Unusual Last Wills and Testaments -- This just goes to show you that the rich and famous are as strange as the rest of us! --jpd **************************************** Virgil, Died: 10 BC Last Wish: Burn the Aeneid Virgil is the great Roman poet most renowned for his Aeneid – once the national poem of Rome. Because it was incomplete, he left instructions that it be destroyed by fire after his death. When his friends found out, they managed to finally convince him to remove the request from his will. **************************************** William Shakespeare, Died: 1616 Last Wish: That his wife receive his “second best bed”. This last request of Shakespeare has caused much speculation about his relationship with his wife Anne Hathaway. Not only was it an unusual request, it was tacked on to the document as if it were an afterthought. Leaving a bed to someone was not itself an unusual thing at the time – as a good quality bed with no fleas or vermin was a highly prized – and very expensive – thing. **************************************** Charles Dickens, Died: 1870 Last Wish: That mourners “who attend my funeral wear no scarf, cloak, black bow, long hatband, or other such revolting absurdity.” **************************************** Benjamin Franklin, Died: 1790 Last Wish: That in a democracy, his daughter not engage in “the expensive, vain and useless pastime of wearing jewels.” Benjamin Franklin was one of the most admired men in the Western world in the late 18th century. The reason for his odd request was that as former ambassador to France, Franklin was given a portrait of King Louis XVI in a frame studded with 408 diamonds. He left this picture and frame to his daughter Sarah with the above proviso to prevent her from removing the diamonds from the frame to make jewelry. **************************************** Harry Houdini, Died: 1926 Last Wish: That his wife hold an annual séance so he could reveal himself to her. Houdini left his wife a secret note with 10 randomly selected words that he would communicate to her after his death. For 10 years his wife held a seance on Halloween; Houdini never turned up. **************************************** Napoleon Bonaparte, Died: 1821 Last Wish: That his head be shaved and the hair divided up amongst his friends. In a strange twist to the tale, a recent analysis of some of the hair that was kept by his friends, it was discovered that it contained large amounts of arsenic. His symptoms prior to death (vomiting dried blood) is consistent with arsenic poisoning. (Source: JAMIE FRATER AUGUST 23, 2008)
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 14:06:34 +0000
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