The strangest wills in the world. The most unusual wills in history

Light in the grave
A certain Viennese millionaire, who was afraid of the dark, demanded that a light be always on in his grave.

I will return from that world! ..
John Bowman, a Vermont entrepreneur, died after burying his beloved wife and two daughters. Absolutely confident that he would meet them in the next world and somehow manage to return to this world, he ordered that his mansion be kept in full readiness for his return and serve a late dinner on the table every evening. Bowman died in 1891. Late dinner in his mansion was stopped only in 1950, when the money allocated for the maintenance of the house and servants ran out.

The longest testament in the world
It was left by the American housewife Frederica Cook in 1925. It consisted of 95,940 words and was never read aloud in its entirety, as is usually the case. Mrs. Cook did not have much wealth, and her property could be counted on the fingers. But Mrs. Cook, who had made many friends and enemies, had a brilliant memory and found a few words (good or evil is another matter) to all of them. She wrote a will for 20 years, and many who saw her doing this were sure that she was writing a novel. By the way, those who nevertheless managed to read the will in its entirety claim that it reads like a real women's novel, and if it is printed, success is guaranteed!

The shortest testament
The shortest testament belongs to the German Karl Tausch. On June 19, 1967, in the presence of a notary, the dying Tausch wrote only two words on a piece of paper: “All to my wife.”

The most offensive testament
Compiled by the Australian Francis Lord, who, having written off his fortune to charitable organizations, friends and servants, only mentioned his wife at the end. He bequeathed one shilling to her - so that she "buy a ticket for the tram, go somewhere and drown herself."
Most impractical testament
In Iran or Belgium, you can never bequeath your property to a dog or cat, and in America or Europe, you can specify Osama bin Laden as the heir. However, a large number of strange wills written in Britain, America or other states whose legislation is based on Anglo-Saxon law is explained precisely by the fact that there the rights of the testator are practically unlimited. Your last will is only yours. It can be contested only if there is reason to doubt that the testator was of sound mind.

First testament to animals
The first person who bequeathed all his property to animals is a resident of the American city of Columbus Jackson, who instructed his executors to build a hostel for cats with comfortable bedrooms, a dining room, a library and a concert hall in which cats could enjoy music, and a comfortable roof for walks.
Testament to God
A certain woman from Cherokee County left her entire fortune to God. The court, having considered the will and finding no grounds for cancellation, instructed the local sheriff to find the beneficiary and ensure the transfer of the inheritance to him. A few days later, Cherokee County became famous as the only place on the planet that officially recognized its godforsakenness! The sheriff's report to the local judge stated:

After extensive and careful research, we could not find God in the territory of this district.

Testament to Satan
The Finnish government has every reason to be considered the official representative of the devil. One of the citizens of the country bequeathed all his property to Satan. The state successfully sued itself all the money!

Testament in favor of the competition "the most beautiful nose"
One Frenchman left money for an annual competition for the most beautiful nose, to which representatives of all nations and races, with the exception of Russians, are allowed, provided that the participants in the competition have red hair and black eyebrows.

Bury Sandra in the car!
California high society star Sandra West's last will was to be buried in a silk nightgown, driving her beloved Ferrari. The executor was instructed to see to it that the chair was pushed back for maximum comfort. Among other things, the executor decided to fill the grave with concrete, fearing vandals who could encroach on the car.

Don't take off Dorothy's clothes!
It was much easier to fulfill the will of the American singer Dorothy Dandbridge, who wrote: “In the event of death, do not take off my clothes, no matter what I turn out to be - with a scarf, in a dressing gown or whatever. Creme as is!”

The Most Generous Testament
belongs to Robert Louis Stevenson, who gave one of his friends his birthday. The lady was born on Christmas Day 25 December, and her own holiday was always forgotten. Changing this date to November 13, the writer's birthday, could have changed the situation, but the court forbade satisfying the last will of the author of Treasure Island: Stevenson was not the legal owner of the birthday, and therefore could not bequeath it to anyone.
cruel testament
The last wish of Mary Murphy, a wealthy California widow, was not granted. She ordered that her beloved dog Saido be euthanized in order to "save the latter from the moral anguish associated with the loss of its mistress."
The Society for the Fight against Cruelty to Animals stood up for the dog, which proved that the killing of a healthy and young dog violates California law.

"Educational" testament of Charles Millar
Canadian lawyer Charles Millar showed a remarkable sense of humor in his will and helped some people to better understand their own nature. His will is not just a collection of jokes on his neighbors, but also a document that had a fantastic impact on the life of his hometown of Toronto and all of Canada. Charles Millar died in 1928, and his last will became a sensation. He mentioned in his will two friends, a judge and a preacher, known throughout Canada for their hatred of gambling. He left them a large stake in one of the hippodromes. In addition to the fact that both profited from gambling as a result, they automatically - as shareholders - became members of the jockey club, with which both had been fighting for many years. The judge and the preacher accepted the gift!
The main point of the will was an unprecedentedly large sum of money, which the lawyer bequeathed to the woman of Toronto who, within ten years from the time of his death, would give birth to the largest number of children.

What happened next in Canada was called the "Great Toronto Derby". The surge in births in Toronto and across Canada this decade has been phenomenal. On May 30, 1938, exactly ten years after Millar's death, the city court began considering probate applications. A woman who gave birth to ten children in ten years was disqualified because not all of her children were from the same man, as Millar demanded. Another woman was also disqualified: she gave birth nine times, but five children were stillborn. Both ladies received a consolation prize of $13,000. $500,000 were distributed in equal shares among four families, in which nine children were born in ten years. As the newspapers later reported, there were no more children in these families.
To five more of his comrades, principled opponents of alcoholic beverages, Millar bequeathed shares of the brewing company. Only one out of five refused the inheritance. To three more acquaintances who could not stand each other so much that they refused to be at the same time in the same place, he bequeathed his villa in Jamaica.

Nobel's testament
“I, the undersigned Alfred Bernhard Nobel, after mature consideration, hereby declare:
... all my remaining property is to be invested by my executor in safe papers and will form a fund, the interest on which will be distributed annually in the form of bonuses to those who during the previous year have done the greatest benefit to mankind
… The interest should be divided into five parts, which will be distributed as follows: one part to the one who makes the most important discovery or invention in the field of physics; one - to the one who will make the most important discovery or improvement in the field of chemistry; one - to someone who makes an important discovery in the field of physiology or medicine; one - to the one who in the field of literature will create the most outstanding work of the idealistic trend; and one to the one who will make the greatest contribution to the cause that contributes to the destruction or reduction of existing armies, support or encouragement of peace congresses.
This is probably the most famous and most useful testament for all mankind.

The Most Impossible Testament
So far, it is impossible to fulfill the will of a certain Frenchman who wrote that he bequeathed all his property to "the first person who came into contact with an inhabitant of any celestial body, with the exception of Mars."

William Shakespeare left most historically useful testament: he listed all his property from furniture to shoes, disposing of each item separately.

Niels Bohr's laboratory assistant compiled the most complex testament in the world, which consisted of special terms and very complex phraseological turns - even expert linguists were called in to decipher it.
The largest amount of money specified in the will - $ 500 million - Henry Ford bequeathed this amount to be distributed among 4157 educational and charitable institutions.

"I categorically and unequivocally forbid any inventory of my inheritance, any judicial intervention and disclosure of my fortune" - Michel Rothschild's will was recognized the most secret testament in the world.

In the will of the famous illusionist Harry Houdini, it was said that he wrote down all the secrets and secrets of his tricks and put them in a safe, which he allowed to open on the day of his centenary. The safe was empty.

To the one who manages to release five cigarette rings from his mouth and skip the sixth inside them - the great comedian Charlie Chaplin bequeathed $ 1 million. This amount has not yet been received by anyone.

A very unusual testament
left at the beginning of the twentieth century by the German professor Paul Wolfskel: whoever is the first to present a complete proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, the Göttingen Academy of Sciences is obliged to award 50,000 gold marks. This prize has not yet been received by anyone.

And finally, one very funny story.
Each of 11 vintage cars from the collection of a famous lawyer was valued at $25,000. In his will, he distributed them among 3 sons as follows: half was to go to the eldest, a quarter to the middle, one sixth to the youngest. But how can you cut 11 cars in half? Or separate one-sixth from them? The sons argued for a long time, but could not come to a consensus. At this time, the famous numerologist Mrs. Zero drove past them in her new sports car. After the brothers explained the situation to her, she acted as follows: she put her car together with collection cars - there were 12 cars. In accordance with the will, she gave half of the cars - 6 - to the elder, the fourth part - 3 cars - received the middle and - 2 cars - junior. 6 plus 3 plus 2 - 11 cars - that's right!

Before death, people talk about the most important and intimate, leave wills in which they dictate their last will. Sometimes this will is quite eccentric and can even shock.

To remember

The German poet and publicist Heinrich Heine was the most prominent representative of the Byronic trend, he gained fame during his lifetime, his fame did not fade even after his death. Heine's work was banned in Nazi Germany, the poet's books were burned.
Heinrich Heine owns one of the strangest wills in history. In 1841 he married Eugenia Mirat, a simple and rude woman, a saleswoman in a shoe store. In his will, the poet gave all his money to the widow, but with one condition: after the death of her husband, she must immediately marry. According to Heine, in this way he provided himself with the confidence that at least one person would regret his death.

Millionaire Dog

American entrepreneur and film producer Roger Dorcas was an eccentric man during his lifetime, led a rather riotous life, so his death from a heart attack did not come as a surprise. But his will was a surprise. According to him, his young wife Wendy Dietrich, whom he married a year before his death, Roger left one cent. But the producer left his dog Maximilian more than $ 60 million. This became possible due to the fact that Dorcas took care of the paperwork for his dog in advance. With the help of lawyers, he even made an insurance certificate for the dog.

Wendy Dietrich, of course, was unhappy with Roger's decision, but the 24-year-old widow did not give up without a fight. With the help of the same lawyers, she found a way out. At first she became the sole guardian of the dog, and then she married him. According to the documents, she could officially manage the money of her ex-husband, and after the death of the dog Maximilian, she became his heiress.

gonzo gun

The creator of the genre of gonzo journalism, the author of the sensational novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the American writer Hunter Thompson, could not afford to leave quietly. He committed suicide on February 20, 2005. Thompson's words, spoken by the writer in an interview with the BBC in 1978, were interpreted as the last will of Thompson. Thompson then said that he dreamed of throwing a death party for his friends; declared that his ashes should be fired from a cannon.

All expenses for this posthumous performance were borne by Johnny Depp. On August 20, 2005, from a specially built cannon mounted on a 46-meter-high crane, the ashes of the writer were shot through a huge six-fingered fist, personifying "gonzo". Johnny Depp also gave away Thompson's debts, which, by the time Hunter left, were no less than two million dollars.

Where no man has gone

On April 21, 1997, the Pegasus rocket was launched into space, on which there were 23 urns with the ashes of people who wanted to rest outside the Earth. The idea came from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who died in October 1991. This last will of Jin is not surprising. It is he who owns the phrase "To boldly go where no man has gone before." In addition to his remains, the remains of Timothy Leary went into Earth orbit, who also spent his whole life discovering "new worlds."

Misogynist

The American lawyer T. M. Zink, who died in 1930, was known as an ardent misogynist. In his will, he specified that his fortune ($35,000) be invested in a fund at interest for 75 years. With the money received, Ti bequeathed to build a library in which all the works would be written by men. The staff of this sexist library, at the request of the lawyer, also had to consist of men. The slogan "No Women Allowed" (Women are not allowed) was to be nailed over the entrance of the institution.

The misogynistic lawyer left his daughter only $5, but she did not accept such a strange will of the deceased father and successfully challenged the will in court. As a result, the library was never built.

There are several types of rich people: some have worked tirelessly all their lives, others have just one idea in a million that helped them fly to the top, others were born into rich families and did not work a single day in their lives, the fourth just bought a lottery ticket for a couple of bucks and now they don’t know where to spend the millions that have fallen on their heads.

Today we will talk about inheritances and those impressive fortunes that have come as a real surprise to many. Most often, an inheritance is left to reimburse relatives for funeral expenses, rituals, etc., but sometimes the amount is a little more ... Several million dollars more.

1. Waitress inherited $500,000 from a customer

Seventeen-year-old waitress Sarah Woods in her town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, in 1992 became friends with Bill Craxton, who often went to the cafe where she worked as a waitress. He was a widower, she lost her father at the age of 10 and this brought them closer. Woods often helped the old man around the house, did minor cleaning and so on. Craxton, in turn, said that he imagined his children exactly like Sarah. He died at the age of 82 from a heart attack. Already in the hospital, just before his death, he indicated the phone number of Woods as a close relative and called her his heiress. So she suddenly had $500,000, a house, and two cars. Woods spent the money on the right thing, on her studies.

2.17 randomly selected Portuguese inherited the fortune of an aristocrat

The Portuguese aristocrat Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral da Camara was a wealthy childless bachelor. He died of natural causes at the age of 42. And on the day of his death, seventeen unsuspecting Portuguese people received a phone call and were told that they had become the heirs of one of the richest people in Portugal. Louis clicked through all of these people in the phone book 13 years before he died. In addition to 25,000 euros, he bequeathed a 12-room apartment, a house and a car. All this was divided among seventeen strangers.

3. Homeless brothers inherited $6.6 million from a grandmother they never knew

Solt and Geza Peladi lived in a cave a few kilometers from Budapest and scoured the city in search of more or less valuable rubbish, in order to sell it later for pennies. Their grandmother lost them long ago and could not find them for a long time. After her death, lawyers contacted social services to track down the two lost brothers, to report that they were now six and a half million richer. It is a miracle that the lawyers managed to find them, because their own mother abandoned them when they were barely a year old.

4. Sergei Sudev inherited 950 million euros from his uncle, whom he barely knows

Sergei knew his uncle from Germany very poorly. He saw him only once and did not count on anything. After the news that he became the heir to almost a billion euros, no one expected Sergei to react this way. Sergey does not see any sense from this money. As he says, "Another headache." The whole city does not give him access, and he has to drive a colleague's car to work. The almost billionaire earns only 150 euros a month, he studies in absentia at the Faculty of Journalism and works as a DJ on the local radio.

5. Mort Zacher inherited $6 million from uncles he thought were poor

A New York accountant spent his childhood watching his parents work 100-hour weeks at a bakery owned by his uncles, Henry and Joe. They were paid with leftover bread and cookies and his whole life was a struggle until he was 36. It was at this age that he learned that his uncles were much more successful than he could have imagined, because it was he who inherited $ 6 million from them. His parents refused this money when their son offered them to take the inheritance they rightfully deserved. Now Mort continues to write his memoirs and is in no hurry to spend a lot of money.

6. Tony Chan inherited $4.2 billion by cheating on a weird woman

Once the richest woman in Asia, Nina Wang, upon learning that she had cancer, rewrote her will, thereby making Tony Chan, a Feng Shui master, happy. He promised that a special practice would help her live forever, if she, of course, did not forget to mention him in her will. Before that, all the money was intended for her family and a small part had to go to charity. When the will was read out, the relatives immediately filed a lawsuit, the court decided the case in favor of the original content. Chan was arrested for fraud and forgery.

7. Eva Paolo inherited $40 million from her lost father

It took a simple Argentine maid nine years of heavy lawsuits, and even the exhumation of the body for DNA comparison, to confirm her relationship with Baron Rufino Otero. Paolo always guessed that her father was of noble blood, and her mother took this secret to the grave.

8. A teenager inherited an island with treasures hidden on it from his grandfather

Josh saw his grandfather only a few times, but this did not stop him from becoming the only unthinkable state of his grandfather. Samuel (Josh's grandfather) never approved of his daughter's marriage for religious reasons, but he doted on his grandson. He left 80 acres of farmland and another 36 acres as a private island. The will also spoke of precious stones hidden somewhere on the island "in a jar." Josh's mother and daughter Samuel says she used to play "treasure island" with her father all the time as a child.

Source 9The homeless man ran away from the police who wanted to tell him the good news about the inheritance of $ 6 million

Thomas Martinez, 67, lived on the street in Santa Cruz de le Sierra in Bolivia. One day, the cops approached him while he was sleeping on a bench to tell him that his late wife, whom he had divorced a few years earlier, had left him $6 million. Martinez decided that they wanted to arrest him for drug possession, vagrancy or alcoholism and ran away. The local newspapers trumpeted him and tried to find him and joked a bit about the freshly minted millionaire: “The local millionaire ran away from his inheritance…” Surprisingly, the whereabouts of the millionaire are still unknown.

10. Charles Vince Millar left his fortune to the "woman with the most children"

Charles Vince Millar was a successful Canadian lawyer and businessman who liked to play pranks on greedy people. At the time of his death, he had no relatives or children left, so the text of the will was full of unusual requests. The strangest and most unusual ordered the lawyer to transfer part of the capital into cash 10 years after his death and give all the money to the mother of many children. This period was called the "stork race", and in the end, litigation flared up. After a thorough check, 4 women divided this money among themselves and each received 750,000 dollars. Each had 9 children.

They are short, long and simply ridiculous. Animals can get fortunes, and shoemakers swear not only in life, but also in wills. So what are the most interesting wills in the world?

The shortest wills

The essence of these orders is embedded in just a few words, but they are so concise that they fully convey the whole meaning of what was written. The first can hardly be called a testament. After all, a banker from London, well-known in his circles, left nothing to his heirs, except for the three words “I am completely ruined.”

The shortest testament in the world consists of two words

His record was broken by Karl Tausch. He wrote only 2 words: “Everything to my wife”, after which he went down in history as the person who made the shortest testament in the world.

The most ridiculous wills

Here the fantasy of the rich played out in earnest. For example, Samuel Bratt's passion for smoking made him take revenge on his wife by making an unusual declaration of will. In order for the spouse to enter into the rights of the inheritance, which amounted to 330,000 pounds, she is obliged to smoke 5 cigars a day. Thus, he took revenge on his wife, who forbade him to smoke his favorite Cuban cigars.

Cigars were mentioned in one of the most unusual wills

Angel Pantoia's relatives granted the deceased's last wish in a rather shocking way. The young man was found dead under the San Juan bridge. The killers were never found. To perpetuate the memory of Angela, his relatives embalmed his body in an upright position and placed him in one of the rooms of his home. According to the brother of the murdered man, they fulfilled his desire to be happy and stand firmly on his feet in his house. And where else can he be happy, if not in the circle of relatives? Anyone can look at Angel by paying only $5.

This is how Angel Pantoia's will was carried out.

The most unusual heiress was the four-legged friend of Leona Helmsley. After the death of the woman, her will was made public, according to which she left $ 12 million for the maintenance of her beloved dog Bedka. According to the deceased, she did not want the pet to lose its proper care and habitual way of life, having lost its mistress. After her death, Bedka is to be buried next to Leona in a posh mausoleum worth about $1,500,000. To manage the inheritance of the dog, the woman entrusted her brother, to whom she left 10 million national American currency. Leona did not forget about her granddaughters, bequeathing them $ 5 million. The relatives categorically disagree with such an expression of will of the deceased and are still challenging it in court.

Leona Helmsley bequeathed $12 million to her dog Bedka

But old Leona was surpassed by film producer Roger Dorcas, who made a ridiculous will in favor of his dog Maximilian, according to which the four-legged became the owner of 65 million dollars. While Roger's wife received only 1 cent. The court recognized the millionaire's order as legal, since during his lifetime he made human documents to the dog. But Roger's wife was not taken aback. Having become a widow, she married a happy heir - the dog Maximilian, because he had all the necessary documents. After the death of the Doberman, the woman, with the full rights of a widow, entered into inheritance rights, because the dog did not leave a will.

Dog Maximilian - an animal that received a record inheritance

Vermont entrepreneur John Bowman also distinguished himself by writing an interesting will. 2 years after the funeral of his beloved wife and children, he died himself, having previously voiced his last wish. According to his considerations, in the afterlife he should meet his family, and reincarnate with them on Earth. Therefore, he ordered that the house be kept clean for the return of the owners and that the table be laid every evening for a late supper. And although the entrepreneur himself died in 1891, his last wish was fulfilled for another 59 years, until the funds allocated for the salaries of the servants and for the repair of the house ran out.

Served table - part of one of the most unusual wills

Fulfilling the last will of California socialite Sandra West, she was buried in a silk peignoir at the wheel of her beloved Ferrari. Moreover, the performers responsible for ensuring that the secular lady was buried in comfort carefully monitored the position of the driver's seat relative to the steering wheel and the degree of location of the mirrors, creating an ideal overview. However, the executor decided to concrete the grave of the star so that her car would not become a temptation for vandals.

Longest Wills

The man - a legend, who made the longest will in the world, is an unknown housewife from America, Frederica Evelyn Stilwell Cook. Her author's work has more than 95 thousand words. No performer has been able to read it aloud from beginning to end. Without much wealth and luxurious real estate, Frederica managed to acquire many friends and enemies in her life. So she dedicated her will to them, writing a few lines about each. It took the housewife 20 years of her life to create such a document. Close people who noticed her at this occupation believed that she was writing a book. And some still believe that if you replicate her testament, you get a great women's novel.

Frederica Evelyn Stilwell Cook wrote the longest will in the world

The second place in the creation of the longest will is given to one of the founders of the United States - Thomas Jefferson. Anxiety about the history and future fate of his native country did not leave him even during the preparation of the document. Therefore, among the legally significant lines about the rights of heredity, quite often there were lyrical digressions about the hard fate of the inhabitants of America. As a result, the heirs of Thomas were given the condition that they could legally dispose of the inheritance only after the emancipation of all their slaves.

Some rich and famous people express their last will in a very peculiar way. There are cases when their wills became a real sensation and shock to the public. Today we will talk about such expressions of will of celebrities. Whatever the main goal they did not pursue, they achieved one thing for sure - even after many years, their name is still well known.

Samuel Bratt

Being addicted to smoking, the wealthy Mr. Bratt, dying, decided to take revenge on his wife, who tried to fight his bad habit through the strictest prohibitions. Under the terms of the will, she could only exercise the right to the inheritance if she began to smoke five cigars a day. The state of Mr. Bratt at that time was estimated at 330 thousand pounds.

Leona Hemsley

The last will of the eccentric millionaire was that after her death, her own grandchildren should receive $ 5 million, but her beloved dog - twice as much. When she is gone, then, at the request of Hemsley, the animal should be buried next to her in a special mausoleum for one and a half million dollars.

Henry Ford

The famous tycoon left half a billion dollars for charity after his death. He wished that the money went to more than 4 thousand educational and charitable institutions. This is the largest donation in history to date.

Gene Rodenberry

The creator of the Star Trek franchise gave himself a 'fantastic' funeral. Even during his lifetime, he wished that his body was cremated and the ashes scattered in space. Rodenberry's will was fulfilled the way he wanted, immortalizing him in the unexplored expanses of the universe.

Angel Pantoia

The Puerto Rican died a violent death. It is still not known by whose hands. The victim's brother voiced the desire of the deceased to live in his father's house and stand firmly on his feet. Relatives fulfilled his will in a very peculiar way - they left the embalmed body of Pantoya in the mother's house in an upright position.

Heinrich Heine

All his life, the famous poet Heine regretted that he had tied the knot with a stupid, quarrelsome and unkind woman - a shoe saleswoman Evgenia Mirat. After his death, he left her his fortune with the condition that his wife officially marry a second time. Thus, he considered singing, at least one person will understand him and will grieve about his death.

A will is one of the ways to leave a mark on your life. As you can see, people use this opportunity in different ways: someone for revenge, and someone for good deeds. What will be the last will of a person is the personal choice of everyone. In any case, this decision will determine what kind of life a person lived, and what descendants will remember about him.