Happy with the article, waiting the backlash for calling the Jackson fans "mental".
Fans Stay Moonstruck Over Graves of Stars
By Scott Collins and Susan King
Los Angeles Times
Posted Jul 10, 2009 @ 11:31 PM
LOS ANGELES ??
This summer at Dearly Departed Tours, business has never been better -- and that was before Michael Jackson??s sudden death.
In the days since, the company that drives tour buses to spots where celebrities have met their end has added a stop at the rented Los Angeles mansion where the pop star collapsed.
People are so fascinated with Hollywood??s history of death and crime that Dearly Departed has added 100 tours a month compared with a year ago, said owner Scott Michaels.
His clientele always wants to see where the murders by the Manson family took place, where Marilyn Monroe lived.
These days, Michaels said, the first thing people ask about is the Jackson site.
That leads to the inevitable speculation about the final disposition of Jackson??s remains.
??If he??s buried somewhere where the public has access to it, it??s going to be Graceland West,? Michaels said.
At the real Graceland in Memphis, Tenn., Elvis Presley??s world-famous mansion attracts 600,000 visitors annually and is one of the top home tours in the country. A ??VIP tour? that includes a swing past Presley??s grave in Meditation Garden on the grounds of Graceland costs $69 per adult.
Assuming Jackson??s body ends up in a grave or tomb that fans can visit, the spot could become a shrine, akin to the grave of The Doors?? singer Jim Morrison in Paris, which has become a mecca for rock pilgrims, a magnet for makeshift memorials and an eternal nuisance to French authorities.
Wonder why there are no pilgrimages to the tombs of rock stars John Lennon of the Beatles and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana? Their families had their remains cremated with ashes either scattered or given to a survivor, leaving no shrine for posterity, no scene for the hordes of fans.
On the other hand, visit reggae singer-songwriter Bob Marley??s mausoleum in Jamaica, said to be sacred to Rastafarians, and you can buy souvenirs of the late star at the adjoining tourist center.
A steady stream of visitors treks to Monroe??s grave at Pierce Brothers Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, and for those who can??t make the trip there are video tours on YouTube.
After Jackson??s death on June 25, the street adjacent to his home was immediately crammed with mourners and lookie loos. Michaels waited five or six days to start busing in his tour customers, after ??the mental people started leaving.?
Some might object to such a description of celebrity-death worshippers, the kind of devotees who imbue these grave sites with the hushed reverence accorded saints?? tombs. But even academic research suggests that celebrity-death fixation can get a little, well, crazy.
In a recent study (??Elvis: Dead and Loving It -- the Influence of Attraction, Nostalgia, and Risk in Dead Celebrity Attitude Formation?), four researchers at the University of Memphis noted that ??celebrity worship is often associated with poor mental health, such as social dysfunction, depression, and anxiety? as well as a ??lack of education.?
Yet ours is a celebrity-obsessed culture, and even for the sane among us, that obsession does not necessarily end with a celebrity??s death. Before Jackson??s passing, the university researchers polled 161 college students and discovered the most popular dead celebrity among the students was comedian Chris Farley, followed by actor Heath Ledger, comedian Bernie Mac, Bob Marley, rapper Tupac Shakur and Elvis Presley. Monroe was No. 9; Morrison did not make the list.
??There??s a thread running there,? said Leo Braudy, a professor at the University of Southern California who has studied celebrity culture.
Braudy argues that show business is a ??secular religion,? and certain dead celebrities are seen as ??secular martyrs? worthy of elaborate displays of devotion.
??It??s someone who??s committed suicide or has died before his time,? Braudy said. ??Someone cut off, a person of lost potential.?
This results in posthumous cults for Cobain, Lennon and actor James Dean, all of whom died unexpectedly (and violently) and who, perhaps as a consequence, ranked highly in the dead-celebrities survey.
The phenomenon of the celebrity martyr, Braudy said, can be traced to silent-movie star Rudolph Valentino, whose death in 1926 following an appendicitis operation sparked a riot at the New York funeral home where the service was held.
But fame is relative, and memories can be short. Today, Valentino??s crypt in in Hollywood attracts scant attention beyond film buffs. On a recent visit, the crypt was bedecked with vases containing lifeless flowers. Three tourists snapped a picture, but left to look at the crypt of actor Peter Finch.
As Braudy said, ??Once the generation passes that had an emotional connection? to the dead celebrity, the worship phenomenon is ??more of a historical interest.?
But as long as a VIP??s memory remains fresh, his or her grave site can become a major problem for the living.
Celebrity graves make tempting targets for criminals. A few months after his 1977 death, the remains of silent-film star Charlie Chaplin were stolen from the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland (they were later recovered and reburied).
Dean, killed in a 1955 car crash, was born in Marion, Ind., and buried at Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Ind. His headstone has been chipped away by fans and was even stolen, only to be found and returned.
Morrison??s grave is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris but an ongoing nightmare for French officials. An early grave marker was filched in 1973. In 1981, a new gravestone and bust were erected in honor of the 10th anniversary of his death. That statue was defaced, then disappeared in 1988. Morrison??s family recently placed a flat stone on the grave and the site is under surveillance by security guards.
This may explain why many families of deceased celebrities cremate the remains or keep their final resting spots away from prying eyes and hands. At Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks cemetery in Glendale, the remains of stars locked in vaults inaccessible to the public include actor Humphrey Bogart, songwriter and performer Sam Cooke and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
But celebrity graves can be big business. At least three Web sites tell fans where stars rest, findadeath.com,
www.findagrave.com and
www.beneathlosangeles.com.
And it??s a job for people like Benny Hill. The veteran limousine driver runs a ??graveline? tour service that shepherds tourists to graves of celebrities such as Farrah Fawcett, who was recently buried in the same cemetery that houses Monroe, as well as actors Natalie Wood, Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Burt Lancaster.
??They want to see where people get killed or died, murdered or buried,? Hill said.
Even in star-packed Westwood Memorial cemetery, there??s no doubt which dead celebrity has the most sought-after grave. Rumor has it that other celebrities have bid top dollar for the plot adjacent to Monroe??s, Hill said.
And then there??s the physical evidence.
Monroe??s grave marker is ??the dirtiest one there,? Hill said. ??You look at the wall and there is lipstick, fingerprints, handprints.?
Times staff writer Yvonne Villarreal contributed to this report.