The American actress Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home on August 5, 1962. She was surrounded by empty pill bottles and was found lying facedown on her bed, clutching her telephone. Marilyn had enjoyed a successful career as an actress, but she battled many personal demons and had relationships that weren't always in her best interest.
A lot of people have been completely infatuated with Marilyn, and her image is still used all over the world in any number of ways. Sometimes, people take their infatuation to the next level and buy as much Marilyn-themed memorabilia as they can find, get Marilyn-themed tattoos, or even turn their homes into homages to the screen star.
Richard Poncher was a businessman from Los Angeles who was pretty obsessed with Marilyn for most of his life. In fact, he became so consumed by Marilyn that he even bought the crypt above hers and made an odd request: He asked if he could be buried face down above the star.
There's not a lot out there about Richard, but he was originally from Chicago, Illinois. His exact business isn't really specified, but rumors have persisted that he once built bulletproof cars for Al Capone. Richard and his wife, Elizabeth, actually owned two spots in the same crypt where Marilyn was buried.
The story of how they bought these spots is pretty surprising! It seems the Ponchers were staying at New York's Regency Hotel the same time that Joe DiMaggio was there. Joe and Marilyn had been in a relationship, and the baseball player had even purchased crypts for himself and Marilyn, so they could be together always. Unfortunately for Joe, they broke up.
While at the hotel, he simply turned to the Ponchers one day and asked if they'd like to buy a crypt. When Richard realized he could buy the crypt directly over Marilyn's, he seized the chance. He also managed to buy a second crypt for his wife. No one knows how much Richard paid for the two spots.
The story didn't make huge waves at the time, and it's not likely that Richard or Joe were spreading it around. In fact, no one knew about this arrangement until 2009, when Elizabeth put her husband's crypt for sale on eBay due to financial hardship. She planned to have her husband's remains moved after the sale.
She made the starting price for the crypt over Marilyn's a whopping $500,000. People from all over the world engaged in a bidding war, and ultimately, someone from Japan won the auction when they paid $4.6 million. Unfortunately, the bid fell through. Elizabeth and her lawyer tried to pursue the other offers they received, but they also failed.
Now, Richard, Elizabeth, and Marilyn are all still buried at the Corridor of Memories. They aren't the only names there, of course. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner bought the crypt next to Marilyn's for $75,000 in 1992. There's reportedly at least still one more plot near Marilyn, but it's probably pretty pricey.
While Joe and Marilyn ended their marriage in 1954, the two had reportedly decided to give things another shot right before she died. The pair first met after Joe asked Marilyn's agent to set up a date for the two of them, though Marilyn later commented that she wasn't that excited about it.
She told her agent, "I don't care to meet him. I don't like men in loud clothes, with checkered suits and big muscles and pink ties. I get nervous."
Eventually, Marilyn agreed to go on a date. They obviously hit it off enough, because Marilyn ended up marrying Joe on January 14, 1954, at San Francisco City Hall. However, they reportedly didn't have much in common, and their lack of shared interests eventually caused bigger problems in their marriage.
Joe was also reportedly possessive of Marilyn. Though the star was known for her physical attractiveness and definitely had a certain look that many celebrated, Joe didn't like that so many people were attracted to her. He even weighed in on which films she worked on and how she was dressed.
Marilyn ended up filing for divorce a month after she finished filming The Seven Year Itch. She even remarried, but when that marriage ended, she reportedly began talking to Joe again to see if the old spark was still there. He quit drinking and went to therapy following their divorce, and when she came back around he was genuinely a changed man.
Joe and Marilyn ended up becoming very close friends, and many believe he was planning to ask Marilyn to marry him again before her unexpected death. Joe's son said that his dad spoke to Marilyn on the phone the night she died, and that he never believed she voluntarily took her own life.
