Harry Houdini (1874 - 1926)
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Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician widely regarded as one of the greatest ever escape artist, if not the greatest, of his era and probably of all time. He died in 1926 due to ruptured appendix, and not due to his failure to escape from one of his tricks, as is commonly believed. In his will, Houdini left his magician's props and effects to Theodore Hardeen, his brother and former performing partner. His vast library on magic and the occult were to be presented to the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) provided that J. Malcolm Bird, its research head and editor of ASPR journal, resigned; but when Bird refused, the collection went to the Library of Congress instead. Houdini also gave his wife Bess a secret code composed of ten words randomly selected from a letter sent by his friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which he would use to contact her from the afterlife. However, Houdini never appeared during séances conducted by his wife on every Halloween for ten consecutive years following his death.
Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832)
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Bentham was a British philosopher and social reformer, best known for being a proponent of utilitarianism and the concept of animal rights. He gave his entire estate to the London Hospital on the condition that his remains were to be preserved and allowed to preside over its board meetings. Surprisingly, all the demands of his will were strictly abided by. His body was presented to Dr. Smith, who did a complete dissection for the purpose of teaching anatomy to educate both the public and medical students, as was stipulated in his will. His bones were reassembled into a skeleton that was wax-coated from a cast with his unexpressive face, outfitted with his clothes and put on a glass-fronted wooden cabinet seated in a chair. His wax likeness, accordingly noted as "not voting," was in attendance at meetings for 92 years.
Gouverneur Morris (1752 - 1816)
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Gouverneur Morris was an American statesman who served as a member of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and was largely credited for authoring major portions of the United States Constitution, particularly the Preamble. He got married late in life, at age 57 to be exact, to the youthful and vibrant Anne Cary Randolph, to whom he willed an already sizeable fortune. However, very much grateful for the wonderful memories she had given him, he made an additional provision stating that should she ever choose to remarry, her inheritance would be doubled.
William Randolph Hearst (1863 - 1951)
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Hearst, American newspaper magnate, was the owner of the New York Morning Journal that started the unethical and unprofessional practice of what is now termed as "yellow journalism" in the late 1890s. Following his death in 1951 of a heart attack, his will provided for the division of his $60 million dollar estate into three trusts -- one each for his widow, sons and the Hearst Foundation for Charitable Purposes. And to challenge those who alleged that he had children out of wedlock, he willed them one dollar if they could provide evidence that he or she is a child of his, with a declaration that such claim would completely be a lie. No one ever came forward to claim it.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)
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Stevenson was a well-loved Scottish writer, whose most popular works include the novels "Treasure Island," "Kidnapped" and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"; and two volumes of poems "A Child's Garden of Verses" and "Underwoods." Stevenson conveyed his wish to be buried atop Mount Vaea in Samoa, "under the wide and starry sky" he had depicted in his "Requiem," a piece he had always determined to use as his epitaph. He also attempted to will his birthday to a good friend, who lamented that she never really had a birthday celebration as she was born on Christmas day.
Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856)
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Heine was one of the important German romantic poets, best known for his lyric poetry, many of which had been set to music by eminent "lied" composers as Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann. In his last will, his wife would receive his entire estate on the condition that she marry again, stating the reason for such a provision with straightforwardness -- "because then there will be at least one man to regret my death."
Charles Vance Millar (1853 - 1927)
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Millar was a successful Canadian lawyer and investor, who was very much well-known for his playing pranks that preyed on people's greed and duplicity, such as leaving cash on a sidewalk and watching from a distance how passers-by sneakily pocketed it. His final and greatest practical joke was his will, which was full of humorous bequests. Anti-gambling proponents were given shares of beer distilleries and race tracks. Three men who loathed each other were granted joint lifetime tenancy in his vacation residence in Jamaica. However, the strangest bequest of them all: having neither dependents nor near-relatives, the remainder of his estate was to be given to the mother who gave birth to the most number of children in the ten years following his death. The fertility provision drove countless Canadian wives into a competition that became known as the "Great Stork Derby." Although there were attempts to invalidate the will on the ground that it encouraged immorality, the will survived. By 1938, Millar's investment had grown to be worth $750,000, which was equally shared by four Toronto women who each produced 9 children within the time span. One winner eventually declared her firm support for birth control in the future.
Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805)
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Nelson was a British admiral, who famously took part in many Napoleonic wars, particularly the Battle of Trafalgar, a crucial victorious war for the British during which he lost his life. Even though very much married, Nelson became enmeshed in an open affair with Lady Hamilton, the wife of William Hamilton, a love affair that lasted until his death. As he was about to close in on the French during the Battle of Trafalgar, he prepared a will addressed it to his countrymen, detailing the services that his mistress had done for England, and bequeathing her as "a legacy to my King and country; that they will give her an ample provision to maintain her rank in life." Well, the King and the admiralty totally snubbed the gift.
Patrick Henry (1736 -1799)
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Henry was an American politician and patriot, best remembered for his declaration "Give me liberty or give me death," a statement taken seriously by Dorothea, his widow. He left all his possessions to his wife for as long as she would never marry again. But then, if she did, he cut her off without a cent for, he explained, "It would make me unhappy to feel I have worked all my life only to support another man's wife!" Dorothea opted for the freedom of choice and married his cousin Judge Winston anyway.
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