From putting your cremated remains in a Pringles tube to screwing over your family and leaving millions to your pet dog, we count ten of the strangest last wishes and testaments!
10 – Dog Inherits Fortune,
- Some people treat their dogs like members of the family, but millionaire Leona Helmsley treated her Maltese Terrier Trouble like royalty. Not only did Trouble enjoy a life of pampered luxury, but Leona left the animal a $12 million trust fund in her will.
- Before she passed away Leona asked her brother Alvin to oversee the trust. Alvin himself received $10 million in the will. He can’t complain about that, but it does mean she loved her spoiled pooch more than her own flesh and blood… Two of Leona’s grandsons, on the other hand, were left a comparatively tiny $5 million, while her other grandchildren were left out of the will entirely! They were so pissed that they tried to contest the will in court.
- But Trouble, the millionaire Maltese, doesn’t have to worry about any of that. When she departs for the big dog kennel in the sky, she’ll be buried right next to Leona in a lavish $1.4 million New York
9 – Fred Baur,
- The owner and founder of Pringles chips was so proud of his life’s work that he asked to have cremated remains put inside a Pringles tube. Fred first came up with the brilliant idea to vertically stack chips in a tube back in 1966. At the time the idea seemed ridiculous, but the design went on to become an iconic cultural phenomenon.
- Fred first mentioned his wish to be laid to rest in a Pringles tube way back in the 1980s. His kids thought he was joking, but they came around to the idea when they saw he’d formally written it into his will. They weren’t sure which Pringles flavour to use, but after much debate they settled on Original.
- Definitely a memorable way to go. I wonder if Pringle will do something similar…
8 – Charles Vance Miller,
- Toronto-based attorney Charles Vance Miller loved practical jokes so much that he wanted them to be his lasting legacy. In his last will and testament he left a large sum of money a Toronto woman who produced the most offspring in the ten years following his death.
- So, in the decade between 1926 and 1936, Toronto women procreated like crazy, trying to get a hold of that sweet sweet baby money. The media dubbed the whole thing ‘The Great Stork Derby’.
- In the end, four women tied for first place with nine children each. They received about $125,000 each and Charles Vance Miller presumably had a good old laugh from up in the clouds.
7 – Angel Pantoja Medina,
- Twenty-four-year-old Angel Pantoja Medina had an unusual last request when he passed away in 2008. He asked that his body be propped upright and put on public display for his entire funeral.
- Staff at the Marin Funeral Home were more than happy to honour this request. They used a special embalming treatment to keep Angel’s body upright for the emotional three-day wake which took place at his mother’s home.
- Mourners say Angel was quite the sight. He was posed in the corner of the living room, dressed in his signature New York Yankees cap and sunglasses. Truly an upstanding gentleman.
6 – Samuel Bratt,
- Most people use their wills to help out loved ones who were left behind, but Samuel Bratt used his to get even. You see, Samuel’s wife hated her husband’s hobby of smoking cigars. She was constantly on his case about quitting and completely banned him from smoking them at home.
- Samuel got so tired of being denied his favourite thing in the world that he concocted some cigar-flavoured revenge. When he died he left his wife £330,000 – with one small catch. To claim the money, Samuel’s wife was legally required to smoke five cigars a day.
- It may have taken him till death but Samuel did what most men never manage to do: he finally got the upper hand in his marriage.