The man who died in 1227 was Genghis Khan, and his followers went to great lengths to ensure that nobody would ever find him again. His burial place has remained concealed for eight centuries, and the tale of how it was kept secret is as gruesome as it is absurd.
National Geographic Partners, LLC published the book “The Museum of Lost Things: True Tales of Fabled Treasures, Legendary Cities, and Mythical Creatures That Vanished From History,” where Sam Kean recounts how a ruler who conquered much of the known world managed to keep his burial place hidden for so long.
Temüjin’s Rough Beginnings
The man who would become known as Genghis Khan entered the world in Mongolia around 1162, bearing the name Temüjin at birth. A story told about him says that he came forth from his mother’s body gripping a clot of blood in his hand. His father, a nobleman among their people, met an early end at the hands of a rival tribe, poisoned, while Temüjin was still a boy of nine years. Afterward, those who envied his standing within his own clan drove the boy’s family into the desolate steppes, believing they would die there of hunger.
Accounts of Temüjin’s early life paint a picture of a man who was overly sensitive and terrified of dogs, one who was also prone to crying. He did not stay that way for long. Well before reaching adulthood, he had already endured enslavement and managed his own escape from it, and he followed that by killing his older half brother.
From an early age, soldiering appealed to him. He wiped out every possible rival among the nomads with ruthless efficiency until he claimed the title of Genghis Khan — universal ruler — in 1206, a name that also came to be known as the Disturber of the Universe. His fighters had already proven themselves in countless internal struggles, and once they ceased their own killing and set their sights on conquests beyond their borders, there was little anyone could do to stop them.
Merv and the Massacre
On horseback, the Mongols moved fast, overwhelming foes with a barrage of arrows, but they were also capable of great patience, perfecting the art of besieging a city. A famous example was the siege of Merv, located in present-day Turkmenistan.
A desert oasis known for its gardens, libraries, silks, and refreshing melons, Merv was the Alexandria of its time. The Mongols laid siege to it, and when the terrified artists and merchants within surrendered after just six days, a massacre followed.
To make sure no one missed the point, Genghis Khan had his soldiers count the dead after Merv was burned down. The number came to 700,000.
It was a memorable day for shrieking and weeping.
A Brutal Funeral
Even after all the carnage they caused, the Mongols had a strange aversion to talking about dying. After the year 1227, historical records offer almost nothing on how Genghis Khan passed away. Speculation grew instead.
Several accounts exist about how he met his end. One has him falling from a mount while riding. Another says he was killed by lightning, while a third describes him being wounded in battle with an arrow to the knee. A single source offers a far darker version: it maintains he attempted to assault a queen taken in conquest, and that she, expecting such an act, hid a knife within her vagina, which then opened his body wide.
The funeral itself is what stands out. Yesui, his longtime wife, dressed his body in a white robe, wrapped it in white felt with sticks of fragrant sandalwood, and clasped the shroud shut with golden straps.
The 40-Day Rampage
The tale goes that Genghis Khan was laid to rest with a burial ceremony of extraordinary scale. A thousand riders mounted their steeds and rode off to lay him to rest upon a mountain peak.
On its journey, the procession rapidly descended into chaos and killing. To hide where they were going, the soldiers allegedly murdered everyone they met along the way over the course of the 40 days, frequently shouting “Go to the other world to serve our lord!” Some accounts claim the soldiers also killed every animal they came across.
Given what is known about other Mongol burials, he was almost certainly buried at a depth of 20 yards, placed with his body aligned north to south and his head turned toward the eastern horizon. The grave would have also held various riches — gilded saddles, gold rings, pearls wrapped in silk — alongside slaves, concubines and servants who were interred with him.
A Grand Conquest, A Tiny Army
The empire founded by Genghis Khan expanded from the Korean peninsula to the shores of the Caspian Sea, a domain covering an expanse twice the size of the Roman Empire. After his death, his heirs pushed outward still further, until the realm reached the size of Africa itself.
That is a remarkable number, and he achieved it with an army of just 100,000 warriors — fewer people than some modern stadiums hold.
Historian Jack Weatherford summed up his achievements:
- Imagine if the United States …
- Had been founded by one of its illiterate slaves,
- Who, by the sheer force of personality, charisma, and determination,
- Liberated America from foreign rule,
- United the people,
- Created an alphabet,
- Wrote the constitution,
- Established universal religious freedom,
- Invented a new system of warfare,
- And marched an army from Canada to Brazil.
While most conquerors speak openly of war and conquest, Genghis Khan preferred silence when it came to his own end. Though his campaigns were bloody, the Mongols themselves avoided speaking freely about death, and so contemporary accounts tell us almost nothing about how he died beyond the year 1227.
Why the Tomb Remains Hidden
If archaeologists could vote on which lost grave they’d most like to find, Genghis Khan’s would likely appear near the top of the list — in part to fact-check the gruesome legends surrounding his burial.
The tomb has remained hidden for nearly 800 years and counting. The legends themselves — the massacre at Merv, the attempted ravishment, the 40-day slaughter of anyone who saw the burial party — are part of the enduring mystery.
A delightful, entertaining story tells of a ruler who held sway over an empire with an army smaller than a modern stadium. The legend of his followers concealing his grave by committing mass murder is just that—a legend, not a proven historical fact—and it stands among the reasons the tomb has never been found.
Source material: “Why the tomb of the 'Disturber of the Universe' remains hidden after 800 years,” Live Science.
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