LOOKING to buy something to put on your mantelpiece that will get friends talking?

Why not snap up the ashes of Truman Capote, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood?

In a bizarre turn of events, Capote – who died in 1984 aged 59 – is making headlines all over again. The ashes are being auctioned in Los Angeles with a starting price of $2,000.

It’s the latest bizarre story in the history of the macabre.

It’s often said that Walt Disney had his body cryogenically frozen after his death so that when the technology advanced in the future he could be brought back to life through a scientific miracle.

It’s actually a myth.

Disney did want to be frozen but his family had him cremated before his wishes could be carried out.

Playwright and screenwriter Robert Bolt was a man with a very creative imagination. He’s best remembered now for his stage play A Man For All Seasons and the brilliant string of screenplays he wrote for David Lean, including Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago.

When he died after a series of strokes in 1995, he left instructions with his wife, actress Sarah Miles, that his funeral should involve mourners meditating around his body for two days.

He was then buried in a huge scarlet gown and pink scarf, in a cardboard coffin sunk in the grounds of his Sussex home.

Writer Hunter S Thompson made his name with books that included Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

He pioneered a first-person style of journalism which he called ‘gonzo’ in the 1960s that continues to influence journalists to this day.

Thompson had an obsession with guns and ‘explosions’, according to his widow. When he died in 2005 he had very strict plans for his funeral.

His friends gathered at his home and his ashes were fired from a 150ft cannon, shaped like a red fist with two thumbs, the symbol of Thompson’s gonzo journalism.

The cannon had been paid for by Johnny Depp, who played Thompson in the movie of Fear and Loathing.

In a particularly macabre touch, the fireworks containing Thompson’s ashes exploded over the top of his home.

One can only assume the gathered mourners were sprinkled in the author’s particles.

American comic book writer Mark Gruenwald had a very strange and unique idea for immortality.

When he was cremated, in accordance with his wishes, his ashes were stirred in with the ink used to print the first run of the Squadron Supreme comic.

Apparently, the special edition run is now worth a lot of money.

Mm, not sure I’d like that one on my bookshelf.