BC. History doesn't tell us much about him, but what it does tell us isn't very flattering. He was evidently fond of drink and had a very bad temper. Among other crimes, he is charged with the murder of his own brother.

Amasis II (also known as Ahmose II) was one of the last of the great pharaohs, ruling Egypt for over 44 years, from 570 to 526 BC. He died about six months prior to Cambyses' invasion. Herodotus tells us that: "No sooner did Cambyses enter the palace than he gave orders for Amasis' body to be taken from the tomb where it lay. This done, he proceeded to treat it with every possible indignity, such as beating it with whips, sticking it with goads, and plucking its hairs. As the body had been embalmed and would not fall to pieces under the blows, Cambyses ordered it burned." Destruction of the king's mummy would have shocked the Egyptians, since it meant he would have no afterlife.

Answer: Caligula

After Alexander died, he was embalmed and wrapped in sheets of beaten gold. He was supposed to be buried in his native Macedonia, but on the way home his body was kidnapped by one of his generals, Ptolemy, who took it to Egypt and buried him in the ancient capitol of Memphis. Later, a magnificent tomb was constructed in the Egyptian capitol of Alexandria, and Alexander was ensconced in a solid gold sarcophagus. Still later, one Ptolemy's descendents ran short of cash, so he stripped the gold sheathing from Alexander's body and melted down his gold coffin to be minted into coins to pay his troops.

He put Alexander in a new coffin made of glass, and laid him out in his armor with his weapons at hand. Still later, when Egypt came under Roman rule, Caligula stripped the body of its armor and appropriated it for his own use.

The location of the tomb, and the fate of Alexander's earthly remains, is unknown. If the tomb is ever discovered, it will be one of the greatest archeological discoveries of all time.

Answer: Formosus

It wasn't easy being pope back in early medieval times. Formosus was born around 816 and spent much of his early career in Bulgaria. He displeased Pope John VIII and was excommunicated in in 872, but was reinstated in his office as a bishop in 883, following John VIII's death.

He was elected pope on October 6, 891, and died on April 4, 896. He was succeeded by Boniface VI, who lasted only 15 days. The next pope, Stephen VI, was an enemy of Formosus. Not one to let bygones be bygones, in January, 897 he ordered Formosus dragged from his tomb and put on trial for perjury, coveting the Papacy, and violating church canons.

In what has come to be known as the Cadaver Synod, Formosus was found guilty. Three fingers of his right hand, the ones he used to give benedictions, were cut off.

He was stripped of his vestments, and buried in a common grave used for foreigners. A short time later, he was dug up again, and his corpse was thrown into the Tiber. A monk fished it out and hid it. Meanwhile, Stephen VI had been desposed and strangled, and his successor, Theodore II, annulled the Cadaver Synod, and ordered Formosus reburied in full papal regalia in St. Peter's Basilica. Pope Sergius III, however, reaffirmed Formosus' conviction and sentence. Still later, Pope John XI, who was rumored to be Sergius III's illegitimate son, exonerated Formosus.

By the way, the name Formosus means "handsome" in Latin.

Answer: False

Someone was exhumed and buried next to Goethe - but it wasn't Schiller.

When Friedrich Schiller died in Weimer, Germany in 1805, he had left no instructions as to where he was to be buried. So his body was interred in a crypt at a local cemetery. By 1826 the crypt was full, and it was decided to remove the bodies and dump them in a pit in the corner of the graveyard. The mayor of Weimar, one Carl Leberecht Schwabe, was an admirer of Schiller's, and thought it disgraceful that the remains of one of Germany's greatest poets should be treated in such a cavalier manner. He decided to try to identify Schiller's remains and set them aside for a proper burial. Unfortunately, the remains in the crypt were so jumbled together that a positive identification was impossible. There were 23 skulls in the crypt; Schiller's was identified on the basis of his excellent teeth and its conformity to Schiller's death mask. A partial skeleton was assembled, starting with a vertebrae that fitted the skull. Grand Duke Louis of Bavaria provided the funds for a suitable tomb in the Ducal Crypt. When Goethe died in 1832, he was buried next to Schiller.

So far, so good. But there was a problem. At least two other skulls were claimed to belong to Schiller. In 2008, DNA testing was done on the skull and skeleton in Schiller's tomb. Several of Schiller's relatives, including two of his sisters, and two of his sons, were exhumed to obtain DNA for comparison. The result of the testing? The skull in the tomb was not Schiller's. Neither were the other two skulls. In fact, none of the bones tested were Schiller's and none of them matched the skull, either. They were described as belonging to "several unidentified people." You'd have thought they'd have gotten at least one right ...

Answer: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was born in London on May 12, 1828. He was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an artistic movement that rejected contemporary conventions. A talented poet and artist, Rossetti fell in love with and married Elizabeth Siddal, one the movement's most popular models.

She died of an overdose of laudanum (opium dissolved in alcohol) in 1862. When she was buried, Rossetti placed a manuscript containing unpublished love poems beneath her head. What a romantic gesture! Seven years later, however, Rossetti's career was on the skids, and he decided to publish another book of poetry.

Unfortunately, many of his best poems were buried with Elizabeth, and he hadn't kept copies. So he had his agent dig her up and get them back. Supposedly her body was perfectly preserved, and her hair had grown after her death, nearly filling her coffin.

The book was not a success. Rossetti died in 1882 - and was not buried next to his wife.

Answer: His face was still identifiable

John Paul Jones was born John Paul in Scotland on July 6, 1747 in Scotland. The "Jones" was added later, when he was required to adopt a pseudonym following the killing of one of his crew while captain of a merchant ship. When the Revolutionary War broke out, he joined the American navy.

He is best remembered for capturing the British frigate "Serapis." During the battle, Jones' flag was shot away. The British captain asked if he had "struck his colors," as hauling down one's flag was the sign of surrender. Jones replied, "Strike, sir? I have not yet begun to fight!" After the war, Jones joined the Russian navy, but he resigned in 1790.

He was appointed U.S. Counsul to the Dey of Algiers in June, 1792, but before he could assume his duties he died suddenly on July 18, 1792.

In 1897, the American ambassador to France, Horace Porter, decided to search for Jones' remains and return them to the United States. The search took over seven years, but in 1905 an unmarked lead coffin was discovered.

When opened, it was obvious that Jones had been found. The coffin had been stuffed with straw and filled with alcohol, which perfectly preserved the corpse, and Jones' features were easily recognized (you can see photos of his face on the internet, if you are so inclined). He was returned in triumph to the United States. Today he lies buried in an American admiral's uniform in a magnificent sarcophagus at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Answer: Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor was a hero of the Mexican War and 12th President of the United States. Elected in 1848, he died on July 9, 1850 after complaining of stomach cramps for several days. The official cause of death was listed as gastroenteritis, but many people believed he had been poisoned. On June 17, 1991 Taylor's remains were exhumed and autopsied. Because Taylor's body had not been embalmed, it had been reduced to a skeleton and no precise cause of death could be determined.

But the level of arsenic in his hair, fingernails, and tissue samples was normal.

Another conspiracy theory bites the dust.

Answer: Benjamin Harrison

John Scott Harrison (October 4, 1804 - May 25, 1878) was the son of William Henry Harrison and the father of Benjamin Harrison, making him the only man to be both the son and father of an American president. He served briefly in the House of Representatives, but spent most of his life as a farmer.

At the time of his death, there was a severe shortage of cadavers for medical students to study. As a result, grave robbers, known as "resurrectionists," made a good living by snatching newly buried bodies and selling them to medical schools.

When John Scott Harrison was buried, it was discovered that the body of another family member, a young boy named Augustus Devin, who had died about a week before, was missing from its grave. The Harrison family buried John Scott's body in a cemented brick vault, filled the grave with heavy stones, and hired a watchman to visit the grave every hour.

In the meantime, other family members obtained a search warrant and set off for Cincinnati to search for young Devin's remains.

When they arrived at the Ohio Medical College, they failed to find the boy, but discovered the nude body of John Scott Harrison hanging from a rope in a coal chute. It was recovered and reburied. Oh, yes - Augustus Devin was eventually found pickled in a vat of brine at the University of Michigan.

Answer: J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson

It seems that every time a celebrity dies, there are rumors surrounding the death. In this case, the Big Bopper's son asked that an autopsy be performed to determine if his father had survived the crash and had died while trying to summon help. His body had been found almost 40 feet from the crash site. An autopsy on Richardson's body was performed in January 2007.

It was remarkably well preserved. X-rays showed that almost every bone in the body was fractured, and that his death had been instantaneous.

Answer: Charlie Chaplin

Legendary film star Charlie Chaplin died December 25, 1977 in Vevey, Switzerland. On March 2, 1978 his grave was dug up and his coffin stolen by Roman Wardas, a Pole, and Gantscho Ganev, a Bulgarian. Both worked as auto mechanics. They contacted Chaplin's widow, Oona, demanding a ransom be paid for his return. Mrs. Chaplin refused, saying "Charlie would have thought it ridiculous." Chaplin's unopened coffin was recovered on May 17, 1978 and reburied under six feet of concrete. Wardas received a sentence of 4 1/2 years in prison, and Ganev an eighteen month suspended sentence.

In most jurisdictions, grave robbing is not a serious offense. Body-snatching of another form is still prevalent; there is a black market for human organs and tissue.

The late Alistair Cooke, the famous host of "Masterpiece Theatre," had his bones stolen and replaced with plastic tubing prior to his cremation. The thieves were a respectable New York undertaking firm, who sold his bones to a company called Biomedical Tissue Services, who in turn sold them to medical services for use in transplants and other medical procedures. All this despite the fact that Cooke was 95 when he died, and was suffering from cancer at the time of his death. According to one source, Cooke's bones fetched the healthy price of $7,000.