Top 5 Most Visited Famous Grave Sites

5.  Marilyn Monroe

In America, a hugely popular celebrity death was the death of Marilyn Monroe in 1962. She was the iconic female sex-symbol of the ’60s and has lasted as an iconic sex-symbol still to this day. Today the crypt directly above hers in the Los Angeles Cemetery has been on eBay for auction (although not yet sold) and has reached a top offer of $4.6 million 47 years after her death. It is said that Hugh Hefner is rumored to have reserved his place beside her. The crypt is located in the Corridor of Memories in the Westwood Memorial Park where other celebrities remains can be found like Dean Martin, Truman Capote and Dona Reed. It is said that of her various husbands, ex-husband Joe DiMaggio (who she was only married to for 274 days) never remarried and sent red roses to her crypt three times a week for the next 20 years. Marilyn, you win our affections at number 5.
4.  Jim Morrison

Of all the most popularized graves to visit, the gravesite of Jim Morrison, who died in Paris on July 3rd, 1971, is a tribute to his influential life as a talented musical, rock legend. He rocks in at number 4. His final resting place is at Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, a cemetery that was established in 1804 by Napoleon
Bonaparte. Although other famous musicians and writers also are buried there, like Edith Piaf, Max Ernst and Oscar Wilde, Jim, the American rock star’s grave takes the place as the most visited plot on the cemetery grounds. Hoarded by tourists daily, cemetery staff have often had to deal with unauthorized tributes from fans from a bust of Morrison to arrows pointing ‘Toward Jim’.
3.  Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley, the rock-’n’-roll legend died of a prescription drug overdose in August 1977 and was first buried in a mausoleum in Forest Hills Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee and was later moved to Graceland because of a thwarted attempt by vandals to steal his body. Admission to Elvis’ grave is part of the Graceland tour and although dead for more than three decades, 600,000 people a year still visit him contributing nearly $150 million to the Memphis economy. For all those fans Elvis lives forever at number 3.
2.  Shakespeare

Certainly the most prized grave site of all time is inhabited by the remains of Shakespeare, the most famous English language writer in history. His work has been studied and translated into more languages than any other printed work except the Bible. Shakespeare lived from 1564 to 1616 and still to this day, thousands of people frequent his tomb in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England at the Holy Trinity Churchyard. His grave is covered by a flat stone that bears an epitaph believed to be written by him reading,
Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forebear
To dig the dust enclosed here;
Blessed be the man that spares these stones
And curst be he that moves my bones
Shakespeare was buried in the Holy Trinity Church not for his life’s work but actually paid for the privilege at a high price at 440 pounds along with his family members after saving his money as a playwright. His influence on the world and for a grave site that has been visited for all these years brings Shakespeare in at number 2 of our top ten list.
1.  Michael Jackson

Coined ‘The King of Pop’, Michael Jackson is reserved on this list for number one simply because of the potential he has to become one of the next most visited celebrity graves. Partly because up until now nobody has been allowed to visit Michael Jackson’s gravesite at The Forest Lawn (known as the ‘Country Club for the Dead’) in the Hollywood Hills, California. The place where he was buried quietly in the Great Mausoleum. Michael Jackson’s brother, after reaching an agreement with the owners of the cemetery, have decided they will open to the public at the first anniversary after his death on June 25th and will remain open. Michael’s brother says fans will be able to go right up to the mausoleum and drop off flowers and visit. Michael loved his fans and his fans loved him. Time will tell if he soon tops the list, but with the ‘thriller’ of the unknown, Michael one day may be entertaining his fans once again.
Instead of inhabiting red carpet events, these stars now reside in famous cemeteries where resting in peace isn’t quite all that death once promised to be. For these long gone celebrities fans continue to visit them years after the fanfare is gone and their mortal remains have all but turned to dust. Of the top ten most famous graves visited, these are the ones who’ve been laid to rest, but that continue to haunt us all.
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