Charles Dickens
He’s the man we can thank for Christmas. When he wrote A Christmas Carol, Christmas celebrations weren’t in vogue, and it was his triumphant and life-changing book that flipped the switch in England, setting off a culture change that still hasn’t reversed. His odd life and unique sensibilities produced plenty of other notable works such as David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities, and his will also stands out.
He demanded that all mourners attending his services would not be allowed to wear scarves, cloaks, black bows, long hatbands or, as he put it, any other “revolting absurdity.” Come on, people. Smile.
William Shakespeare
Ah, the bard. The man who wrote famous love stories like Romeo and Juliet, historical plays like Henry V, and tragedies like Romeo and Juliet. For most of his life, he was married to Anne Hathaway (no, not that one). It's no surprise Shakespeare was married – have you read his sonnets? The guy knew how to spin a verse. Yet when he died, he left his wife a rather strange gift.
He wanted her to receive his...second-best bed. Not even his best bed. His second-best bed. Why would ol' Will make this request? Perhaps it was the matrimonial bed, which held special significance for the couple, or his best bed was to be his deathbed, and he didn't want Anne sleeping where he died.
Leona Helmsley
As a businesswoman and convicted felon, Helmsley had a nickname: The Queen of Mean. Her flamboyant personality and reputation for tyrannical behavior followed her all her life, and after she got arrested for tax evasion, her famous quote “We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes” also started following her around.
Her priorities were also skewed when it came to her will, which had plenty to give out as a rich hotel owner. She left ten million dollars to her brother, five million dollars to her multiple grandsons, and the rest (twelve million) to her dog, a Maltese pup named Trouble.
Harry Houdini
No magician, illusionist, or escape artist has gotten as much fame as Houdini – his name has become code for someone who can't be tied down. There's another code associated with him, however. Toward the end of his life, he became interested in the spiritual and the afterlife, attending seances with his wife.
In his will, he left a code for his wife – if she was able to contact him after his death, he would give the code to prove it was really him. Every year on the date of his death (Halloween), she held seances, but was apparently never able to contact him. Which, let's be real, shocker.
Napoleon Bonaparte
While the man had a complex named after him, even though he wasn't all that short. He was average for his day, but differences in measuring formats made the English think he was shorter, which they played up for politics. Yet he's still remembered as a little shorty, and he definitely had his eccentricities.
In his last will and testament, for example, he requested that his head be shaved, and his hair be divided among friends. Now there's a keepsake that is sure to raise some eyebrows. We wonder how much hair each person got. Were these four people? Or was this a hundred people each getting a single strand of worn-out hair?