A piece of film history has been destroyed by vandals. The gravestone of Ebenezer Scrooge used in the 1984 film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol was smashed in a graveyard in Shrewsbury, England. The vandalism has promoted an investigation from authorities, with locals baffled as to why someone would destroyed the beloved prop.
Police in West Mercia said that the stone had been vandalized sometime between Thursday and Sunday, which was when town council clerk Helen Ball said she was notified of the damage.
Ball told the BBC that the stone is a popular tourist attraction that locals were proud of, and that the community has expressed outrage over the damage on social media. She also said that the gravestone creator's daughter had reached out and lamented how upset her father was about the incident.
"We’re now left with a gravestone that’s in multiple pieces," she explained. "I think it’s one of those things that’s very dear to everybody’s hearts. It happened in a graveyard, and the disrespect that has been shown is evident."
In the film, the prop was used in the scene in which the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come takes Scrooge, portrayed by actor George C. Scott, to the graveyard. Wiping the snow off the gravestone, he famously sees his own name, helping to inspire him to become a better man. The better part of the Clive Donne-directed movie was filmed in the Shropshire town, and the stone has sat in the graveyard next to St. Chad’s Church for the past four decades.
Ball said that town council staff would be determining whether the gravestone can be repaired. In the meantime, the incident had been reported to police and authorities are reviewing CCTV footage for any clues to who caused the destruction.
"There’s not much to see other than broken bits of the gravestone. You can’t see that it says Ebenezer Scrooge at the moment because it’s so damaged. It’s hugely disrespectful," she added to the Associated Press. "If the ghosts of past, present and future would like to visit in the middle of the night and drop them and break them in pieces, I think that would be a perfect punishment."
