Emily Chan
You can spend eternity rubbing elbows with Hollywood legends in the afterlife by being buried next to one.
A burial crypt above Marilyn Monroe’s final resting place at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery was put up for sale in 2009 by Elsie Poncher.
The crypt was once owned by Monroe’s former husband, Joe DiMaggio, the legendary Yankees baseball star.
Elsie Poncher’s husband, Richard, had laid in the crypt face down on top of Marilyn Monroe for 23 years at the time of the sale.
He died at the age of 81. She wanted to sell the crypt and use the money to help pay off the $1.6 million mortgage on her home in Beverly Hills.
When she placed the crypt for sale on eBay, she started the bidding at $500,000, as many people out there are willing to pay a pretty penny to be buried next to an A-list celebrity or two. At that price, it was one of the most expensive pieces of real estate per square foot on the market.
A Japanese man bid more than $4.6 million for the crypt above Marilyn. However, the deal ended up falling through, and Richard Poncher is still buried there to this day. Elsie died in 2014.
Richard Poncher was a hard-working entrepreneur who made a fortune with many electronics firms. He once sold surplus U.S. Army airplanes and parts.
Allegedly, he even built two bulletproof cars for Al Capone and owned 12 Rolls-Royces throughout his lifetime.
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