Hey YouTube, Jim here! Welcome to Top10Archive! If you’ve ever been to a funeral, you’ve seen
that at the end of their lives, some people choose to have open caskets. For some families,
it provides closure. For others, it’s too creepy, so they opt out. Today,
we’re talking about 10 celebrities who said their last goodbye at their funeral with an open casket.
10. Elvis Presley An open casket celebrity funeral
allows the fans to pay their respects before they see their idol off forever.
Some families of late celebrities opt for public viewing to prevent the spread of
inaccurate death rumors. Elvis is one of the latter, but it doesn’t seem to have worked,
as some still think he’s alive. Elvis died of a heart attack in August of 1977, and the iconic
open casket photo is said to have been snapped by Elvis’ cousin Bobby Mann, who was paid $18,000 by
Ian Calder of The National Inquirer. Still, even with this photo, rumors are everywhere
that Elvis just grew tired of being a celebrity and started a new life, faking his death.
9. River Phoenix Joaquin Phoenix is now very famous,
especially after his role as The Joker, but his brother River rose to fame much earlier
in the movie Stand by Me. Sadly, he died in 1993 after an overdose at the age of 23.
River had an open casket and only allowed viewing by family and friends, though this last image of
him was leaked to the public some time ago. 8. Vladimir Lenin
Lenin is probably the man with the most famous open casket funeral.
Probably because other famous men don’t tend to make it to their casket in one piece.
Lenin was a communist revolutionary who served as head of the Soviet government.
He died in 1924 after a coma caused by a blood vessel disease. His body is actually still at
the Lenin Mausoleum, but may not be for long, since recently. a debate began about removing it.
7. Whitney Houston Another National Enquirer casket, this open casket
photo of world-famous singer Whitney Houston was leaked in 2012, much to her family’s dismay. The
publisher, Mary Beth Wright, justified it by saying she thought the photo was “beautiful”.
There was no credit added to the photo and the magazine wouldn’t talk about how they got a hold
of it. Whitney Houston was just 48 when she died, 3 years after becoming the Guinness World Records
most awarded female act of all time. 6. Bruce Lee
At the time of his death, Bruce Lee had inspired millions with his impressive martial arts. His
death was not as extreme as his life, after succumbing to an allergic reaction to a painkiller
in 1973. 25,000 gathered to say goodbye before his burial in Seattle, Washington. All 25,000 people
viewed the open casket of the Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor, instructor, and dozens of
other titles he earned throughout his life. 5. Michael Jackson
Regardless of what you think of him, Michael Jackson was one of the most influential and
artistic musical minds of our time. He died in 2009 at age 50 and was laid to rest after an
open casket private viewing. All of his children were present and grieving. The photo makes him
look so frail and cold, eerily opposite of the upbeat personality he used to bring to any room.
4. Mother Teresa Not every Saint gets
the celebrity prowess of Mother Teresa whose mere existence made devout Catholics emotional. After
her death in 1997, her body was placed in Calcutta for a week to be viewed publicly by her followers.
She didn’t become an official saint until 2016, and was at the time buried in a modest coffin,
but after her mission to help the world’s poorest and her softness with children,
she was truly the world’s mother. 3. Nelson Mandela
If anyone deserves an open casket funeral for his admirers to honor his last presence,
it’s Nelson Mandela. At his funeral, foreign dignitaries, Presidents,
and thousands of members of the community made an appearance. His body is barely visible through
the glass lid in photos of the event, and he was carried by members of the military,
but it was really the event of the celebration of his life that mattered, a man who fought against
the South African Apartheid and paid for his courage with 27 years of his life spent in prison.
2. Abraham Lincoln Way back when the United States touted just over
a dozen presidents, Abraham Lincoln led the nation through a civil war, abolished slavery, and paid
the price by being shot at the Ford Theatre during a play. After his death, his body was boarded on a
train named “The Lincoln Special”, which passed through 180 cities on its way back to Illinois.
At each stop, his body was taken down to be viewed by his people one last time before he was buried.
1. John Lennon Not exactly an open casket, but still
a very public picture. After achieving the highest level of fame known at the time with the Beatles,
lead guitarist John Lennon was murdered by a man with a mental illness. His wife, Yoko Ono,
opted to not hold a funeral, instead requesting a 10-minute silence to honor him. The photo that
became famous after Lennon’s death was that of him in a body bag at a New York City Morgue. Over
100,000 fans went to Central Park to mourn him. Thanks for watching! Ok, open viewing or closed
casket? Which would be your preference? Let us know in the comments. Personally, I think
I’d like mine open just in case there was the off chance of a quick getaway! Before you go, be sure
to view and click the subscribe button, toll the notifications bell, and give this video a like.