Vandals destroy fictional gravestone of Ebenezer Scrooge, featured in film adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’

A vandal destroyed the headstone that marked Ebenezer Scrooge’s fictional grave in the film adaptation of A Christmas carol.

The gravestone is located in Shrewsbury, a town in the English West Midlands. City officials say it was likely vandalized on the evening of November 23, according to Nick Humphreys of the Shropshire star.

“If the ghosts of the past, present and future would like to visit [the vandals] Dropping it in the middle of the night and breaking it into pieces, I think that would be a perfect punishment,” Helen Ball, town clerk, told police. Associated press“Brian Melley.

The municipal council is currently investigating whether the stone can be repaired. In the meantime, local police are still investigating the incident.

The film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Novel from 1843 was filmed in Shrewsbury four decades ago. Throughout the film, the ornery Scrooge (played by George C. Scott) is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.

The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his childhood, while the Ghost of Christmas Present shows him the joys and struggles of the people in his community. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, cloaked in black like the Grim Reaper, sweeps snow from the now destroyed gravestone to reveal Scrooge’s name and his fate if he continues on his current path.

Since the film’s debut, Scrooge’s gravestone has stood in the grounds of St. Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury. Bal tells BBC NewsRichard Price that the site is a popular tourist attraction.

“Many of us go on Christmas pilgrimages to see it,” she adds. “When we have friends or family coming to stay, we always make it a point to take them there.”

The gravestone was not always a prop. Before the film, he said, it had marked a real grave in the cemetery for hundreds of years BBC News‘Tim Page. The stone’s original inscription had faded over time, and the church allowed the film’s production team to inscribe the unknown grave with “Ebenezer Scrooge.”

“They had to go to the Ministry of the Interior to get permission and everything else, but no one knew [whose grave] That was it,” Martin Wood, a Shrewsbury resident who appeared in the film, told the broadcaster in 2023. “If you look at the bottom of the grave closest to the path, you can just make out a small piece of text. It was [in] an ideal place for what they wanted.”

After the grave was vandalized, Shrewsbury resident Louise Coupland launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise £1,000 towards the cost of repairing the stone.

“There’s not much to see other than broken pieces of the gravestone,” Ball told the AP. “You can’t tell it says ‘Ebenezer Scrooge’ at the moment because it’s so damaged. It’s extremely disrespectful.”