20 Famous Graves with Spooky Stories

Tutankhamun’s tomb is undoubtedly the most famous example of a burial site that has come to be associated with a sinister reputation in hindsight. When Howard Carter opened it in 1922, the discovery caused a sensation around the world, and the subsequent mysterious deaths of several people connected to the excavation helped fuel the legend of the pharaoh’s curse—the belief that disturbing the mummy would bring bad luck, illness, or death. It is more likely that these deaths were caused by poisoning from ancient bacteria or radon trapped in the tomb.

The tomb of China’s first emperor is impressive even before you catch sight of the army of terracotta soldiers guarding it. Thousands of terracotta figurines were created to watch over Qin Shi Huang in death. The most frightening thing is that the central tomb itself has still not been opened due to the high levels of toxins detected and the potential presence of traps, which could cause the entire structure to collapse.

Lenin’s mausoleum is unsettling for one very simple reason: his body is still there, embalmed and on public display more than a century after his death. The mausoleum was inaugurated in 1924, and Lenin’s embalmed remains have remained on display there most of the time since then. There is something about turning a revolutionary leader into a permanent exhibit that seems less and less reassuring the more one thinks about it.

When Napoleon’s body was exhumed from Saint Helena in 1840 in preparation for its repatriation, it was found to be in a surprisingly good state of preservation. His tomb was designed so that, when looking toward the crypt from the ground floor, one finds oneself in a downward-sloping position, making it impossible to look down on him; furthermore, his body is wrapped in materials that have given rise to rumors of “trapped” energy. 

The story of Richard III’s burial is one of the strangest among those of the kings of England, as for centuries he was believed to be missing. His remains were discovered in 2012 beneath a parking lot in Leicester and reburied in Leicester Cathedral in 2015, after forensic analysis and DNA testing confirmed his identity. It’s hard not to find this a little unsettling, especially when you consider that one of England’s most infamous monarchs spent so many years beneath painted parking lines. 

Poe’s grave would naturally fit right into a list of scary stories, even though the circumstances of his burial were entirely ordinary—which is absolutely not the case. His original headstone was lost and then moved, while the grave itself became famous thanks to the mysterious “Poe Toaster,” who would come to lay roses and cognac there before dawn. Between this confusion, these ritual visits, and the fact that Poe is Poe, this burial site has no intention of being ordinary. 

Rasputin’s end was already grim and shrouded in rumors of supernatural resistance, but what followed was, in a way, even worse. Rasputin was buried in early 1917, then exhumed by an angry mob, dragged through the streets, and burned shortly after the tsar’s abdication. A story of a grave that ends with the exhumation and destruction of the body is not exactly what one would call peaceful.

Shakespeare didn’t seem to believe that the future would leave his bones in peace, and frankly, he wasn’t wrong. His tomb is famous for the inscription warning that anyone who moves his bones will be cursed, which has given the site a menacing atmosphere for centuries. You don’t have to believe in curses to realize just how powerful this message remains. 

George Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon hides a story that seems far too sordid for the final resting place of one of the Founding Fathers. In 1830, someone attempted to steal Washington’s skull from the family vault, but took the wrong one because the crypt was already in poor condition. This failed theft led to the construction of a more secure tomb.

Grant’s mausoleum exudes a more austere grandeur, as it was deliberately modeled after Napoleon’s mausoleum, giving the entire structure a solemn and imperial atmosphere. What baffles visitors is that Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant, are not buried underground but rest in sarcophagi inside this imposing memorial. The fact that no one is actually buried there makes the place seem a little strange.

Anne Boleyn’s tomb at Westminster Abbey has a poignant atmosphere, stemming from the fact that we know exactly how she came to be there. She was executed in 1536 by Henry VIII at the Tower of London, then hastily buried in an unmarked grave. Since then, she has been the subject of countless ghost stories.

King John already had an unflattering reputation during his lifetime, and his tomb has not exactly been spared from drama. It rests in a place of honor in front of the high altar, and his tomb houses the oldest royal effigy in England—a stark contrast to his reputation as England’s “bad king.” Given that he had led a cruel and treacherous life, rumor had it that he was buried wearing a monk’s hood, in the hope of deceiving heaven into letting him in. 

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is so famous that it gave its name to the word “mausoleum,” which is a remarkable legacy. Built in honor of Mausolus, it became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but the structure eventually fell into ruin and was dismantled over time. There is something unsettling about the fact that a tomb so monumental—so much so that it influenced the language—was nevertheless unable to escape destruction. 

The Taj Mahal is often associated with romance, but it is nonetheless a mausoleum. This white marble mausoleum was built by Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and the emperor himself was eventually buried there. Some legends say that those who attempted to steal precious objects from the tombs were struck by misfortune, illness, or death, giving rise to rumors that their spirits remain trapped there.

Humayun’s Tomb is so elegant that it exudes a sense of serenity when viewed from a distance, but its history takes on a more sinister tone upon closer inspection. It is the first major garden mausoleum on the Indian subcontinent, and the site later became entangled in the final days of the Mughal dynasty during the 1857 rebellion. A mausoleum that was originally a memorial dedicated to an emperor and later became part of a declining empire has a darker history than its symmetry would suggest. 

The tomb of Cyrus the Great exudes that kind of silent awe that comes from having survived so many eras. For centuries, its original purpose was forgotten, and it was believed to have Islamic origins rather than ancient Persian ones. The region’s inhabitants once called it the “tomb of Solomon’s mother,” convinced that anyone who entered it would be struck blind. 

Naqsh-e Rostam offers a striking sight even before you know what it is. The rock face is home to majestic Achaemenid royal tombs, carved into the cliffside high above the ground and designed to be inaccessible. The sheer scale of these rock-cut tombs, combined with their isolation and the desert wind whistling through the carvings, creates an atmosphere steeped in death and enduring power. 

Tamerlane’s tomb in Samarkand is the source of one of Central Asia’s most famous funerary legends. The so-called “curse of Tamerlane” claims that desecrating his tomb would bring about a catastrophe, and this story has been linked to the Soviets’ opening of the tomb in June 1941, just before Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union. 

Mao’s mausoleum evokes the same unsettling impression as Lenin’s, but it is imbued with an even more oppressive political atmosphere. His embalmed body is still on public display at the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall in Beijing, thus preserving the physical presence of a revolutionary leader at the heart of the nation’s collective memory. It’s hard not to find this a little unsettling, especially when one considers the number of lives and the upheavals associated with his legacy. 

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier inspires a more serene sense of reverence than most of the other sites featured here. Arlington National Cemetery states that this tomb honors unidentified American servicemen, and the constant presence of guards on the site only reinforces the impression that this is a place built as much around absence as it is around remembrance. There is nothing supernatural about it, but a tomb dedicated to the nameless dead can leave a lasting impression on people’s minds—one that endures longer than many legends.