Chase Vault — the moving coffins of Christ Church, Barbados

The Chase Vault in the cemetery of Christ Church Parish Church in Oistins, Barbados, is the site of one of the Caribbean's most enduring supernatural mysteries. The sealed stone burial vault, belonging to the wealthy Chase family, was repeatedly opened between 1812 and 1820 to inter family members — and on each occasion, the heavy lead coffins inside were found violently rearranged. Some coffins, weighing up to 240 kilograms, had been turned upside down or flung against the walls, despite the vault being sealed with a massive stone slab cemented in place. The vault showed no signs of tampering, water damage, or earthquake activity. The mystery attracted the attention of the Governor of Barbados, Lord Combermere, who in 1820 ordered the vault sealed with his personal seal and fine sand spread on the floor to detect any intruder. When the vault was opened in 1820, the coffins had been thrown about again — but the governor's seal was intact and the sand undisturbed. After this final incident, the bodies were removed and buried elsewhere, and the vault has remained empty since. No explanation — natural, criminal, or supernatural — has ever satisfactorily accounted for the phenomenon. The Chase Vault remains one of the most thoroughly documented paranormal cases in the Western Hemisphere, investigated by historians, engineers, and paranormal researchers for over two centuries.