History Main / RobbingTheDead

-> "What's the problem? He's not using it anymore."

* The main characters in ''PlunkettAndMacleane'' meet when James Macleane attempts to take a ruby from a buried thief in the cemetary. However, Will Plunkett was already waiting and takes it for himself at gunpoint.
* MrSardonicus gained his trademark FrozenFace when he dug up his father's grave for the Lottery Ticket that was left in his pocket and the sight of his father's smiling corpse frightened him to no end.

* At the beginning of Disney's ''[[Film/AChristmasCarol2009 A Christmas Carol]]'', Scrooge takes the coins right off the eyes of Marley's corpse, muttering, "Tuppence is tuppence."

Grave-robbery is also in the purview of an AdventureArchaeologist, who will justify his deeds with the claim that ItBelongsInAMuseum (This position is undergoing increasing scrutiny at present, with many cultures decrying what they see as both the desecration of their ancestors and the theft of their history).

* In ''SinCity'', Dwight sifts through Jackie Boy's wallet after the latter was killed by Miho. He finds a wad of cash (which he puts in his own pocket)... And Jack's police badge.

* In one mission in ''VideoGame/DragonAge'' you track down a dwarven merchant and kill the merecenaries he hired. If you decide to spare him, the guy decides to start his new life away from Kirkwall by looting his now-dead mercenaries' corpses. His comments are comedy gold. The frequency of this trope in role playing games is also lampshaded repeatedly throughout the game.

* The topic of ''The Hound'' by [[HPLovecraft]]: two self-described ghouls remove an amulet from an infamous grave. The amulet's owner is less than happy about this.

* [[FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]] justifies UnusableEnemyEquipment during one scene where TokenEvilTeammate Shinon starts looting some dead soldiers, but Ike stops him.

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights''

-->"Hey, that's perfect! [[LampshadeHanging And...sort of macabre]]...oh well."

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}, "Luck Of The Fryrish", the cast goes to a graveyard intending to steal a seven leaf clover that belonged to Fry's nephew from his grave. Meanwhile, Bender goes off on his own, returning with this line:

* MrSardonicus gained his trademark FrozenFace when he dug up his father's grave for the LotteryTicket that was left in his pocket and the sight of his father's smiling corpse frightened him to no end.

* On ''AdventureTime,'' [[KidHero Finn]] needs to find princess hair to save his best friend from an evil, balding witch. He winds up in a cemetery and finds a grave belonging to "Princess Beautiful," whom he digs up.

* In ''LesMiserables'' (book and musical), this is what Thenardier's participation amounted to in the Napoleonic Wars, and he resumes this occupation during the day-long July Revolution.

People in an emergency situation, especially an apocalypse scenario, will procure what they need to survive wherever they can, and while the issue of morality may arise, it typically loses to pragmatism. Similarly, it's very common for soldiers to take equipment, both from the enemy dead and their own. This is typically accepted, as they need the equipment and are not inclined to care about the dignity of the enemy.

In fact, this trope perhaps crops up most frequently in video games and tabletop games, where it is a reliable way to reload on ammunition and acquire new weapons. Other games simplify the issue by having enemies [[RandomlyDrops spontaneously produce useful items upon death]].

Can easily overlap with CreepySouvenir. If the item is bequeathed by the deceased, see TakeUpMySword or IAmDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin, or more generally, {{Will}}. May be presaged by the thief with the comment, 'IfYouDieICallYourStuff'.

* ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'' begins with the old Baron von Frankenstein's coffin being opened and a ledger containing his {{will}} taken from the skeleton, which resists momentarily.

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''. In several adventures ghouls are noted as stealing grave jewelry and other valuables buried with the dead.

* On the ''{{Discworld}}'', Nobby Nobbs was discharged from Ankh-Morpork's army because he spent all his time scrounging the dead of either side, mostly for boots.

* In ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' soldiers and even common folk are routinely looted for supplies. Most notably The Second Sons, a mercenary army, has at least two wagons full of weapons and armor scavenged from battlefield corpses.

* In {{Animorphs}}, one Andalite warrior was discharged because he was selling organs from fallen comrades (Ax notes this is forbidden by the Andalite's code because it might encourage the less patient to hasten their comrade's death).

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', the returning Solar Exalted can usually only acquire orichalcum artifacts by taking them from the tomb of the ancient Solars. Whether this is "theft" depends on whether you consider the new Solars to be the reincarnations or heirs of the ancient Solars whose exaltations they carry, or if the fact that their other two souls are separate makes them separate people. Considering that accurate knowledge of Celestial Exaltation has been suppressed for over a millennium, Second Age Solars are likely to take their past life memories at face value.

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}, "Luck Of The Fryrish", the cast goes to a graveyard intending to steal a seven leaf clover that belonged to Fry's nephew from his grave. Meanwhile, Bender goes off on his own, returning with this line:
--> [[NoodleIncident There, now no one will be able to say I don't own John Larroquette's spine.]]
* On ''AdventureTime,'' [[KidHero Finn]] needs to find princess hair to save his best friend from an evil, balding witch. He winds up in a cemetery and finds a grave belonging to "Princess Beautiful," whom he digs up.
-->"Hey, that's perfect! [[LampshadeHanging And...sort of macabre]]...oh well."
[[/folder]]

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[[folder: Real Life]]
* Ancient Egyptian pharaohs were buried with huge wealth, in the belief that these things would go to the afterlife with them. The artifacts are now the main source of Egyptian archaeological information, but most of the tombs were robbed long before any scientist got there.
* Dentures used to be made using, among other things, the teeth of dead people. After [[NapoleonicWars the battle of Waterloo]], so many teeth were harvested that for some time dentures were known as "Waterloo teeth".
* Ancient Greeks had no qualms about looting dead and this was considered a normal part of war; the Spartans had captured shields in the temple of Artemis in Sparta (see also BattleTrophy).
[[/folder]]

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Can easily overlap with CreepySouvenir. If the item is bequeathed by the deceased, see TakeUpMySword or IAmDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin, or more generally, {{Will}}. May be presaged by the thief with the comment, 'IfYouDieICallYourStuff'. If it's the actual corpse (or a piece thereof) that's taken, that's GraveRobbing.