June 26, 2016

Charlie Chaplin died on Christmas Day in 1977, at the age of 88. Two months later, his body was stolen from a Swiss cemetery. Chaplin’s widow, Oona, received a ransom demand of some $600,000, sparking a police investigation and a hunt for the culprits. Oona had refused to pay the ransom, saying that her husband would have thought the demand “ridiculous.” The callers later made threats against her two youngest children. After a five-week investigation, police arrested two auto mechanics who eventually led them to Chaplin’s body, which they had buried in a cornfield about one mile from the Chaplin family’s home. The men were convicted of grave robbing and attempted extortion. As for Chaplin, his family reburied his body in a concrete grave to prevent future theft attempts.