A friend of mine recently posted on social media that a huge tree fell in the Mount Holly Cemetery (Mount Holly, New Jersey), where her Mom is buried. It hit a mausoleum, and her guess was that the impact knocked the doors off. They were gone. I assume that they were stolen either before or after the tree hit the structure.
Over the years I’ve written about stolen bronze mausoleum doors (my first post was in 2013, “Stealing from the Dead”). Why does this happen? When the U.S. economy is in a downturn, scrap metal prices generally decrease - but if the cost of living goes up concurrently, people will do whatever they can to put food on the table. So now that the economy is in a Kamikaze nosedive, it is not surprising that these doors are being stolen. While each door has an estimated replacement value of $10,000, current scrap value is about $500 for each 200-pound bronze door. According to www.scrapmetalmonster.com, current price (April 14, 2025) for bronze is about $2.35 per pound. I had said in the past that $500 would buy a lot of drugs. Now, with the economy tanking, prices and inflation going through the roof, that same $500 will buy a lot of groceries.
And the Hits Just Keep on Coming...
Now, obviously, it is not easy to steal mausoleum doors. At 200 pounds per door, this is at least a two-person job, with power tools and a truck. You also need a victim cemetery, privacy, and a salvage yard willing to accept such objects (and not call the police). Those are just the things I can think of. Regardless, during the month of February, 2025, there was a rash of mausoleum door thefts in eight Delaware County (borders Philadelphia to the west) cemeteries. Maybe a new theft ring is targeting these items, now that catalytic converters are too hot for thieves and salvage yards to deal with?
Thieves steal mausoleum doors from cemeteries across Philadelphia, Delaware, Bucks and Montgomery counties - 6abc Philadelphia
Thieves hit seven cemeteries in Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs:
- Saints Peter & Paul Cemetery in Marple Township
- Montefiore Cemetery in Jenkintown
- Forest Hills Cemetery in Huntingdon Valley
- North Cedar Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia
- Mt. Sharon Cemetery in Springfield
- Roosevelt Memorial Park in Trevose
- Oakland Cemetery in Philadelphia
Over the years, I’ve warned cemetery managers about this and suggested they install video cameras aimed at mausoleums that are not in clear view of the public roads. Locked gates and fencing does not deter these thieves. Doors have been stolen from mausoleums in Philadelphia’s Mount Vernon Cemetery and Laurel Hill Cemetery. Both have locked gates and intact fencing. The doors had to be removed, carried across the cemetery grounds, lifted over the fence, and loaded onto a truck.
What some cemeteries have done is cover mausoleum doors with plywood or wall up the opening with cinder blocks. This takes away from the aesthetic, of course, and obstructs your view of the stained glass windows, which can usually be seen through a door with decorative openings. But maybe that’s a good thing. Thieves steal the windows too - there is a black market for those, especially Tiffany windows.
In the case of thieves involved in the 2014 thefts from Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA (suburb of Philadelphia) noted below, they were caught selling the bronze bars that protect the stained glass windows, in addition to the mausoleum doors.
In that particular situation reported by the Delco Times, police obtained video surveillance recordings from a scrap yard showing the thieves with the bronze doors and bars. Scrap dealers can also get into trouble with the law for buying such objects. The thieves in this case were actually employees of Holy Cross Cemetery! They had stolen doors from three of its mausoleums - an inside job.
Toast can’t ever be bread again.
If you’re a descendant of a wealthy family that owns a mausoleum, can you buy mausoleum owner’s insurance, like homeowners’ insurance? Turns out you CAN, as you see here from Trusted Choice Insurance company. But my guess is that if people living in a flood plain rarely buy flood insurance, then not many people own mausoleum insurance.
Older Victorian-era cemeteries barely have enough money to cut the grass, let alone hire a 24/7 security force. I wish there were a silver lining here, a simple solution, or an upbeat way to end this piece. It will have to stand as a cautionary tale, unfortunately. If the situation pisses you off, I second that emotion. Hopefully, someone will develop the successful long game.
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Surely it's in society's interest to help people protect themselves. There should be funding for CCTV or other affordable surveillance like Ring. Obviously any cemetery association should be able to manage such common sense protections? There's been similar thefts in NYC cemeteries.
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