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Quiz about Tomb Robbing For Fun and Profit
Quiz about Tomb Robbing For Fun and Profit

Tomb Robbing For Fun and Profit Quiz


Tomb raiding or grave robbery has been recognised as a serious problem from ancient times right up to the present day. This quiz has some weird and interesting facts about this macabre subject.

A multiple-choice quiz by agentofchaos. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
agentofchaos
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
399,347
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
559
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 175 (7/10), Guest 75 (7/10), SorKir (7/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Tomb raiding was recognized as a serious problem in ancient Egypt. Egyptian tombs often contained curses giving dire warnings to any would enter a tomb uninvited. What are these curses known as? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Ancient Egyptians who could afford it would arrange to have their bodies mummified after death to prepare them for immortality. Animals, such as cats, could also be mummified. Unfortunately for them, immortality often proved elusive, as stolen mummies were ground up for use in various preparations right up until the twentieth century. The preparation known as "mummy brown" was historically used for what primary purpose? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. During the French revolution, the tomb of Louis XIV was plundered, and his embalmed heart stolen. It eventually came into the hands of William Buckland, an eccentric English theologian and noted palaeontologist. What did he proceed to do with it? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. The great Austrian composer Joseph Haydn died and was buried in 1809. However, he did not get to rest in peace very long, as soon afterwards, two men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Johann Peter, bribed the gravedigger to steal Haydn's head. They did this as part of their interest in what subject? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Grave robbers have been known to kidnap the dead and hold their families to ransom for the return of the body. Not even governments are immune from this indignity. In 1876, law enforcement officers foiled an attempt to steal the body of what late, great President? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Grave robbing was a serious problem in 19th century Scotland, as medical schools had a high demand for bodies for dissection, but only a very limited supply was available from legal sources. Hence, body snatching became a profitable business. What was the name of the device invented in about 1816 to protect graves from robbers? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What acclaimed silent film actor, who died in 1977 in Switzerland, had the indignity of being exhumed from his grave a few months afterwards by kidnappers who demanded £400,000 for the return of the body? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. When grave robbers find it hard to access graves, they sometimes turn to more sinister methods of getting what they want. Such was the case with William Burke and William Hare in Scotland in 1828, when fresh bodies were in high demand by medical schools. Rather than go to the trouble of robbing graves, Burke and Hare started murdering people instead and selling the bodies on the pretense they were already dead when they found them. To which noted Scottish physician did they deliver them, where he used them for dissection at anatomy lectures? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and few cases are stranger than that of which serial killer and grave robber. Who was the real-life inspiration for such famous characters as Norman Bates, Leatherface, and "Buffalo Bill"? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. The discovery of the Terracotta Army in China in 1974 was one of the most amazing archaeological finds of the 20th century. This army of statues, each of which has unique features, was made to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Unlike many other famous tombs, this one has never actually been opened and has thus remained safe from grave robbers for thousands of years. The tomb itself is said to be surrounded by a moat filled with what substance? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Tomb raiding was recognized as a serious problem in ancient Egypt. Egyptian tombs often contained curses giving dire warnings to any would enter a tomb uninvited. What are these curses known as?

Answer: Execration texts

These texts would describe terrible punishments that the gods would inflict on any who dared violate the sanctity of the tomb. They seem not have had much of a deterrent effect though, as most of the ancient Egyptian tombs that have been found, with a few striking exceptions, were robbed of their valuables, often fairly soon after being sealed.
2. Ancient Egyptians who could afford it would arrange to have their bodies mummified after death to prepare them for immortality. Animals, such as cats, could also be mummified. Unfortunately for them, immortality often proved elusive, as stolen mummies were ground up for use in various preparations right up until the twentieth century. The preparation known as "mummy brown" was historically used for what primary purpose?

Answer: Artist's pigment

During mummification, the body was stuffed with bitumen to help preserve it. Ground up stolen mummies were used to create a rich brown bitumen-based pigment that was popular with artists, particularly those associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the 19th century.

There is a story that one of these artists, Edward Burnes-Jones, had originally been sure that "mummy brown" was just a fanciful name, but when he found out it was made with real mummies, he immediately took the only tube of it he had and buried it in the garden out of respect for the dead. According to the Smithsonian website, a manufacturer of mummy brown only stopped making it in 1964 when they ran out of mummies to grind up! There is still a pigment in use named mummy brown, but nowadays it is made only with minerals not actual mummies.
3. During the French revolution, the tomb of Louis XIV was plundered, and his embalmed heart stolen. It eventually came into the hands of William Buckland, an eccentric English theologian and noted palaeontologist. What did he proceed to do with it?

Answer: Eat it

William Buckland had a penchant for eating strange things and claimed to have eaten his way through the animal kingdom. Apparently, he found the bluebottle fly particularly distasteful. Upon being shown the embalmed heart, he exclaimed: 'I have eaten many strange things, but have never eaten the heart of a king before' and straight away proceeded to do just that!
4. The great Austrian composer Joseph Haydn died and was buried in 1809. However, he did not get to rest in peace very long, as soon afterwards, two men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Johann Peter, bribed the gravedigger to steal Haydn's head. They did this as part of their interest in what subject?

Answer: Phrenology

Phrenology is the now discredited belief that the shape of a person's skull is indicative of their personality and mental traits. Phrenologists were particularly interested in examining the skulls of people who had shown great genius. After examining the skull, the two men concluded that "the bump of music" in Haydn's skull was "fully developed", whatever that means. Peter kept the skull in a collection at his home where he showed it to visitors, although he later gave it to Rosenbaum for safekeeping.

In 1820, the theft was discovered when Haydn's former patron decided to move Haydn's remains to his own family tomb. Rosenbaum and Peter were suspected of the theft but gave the patron a different skull, which was placed with Haydn's remains. Haydn's actual skull was not returned to his tomb until 1954.

However, the other skull was not removed and to this day Haydn's tomb contains two skulls!
5. Grave robbers have been known to kidnap the dead and hold their families to ransom for the return of the body. Not even governments are immune from this indignity. In 1876, law enforcement officers foiled an attempt to steal the body of what late, great President?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

The Lincoln Tomb was a popular place for visitors, and people were allowed to enter the tomb to pay their respects. A group of counterfeiters led by a certain James Kennally hatched a plan to steal Lincoln's body and hold it for ransom with the demand that the government release one of the associates from prison as well as paying them $200,000.

Their plan proved unsuccessful as it turned out that two of Kennally's henchmen were police informants, who tipped off the authorities. Today, Lincoln's remains are kept much more securely.
6. Grave robbing was a serious problem in 19th century Scotland, as medical schools had a high demand for bodies for dissection, but only a very limited supply was available from legal sources. Hence, body snatching became a profitable business. What was the name of the device invented in about 1816 to protect graves from robbers?

Answer: Mortsafe

Medical schools had a legal allowance from the government, which was mainly sourced from executed criminals. However, this supply was inadequate for their purposes, so body snatchers were covertly employed to dig up bodies from new graves. Naturally, relatives of the deceased objected to this and many methods were attempted to protect graves.

The mortsafe was a heavy cage-like contraption with a complex locking mechanism that was placed over a coffin for about six weeks, until the body had decomposed sufficiently to not be worth stealing, after which the mortsafe was removed.
7. What acclaimed silent film actor, who died in 1977 in Switzerland, had the indignity of being exhumed from his grave a few months afterwards by kidnappers who demanded £400,000 for the return of the body?

Answer: Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin's body was stolen in March 1978 by two men who attempted to blackmail his widow for its return. His widow refused to pay up, saying: "Charlie would have thought it ridiculous." The grave robbers buried his body in a field in a coffin, where it was found in May that year by Swiss police, who later arrested the two men. Nowadays, Chaplin's remains are safely buried under six feet of concrete.
8. When grave robbers find it hard to access graves, they sometimes turn to more sinister methods of getting what they want. Such was the case with William Burke and William Hare in Scotland in 1828, when fresh bodies were in high demand by medical schools. Rather than go to the trouble of robbing graves, Burke and Hare started murdering people instead and selling the bodies on the pretense they were already dead when they found them. To which noted Scottish physician did they deliver them, where he used them for dissection at anatomy lectures?

Answer: Robert Knox

Burke and Hare began their career in body snatching when a tenant in Hare's household died suddenly and they decided to steal his body from its coffin before it was buried. They then sold it to Robert Knox, who was unsuspecting of foul play and who told them that he would welcome any more corpses they could deliver.

They then went on to murder a series of 16 people, usually by suffocation, which left no obvious marks that would arouse suspicion when the bodies were examined. They were eventually caught when two lodgers found the body of Burke and Hare's latest victim and alerted the police.

The police offered Hare immunity from prosecution if he would make a full confession. He did so, and Burke was later hanged. Perhaps fittingly, Burke's corpse was dissected by medical students. Knox was exonerated of any wrongdoing, but his reputation was seriously tarnished, and an outraged mob even attacked his house.

However, his lectures continued to be popular and he was able to continue purchasing bodies for dissection.
9. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and few cases are stranger than that of which serial killer and grave robber. Who was the real-life inspiration for such famous characters as Norman Bates, Leatherface, and "Buffalo Bill"?

Answer: Ed Gein

In 1957, Gein was arrested for the murder of a hardware store owner. When the police searched his house they made some very gruesome discoveries, including furniture and clothing made with human skin, among many, many other horrible paraphernalia made out of human remains.

He admitted to police that he had gone to local graveyards on multiple occasions to exhume the bodies of middle-aged women who resembled his beloved late mother, so that he could create a "woman-suit" that he thought would allow him to "become" his mother by wearing it.

He spent the remainder of his life in a mental institution. Gein's story has served as the inspiration for many books and films, such as "Psycho," "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," and "Silence of the Lambs."
10. The discovery of the Terracotta Army in China in 1974 was one of the most amazing archaeological finds of the 20th century. This army of statues, each of which has unique features, was made to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Unlike many other famous tombs, this one has never actually been opened and has thus remained safe from grave robbers for thousands of years. The tomb itself is said to be surrounded by a moat filled with what substance?

Answer: Mercury

The tomb itself is located within a much larger necropolis, which contained the the Terracotta Army along with many other artifacts. The actual tomb is about the size of a football field and appears to be hermetically sealed. Archaeologists have not yet attempted to open it, partly because of concerns about preserving its contents, which could be damaged by exposure to the air, and partly because excavating the tomb is thought to be hazardous. Soil samples around the tomb indicate extremely high levels of mercury contamination, which lend credence to the legend that it is actually surrounded by a moat of mercury.
Source: Author agentofchaos

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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