# Was Cagliostro an Immortal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 21, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355 "2009-11-21T00:53:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/1 "2009-11-21T00:53:42Z")
The 18th century con man/bon viviant was alleged to have never died. No burial was ever witnessed, and there is no grave. Was he an immortal? Does he still exist? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/2 "2009-11-21T01:02:40Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > The 18th century **con man** /bon viviant was **alleged** to have never died. No burial was ever witnessed, and there is no grave. > Was he an immortal? Does he still exist? I think you answered your own question. He’s dead, all right. Whether he’s buried is a different matter. Wiki notes he snuffed it [here.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_of_San_Leo) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/3 "2009-11-21T01:12:11Z")
I remember researching that a few years ago, since I have always been curious about this character from reading the novels of Alexandre Dumas in which Joseph Balsama / Cagliostro figures. At the time I found out that the real Cagliostro died in an Italian prison. [French wikipedia](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Balsamo#Enterrement_et_d.C3.A9terrement) quotes some italian guy, Marco Perazzoni, who, at the age of 4, witnessed Cagliostro’s burial. Marco Perazzoni goes on to relate that several years later some Polish soldiers, accompanying the French army who occupied the fortress of Rocca de San Leo (where Cagliostro had been imprisoned and where he was buried), dug up Cagliostro’s body and drank wine from Cagliostro’s skull. French wikipedia doesn’t have a cite for where they found this information. In any case, claims of immortality would require stronger proof than the claim that no one knows where to find the body. Is Amelia Earhart immortal? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/4 "2009-11-21T02:37:47Z")
Yes, Ralph. Cagliostro is immortal. He never died and he never will. He lives down the street from me, as a matter of fact, and likes to tell kids to stay off his lawn. My post is my cite. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/5 "2009-11-21T02:44:26Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > Is Amelia Earhart immortal? And Jimmy Hoffa. Since the factual answer to the GQ is a definitive “no,” I’m going to send this to MPSIMS. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/6 "2009-11-21T03:20:08Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > . > > Since the factual answer to the GQ is a definitive “no,” I’m going to send this to MPSIMS. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator Thank you! _ **There can be only one** _. I never get to post the first Highlander reference ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/7 "2009-11-21T03:24:32Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Yes, Ralph. Cagliostro is immortal. He never died and he never will. He lives down the street from me, as a matter of fact, and likes to tell kids to stay off his lawn. > > My post is my cite. I bought the guy lunch, & he never paid me back. He owes me 49 cents. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/8 "2009-11-21T04:02:15Z")
He is not immortal. He’s due to snuff it along with rest of us when the Maya wipe us out in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/9 "2009-11-21T04:17:00Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I bought the guy lunch, & he never paid me back. > He owes me 49 cents. 49 cents? The last time lunch was 49 cents was in… Hokey smokes! We have two immortals! ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/10 "2009-11-21T04:48:54Z")
He was but he isn’t anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/11 "2009-11-21T16:29:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Since the factual answer to the GQ is a definitive “no,” Where is your childhood sense of wonder and imagination? If everyone was like this Alberto Santos-Dumont would have stuck to eating in expensive restaurants, and the Wright brothers would have fixed bicycles their whole lives. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-cagliostro-an-immortal/518355/12 "2009-11-21T16:51:26Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > Where is your childhood sense of wonder and imagination? If everyone was like this Alberto Santos-Dumont would have stuck to eating in expensive restaurants, and the Wright brothers would have fixed bicycles their whole lives. Santos-Dumont did stick to eating in expensive restaurants. He flew the Baladeuse to Maxim’s regularly.