Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, home to the disintegrating corpses of Washington Irving, Brooke and Vincent Astor, and Andrew Carnegie, has been plagued by vandals of late, according to area officials.
So far, headstones have been desecrated with graffiti, funeral processions have been cut off by tourists, a veteran's medallion has been stolen, and people have even PARKED on top of graves. "What baffles us is why people would feel it’s OK to park on top of a grave anywhere, let alone here," Jim Logan, the 166-year-old cemetery's superintendent, told the Journal News, noting one couple from Connecticut parked on top of a 7-year-old girl's grave last week. "Most people, when they’re parking a vehicle on the road, they keep it on the pavement; they don’t park on the adjoining neighbor’s lawn."
Logan's also spotted graffiti carvings and markings on a number of headstones and mausoleums—he told reporters that the gravestones are so old that removing any markings could ruin them for good. "We ask that you have a sense of decorum when you visit our grounds,” he told CBS 2. “Please approach us and our residents with respect.
Sleepy Hollow, located just a quick train ride away from Grand Central Terminal, serves as the setting for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, one of current Sleepy Hollow Cemetery resident Irving's most famous works. The story's ghoulish protagonist, the Headless Horseman, was not available for comment at press time.
