Plot sale near film legend

AN American widow is selling her husband’s burial spot directly above film legend Marilyn Monroe so that she can pay off her mortgage.

Elsie Poncher has put an advert on eBay to auction off the tomb in Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles.

“Here is a once in a lifetime and into eternity opportunity to spend your eternal days directly above Marilyn Monroe,” says the advertisement.

“In fact the person occupying the address right now is looking face down on her.”

The burial plot is currently occupied by the late Richard Poncher, who bought two tombs from baseball player Joe DiMaggio, Monroe’s ex-husband, as the pair were divorcing in 1954.

Monroe died at the age of 36 in 1962. Poncher died at the age of 81 in 1986.

Elsie Poncher said she would move her husband’s remains over one spot into a crypt intended as her final resting place if the sale was successful and she would be cremated instead when her time came.

Bidding for the plot opened at $500,000 (€355,000) and had reached $2.5 million by yesterday.

Poncher wants enough money to pay off the $1.6m mortgage on her Beverly Hills home.