'Links to the Illuminati', Masonic masters and a corpse that was evicted a year after being buried: The story behind America's bizarre pyramid mausoleums - and even Nicolas Cage has one
Actor Nicolas Cage bought himself a plot in New Orleans in 2010 and had a 9ft pyramid shaped mausoleum built
Even though it seems strange, pyramids aren't unusual in cemeteries, Cage is just late to the trend
Pyramid mausoleums were part of the Egyptian revival architecture movement in the early 19th century and in the US, most were built from 1865 to 1923
Though there are numerous pyramid tombs across the country, DailyMail.com looks at six of the most interesting mausoleums including a Zoroastrian fire temple and a tomb with an impostor buried inside
At the ripe old age of 46, Nicolas Cage bought himself a pyramid.
Not just any pyramid, a mausoleum where he apparently plans to be buried after he dies.
Theories and speculation abound about the unusual move. Some believe it's a nod to his film National Treasure, others think it's somewhere to store massive amounts of money or that it symbolizes Cage's 'membership' of the Illuminati.
Whatever the answer is - and Cage has never commented on it - one cemetery expert has said that Cage's purchase could mean that more pyramid-shaped mausoleums are on their way.
Architecture photographer Douglas Keister has published six books on the symbolism and architecture of cemeteries. Keister said that cemetery architecture goes through trends, following the general architectural fads of the time, like the Egyptian revival movement.
Around the same time was a movement to built mausoleums for deceased relatives, which pushed the production of pyramids in cemeteries.
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Nicolas Cage bought himself a pyramid in New Orleans in 2010 when he was 46. He didn't explain why he had the pyramid built, but theories suggest the tomb is a nod to his National Treasure film, a place to stash large amounts of cash or it symbolizes his 'membership' in the Illuminati
In the US, pyramids were a part of the 'golden age of mausoleums', from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the Great Depression. Pictured is the Dorn Pyramid in San Luis Cemetery in California, built in 1905
What launched the mausoleum movement was the death of Prince Albert in 1861. Queen Victoria's immediate response to memorialize her husband rubbed off on everyone else.
‘She started building monuments to Albert and so people said: "Well, I guess that’s what we’ve got to do"... You know, the moneyed people, they follow what other moneyed people do,’ Keister told DailyMail.com.
Egypt had also become popular after Napoleon attempted to invade the country in the early 19th century, so buildings - and mausoleums - were designed after Egyptian architecture.
‘All architecture in Egypt has something to do with death and the afterlife, so it’s a perfect fit for cemeteries, but it’s kind of an ironic fit because most cemeteries lean towards the religious… and Egyptian architecture is so pagan. But it’s all funerary,’ Keister said.
To ‘soften the pagan qualities’, Egyptian revival architecture in cemeteries often have Christian symbols like crosses or angels included.
Though the Great Depression ended the era of mausoleums in the US, architecture photographer Douglas Keister believes mausoleums are making a comeback. Pictured is the back of Joel Parker Whitney's granite tomb in Rocklin, California, which was built before he died in 1913
In the US most mausoleums were built between the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the Great Depression in 1923, which Keister calls ‘the golden age of mausoleums’, which included pyramids.
But mausoleums are making a comeback.
‘There’s been a kind of resurgence with them,’ Keister said. ‘Because of things like ancestry.com, all of a sudden people want to search for all this stuff and they want to journey to see the graves.’
And then, when someone like Nicolas Cage has a mausoleum built, Keister said it is possible more will follow.
So for those interested in following Nicolas Cage's trend, DailyMail.com has a brief guide on six of America's pyramid mausoleums and the stories behind them.
THE KISS OF DEATH: THE LIVING HOLLYWOOD STAR WITH A PYRAMID TOMB - WHICH FANS LEAVE LIPSTICK MARKS ON
Nicolas Cage (pictured) bought the last two plots of New Orleans's most famous cemetery, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. He hasn't explained why, but he built a pyramid mausoleum on the two spots
In the most famous cemetery in New Orleans, among rows and rows of intricate mausoleums, one burial spot sticks out among the rest and not just because it’s a 9ft-tall pyramid.
In 2010, Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage had the pyramid built in New Orleans’ St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 – also the resting place of the famous voodoo queen Marie Laveau.
Residents weren’t pleased about the pyramid being built in the already crowded cemetery and some complained that he damaged or removed older mausoleums to make room. But the pyramid could almost be a consolation prize for Cage, who had lost his two New Orleans properties to foreclosure in 2009.
One of those properties, the LaLaurie Mansion, is the most haunted house in New Orleans.
Dr. LaLaurie, a prominent dentist, and his charming socialite wife Delphine, moved into the house in the French Quarter in 1832. Soon after moving in, Delphine’s reputation for gruesomely mistreating slaves became well-known.
There are accounts of slaves being tortured, mutilated, chained to stoves and chased off balconies in the LaLaurie mansion and to this day, it has been the site of several hauntings. When Cage bought the mansion and had it renovated, human remains were even found under the floorboards.
Cage's pyramid mausoleum (pictured) is nine feet tall and only has the Latin inscription: 'omnia ab uno' meaning 'everything from one'
He later told Event Magazine in 2014 that he bought the mansion to help him write a horror novel, but by 2009 it was foreclosed on and the novel was left unfinished.
Following the foreclosure, Cage decided to buy a different kind of New Orleans real estate – the last two grave plots in the city’s most famous cemetery – also where Delphine’s remains are believed to be buried.
Cage’s future resting place isn’t even your typical pyramid mausoleum. His name isn’t on it and it is marked only with the words ‘OMNIA AB UNO’ over the entryway. The phrase means ‘everything from one’ in Latin.
It is also marked by lipstick stains because visitors feel compelled to kiss the place where Nicolas Cage will be buried when he dies.
Video courtesy of Josh Franks:
Fans come to Cage's future resting place and kiss the pyramid, leaving behind their lipstick marks (circled)
Though the actor hasn’t explained why he had the tomb built, and his representatives didn't return DailyMail.com's request for comment, there are a number of theories surrounding the mysterious mausoleum.
One is that the pyramid is a nod to his 2004 film National Treasure, where his character is a cryptologist searching for lost treasure protected by the secret societies of the Knights Templar and the American Freemasons.
Others say it is evidence that Cage is a believing member of the Illuminati, a secret and probably mythical society that conspiracy theorists believe control world politics and Hollywood. It is believed the Illuminati use the pyramid to represent their power structure and enlightenment. And others believe Cage stores money or treasure inside the tomb.
Or possibly it was just another chance to be close to the occult, since Marie Laveau’s remains are also in the cemetery. Cage does have a fancy for voodoo. He had voodoo priestess Miriam Chamani bless his 2002 wedding to Lisa Marie Presley.
But whichever it is, Cage will one day get his wish to be in New Orleans.
AN IMPOSTOR IN THE TOMB: THE BURIAL PLACE THAT WAS STOLEN FOR A YEAR BEFORE CORPSE WAS EVICTED
After spending their lives searching for gold in Mexico, business partners August Sahlberg and Thomas Quirk decided to build themselves a shared pyramid tomb in the Santa Barbara Cemetery in California in 1902.
While there was hardly any controversy in the building of the actual pyramid, after both Sahlberg and Quirk died an impostor showed up to try and take the remaining spots in their eight-crypt mausoleum.
He was buried there for a full year before being evicted.
Sahlberg and Quirk owned the Esperanzo Gold Mine in El Oro and in 1902 they bought the plots for their future tomb.
Unfortunately, Sahlberg died at 34, one year before the pyramid was finished. His remains and his mother’s remains were placed inside once it was completed in 1904 and soon after, a close friend and one of Sahlberg’s brothers were also interred there.
Gold miners and business partners August Sahlberg and Thomas Quirk had the Sahlberg Pyramid (pictured) built in the Santa Barbara Cemetery in 1902. After the friends died, an unrelated woman, Mary Hindry, brought her husband's body to the pyramid to be buried, claiming that two of the three remaining burial spots belonged to them
Quirk's wife Nellie contested Mary Hindry's claims, but Mary was allowed to keep her husband in the pyramid (pictured) for one year. When Mary didn't have any proof that she and her husband were supposed to be buried in the pyramid, she had to have her husband's remains removed and placed in a storage vault, where they stayed for seven years until they were finally cremated
By 1912 Quirk also died and was placed in the pyramid, leaving three spots left in the tomb.
The intention was that his wife Nellie, her new husband and Quirk’s daughter would be buried there when they passed, but in 1931 another woman came to claim spots for her deceased husband and herself.
The cemetery allowed Mary Hindry to place her husband’s remains in one of the spots as long as she would give proof within a year that he had a right to be buried there.
Nellie protested and when Hindry couldn’t prove her husband’s right to stay, she had to have his remains removed and put in a storage vault. They stayed there for seven years until they were finally cremated.
Nellie died 30 years after the dispute and was buried in her husband’s pyramid tomb alongside him in 1962.
FIRE TEMPLE BURIAL: ECCENTRIC 'FATHER OF ARIZONA' ENDED UP IN A PAUPER'S GRAVE THANKS TO HIS GRAND PLAN FOR A ZOROASTRIAN TEMPLE
Charles D. Poston (pictured), also known as the 'Father of Arizona' converted to Zoroastrianism after taking a trip to India. When he came back to Arizona, he built a Zoroastrian fire-temple, which was left unfinished
In the Arizona desert, one winding road leads up a hill that overlooks the town of Florence. At the top stands a mortared cobblestone pyramid that almost matches the color of the landscape around it.
This is Poston Butte and the pyramid is the beginning of what was supposed to be a Zoroastrian temple. Today it holds the remains of its builder, Charles D. Poston.
Poston was a lawyer from Kentucky who was orphaned at 12 years old and grew up to be a politician, explorer, entrepreneur and poet. He is most commonly known as the ‘Father of Arizona’ because he lobbied Congress to make Arizona a US territory.
He was also a bit eccentric. In 1868 he took a trip to visit China, India, Egypt and Europe, but while he was in India he was introduced to Zoroastrianism and converted.
Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the world, founded in ancient Iran 3,500 years ago by the prophet Zoroaster. Zoroastrianists worship one god, Ahura Mazda. Though they are sometimes labeled as fire-worshippers, Zoroastrianists just believe that fire represents god’s wisdom and they worship Ahura Mazda in a fire-temple.
Which is why, when Poston returned to Arizona and worked as the General Land Office in Florence, he built the pyramid at the top of what was Primrose Hill in 1878.
He used the ruins of a Native American structure to build his fire temple and placed a giant blue and white flag with a red sun over it.
However, the temple was left unfinished because he ran out of funds and though he wrote to the Shah of Persia, where Zoroastrianism was founded, to ask for financial help, Poston never got an answer.
Poston's fire-temple was built on the ruins of a Native American structure. It was left unfinished when Poston ran out of money, so he tried to get financial help from the Shah of Persia, where Zoroastrianism was founded, but Poston never got an answer
By the time he died in 1902, Poston was so poor that he was buried in a pauper’s grave in Phoenix, despite his wished to be buried in his beloved pyramid.
His remains stayed in the pauper’s grave until 1925, 100 years after his birth. As a way to honor his work in establishing Arizona, he was exhumed and reburied at his temple pyramid on the newly named Poston Butte, where he remains to this day.
Poston died in 1902 and he was so poor that he was buried in a pauper's grave in Phoenix. In 1925, 100 years after his birth, Poston's remains were exhumed and reburied where he tried to build his temple, at what is now called Poston Butte
'OLD WALRUS': THE RUNAWAY WHO BECAME ARIZONA'S FIRST GOVERNOR
George W. P. Hunt (pictured) was the first and longest-running governor of Arizona. He ran away from his home in Missouri and moved to Arizona. There he married Helen Duett Ellison and started a life of politics
The man who led Charles Poston’s re-entombment ceremony was George W.P. Hunt.
Hunt was the very first governor of the new state of Arizona beginning in 1912. He served seven terms and helped write the state constitution. His drooping handlebar mustache, large frame and bald head earned him the nickname ‘Old Walrus’.
He was a bit of a tough guy from Missouri, coming from an affluent family, though they lost much of their wealth after the Civil War. In 1878 at the age of 19 he ran away from home and went west in search for gold, even rafting down the Rio Grande River.
He eventually moved to Arizona and settled there in 1881, taking on odd jobs for a while before becoming a successful store owner and banker. By 1904 he was elected mayor of the town of Globe, Arizona, and he married his wife, Helen Duett Ellison.
By 1912 he was the first - and eventually became the longest-running - governor of Arizona. His politics followed both the populist and progressive movements, supporting policies like women’s suffrage, income tax and compulsory education.
When Helen died in 1931, Hunt, a Freemason, had a 20-foot white-tile pyramid built on the top of a hill. Three years later in 1934, Hunt’s remains joined Helen’s. Their daughter Virginia and Helen’s parents are also buried there.
The pyramid has since been enclosed by an iron fence and the hilltop where it sits is now part of Papago Park in Phoenix.
Hunt was also a Freemason, so when his wife Helen died in 1931, he had a pyramid (pictured) built for her remains at the top of a hill in Phoenix, Arizona. His remains were also placed there after he died in 1934. Their daughter Virginia and Helen's parents are also buried in the pyramid
Today Hunt's pyramid (pictured) is closed off by an iron fence and is marked with a plaque. The hilltop where it sits is is now part of Phoenix, Arizona's Papago Park
MASONIC MYSTERY: FATHER'S GRIEF OVER DEATH OF NEWBORN SON AND WIFE PROMPTED 25FT TALL TOMB
Fred Adolphus Dorn (pictured right) married Cora Russell (left) in 1890. The couple had a son Fred Adolphus Dorn, Jr. in 1905, but the infant passed away hours after being born. Cora died three days later
The Masonic pyramid in the San Luis Cemetery in California has been surrounded by rumors and myths since its creation in 1905.
Above the doorway the words ‘DISTVRB NOT THE SLEEP OF DEATH’ mark the Dorn Pyramid, a symbol of heartbreak after the loss of an infant child and his mother.
Fred Adolphus Dorn, Sr. was a lawyer in San Luis Obispo, California after he moved there from San Francisco in 1887.
Dorn was also a Master of King David’s Masonic Lodge and well respected in the community. In 1890 he married Cora Russell.
They had a son, Fred Adolphus Dorn, Jr., in 1905, but he passed away just hours after being born. Cora also died three days later.
Struck by grief, the surviving father and husband had the 25-foot-tall pyramid built in the style of historic Freemasonry - including Masonic symbols and markings.
Fred Sr. was so heartbroken, he had a pyramid mausoleum (pictured) built to honor his wife and newborn son. The 25-foot-tall pyramid was built in the style of historic Freemasonry because Fred Sr. was a Master of King David's Masonic Lodge
Outside the Dorn pyramid at the foot of the entrance is the inscription: 'DISTVRB NOT THE SLEEP OF DEATH' (pictured). The entrance remains open for now, with two stones awaiting to seal the tomb when all the Dorn descendants are buried there
The wealthy attorney had the granite brought raw to San Luis Obispo, where the stones were hand-cut and assembled into the pyramid on-site.
According to the inscription, only Cora and Fred Jr. are entombed there. Fred Sr. moved to San Francisco and remarried there.
When he died in 1940 at 74, he was buried at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park under a simple grave marker.
But to this day, two stones sit outside the opening of the pyramid waiting to seal the entrance when all the Dorn remains are buried there.
The property is still kept by Dorn descendants, so it is unknown how many other relatives’ remains are buried there.
A SELF-MADE MAN WHO DESIGNED HIS OWN TOMB AFTER A RECENTLY DISCOVERED EGYPTIAN PYRAMID
Joel Parker Whitney (pictured) left his home in Massachusetts when he was just 17 with almost nothing in his pockets. He eventually became one of the most prestigious people in Rocklin, California
Joel Parker Whitney came to California when he was 17 with next to nothing in his pockets.
By the time he died at the age of 78 in 1913, he was one of the most successful businessmen of Rocklin, California, having made his fortune in gold and silver mining, real estate, building railroads and ranching.
Even with all his prestige, he chose to be buried in a granite pyramid with a white marble interior, now left on an acre of fenced-off land beside the Whitney Oaks golf course and a developing neighborhood.
His 15-foot-tall granite pyramid is in the center of piled rocks and boulders and it resembles that of a uniquely-shaped pyramid from Abydos, Egypt, which was discovered in the mid-1800s.
It is believed that the well-traveled businessman was inspired to build his tomb after seeing a model of the Abydos pyramid at the 1867 Paris Exhibition, which had recently been unearthed.
He was there presenting Colorado mineral samples, hoping for mining and real estate investments and it is likely he saw the pyramid model.
Like many of his contemporaries, Whitney believed in Pyramidology, which says that pyramids have divine powers like healing and reincarnation.
Whitney had the pyramid built as he got older and began to suffer from kidney disease. After he died in 1913 at the age of 78, his cremated remains were put in the tomb.
Today the pyramid contains the remains of his parents, some of his siblings and many of his descendants. Every May his family continues to visit the site.
As he got older and suffered from kidney disease, Whitney had a pyramid tomb (pictured) built out of granite stones with a white marble interior. The pyramid is designed after an Egyptian pyramid that was discovered in Abydos, which Whitney saw at the 1867 Paris Exhibition
Keister's first book, Going Out in Style, was published in 1997 and will be reissued in March this year
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