Washington - The legendary draw of one of America's biggest and most tragic celebrities, the late Marilyn Monroe, grew even larger Tuesday.

Bidding reached 4.5 million dollars on eBay for a crypt above the final resting place of the sex idol at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles. She died in
1962 at age 36, still in her gorgeous prime, of a probable overdose of barbiturates.

The rush to be buried near Marilyn has grabbed macabre headlines like "Get Atop Marilyn Monroe, In a Crypt" and "Sleep with Marilyn Monroe Forever."

But the seller, Los Angeles widow Elsie Poncher, clearly knew what she was doing when she put her late husband's tomb up for sale on the internet auction site eBay.

"Here is a once in a lifetime and into eternity opportunity to spend your eternal days directly above Marilyn Monroe," her ad states. "In fact the person occupying the address right now is looking face down on her."

Poncher told the Los Angeles Times that she wants to pay off the 1.6-million-dollar mortgage on her Beverly Hills Home so she can leave the property "free and clear for my kids."

What better way than to move the remains of her late husband, Richard Poncher, to a different location after selling the hot property?

Poncher said her husband bought the crypt from Joe DiMaggio, the baseball player who had a short-lived marriage with Monroe in 1954. When her husband was dying, he asked her to put him "upside down over Marilyn" - and she did.

The husband also threatened to "haunt you the rest of my life" if she failed to have him turned face down.

Richard Poncher, an entrepreneur who once sold surplus US Army airplanes and parts, died 23 years ago at age 81.

Poncher did not say whether his ghost was looming at the prospect of his dying desire being upended.(dpa)