Wills are usually associated with houses, money and family heirlooms, but some historical testaments contained extraordinarily strange instructions. From a literary masterpiece nearly being destroyed to a philosopher arranging to be displayed as a statue, these unusual wills reveal how some people tried to control their legacy even after death. (unsplash) A Countess Wanted Her Right Hand Buried Separately: When the Countess of Loudoun died in 1874, she left an extraordinary instruction: her right hand was to be cut off and buried separately in Donington Park. The burial site was to be marked with the family motto, “I byde my tyme.” Why she made the request remains unknown, and historians disagree over whether it was ultimately carried out. (wikimedia commons) A Medieval Earl left a piece of the true cross: In 1296, William de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, left his Wife a lavish cross that supposedly contained a fragment of the wood from Christ’s crucifixion. Such relics were highly prized during the Middle Ages and were often kept inside elaborate gold and jewelled reliquaries. (wikimedia commons) A Will Created the “Great Stork Derby”: Toronto lawyer Charles Vance Millar turned his will into one final prank. Among his unusual bequests, he left the remainder of his fortune to the Toronto mother who gave birth to the most children during the 10 years following his death in 1926. The resulting “Great Stork Derby” attracted enormous media attention and eventually ended in a four-way tie, with each winning family receiving the equivalent of about $2.1 million in today's Canadian dollars. (wikimedia commons) Jeremy Bentham Wanted to Become a Statue: Philosopher Jeremy Bentham left detailed instructions for what should happen to his body. After his death in 1832, he wanted his skeleton reassembled, dressed in his own clothes, seated in his favourite chair and displayed as an “auto-icon”. His actual head could not be successfully preserved, so a wax replacement was eventually used. His unusual figure remains at University College London. (wikimedia commons) One Man Wanted a Palace for Cats: Ohio animal lover Jonathan Jackson left instructions for his fortune to be used to create an elaborate home for cats. His proposed facility was to include bedrooms, a dining hall, climbing areas, exercise spaces and even an auditorium where the cats could listen to accordion concerts. Jackson believed humans had a duty to protect animals. (wikimedia commons) Virgil wanted the Aeneid burned: When Roman poet Virgil died in 19 BCE, he considered his epic Aeneid unfinished and reportedly instructed his friends and literary executors to burn the manuscript. Fortunately, they ignored his wishes. According to tradition, Emperor Augustus intervened and ordered the poem preserved and published, saving one of antiquity’s most influential literary works. (wikimedia commons)
