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Witness History

The mystery of Evita’s corpse

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Eva Peron, Argentina's most famous First Lady, died in 1952, her body was embalmed.

Three years later, her widower, Juan Peron, was deposed in a coup. But military officers feared her corpse would become a rallying point of protest against the new government. So they stole it.

Over the next few decades, Evita’s body was stored in several different places in several different countries, inspiring wild stories about its supernatural powers.

In 2013, Linda Pressly spoke to Domingo Tellechea, the art restorer charged with repairing the embalmed body.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Evita's body returned from Italy. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:06.1

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0:08.4

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0:10.6

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0:17.6

It's all right to the lights and foot to the floor.

0:20.0

Oh, what a's done it!

0:21.3

Drop shots!

0:22.9

Winner!

0:23.6

On five sports extra,

0:25.0

Sports Extra 2 and Sports Extra 3.

0:27.6

Listen, only on BBC Sounds.

0:34.4

Hello, welcome to witness history from the BBC World Service. We're the podcast taking

0:40.0

you back to a moment in history in just nine minutes through an incredible archive and the

0:45.7

memories of one key witness. So if that sounds like your thing, make sure you subscribe wherever

0:51.9

you get your BBC podcasts.

1:02.1

And now we're going back to 1955 for the incredible story of the disappearance of the remains of Eva Peron.

1:09.9

After her death, the body of the revered Argentinian First Lady remained missing for nearly two decades,

1:14.0

inspiring wild stories about its supernatural powers.

1:18.8

In 2013, Linda Presley traveled to Buenos Aires to investigate.

1:25.2

It's September 1955, and the Argentinian military seized power in a coup against President Juan Perron.

1:26.7

The movement revolutionary had commenced at the 8 o'clock in the morning. power in a coup against President Juan Perron.

1:37.7

But the head of the new junta, General Pedro Eugenio Arambourou, had a problem,

...

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