People's last words stick with us for a long time, but memory fades, and stone doesn't. Unless you get cremated, and your ashes end up in an urn, your remains get a grave and a headstone, and together with it - the last opportunity for a funny epitaph to entertain those who drop by for a visit.
The people below were not famous for their lives but rather because of their undying sense of humor engraved into their funny gravestones. From cute puns and dad jokes from the afterlife to warnings about the great beyond, these funny tombstones show that death is not always so serious.
Bored Panda has compiled a list of funny epitaphs on tombstones, proving that a sense of humor can live forever. From a delicious fudge recipe to an unapologetic joke about religion, these people are the nonliving examples of the right attitude. Scroll down to check out the deadly funny gravestones!
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Gay Vietnam Veteran
If You Can Read This
Walking Through A Cemetery When All Of A Sudden...
Which Celebrities Have Funny Epitaphs On Their Gravestones?
An epitaph, literally “on the grave” in the Greek language, is usually a text inscribed on a gravestone or a plaque to honor the dead. That said, not everyone wants to be remembered in a grave tone (pun very much intended) and might opt for something a bit more lighthearted and truer to their nature. Quite a few celebrities and famous people prove this point, and here are some funny tombstone sayings inscribed on their gravestones:
- "He died in bed." — Tombstone of renowned gunfighter Doc Holliday (1851—1887).
- "I told you I was sick." — Tombstone of Spike Milligan (1918—2002), British actor.
- "I'm in on a plot." — Tombstone of Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980), British director.
- "For a good time, dig." — Epitaph of Platy Paul.
- "He neither drank, smoked, nor rode a bicycle. Living frugally and saving his money, he died early, surrounded by greedy relatives. It was a great lesson to me." — John Barrymore (1882—1942), American actor.
- "That's All Folks!" — Epitaph of Mel Blanc, The Man of a Thousand Voices.
While for some funny tombstones have no place in a cemetery, for others, it might be the ultimate last chance to show the world who they were and how they’d like to be remembered. And why not?
I Was Hoping For A Pyramid
thats just amazing that people with the sense of homour even the subject was death
Still There Was Love
Haha.. this triggered some of my childhood memories. I love my sisters!
Visiting My Grandma's Grave And Found This On A Tombstone Nearby
What Are Some Famous Epitaphs?
Funny headstones or serious ones, some are still better than the rest. And by better, we mean they got famous and were often quoted with the passing of time. If you’ve always wondered who got those tombstone ideas to the point, here are some sayings that became just as well-known as the people behind them:
- “Cursed be he that moves my bones” – tombstone of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British writer.
- “O.K...I gotta go now.” – Dee Dee Ramone (1952 - 2002), American musician.
- “The best is yet to come” – Frank Sinatra (1915 - 1998), American singer.
- “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty I’m free at last.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), American civil rights activist.
- “Quoth the raven…Nevermore” – Edgar Allan Poe (1849 - 1875), American writer.
- "Don't try." – Charles Bukowski (1920 - 1994), American writer.
Unsurprisingly, most of the famous and funny epitaphs can be found on writers’ gravestones; after all, they’re the people who know the exact power of words!
Now, are you ready for more funny gravestone names? If so, there’s still a whole list to go through! And if you were wondering where you could use these epitaphs, we have an idea—turn them into Halloween tombstone names when the next All Hallows Eve comes around.
All Dressed Up An No Place To Go
Kay's Fudge
That's An Unusually Fun Tomb Stone
Finally
That's All Folks
Pardon For Not Rising
This Man's Tombstone Is A Giant Middle Finger
Merv Griffin Grave
Go Away
Ouija Grave
Hidden Message
I Came Here Without Being Consulted
Found While Out Planting Flags In The Cemetery For Memorial Day
Shit Happens
Arthur And His Wife
She Always Said Her Feet Were Killing Her, But No One Believed Her
Uncle Walter
Funny Tombstone Sayings
She Answered
I think that pic of Kim is engraved in stone. 100 points to the tombstone creator.
Think Of Me And Smile
I See Dumb People
On The Backside Of Mom's Headstone
Found This Gem At The Local Cemetery, When You See It
Daddy's Own Language On A Headstone
I have seen, in person, the gay Vietnam veteran headstone in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. It is not F-A-K-E or F-U-N-N-Y!!! He severed honorably just I as did in Vietnam in 66-67.
Load More Replies...There is one in my local graveyard from the early 1900's that says: "Here I sit as you pass by, for as you are so once was I, and as I am so you shall be, prepare yourself to follow me". I think it's brilliant.
That's actually stolen and misquoted from a 500 yr old stone in Wales I'm certain .K.
Load More Replies...I really want a bench when I will die (unless I will be able to get the big crypt with my face on it and small park). There will be written something like "Have some rest like me and tell me a good story."
Rodney Dangerfield has a great one: "There goes the neigbourhood". rodney-59f...7f30e3.jpg
mine is gonna be "so long and goodnight,m***********s!" or "I've walked a lonely road,the only one that I have ever known"
Are these all from USA? Funny to think about that it's allowed to do these black humour engravings there, or at least I have the impression that they take their religion quite seriously. In Scandinavia where huge part of the population are atheists and religion is just everyone's own business, this just wouldn't be possible or in good taste. In here modern tombstones are quite boring and you can't even get crazier one if you wanted - chrurches want their cemeteries to look consistent and don't allow too tall or large or just odd looking stones. I absolutely love these!
We have many large cemeteries that are not associated with churches here in America.
Load More Replies...I wonder who decides what to write in their tombstone? some of it seems like, written by the ones they left behind.
I’ve seen #27 (“On the Back of Mom’s Headstone”) before. It included the explanation that the only chance of getting Mom’s cookie recipe was ‘over her dead body.’ :-)
Some church yards in the uk wont let oyu choose the style of stone, it makes the yard look untidy!!!
Makes me want to rethink think telling everyone to cremate me!! I want to make someone laugh when they visit their loved ones!!
I used to have a "little book of grave humour" which was in the shape of a gravestone and had similar funny epitaphs to these. My favourite was "Here lies John Smith who was shot to death by his butler Well done good and faithful servant "-it wasn't John Smith I just can't remember :)
At a young age my son's asked me what I wanted them to do with my body when I died. My response? "Bury me with my butt sticking out of the ground so you'll have a place to park your bike when you visit my grave." The four of us fell out laughing. Their mother, my ex-wife, didn't talk to me for a week over that one. The woman had no sense of humor.
Head stone engraving from the 1800 , abandoned grave yard All you who pass this way along My days on earth have come and gone As you are now so once was I Therefore I pray Prepare to Die End quote, I believe it was un consecrated ground
Funny. But the ranking numbers and the headliner spoiler above each really kinda killed it somehow. No pun intended....
Funny. But the ranking numbers and spoiler headline above each kinda killed the humour. No pun intended....
Very funny !! How about " I wish I had been more demanding with that doctor's receptionist !!!!!
You've forget the Tombstone by Kurt Schwitters saying "Man kann ja nie wissen" - "Well, you never know".
A good sense of humor is priceless. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand time: LAUGHTER IS BUBBLE GUM FOR THE SOUL
You can tell many of these are manufactured but they're still funny!
#64 is definitely fake. You can see the blue styrofoam through the paint.
The epitaph for the #1 item on your list, the gay Vietnam veteran, was not intended to be "funny".
The brilliant comedian Spike Milligan reputedly had the epitaph: 'I told you was sick' (or was it '....not well'?). Is that the one above?
Spike has "I told you I was ill" in Gaelic apparently.
Load More Replies...Hey Guys, if you enjoyed this post then you will love what we post on our website. Check this out: Funniest & Hilarious Gravestones Of All Time http://screenhumor.com/funny-hilarious-gravestones-all-time/
I want my tombstone to say: "I'm buried next to stupid ---->" And I just want to be buried next to some random person, hopefully a beloved grandmother.
A favourite that didn't make the list: "Here lies Andrew Blake. Stepped on the gas instead of the brake."
Can't believe Rodney Dangerfield's didn't make the list. "There Goes the Neighborhood."
I love how some of these are really funny , even though we all connect death with sorrow
I have seen, in person, the gay Vietnam veteran headstone in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. It is not F-A-K-E or F-U-N-N-Y!!! He severed honorably just I as did in Vietnam in 66-67.
Load More Replies...There is one in my local graveyard from the early 1900's that says: "Here I sit as you pass by, for as you are so once was I, and as I am so you shall be, prepare yourself to follow me". I think it's brilliant.
That's actually stolen and misquoted from a 500 yr old stone in Wales I'm certain .K.
Load More Replies...I really want a bench when I will die (unless I will be able to get the big crypt with my face on it and small park). There will be written something like "Have some rest like me and tell me a good story."
Rodney Dangerfield has a great one: "There goes the neigbourhood". rodney-59f...7f30e3.jpg
mine is gonna be "so long and goodnight,m***********s!" or "I've walked a lonely road,the only one that I have ever known"
Are these all from USA? Funny to think about that it's allowed to do these black humour engravings there, or at least I have the impression that they take their religion quite seriously. In Scandinavia where huge part of the population are atheists and religion is just everyone's own business, this just wouldn't be possible or in good taste. In here modern tombstones are quite boring and you can't even get crazier one if you wanted - chrurches want their cemeteries to look consistent and don't allow too tall or large or just odd looking stones. I absolutely love these!
We have many large cemeteries that are not associated with churches here in America.
Load More Replies...I wonder who decides what to write in their tombstone? some of it seems like, written by the ones they left behind.
I’ve seen #27 (“On the Back of Mom’s Headstone”) before. It included the explanation that the only chance of getting Mom’s cookie recipe was ‘over her dead body.’ :-)
Some church yards in the uk wont let oyu choose the style of stone, it makes the yard look untidy!!!
Makes me want to rethink think telling everyone to cremate me!! I want to make someone laugh when they visit their loved ones!!
I used to have a "little book of grave humour" which was in the shape of a gravestone and had similar funny epitaphs to these. My favourite was "Here lies John Smith who was shot to death by his butler Well done good and faithful servant "-it wasn't John Smith I just can't remember :)
At a young age my son's asked me what I wanted them to do with my body when I died. My response? "Bury me with my butt sticking out of the ground so you'll have a place to park your bike when you visit my grave." The four of us fell out laughing. Their mother, my ex-wife, didn't talk to me for a week over that one. The woman had no sense of humor.
Head stone engraving from the 1800 , abandoned grave yard All you who pass this way along My days on earth have come and gone As you are now so once was I Therefore I pray Prepare to Die End quote, I believe it was un consecrated ground
Funny. But the ranking numbers and the headliner spoiler above each really kinda killed it somehow. No pun intended....
Funny. But the ranking numbers and spoiler headline above each kinda killed the humour. No pun intended....
Very funny !! How about " I wish I had been more demanding with that doctor's receptionist !!!!!
You've forget the Tombstone by Kurt Schwitters saying "Man kann ja nie wissen" - "Well, you never know".
A good sense of humor is priceless. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand time: LAUGHTER IS BUBBLE GUM FOR THE SOUL
You can tell many of these are manufactured but they're still funny!
#64 is definitely fake. You can see the blue styrofoam through the paint.
The epitaph for the #1 item on your list, the gay Vietnam veteran, was not intended to be "funny".
The brilliant comedian Spike Milligan reputedly had the epitaph: 'I told you was sick' (or was it '....not well'?). Is that the one above?
Spike has "I told you I was ill" in Gaelic apparently.
Load More Replies...Hey Guys, if you enjoyed this post then you will love what we post on our website. Check this out: Funniest & Hilarious Gravestones Of All Time http://screenhumor.com/funny-hilarious-gravestones-all-time/
I want my tombstone to say: "I'm buried next to stupid ---->" And I just want to be buried next to some random person, hopefully a beloved grandmother.
A favourite that didn't make the list: "Here lies Andrew Blake. Stepped on the gas instead of the brake."
Can't believe Rodney Dangerfield's didn't make the list. "There Goes the Neighborhood."
I love how some of these are really funny , even though we all connect death with sorrow