Some historical figures are so famous that people still talk about them, but their final resting places are unknown or undiscovered.
Amelia Earhart
The infamous American pilot disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while trying to circumnavigate the globe. She was the first woman to attempt the flight. The U.S. government launched a historic search for her, but no trace of her Lockheed Electra plane or body has ever been recovered.
To this day, there are numerous theories as to what happened, from crashing into the ocean to living out her final days on a deserted coral island as a castaway.
Nefertiti
Queen Nefertiti, who ruled alongside Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, lived in one of the most politically and religiously revolutionary times in Ancient Egypt. However, she mysteriously disappears from all records around 1330 BCE.
Although the tombs of her immediate family, including King Tutankhamun, have been discovered, her body has yet to be positively identified. Scientists are still using ground penetrating radar to search for her tomb and possible secret chambers leading from other tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
Jimmy Hoffa
American labor union leader Hoffa disappeared from a restaurant parking lot in suburban Detroit in July 1975. The FBI suspects that Hoffa was killed by organized crime bosses because of his legal troubles, but his body was never found.
Years of conspiracy theories and hundreds of rumors have surfaced about his body being lost in classic traps like under sporting arenas, horse ranches and concrete. To this day, nobody knows where Hoffa is.
Cleopatra
In 30 BCE, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra was entombed in an elaborate, royal mausoleum with her slain lover, Roman general Mark Antony. Octavian allowed the couple to be buried together after their suicides, but the tomb’s location was not recorded.
Debate continues today over whether the burial chamber now lies completely underwater in Alexandria’s busy harbor or lies within earshot in the ruins of the temple Taposiris Magna.
Hannibal Barca
Hannibal was the intelligent Carthaginian general who devastated the Roman Republic by bringing his army and war elephants over the Alps in the Second Punic War. Living in exile for many years, he killed himself by poison when he was facing capture by the Romans at Libyssa (Turkey) around 183 BCE.
It is said that an enormous stone marked his gravesite, but since the landscape has changed greatly over the years, his remains have never been found.
Genghis Khan
The founder of the Mongol Empire instructed that the whereabouts of his burial site were to remain a secret at all costs. Myth states that his funeral procession slaughtered any traveler they passed on the route, had a nearby river run atop the grave, and allowed 1,000 horses to walk over the land to eliminate any traces.
Scientists have used drones and satellite imagery to survey Mongolia’s Burkhan Khaldun mountain range in recent years, but the body has never been found.
Attila the Hun
The infamous Hunnic ruler died suddenly on his wedding night in the year 453 CE. Believed to have choked on his own blood after indulging in a feast where he drank enormous amounts of wine, his troops mourned by shaving their heads and slashing their cheeks before secretly interring him somewhere in Eastern Europe.
Legend claims Attila was placed within three coffins: one iron, one silver, and one gold. The grave was supposedly dug by slaves, who were killed after the burial to hide the location of the body.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
He died in Vienna in 1791 at age 35, penniless, and his family destitute. He was buried in a mass, unmarked grave in accordance with reforms concerning urban sanitation enacted by Emperor Joseph II.
At the time, citizens could no longer reserve their own private grave space. By the time investigators went looking for his remains several decades later, his plot had been reused numerous times and was unidentifiable.
Boudica
Queen Boudica of the Celtic Iceni tribe led the largest revolt against the Roman occupation of Britannia in 60 CE. The revolt ended in her devastating defeat at the Battle of Watling Street, after which she either poisoned herself or fell sick and died.
Ancient historians make no mention of her remains, nor have any been found to this day despite popular stories suggesting she is buried under King’s Cross station in London.
Alexander the Great
Alexander died unexpectedly in Babylon in 323 B.C. His body was laid to rest in a gold coffin and moved to an enormous, opulent pyramid tomb in Alexandria, Egypt.
Throughout history, conquerors such as Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar traveled to the tomb to honor Alexander. However, sometime during the 4th century CE, it disappeared from all records. It is likely it was destroyed due to rising sea levels, earthquakes, and religious riots.
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine was an English-American writer and political philosopher whose pamphlets influenced the American Revolution. He died in New York in 1809. Due to his opinions toward organized religion, he was buried on his farm in a simple grave away from a church.
Ten years later, a follower exhumed Paine’s remains and sent them back to England with intentions of erecting a large monument. Those plans never came to fruition and Paine’s remains were lost to private collectors.
Harold Godwinson
King Harold II was an Anglo-Saxon king who died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He died fighting against the invading Norman forces led by William the Conqueror. Legend has it that Harold was literally cut into pieces during battle, so that when his body was later recovered, it was virtually unrecognizable.
Although some chronicles assert that his body was given back to his mother upon her request or that he was surreptitiously buried on a cliff facing the English Channel. However, no body was ever found.
Atahualpa
Atahualpa was the last emperor who ruled over the Incan Empire before the Spanish conquest fractured Peru in 1533. Although he paid conquistador Francisco Pizarro a mythic ransom of an entire room full of gold, he was still tricked and killed by the Spanish.
Atahualpa received a rudimentary Christian burial by the Spanish forces, but was dug up by followers of the Incas not long after his burial. The Incas hid the emperor’s mummy somewhere unknown in the heart of the Andes.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
Like our content? Be sure to follow us.
10 historical figures who took secrets to the grave
Unanswered questions are the worst, and it’s even more terrible when they continue to be unanswered because the people with the answers took them to their graves.
