Stars, Politicians & Others: THEY Were Exhumed

The famous Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí died on January 23, 1989, of heart failure. His final resting place is in the crypt under the stage of his theater-museum in Figueres, Spain. In June 2017, a judge in Madrid ordered Dalí's remains to be exhumed to obtain samples for a paternity case. A woman had claimed that the artist had an affair with her mother in the mid-1950s. The tests carried out conclusively proved that Dalí and the plaintiff were not related and the case was dismissed. Interestingly, after nearly 30 years of burial, Dalí's distinctive mustache was still fully intact.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, is considered one of the greatest and most influential politicians in American history. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, and died only a few hours later. Lincoln was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. A decade later, thieves tried to steal the president's body for ransom, but failed. As a result, the coffin was hidden between the walls of the tomb to deter potential tomb robbers. Later it was decided to build a bigger and safer monument. Lincoln's body was secretly exhumed during construction and reburied nearby. It was only after 13 months of construction that the mortal remains of the President were reburied in 1901 in what is now the Lincoln family mausoleum.

Christopher Columbus is probably one of the best-known Italian explorers and navigators. He made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean in the course of his life and is regarded as one of the pioneers of the European colonization of America. He died on May 20, 1506 in Valladolid, Spain, but it is said that he continued to travel even after his death. Although buried in Valladolid, his remains were later moved to Seville before finally ending up in what is now the Dominican Republic in 1536 - or was it Cuba? The exact location of his remains remains unclear to this day, and some historians suggest that his remains were buried in the Columbus Lighthouse in Santo Domingo Este, Dominican Republic. Perhaps every place has a piece of this pioneer's legacy?

On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald committed the assassination of then-President John F. Kennedy. Just two days later, Oswald himself was shot by Jack Ruby and buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth, Texas. But claims quickly arose that the man in the coffin was not actually Oswald but a Soviet agent of similar appearance. This controversy lasted for almost 18 years until Oswald's remains were exhumed in 1981 and dental evidence confirmed that it was indeed him. He was reburied in a new coffin.

Charlie Chaplin is known around the world as one of the most important personalities in film history and is particularly revered for his screen character "The Tramp". The famous comedian died on December 25, 1977 and was buried in the village cemetery in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. But his final resting place would not remain untouched for long.

On March 1, 1978, the body was stolen from its grave by two thieves and reburied in a field in the nearby town of Noville. The grave robbers then blackmailed Chaplin's descendants for money. But the perpetrators were eventually caught and the body was buried in a reinforced concrete crypt in the same cemetery.

One of the most notorious outlaws of the Wild West, Jesse James was shot in the back by Bob Ford on April 3, 1882 and died. His final resting place is in Kearney, Missouri. But there are also legends that say James survived the attack and rode into the sunset. Finally, in 1995, the remains lying in the tomb bearing James' name were exhumed and DNA samples from descendants of James' sister were found and compared. The test found a match and the case was shelved forever.

Argentine guerrilla leader Che Guevara played an important role in the Cuban Revolution. But after his death on October 9, 1967 in Bolivia, the exact whereabouts of his remains remained a mystery for a long time. It was only in 1995 that a Bolivian general involved in the operation broke his silence and revealed the whereabouts of Guevara's remains near an airfield in Vallegrande, not far from where he died. Two years later, Guevara's body was exhumed and buried with military honors in a purpose-built mausoleum in the Cuban city of Santa Clara, in time for celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of his death. The famous revolutionary finally found his final resting place.

Former First Lady of Argentina, María Eva Duarte de Perón, better known as Evita, died of cervical cancer in Buenos Aires on July 26, 1952. Her death sparked a wave of grief across the country. A monument honoring Evita was erected, but her husband, President Juan Perón, was overthrown in a military coup before it could be completed. Shortly thereafter, the remains of Evita disappeared. It took 16 years for her fate to be revealed. In fact, her remains were smuggled out of Argentina in 1957 and buried under a pseudonym in a cemetery in Milan, Italy. In 1971, her remains were exhumed and flown to Spain, where they were given to Juan Perón, who lived in exile. He returned to Argentina in 1973 and was re-elected President, but died in office in 1974. His third wife, Isabel, ensured that Evita's body was buried in the Duarte family vault at La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires in 1976.

Marie Curie, a Polish and French physicist and chemist, is famous for her discovery of radium and polonium and her major contribution to the development of cancer treatments. She was also awarded two Nobel Prizes. Curie died on July 4, 1934, and was buried in Sceaux Cemetery in France, alongside her husband Pierre. In 1995 her remains and those of her husband were transferred to the Pantheon in Paris in honor of her life and pioneering work.