William Shakespeare’s skull is probably missing from his tomb, Archaeologists reveal

Archaeologists disclosed this week that the skull of William Shakespeare is probably missing from his tomb at Holy Trinity church in Stratford-on-Avon.

The news has come a month prior to the 400th death anniversary of Shakespeare. The discovery has provided credibility to a legend that the skull was stolen by grave robbers in 1794.

It has also given him something in common with other prominent leaders, writers and artists: even after death people can’t keep their hands off him.

Some years back, Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter told the police that someone has been selling parts of the brain of fascist Italian dictator on eBay. In no time, the auction site removed the listing because users can’t sell body parts on the site.

There were chances that the sellers didn’t really have Mussolini’s brain. However, it’s not unlikely, because just part of his brain was given to his widow post his death at the end of World War II. The other parts of him were supposedly kept in the US.

In 1791, nearly 10 years after the death of Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a gravedigger dubbed Joseph Rothmayer apparently snatched the skull for himself. In the early 20th century, the souvenir was given to the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation.

However, even today researchers aren’t sure that the skull belonged to Mozart, and in fact in 2006, DNA tests displayed that the skull didn’t match the leftovers of two of his dead relatives. This only indicated that either the skull was fake or some type of cheating was going on.

It is interesting to know that Mozart wasn’t the sole composer of his time to be grave-robbed as there were Ludwig van Beethoven and Joseph Haydn, who had got part or all of their skull stolen.