They Put a Dead Pope on Trial. Seriously.

Wait. WHAT?

It was 897 CE. Pope Formosus had been dead for months. Buried. Funeral over.  One would assume that being dead and buried would be an airtight excuse for missing appointments. One would be wrong. 

You see, the next pope - Pope Stephen - hated Formosus, and apparently, death was not going to get Formosus out of answering Stephen’s grievances.

So, Stephen did the reasonable thing. He had him dug up. 

He had the decomposing corpse of Pope Formosus exhumed, dressed him in a papal robe, carried him into the Basilica of St. John Lateran, and propped him on a throne. Then...

... put him on trial.

This actually happened! Since Formosus had the minor disadvantage of being dead, a deacon was appointed to stand beside the corpse and answer questions for him. Just imagine getting that assignment.

"Congratulations, deacon. You've been selected to represent His Holiness."

"Wonderful. Where is he?"

"On the throne."

"He looks terrible."

"He's been dead nine months."

"I'm sorry... what?"

And so the prosecution begins. Pope Stephen proceeds to interrogate dead Formosus, and demands to know why Formosus had violated church law. Formosus offers no persuasive rebuttal, because he was dead. His deacon-defense-attorney didn't fare much better. The verdict? GUILTY. 

Not finished.

They stripped the corpse of its papal robe, then… get this… they cut off three fingers from his right hand - the fingers he had used to give papal blessings!

Still not finished. 

When they buried Formosus in a common grave, apparently somebody decided it was still too dignified, so the corpse was dug up again, and thrown into the Tiber River. There. THAT should settle things.

Still not finished. 

Public opinion turned against Stephen. Formosus's body was recovered from the Tiber, and the dead pope was apparently performing miracles.

.

Still not finished. 

Pope Stephen was thrown into prison, and later that same year... strangled to death.

Eventually, the infamous trial was overturned, and Formosus remains were returned to a place of honor.

So, just to make sure we're all caught up:

They dug up a dead pope > Dressed him > Put him on a throne > Assigned a lawyer to his corpse > Interrogated the dead body > Found him guilty > Cut off his fingers > Buried him > Dug him up AGAIN > Threw him in a river > and somehow... the dead guy came out looking better than everyone else > This is know as The Cadaver Synod.

Seriously.

If bizarre secrets buried by history are your thing, you might enjoy Seeds of Eden.