The theft of the coffin of comedy king Charlie Chaplin caused shock
SwitzerlandLess than three months after his death, Charlie Chaplin’s grave was excavated, and the coffin was missing. His wife received 27 phone calls, demanding ransom.
Silent comedian and filmmaker, “comedy king” Charlie Chaplin is remembered by posterity as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Started acting at the age of 10, in a career spanning nearly 80 years. , Chaplin has touched countless hearts with his outstanding performances in many masterpieces such as The Great Dictator, Modern Times, City lights…
Having suffered a stroke in the 1960s and 1970s, the ailing and wheelchair-bound Chaplin spent the last years of his life with his fourth wife, Oona, by Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
On Christmas Day 1977, he died in his sleep at home, aged 88. In accordance with Chaplin’s wishes, a small and private funeral was held in the local cemetery of the small village of Corsier-sur-Vevey.
Charlie Chaplin, 83, is pushed in a wheelchair to Heathrow Airport in London with his wife, Oona O’Neill (right) and daughter on holiday in 1972. Photo: Fine Art America
But that rest only lasted a few months. On March 2, 1978, police called Chaplin’s mansion to inform widow Oona, 51, that there had been a midnight burglary. Her husband’s coffin was missing.
Footprints at the scene show that the robbers dug Chaplin’s grave and dragged the coffin a considerable distance to their car. During the investigation, police received a phone call from a person who claimed to be behind the theft.
In a thick Eastern European accent, the self-proclaimed “Sir Rochat” said there was a photo of the coffin to prove he had it. The man demanded one million Swiss francs (equivalent to $2 million in today’s dollars) to return the coffin to Chaplin’s family.
Over the next few months, Ms. Oona and her attorney received about 27 phone calls from the thieves, continuing to demand money. Police began monitoring Ms. Oona’s phone lines as well as 200 phone booths in the surrounding area, hoping to catch criminals who are carrying out this act.
Chaplin’s empty tomb, the day after the theft. Image: History by day
Despite threats against Chaplin’s youngest child, Ms. Oona did not take the strange situation too seriously. She insisted that there would be no such thing as paying the unreasonable ransom, and asserted that “even the late Chaplin must see these demands as absurd”.
As the weeks went by, the still-unidentified thieves continued to demand ransoms and demands from Chaplin’s butler to transfer the money to the family’s Rolls Royce. The police saw this as an opportunity to catch the thieves, and they appointed an undercover officer as a housekeeper and carried out a “trap” case.
Unfortunately, the plan was humorously foiled when the officer was mistaken for a car thief by a local postman and chased after him, shouting. This makes the police “must” arrest the underground officer who is disguised to serve the plan to trap the thieves.
Confused by this negligence, the police sought to “atone” two months later, anxiously awaiting a follow-up call. Fortunately, this time the plan worked perfectly.
11 weeks after the coffin theft, police finally arrested Roman Wardas, 24, a Polish auto mechanic. His accomplice, 38-year-old Bulgarian Gantcho Ganev, was also caught.
Roman Wardas (left) and Gantcho Ganev (centre) arrive in court on December 11, 1978. Image: History by day
Both are political refugees. Wardas had left Poland to find work, but lived mostly in poverty in Switzerland. Wardas explained that he devised the plot to steal the coffin for ransom after reading an article about a similar incident that took place in Italy not long ago.
Wardas admitted never wanting to harm Chaplin’s remains in any way. “I was just hoping to make a quick buck out of this scheme,” Wardas said.
At first, they had only intended to fake a grave robbery by burying Chaplin’s body beneath his actual grave. But due to “it was raining and the ground was too heavy”, they ended up stealing the coffin because “there was no other way”.
Wardas was convicted of mastermind and sentenced to four years in prison. Ganev accomplice received an 18-month suspended prison sentence. Prosecutors determined he was just a “big stupid guy” used by Wardas to do manual jobs in the rogue business.
Both expressed remorse and even wrote a letter of apology to Mrs. Oona, which she graciously accepted.
The two thieves also led police to a cornfield, just a mile from Chaplin’s home, just exactly where to dig. Fortunately, the 150 kg oak coffin was still intact.
Grave of Charlie Chaplin and his wife in the people’s cemetery in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. Image: Burials and beyond
Chaplin’s body was later reburied. But this time, the coffin was covered with concrete to make sure no one else could steal it. Now, the movie legend can rest in peace forever.
In the later cemetery there is an additional statue of Chaplin in his honor. In 1991, Mrs. Oona died and was buried next to her husband.
Hai Thu (According to History by day, Far out Magazine, The Guardian)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
