7 Comments TIL that Pope Stephen VI exhumed the corpse of Pope Formosus, who had died seven months prior, and subjected him to a posthumous trial in which he was de-fingered before tossing his body into the Tiber River in 897 by whatilearned January 1, 2023, 5:09 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
TIL The bones of the fallen soldiers at Waterloo were exhumed from mass graves, ground down into bone-meal and used in the production of sugar at nearby sugar manufacturing plants. Also bones of the fallen were commonly ground into bone-meal and used as fertilizer. by whatilearned September 12, 2022, 12:42 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
TIL Catacomb saints are skeletons exhumed from Roman catacombs and decorated with gold and jewels to serve as “replacement relics” for those destroyed during the Protestant Reformation. It is unlikely that any of those skeletons are actually of the people they are reputed by tradition to be. by whatilearned February 15, 2022, 2:29 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
6 Comments TIL that famous English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti buried most of his poems with his late wife in Highgate Cemetery of London, then later had her exhumed so he could retrieve them. by whatilearned October 11, 2021, 3:30 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL about the Cadaver Synod. A dead Pope was exhumed, tried on the stand, convicted, reburied, dug up, thrown in the river, & washed up on shore. The people believed it was doing miracles so they jailed the new Pope (who ordered the trial) where he was strangled to death. The corpse was exonerated. by whatilearned September 28, 2021, 12:35 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL that 3 years after his death in 1658, Oliver Cromwell’s enbalmed body was exhumed and executed. His head was mounted on a spike on Westminster Hall for 25 years until a storm blew it down. A guard found it and took it home. It was then in private possession until being secretly buried in 1960. by whatilearned September 1, 2021, 10:04 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
3 Comments TIL that after the monarchy was restored in Britain, King Charles II had Oliver Cromwell’s corpse exhumed and beheaded. The head which was put on a stick outside Westminster Hall fell down during a storm and was retrieved by a nearby guard who stole the head and hid it up a chimney. by whatilearned March 25, 2021, 4:05 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
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