The Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, Italy have a fascinating and lengthy history. These catacombs, in Sicily, were originally part of a monastery and they have been used as a burial ground for centuries. One of the most interesting corpses in the catacombs is Rosalia Lombardo…
Almost 100 years ago, Rosalia was a 2-year-old Italian girl, adored by her father. Sadly, she contracted pneumonia and passed away rather quickly. Rosalia’s father was absolutely devastated by her death, and wanted to preserve his little girl’s memory somehow. Noted embalmer, Alfredo Salafia, agreed to preserve the corpse so that Rosalia’s father would never have to worry about it decaying as she lay deep in the catacombs.
The results of Salafia’s experiments were astonishingly lifelike. Rosalia was interred in a tiny chapel in the catacombs, and she lays in a coffin that is covered in glass. Her corpse was one of the very last bodies to be admitted before the Capuchin catacombs were filled and subsequently closed. She appears to be peacefully sleeping, and there are no signs of visible decay. Visitors to the catacomb call her “Sleeping Beauty” because of her adorable and lifelike appearance.
The story of a glass coffin at the bottom of Italian catacombs is already quite unusual, but some visitors report an even stranger occurrence: Many claim that her eyes sometimes appear open and sometimes closed. This may be some strange anomaly or a weird optical illusion, but it is definitely spooky.
Rosalia already looks so lifelike, that it is not hard to imagine her eyes snapping open as she wakes up from a nap. But regardless of whether Rosalia’s eyes move or not, this story is still a touching reminder of a father’s love for his daughter who was taken from him far too soon. And it’s good and creepy.`