Bah, humbug! Vandal smashes Ebenezer Scrooge's tombstone

LONDON (AP) — If life imitates art, a vandal in the English countryside may be haunted by The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Police in the town of Shrewsbury are investigating how a tombstone that marked the fictional grave of Ebenezer Scrooge was destroyed. The movie prop used in the 1984 adaption of "A Christmas Carol" was kept in place and became a tourist attraction.

Town Clerk Helen Ball said the town is discussing what should be done to fix or replace the stone that is "hugely popular" with residents and visitors. This time of year, organized tours of locations used in the movie visit the grounds of St. Chad's Church to see the marker.

"There's not much to see other than broken bits of the gravestone," Ball told The Associated Press. "You can't see that it says Ebenezer Scrooge at the moment because it's so damaged. It's hugely disrespectful."

The film, one of dozens of adaptations of the Charles Dickens' classic, starred George C. Scott as the cold-hearted curmudgeon. After going to sleep on Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of past, present and future and shown the error of his ways to become a kinder, more generous person.

The future ghost shows Scrooge what will become of his life if he doesn't change. He's eventually led to a cemetery where the ghost brushes snow from a gravestone that reveals his name. Scrooge, distraught by all he's seen, vows to turn his life around.

West Mercia Police said the stone was vandalized sometime between Thursday and Sunday. Photos showed it broken into several pieces.

If the vandal is caught, Ball said she wouldn't mind seeing poetic justice served.

"If the ghosts of past, present and future would like to visit (the vandals) in the middle of the night and drop them and break them in pieces, I think that would be a perfect punishment," she said.