The abduction of Chaplin’s body

He was only 1.65 meters tall and was one of the tallest – the film comedian Charlie Chaplin. He was 88 years old and died after an eventful life on Christmas Day 1977. Chaplin was buried in Corsier cemetery near Vevey, very close to the villa where he had lived for decades. But here begins the bizarre story that could come out of one of the many Chaplin films.

Chaplin’s so-called “eternal rest” in the grave did not last long: On the night of March 1 to 2, 1978, two men in black rushed through the Corsier cemetery with flashlights and shovels. Both are unemployed car mechanics, one is 24 and the other 38. You dream of your own car workshop with an elevator and many customers. To do this, they visit Charlie Chaplin’s grave that night, using their shovels and digging until they can find the coffin of the world famous comedian.

The two men from Bulgaria and Poland lift the 135 kilogram oak coffin out of the ground, carry it across the cemetery and load it into their waiting station wagon. You smell big business – but what to do with a heavy oak coffin with a prominent corpse in the meantime?

The kidnappers find a nondescript corn field near Noville on Lake Geneva, not far from the mouth of the Rhône. There they dig a big hole and bury the coffin with the film comedian. First they wait, so that after the discovery of the open grave the rumors circulate wildly: were souvenir hunters at work? Should Chaplin be buried in England as he once wanted? Still others suggest that Chaplin was actually a Jew and should have been buried in a Jewish cemetery.

But then – after ten weeks! – the kidnappers get in touch: they demand a ransom of $ 600,000 from Chaplin’s family for the remains. It has now become known that the grave of the celebrity has been dug in Corsier. Therefore, the kidnappers are not the only ones demanding money: freeriders get in touch and also make demands on the offspring. So the kidnappers have to prove that they are in possession of Chaplin’s box: They do this with a photo in which the comedian’s box is in the field next to a hole.

This gives them a first indication of the Vaud police, who are investigating under high pressure. Chaplin’s widow Oona pretends to agree to the ransom demand, but the family’s lawyer calls the kidnappers several times, ostensibly to negotiate the amount they demand.

But the police set up a trap circuit and can use it to locate the kidnapper’s call center. The grave robbers continue to call from other phone booths in Lausanne, so investigators are monitoring more than 200 phone booths in total. Exactly 76 days after the kidnapping, the police fell into the trap: on May 16, they arrested the two kidnappers.

Unfortunately, the kidnappers cannot remember exactly where they buried the coffin in the field near Noville. Therefore, the police must use metal detectors and then find Chaplin’s remains, thanks to the metal handles on the mortuary temple. It really feels like a movie scene…!

Charlie Chaplin’s coffin is finally buried for the second time. But this time the coffin is cemented two meters deep and covered with a concrete lid. As befits Charlie Chaplin, the macabre grave robbery is also honored on film: French director Xavier Beauvois films the material with Benoit Poelvoorde, Roschdy Zem and Chiara Mastroianni. The movie will be released in 2014 «The incredible kidnapping of Charlie Chaplin» («Le racon de la gloire») to the cinemas. In the film, Chaplin’s daughter feels sorry for the kidnappers and is indulgent and generous.

In real life, the two grave robbers do not get away: they are tried and convicted of disorderly conduct and extortion: the ringleader to four and a half years in prison, his accomplice to 18 months of probation.