History Main / DeadMansChest

[[quoteright:349:[[Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dead_mans_chest1.jpg]]]]

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode, "Inca Mummy Girl", the mummy hid the body of the real Ampata in one of his trunks.

* ''Series/FawltyTowers'': "The Kipper and the Corpse" features Basil stuffing the dead body of a guest into things, and some [[ButtMonkey hapless guest]] into the things the corpse has also been shoved into.

* In ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'', murderous musician 88 Keyes kills his singer/accomplice and hides her body in his grand piano; planning to have the piano put into storage. As it is, Tracy caught the movers as they were just about to haul the piano away, searches it and finds the body.

** In the film ''Film/{{Rope}}'' two killers strangle a victim, hide the body in a chest and then serve a cold supper to the victim's friends and family off the lid of the chest. This might well have helped inspire the infamous dinner scene in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''.

* In ''Film/ISawWhatYouDid'', Steve stuffs his wife body into a trunk that he hauls out to his car and drives into the woods to bury.

* The plot of ''Film/TheWrongBox'' revolves around two men concealing [[spoiler: what they think is]] their uncle's corpse in the hope of collecting an inheritance, packing him up in a barrel and shipping him home...but it's wrongly delivered to their cousin who, when finding it, fears has been killed by his grandfather to collect said inheritance. He hides the body in a piano which is then collected by repossessors and into the attention of the police.

* In the Creator/ElleryQueen short story "The Three Rs" (in the ''Calendar of Crime'' collection), it is made to appear that the victim's body has been placed in his trunk, covered in quicklime and shipped off to his summer cabin.

* The Literature/HerculePoirot short story "The Adventure of the Clapham Cook" by Creator/AgathaChristie, a killer gets rid of a body by stuffing it in a trunk and having the trunk set to a railway station marked 'to be collected'. He later sends to trunk on to Glasgow in an attempt to lose it. This story was later adapted for small screen as part of the ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' television series.

** In "Citizen's Arrest", the body of a a young man is found in a barrel labeled "Hazardous Waste" at a recycling center. The killers know that the owner ships the barrels labeled hazardous up north to a landfill without opening them, where they are to be buried for a thousand years. Had their plan been successful, the body would never have been found, but unfortunately for them, while the barrel is still at the recycling center it's accidentally tipped over and the lid comes off, thus exposing the body.

* In the first season of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' a rather hilarious version of this happens. The Misfit's probation worker goes crazy thanks to the storm and kills one of them, and to avoid blame (they're all juvenile delinquents) they bury the bodies under a bridge, transporting it using Kelly's boyfriend's car. Then they find out the bridge is being demolished to make way for a wildlife centre, so they dig up the bodies, hoping to rebury them under the concrete of the new centre. However, Kelly's boyfriend won't lend his car out anymore, so they steal their new probation workers car to move the bodies. Then before they can move to bodies out of the car their probation worker appears and drives home. The next morning she comes into work, smells something in the back of the car, and Nathan has to distract her by throwing a brick at her car to avoid her noticing the two corpses in her car boot.

** In "Mr. Monk Takes a Vacation," Benjy sees a woman being murdered, but there's no evidence of any crime when Monk searches the room in question with the hotel's head of security. Monk quickly pieces together who was responsible, but realizes that no case can be made against them without the body. That is, until Monk figures out from a picture he, Sharona and Benjy posed for on their arrival, that the body is being hidden in a trunk that's part of a public advertising display, with some quicklime being used to mask the odor of the decaying flesh.

* The one-act comedy ''Busy Bodies'' by Pat Wood. A scheming couple hire a hitman to kill off their wealthy aunt, but when he's accidentally killed just before she arrives they have to keep hiding the body from her. She ends up going insane due constantly running into his PeekABooCorpse.

* (At least) two murders in two separate ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' games involves corpses being stuffed into handy containers, once a car trunk and again with a safe. Upon seeing the rope outline of the bodies in both murders, Phoenix's assistant somehow comes to the conclusion that the victims died when the doors slammed shut on them.

* Happens to Archibald Carrington in the second ''VideoGame/LauraBow'' game. He's locked in a trunk with a bunch of flesh eating beetles, whilst his [[DeadPersonImpersonation doppelganger]] gets impaled on a stuffed porcupine.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', "The Nasty Patty": Spongebob and Mr. Krabs think they've killed the health inspector (actually he just fainted) and have to keep him hidden from two cops.

* The "Unicorn Killer", Ira Einhorn, Philadelphian and co-founder of Earth Day killed his then-girlfriend Holly Maddux and stuffed her body in a trunk in his apartment. Einhorn was arrested for the murder, but denied it, saying that the FBI and CIA framed him because of his hippy political views. Defended by attorney Arlen Spector and set free on bond raised by the heir to Seagrams wine family, Einhorn skipped bail and fled, eventually settling in France. He changed his name, but was tried ''in absentia'' and found guilty. Einhorn was arrested, but fought his extradition back to America for over 20 years before he was returned to Philadelphia, where he was found guilty and then sent to prison for life.

* ''ComicBook/SinCity'' plays with this trope in "That Yellow Bastard", [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Shlubb and Klump]] have a conversation about what to do with the dead body they are sent to collect. Klump steals a CoolCar due to the RuleOfCool, only for Shlubb to quickly point out that [[CoolButImpractical there is no trunk]].

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': A dismembered body is placed in a wicker hamper and left in a railway station in "Echoes of the Dead".

* ''Series/TheBoys''. After killing Translucent, the Boys shovel up [[LudicrousGibs what remains of him]], including his indestructible skin, put it in a zinc case that Homelander's X-Ray vision can't see through, and dump it into the bay. They know the Supes will find it eventually so this is just meant to buy time; when the Supes do recover the case, they find the words [[BringIt COMING FOR YOU]] spray-painted on the inside of the lid.

* In August 1991, a group of road workers near Henry Hudson Parkway, Manhattan went to investigate a stench that was coming from deep inside the woods beside the road. They discovered that the smell was coming from a small blue picnic cooler. Upon investigating its contents, they discovered the skeletal remains of a small child (who was later identified as Anjelica Castillo). When detectives arrested the girl's cousin, Conrado Juárez twenty-two years later, they were horrified to discover the ease of how the girl could've possibly fit in the small, cramped-up cooler: Juarez and his sister Balvina Juarez-Ramirez had frequently starved little Anjelica by tying her to a table, denying her food or water, resulting in her becoming so emaciated, that she was small enough to fit in the cooler.

* ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Quasimodo hides the wounded and unconscious Phoebus under the table when Frollo comes to visit unexpectedly.

* In ''Film/KillerWorkout'', the body of Rachael, the first victim, is stuffed into a locker in the female change roo, where it later falls out as a PeekABooCorpse: terrifying Jaimy.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', a vanished murder victim is found in a trunk; in fact, said trunk was used in a public advertising display, thanks to some quicklime to suppress odor.

* In ''Film/KillerWorkout'', the body of Rachael, the first victim, is stuffed into a locker in the female change roo, where it later falls out as a PeekabooCorpse: terrifying Jaimy.

* Played with in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}''. Sam Vimes gets threatened by two trolls from the troll equivalent of the Mafia. When Vimes meets with the boss later, he apologizes to Vimes for his underlings' disrespectful conduct and offers to install a new rock garden in Vimes' home... all the while sitting next to a very suspicious box that Vimes notes is too small to contain a ''whole'' troll...

* The one-act comedy ''Busy Bodies'' by Pat Wood. A scheming couple hire a hitman to kill off their wealthy aunt, but when he's accidentally killed just before she arrives they have to keep hiding the body from her. She ends up going insane due constantly running into his PeekABooCorpse.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLastExpress'' one of the ways to stop anyone from finding the body is to stash it in your bed, this is only a temporary solution though. You can also just chuck it out the window, but then the police will find it and search the train at the next stop.
* An important technique in ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney''... leaving bodies just lying around is asking for trouble, and unless somebody actually sees you do it, stuffing it into a handy container will ensure that it isn't discovered 'till well after you've vacated the premises.
** Later games in the series (''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'' and ''[[VideoGame/Hitman2016 Hitman]]'') also include strategically-placed containers for the player to stash bodies in. ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' is planned to contain fewer such areas, increasing the difficulty of concealing bodies.
* ''VideoGame/{{Killer 7}}'' has the dead body of Harman Smith hidden in a safe in a Seattle elementary school, where Emir Parkreiner stuffed it after killing him.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}} 7'' there's a chest with someone's remnants and personal possessions. Players may also learn the cause of death... ones too careless to learn ''Identify'' spell may learn this by demonstration.
* Though the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' games don't encourage murder, living and dead bodies could be dragged to concealment. Unless you're going for [[SelfImposedChallenge total ghosting gameplay]], the efficient way to deal with guard patrols is to knock on the backs of their heads and move them out of view of the others. In maps with meandering patrol routes, this meant running back to move a body more than once, especially if you're not familiar with those routes yet.
* Happens to Archibald Carrington in the second ''VideoGame/LauraBow'' game. He's locked in a trunk with a bunch of flesh eating beetles, whilst his [[DeadPersonImpersonation doppelganger]] gets impaled on a stuffed porcupine.
* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest: Open Season'', you find the corpse of a 6-year old boy in a dumpster. Near the end of the game, there's a refrigerator with a severed head in it.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', "City of Thieves": Inverted; Finn finds a small treasure chest stuck inside a skeleton's chest cavity.

* This is ultimately what happens to Mokuzu Umino in ''[[Manga/SatouKashiNoDanganWaUchinukenai A Lollipop or a Bullet]]''. She tells Nagisa that [[TheRunaway they should run away together]], but she goes to her house to get some stuff. After 1 hour of not returning, Nagisa goes to the Umino household and sees [[AbusiveParents her dad]], Masachika, [[TearsOfRemorse come out crying]], with a luggage bag. Nagisa enters the house and finds a bloody machete, the same one Mokuzu's dad had used to dismember their dog a few days prior; then Masachika returns alone and kicks her out. Nagisa and her brother Tomohiko later go to the same place the dog was... and [[OffingTheOffspring they find the dismembered remains of poor Mokuzu]].

* In ''ComicBook/TheMazeAgency Annual'' #1, a dead body turns up in one of Gabe's moving boxes when he is moving into Jennifer's apartment. Naturally this leads Gabe and Jen into investigating where the body came from.

%%* Naturally in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest''.

* In ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', Frankenstein and Igor are trying to hide a body in a wagon, but the arm is still sticking out when someone comes along. Frankenstein places himself in such a way as to pretend the arm is his, and HilarityEnsues.
* The first scene of ''Film/KeepingMum'' depicts sweet, polite Rosie Jones setting out on a journey by train - while her large case in the luggage compartment ''seeps blood''. (It turns out, though, that her case doesn't contain a body, just ''pieces'' of one!)
* ''Film/DeathAtAFuneral''. The funeral is the father of the protagonists, and when a man shows up threatening to expose their sexual relationship to the wife if they don't pay him off, the resulting scuffle kills him. Their solution? [[CrammingTheCoffin Hide him in Dad's coffin]]. Which of course leads to the inevitable scene later where it turns out he's NotQuiteDead when he emerges from the coffin in the middle of the proceedings.
* In ''Film/GingerSnaps'', the protagonist sisters hide the body of a girl who, while wasn't murdered, slipped in their kitchen and died of severe blunt trauma to the head. They stuff it in the fridge (though it's not an example of StuffedIntoTheFridge).

* ''Film/WeekendAtBernies'': Inverted, as the protagonists must actually keep the body on display, pretending that Bernie is still alive.

* A character's body is stuffed in a freezer in ''Film/{{Cornered}}''
* ''Slumber Party Massacre'' trilogy:
** One body in [[Film/TheSlumberPartyMassacre the original film]] is discovered inside a fridge when a younger character tries to snatch a beer from it.
** One character is proved to be a RedHerring in [[Film/SlumberPartyMassacreIII the third film]] when his body is found hidden inside a chest in the basement.
* The plot of ''Film/TheWrongBox'' revolves around two men concealing [[spoiler: what they think is]] their uncle's corpse in the hope of collecting an inheritance, packing him up in a barrel and shipping him home...but it's wrongly delivered to their cousin who, when finding it, fears has been killed by his grandfather to collect said inheritance. He hides the body in a piano which is then collected by repossessors and into the attention of the police.
* The ''Film/{{Hitman}}'' movie does this as a ShoutOut to the original games. He not only puts the bodies in a shipping crate but nails it shut as well.
* A body is hidden in a windowseat compartment in ''Film/GoreOrphanage''.

* When the young apprentice drops into Film/SweeneyTodd's studio, Todd is startled to see that the hand of Pirelli is sticking out from the chest he stuffed his body in.
* In ''Film/BreakheartPass'', Peabody's corpse is hidden by placing it in a coffin in the baggage car.
* In ''Film/HolmesAndWatson'', Holmes and Watson spend a minute or so attempting to stuff Queen Victoria's body into a trunk that is too small for it.
* In ''Film/{{Bernie}}'', Bernie hides Marjorie's body in her meat freezer.
* In ''Film/GoreOrphanage'', Buddy is stashed in the same windowseat that he hid his comics.

* ''Film/HorrorExpress'': The alien kills the baggage man and places his corpse in the crate he had escaped from.
* ''Film/{{Horrific}}'': In ''Terror Vision'', Dr. Jordan and Morty stuff the body of the dead prostitute into a crate and hide it in the attic. It only takes about ten minutes for another character to discover it.

* In ''Literature/BloodsuckingFiends'', a chest freezer serves this purpose, not once, but twice. Our protagonist is stuck with the problem of explaining that not only did he not kill either of the people in the freezer, one of them isn't even dead.
* In "The Muddle of the Woad" (one of Randall Garrett's Literature/LordDarcy stories), the men who are delivering the Duke's coffin discover that there's already a body hidden in it. And before that, the corpse had been hidden inside a "preservator" -- a large chest enchanted to keep foodstuffs preserved.
* The Literature/HerculePoirot short story "The Adventure of the Clapham Cook" by Creator/AgathaChristie, a killer gets rid of a body by stuffing it in a trunk and having the trunk set to a railway station marked 'to be collected'. He later sends to trunk on to Glasgow in an attempt to lose it. This story was later adapted for small screen as part of the ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' television series.
* Played with in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}''. Sam Vimes gets threatened by two trolls from the troll equivalent of the Mafia. When Vimes meets with the boss later, he apologizes to Vimes for his underlings' disrespectful conduct and offers to install a new rock garden in Vimes' home... all the while sitting next to a very suspicious box that Vimes notes is too small to contain a ''whole'' troll...

* In ''[[Literature/AuntDimity Aunt Dimity's Good Deed]]'', Gerald Willis produces a box containing the remains of Sybella Markham Willis and explains the story of how the Willis family came to be on both sides of the Atlantic. Willis Sr. promises to arrange for the remains to be buried with her husband in the Willis' family plot in Boston.
* In the Tabitha King/Michael [=McDowell=] PosthumousCollaboration ''Candles Burning,'' part of the humor/horror is that a human body ''won't'' fit into a footlocker without some...rearranging.
** [=McDowell=] also uses this trope at the end of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge novel ''Gilded Needles.'' One of the final victims is delivered to their home in an elaborate tea chest.

* In 1991, a group of road workers near Henry Hudson Parkway, Manhattan went to investigate a stench that was coming from deep inside the woods beside the road. They discovered that the smell was coming from a small blue picnic cooler. Upon investigating its contents, they discovered the skeletal remains of a small child (who was later identified as Anjelica Castillo). When detectives arrested the girl's cousin, Conrado Juárez twenty-two years later, they were horrified to discover the ease of how the girl could've possibly fit in the small, cramped-up cooler: Juarez and his sister Balvina Juarez-Ramirez had frequently starved little Anjelica by tying her to a table, denying her food or water, resulting in her becoming so emaciated, that she was small enough to fit in the cooler.