Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. Ash and other volcanic materials rained down for hours, burying the city under 20 feet of debris. The people who died at Pompeii aren\'t famous because they were so numerous or their deaths were particularly grisly (though they were). They\'re famous because we can still see their final moments. For thousands of years, the destroyed town has remained oddly intact.The Pompeii bodies disappeared over time, but gaps remained where the bodies used to be. When Pompeii was eventually rediscovered over a thousand years later after the eruption, excavators filled in the gaps with plaster. Today, the plastic bodies of people in their final moments are a popular, though creepy, tourist destination.