News

Grover's gone, but his tombstone ATM lives on

October 30, 2013

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (Wireless Flash) — A deceased cattle rancher in Bozeman, Montana, is bringing new meaning to the term "cashing out" by installing an automatic teller machine in his tombstone.

Grover Chestnut died earlier this year at the age of 79. However, before he cashed in, he installed an ATM at his tombstone, gave his 10 heirs debit cards, and told them they would be allowed to withdraw $300 per week from the grave.

... [S]ources said Chestnut figured the tombstone ATM was the best way to make sure his grave had regular visitors.

It must be working. Joel Jenkins, who helped create the "cashing-out" machine, said one of Chestnut's granddaughters recently gave up her aspirations for an acting career in New York so she could cash in at Grandpa's gravestone.

This news flash appeared almost word for word in SFGate, the online edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, in 2002. When the Bozeman Daily Chronicle got the wire, they decided to add a bit of local color to the story, but found it already had more than enough.

In fact, the Daily Chronicle discovered, nobody named Grover Chestnut died in 2002 in Bozeman and no Bozeman cemetary boasted a cash machine. According to Snopes.com the whole story was just a very colorful yarn.

Eleven years later, the tale of the Tombstone ATM still floats around the Internet like a lonely ghost. Still, we sort of like the idea of a cash dispensing headstone; it might even be a nice touch to add voice guidance with a Transylvanian accent.

Happy Halloween!