Occasionally people use their Wills to do some quite strange things. Harry Houdini for example, believed in life after death. He wanted to make sure that when he came back to visit his wife, she would know it was him. So he left her a secret code of 10 randomly selected words she could use to confirm the identity of his spiritual presence. After he died in 1926 of a ruptured appendix, she held a séance every Halloween for 10 years. It isn’t known if the code was ever used.
One of the wishes of Jack Benny, the famous American comedian, was easier to carry out. Jack was married to Sayde Marks for 48 years when he died on Boxing Day 1974. Their marriage was quite a tempestuous one with Sayde reputed to be quite demanding and vain. while Jack had quite a reputation as a womaniser. She claimed that his signature gesture of holding one hand to the side of his face came from trying to hide the scratches she inflicted after hearing him take a phone call from one of his female friends. Despite it all, Jack was devoted to Sayde and the day after his funeral, a single red rose was delivered to her. She received them every day until she died 9 years later. Jack had allocated a sum of money to get a rose to her every day for the rest of her life.
Rock singer Janis Joplin included in her Will, signed a few days before she died of a drug overdose in 1970, a provision that allowed the executor to spend up to $2,500 “to cause a gathering of my friends and acquaintances at a suitable location as a final gesture of appreciation and farewell to such friends and acquaintances.” The request provided for a posthumous all-night party for 200 guests at her favourite pub in San Anselmo, California, “so my friends can get blasted after I’m gone.”