The Jackson Family's Grave-Robbing Fears

Michael Jackson's family reportedly picked Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, for his Saturday burial in part due to concerns that deranged fans might run away with his corpse. Are their fears completely wacky? Not so, writes Bess Lovejoy for Faster Times, who details a litany of attempted and sometimes successful corpse-napping efforts over the years. Jackson's closest cultural parallel, Elvis Presley, for example, was the subject of an attempt by four men to steal his body and ransom it. Charlie Chaplin's widow refused to pony up a six-figure ransom after kidnappers robbed his grave in 1978, but fortunately the body turned up intact in a cornfield once the criminals apparently realized their scheme was a bust.