# beheadings and burial

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beheadings-and-burial/145577>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 30, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beheadings-and-burial/145577 "2002-12-30T00:32:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![raisinbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beheadings-and-burial/145577/1 "2002-12-30T00:32:05Z")

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Are beheaded criminals usually buried with their heads or are they buried in separate graves?

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**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beheadings-and-burial/145577/2 "2002-12-30T00:40:12Z")

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I’m thinking the separate graves thing is reserved for vampires, orcs, etc.

Most of the beheadings that take place in the US are the result of accidents, with the odd and overdone murder a distant second. For the most part, one assumes, family members like them to chuck the head in with the body, for the funeral anyway.

Hope this helps.

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beheadings-and-burial/145577/3 "2002-12-30T03:02:51Z")

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Well, in the old days in England, high-ranking prisoners were beheaded in the Tower. If the sentence didn’t include quartering, the corpse usually ended up in the crypt beneath the Tower chapel (I believe it’s St. Peter ad vincula, i.e. “in chains”, an appropriate enough dedication), and the head was impaled on a spike over Traitors’ Gate. If the sentence included quartering, the head would be at Traitors’ Gate and the four quarters might be sent to other major cities to be publicly displayed.

Oliver Cromwell’s head is buried in the chapel of his college at Oxford, although he died a natural death. After the Restoration, Charles II ordered that Cromwell and the other regicides who had died be dug up and beheaded. Cromwell’s head was publicly displayed, but eventually came back into the possession of his family, and ultimately ended up buried in his college’s chapel.

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**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beheadings-and-burial/145577/4 "2002-12-30T03:11:57Z")

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In Saudi Arabia, where they still do public beheadings by sword, I believe that the head is reattached for burial.

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**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beheadings-and-burial/145577/5 "2002-12-30T03:18:43Z")

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Anne Boleyn was buried in an arrow chest in the chapel on the grounds of the Tower. The chest was too short for a normal-sized person, but just right for a decapitated body. Her ladies tucked Anne’s head under her arm.