History Main / DishonoredDead

* Plot E of Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France contains the bodies of American servicemen who were executed for rape, murder, or both. They're officially referred to as "the [[TropeNamer dishonored dead]]". Plot E is across the street from the main cemetery, hidden behind hedges and thick forest, and is not included in any official maps or guidebooks. No American flags are permitted to fly there. The graves themselves have tiny numbered grave markers with no names and it's supposed to be impossible to determine who is buried where.

* The grave of [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11597798/nancy-green Nancy Green]] has the epitaph "IDIOT." To make it worse, this was the family burial plot, indicating that a relative did this.
* Child rapist and Moors Murderer Ian Brady was so hated for both his crimes and [[{{Sadist}} his continued torment of the mother of one of his victims by deliberately not revealing the location of his body]] that when he finally did the decent thing and went to take his place in the Lake Of Fire, no undertaker was remotely interested in accepting his body for disposal; and the local councils of the areas he had been associated with in life blanched at the prospect of his body or ashes finding their final resting place in their borders. Brady's will stated he wanted to have his ashes scattered on the moors where he disposed of the bodies of his victims, an appalling prospect for [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown reasons that should be blindingly obvious]]. In the end, [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41609522 the courts had to rule that it was acceptable to deny him a funeral and dump his ashes in the sea]], once they found a crematorium willing to take on the task of getting rid of him. The judge even ruled that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cao6WyF-61s Brady's choice of musical send-off]] should not be played at any point during the disposal of the body.

* When the first Black U.S. Army regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, was defeated in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, 29 dead Black soldiers were dumped in a mass grave by the Confederates, and their White commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was dumped in with them. When asked for the return of Shaw's body, Confederate Brigadier General Johnson Hagood said, "We buried him with his n***s." Shaw's father responded in a letter, "[[InsultBackfire We hold that a soldier's most appropriate burial-place is on the field where he has fallen]]." Shaw and his fallen soldiers were eventually exhumed and re-buried together in individual graves at nearby Beaufort National Cemetery once the war ended and the Americans could get to their grave.

* ''Literature/{{Stinger}}': Downplayed, but Noah Twilley, who wanted to study insects but is stuck running the family funeral home, buried his father in "the hottest plot" in the cemetery as an act of spite and plans to do the same to his emotionally abusive mother when she dies.

* ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad The Malloreon]]'' mentions that Urgit, King of Cthol Murgos, did this to his father, the AxeCrazy Taur Urgas. There was no love lost between Taur Urgas and Urgit; the former considered the latter a useless weakling and encouraged his siblings to attempt to kill him. So when Taur Urgas died, Urgit slit his throat, hammered a stake through his heart, and buried him ''seventeen'' feet underground - face-down. And then he ''stampeded cattle'' over the gravesite, ensuring that no one would ever know where Taur Urgas was buried.

* Child rapist and Moors Murderer Ian Brady was so hated for both his crimes and his continued torment of the mother of one of his victims by not revealing the location of his body that when he finally did the decent thing and kicked the bucket, no undertaker was remotely interested in accepting his body for disposal, and the local councils of the areas he had been associated with in life blanched at the prospect of his body or ashes finding their final resting place in their borders. His will stated he wanted to have his ashes scattered on the moors where he disposed of the bodies of his victims, an appalling prospect for reasons that should be blindingly obvious. In the end [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41609522 the courts had to rule that it was acceptable to deny him a funeral and dump his ashes in the sea]], once they found a crematorium willing to take on the task of getting rid of him. The judge even ruled that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cao6WyF-61s Brady's choice of musical send-off]] should not be played at any point during the disposal of the body.

* When Creator/JimmySavile died in 2011, he received the kind of funeral that one might expect for a member of the Royal Family or a prime minister. However, nearly a year later, allegations that he had sexually abused minors throughout his five-decade career came to light. Everything that had been named in his honor was quickly taken down. His massive headstone, which had the uncomfortable epitaph "It Was Good While It Lasted," was removed after only three weeks and sent to a landfill for destruction, leaving him in an unmarked grave.

* In medieval England, criminals were sometimes hung, drawn and quartered, after which their body parts [[DeadGuyOnDisplay would be displayed]] as a deterrent to others, rather than receiving a proper burial. Most infamously, this was the intended fate of UsefulNotes/GuyFawkes for his part in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, re-enacted (with dummies known as "guys", obviously) in the British isles every 5th of November.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6944617/1/The-Funeral-Rites-of-Tributes The Funeral Rites of Tributes]],'' District 1 tributes who die in the Hunger Games are seen as [[YouHaveFailedMe failures who have dishonored their district by dying.]] When they're shipped home, their bodies are thrown into a pit and left to decay.

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': Because Yondu broke the Ravagers' code of never dealing in children, Ogord declares that although he may be wearing the badge of the Ravagers, he will never hear the Horns of Freedom when he dies, and the Colors of Ogord will never fly over his grave. [[spoiler:But, at the end of the movie, after Yondu has redeemed himself by saving his adopted son from Ego, the Ravager clans appear to honor him at his funeral with a beautiful display of lights.]]

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6944617/1/The-Funeral-Rites-of-Tributes The Funeral Rites of Tributes]],'' District 1 tributes who die in the Hunger Games are seen as failures. When they're shipped home, their bodies are thrown into a pit and left to decay.

* This is played with in an episode of "[[WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife Rocko's Modern Life]]", "The Lounge Singer". Filbert is so afraid of singing badly that he [[ImagineSpot imagines]] everyone will always hate him for his failure as a singer, to the point where his favorite celebrity desecrates his grave.

* In ''Film/TheGravedancers'', Harris, Sid and Kira discover that the graves that they desecrated where in a section of the cemetery reserved for town did not want buried with the rest of the dead: violent criminals, the mentally ill, etc. Kira is especially disturbed to discover that the tombstone of William Langer--the grave she danced upon--has the epitaph "GOOD RIDDANCE".

* In ''Manga/AkagamiNoShirayukihime'' the sentence for those who betray and try to kill members of the royal family is execution and burial in an unmarked grave at an undisclosed location. When [[spoiler:Zen's first "friend" turned out to be part of a plot to kill him to get back at his brother for something the elder prince had done even he didn't know where the traitor was buried and couldn't pay his respects, though Mitsuhide did retrieve an ornament from the young man's bow to give to Zen]].

** Mapleshade killed Ravenwing. After his Clan buried him, she dug him up and left him for hawks to eat.

** [[spoiler: After the truth comes out about Héctor and Ernesto de la Cruz, the memorial dedicated to Ernesto appears to be condemned one year later. A bust of him is shown to be covered by a sign that says "FORGET YOU."]]

* In ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'', King Creon orders that the body of Polyneices (who had attacked the city to claim kingship) should be left unburied.

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder: Film-Animation]]

[[folder:Film-Live Action]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[/folder]]

** When a Clan person is "cursed with death", part of the punishment involves the person’s spirit being left to find its way to the afterlife without the usual funeral rites. However, the person’s belongings will be ceremonially burned so that the deceased will have nothing to hold said deceased back.

** If a dead Clan cat has committed a grave crime, they may be denied the traditional funeral rites of sharing tongues[[note]]the deceased cat's loved ones grooming them a final time before burial[[/note]] and their Clanmates sitting the night vigil by the body. When Clawface, a [=ShadowClan=] warrior turned rogue who murdered Spottedleaf and kidnapped a litter of [=ThunderClan=] kits, is killed on a raid on the [=ThunderClan=] camp, his body is buried without any ceremony as punishment for his crimes.

** When a Clan person is "cursed with death", part of the punishment involves their spirit being left to find its way to the afterlife without the usual funeral rites. However, their belongings will be ceremonially burned so that they will have nothing to hold them back.

As a punishment that transcends even death itself, condemning someone's body to such a fate is usually reserved for the worst of the worst among a society, but the reasoning behind it varies. It could simply be a form of LastDisrespects, where the deceased's crimes are [[MoralEventHorizon just so heinous]] that the deceased is deemed unworthy of the fond farewell and remembrance of a traditional funeral. Or worse yet, [[UnPerson unworthy of any remembrance at all]]. If a culture considers its traditional rites important to a soul's safe passage to the beyond, then they can withhold the rites to ensure the wicked soul's damnation, or leave said soul BarredFromTheAfterlife entirely (which would be blasphemous itself, trying to rob God(s) out of the choice). Finally, if they know [[ThePunishment how the latter can backfire]], they can opt for the other extreme and render them DeaderThanDead, disposing of the body in a way that ensures they ''won't'' return and continue to torment the living.

The methods also vary. Perhaps their bodies are buried in an isolated location away from those of the rest of their community, or their graves are left unmarked. Maybe a culture that usually preserves their dead will instead destroy the corpse of a wicked person. Often bodies are [[DeadGuyOnDisplay publicly exhibited]] to MakeAnExampleOfThem to show someone else down the line the price they will pay for messing with the wrong people. Or they could simply leave the body to rot or get eaten by the local wildlife. Whatever the case, they treat the bodies of bad people differently than those of everyone else.

This trope is where, due to some crime or sin a deceased person committed in life, they are denied some or all of the funerary rites that are normally DueToTheDead.

As a punishment that transcends even death itself, condemning someone's body to such a fate is usually reserved for the worst of the worst among a society, but the reasoning behind it varies. It could simply be a form of LastDisrespects, where the deceased's crimes are [[MoralEventHorizon just so heinous]] that they're deemed unworthy of the fond farewell and remembrance of a traditional funeral. Or worse yet, [[UnPerson unworthy of any remembrance at all]]. If a culture considers its traditional rites important to a soul's safe passage to the beyond, then they can withhold the rites to ensure the wicked soul's damnation, or leave them BarredFromTheAfterlife entirely (which would be blasphemous itself, trying to rob God(s) out of the choice). Finally, if they know [[ThePunishment how the latter can backfire]], they can opt for the other extreme and render them DeaderThanDead, disposing of the body in a way that ensures they ''won't'' return and continue to torment the living.