The Cadaver Synod (897, Rome)

Rome, 897, where Pope Stephen VI decides to settle an old score with his already dead rival, Pope Formosus, by digging up his corpse for a full-blown trial. Yep, they hauled Formosus’ rotting body out of the ground, slapped some fancy papal robes on it, and sat it on a throne to answer for crimes like perjury and stealing the papal gig. A poor deacon had to play lawyer for the corpse, probably trying not to gag as he “defended” his silent, decaying client. Spoiler: the dead guy lost. They hacked off Formosus’ blessing fingers, stripped him naked, and threw the body into the Tiber River. Stephen thought he was being clever, but the Roman crowd wasn’t amused turns out, desecrating a corpse doesn’t win you fans. The whole fiasco got Stephen booted from the papacy, proving that trying to dunk on a dead guy with a mock trial is as hilariously unhinged as it is grim.