John Hanson - Grave Robbers Steal The President's Body

Grave Robbers Steal The President's Body

Hanson remains the only American 'President' of recognition whose remains are confirmed missing due to grave robbers. The discovery was made too late to solve the crime.

Hanson was staying at his nephew’s plantation, Oxon Hill Manor in Prince George’s County Maryland, and passed away there on November 22, 1783. The mansion burned down in 1895, and Hanson’s crypt went missing and forgotten until 1985. Hanson's relative Peter Michael wrote in a Maryland newspaper Hanson’s grave site was found, and it was listed as sealed and intact in a 1985 state survey on the former grounds of Oxon Hill Manor. But in 1987, two years later, an archaeological survey commissioned by a developer who bought the property found Hanson's tomb was opened in the past and robbed. Hanson’s body was gone. The grave site itself then went missing. Several years later, the Hanson Mausoleum was found when the property was made into a waterfront resort. The mausoleum was paved over for a parking lot. A historical marker was subsequently erected and sits near the grounds of Oxon Hill Manor in tribute to Hanson, remembering Hanson as “an honored patriot of the American Revolution.”