Til Death Do Us Not Part

On March 19, 1893, Mary Gould Reed, 59, died before her father and took residence in his Evergreens Cemetery crypt in Brooklyn. Her widower, a retired truckmannamed Jonathon, visited her every day. His father-in-law complained, proclaiming the attention unnatural. When dear old dad died, Jonathon wasted no time in moving Mary’s body to a private mausoleum on the other side of the cemetery. Every morning when the cemetery opened, he arrived to spend the day with his sweetheart. Each evening when the cemetery closed, he would leave. Home Sweet Home Jonathan went to great lengths to turn the mausoleum into a home, installing a heater and moving in Mary’s favorite belongings. Instead of accepting Mary’s death, Jonathan insisted she was enjoying a deep sleep. As his New York Times obituary explained, Reed believed that the only thing different about Mary was that her body no longer contained heat. As long as he kept the heater going, he believed she sleet peacefully in the crypt. Each day, Jonathon greeted Mary by looking through the peephole on her casket and wishing her a good morning. He read books and discussed the news. He ate his meals in the crypt and moved in the family parrot. When the parrot died, he had it stuffed. Sometimes, the widower took a seat at the entrance of the mausoleum and greeted passersby as if he sat on a porch while waiting for his wife to rise from a nap. And even though he wasn't sitting on a porch, he did believe that Mary merely napped. People began to talk, and his behavior garnered international attention. Tibetan monks decided to visit Jonathan to discover what he knew about the afterlife. They left disappointed when he told them his purpose was to keep Mary warm. One day in March 1905, a visitor to the cemetery noticed the mausoleum door ajar and discovered Jonathan on the floor, arms outstretched toward Mary. He called for help, and Jonathan went to a nearby hospital. A few days later, Jonathan finally “fell asleep” without ever waking up. He was 80 years old.