LOS ANGELES – An American widow sold her husband’s burial crypt directly on top of film legend Marilyn Monroe’s final resting place for $4.6 million (€3.2 million) on Monday through online auctioneer eBay.
Elsie Poncher said she was selling the crypt in a small, celebrity-heavy cemetery in Los Angeles to pay off her mortgage.
The auction opened earlier this month at $500,000 and attracted 21 bids before closing on Monday. eBay did not say who submitted the winning bid. “We are currently working with the seller and the high bidder to finalise the sale and will be happy to report more of the details once the sale has been completed,” it said in a statement.
Mrs Poncher’s husband, Richard Poncher, bought the crypt from baseball star Joe DiMaggio, Monroe’s ex-husband, as the couple was divorcing in 1954.
Monroe died at age 36 in 1962. Mr Poncher died in 1986 at age 81. Mrs Poncher said her husband’s body was positioned to allow him to look “face down” on Monroe.
She plans to move her husband’s remains to an adjacent crypt that had been intended as her own final resting place. She now plans to have her remains cremated when she dies.
The Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery, surrounded by office buildings in the suburb of Westwood, is home to the remains of such celebrities as Dean Martin, James Coburn, Roy Orbison, Truman Capote, Natalie Wood, Carl Wilson, Minnie Riperton and recent arrival Farrah Fawcett.– (Reuters)