michael jackson grave visit

Where is Michael Jackson buried? Star-studded cemetery where singer was laid to rest

Michael Jackson died 10 years ago today just weeks before he was set to hit the stage for the This Is It gigs

10:29, 25 Jun 2019
Updated 12:41, 28 May 2020

Michael Jackson died suddenly ten years ago today, devastating millions of loyal fans across the world.

He died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50 just three weeks before he was set to hit the stage once again.

The Thriller singer had been about to embark on a gruelling 50 show tour at the 02 Arena, the doomed This Is It gigs that never came to be.

He left behind three children Prince, Paris and Blanket, who were 12, 11, and seven-years-old at the time.

But where is Michael Jackson buried? And can I visit his grave? Here's everything you need to know.

Where is Michael Jackson buried?

Jackson is buried in the Holly Terrace Grand Mausoleum at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

The cemetery is located five miles from Hollywood in Glendale, North Los Angeles.

Other celebrities are buried in the same place, including Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable.

Jackson's family were so concerned about his body after his death that they decided to have his coffin entombed in concrete .

He was buried in full stage costume, along with items from his life in music including his iconic white gloves.

He was going to be laid-to-rest in a gold coffin but the Jacksons were so concerned about grave robbers and looters, they chose concrete instead.

Jackson’s brother Marlon revealed that the children wrote “Daddy we love you, we miss you” on notes which were placed in his coffin.

The casket cost £18,000 and the singer was fitted with a special wig to give him flowing shoulder-length hair.

And a make-up artist painted his face to ensure he is buried as if he was taking to the stage for his last bow.

Can I visit Michael Jackson's grave?

The spot where Jackson is buried is closed to the public and is surrounded by high walls and anyone visiting has to show ID.

CCTV cameras linked to sensors are installed around his grave, which will activate an alarm to warn security guards of any would-be trespassers.

Visitors can visit the cemetry but will not be able to get close to the area where Jackson was laid to rest.

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Mapping the Stars at LA's Famous Forest Lawn Memorial Park

When the founder of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale first came to see the site in the 1910s, San Fernando Road was "an unpaved road where vehicles mired down when it rained and sank deep in dust when it didn't," writes Ralph Hancock in his book The Forest Lawn Story . One of the earliest West Coast sellers of the pre-need burial plot, Forest Lawn grew under the guidance of its founder Hubert Eaton into what has famously been referred to as "Disneyland for the dead." (Appropriate then that Walt Disney ended up there.) The lush grounds, the churches that are copies of churches elsewhere, the emphasis on fine art and sculptures were all Eaton's idea, as he sought to make his cemetery a place that took the edge off of death for the surviving friends and family of the deceased.

Eaton saw himself as The Builder, according to Hancock, and believed that it was his duty to make Forest Lawn a place where people could celebrate the lives of those who have died; he came down hard on tombstones, which he saw as gloomy, and set his sights on making the "memorial park" a place of beauty. His idea, says Hancock, was that after all the plots were sold out, the place could still make some money by opening to the public, who, for a fee, could come and enjoy Forest Lawn's "art and architectural treasures."

Eaton's philosophy was lampooned in Evelyn Waugh's novel The Loved One , but the popularity of the cemetery with the rich and famous says that, ridiculous or not, it's a desirable place to end up. Forest Lawn is known among celebrity grave-seekers as very unfriendly to snoopers hoping to find Michael Jackson's tomb or take a picture next to Walt Disney's grave. Celebrity grave-finding website Seeing Stars notes that not only does the staff not help out by providing maps or verbal directions, but "they can be downright hostile at times" to celebrity grave hunters. Maybe the next best thing to getting yelled at by a Forest Lawn staffer for trying to find Clark Gable's final real estate is this map, showing where the biggest stars in the cemetery are eternally resting.

Walt Disney

According to Seeing Stars, Walt's ashes and headstones are in a private, gated garden, where they are hidden behind a Little Mermaid statue. Image via Meribona

Open in Google Maps

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson needs no introduction, but it's always fun to do it anyway. So we'll just say that the star of Disney's Captain Eo , the crooning wizard who upsets Eddie Murphy and inflames the passions of Iman in the Egyptian-themed video for his jam "Remember the Time," is eternally resting in a very private section of the Holly Terrace that is not open to the public. Image via Taph Madison

Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson was the founder of the Foursquare Church , whose Angelus Temple is still up and running in Echo Park. An evangelist and a Canadian, Sister Aimee (as she was known) died in 1944, and is buried on the Sunrise Slope near the Great Mausoleum. Her grave is marked by a large monument, not too common in Forest Lawn. Image via Meribona

Jimmy Stewart

Jimmy Stewart is more than just that guy from It's a Wonderful Life . He is also that guy from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , The Philadelphia Story , and many Hitchcock movies, like Rear Window and Vertigo , and a World War II veteran. He's buried in a plot close to the Wee Kirk O' the Heather church. Image via Meribona

Elizabeth Taylor

The star of Cleopatra and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , the face of White Diamonds perfume: Elizabeth Taylor is a legend. Taylor was known as much for her long roster of film credits as she was for having been married eight times. (Her last marriage ceremony took place at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.) Taylor is buried behind the In Memoria statue of an angel in the part of the Great Mausoleum that is actually open to the public, not far from "The Last Supper" window. Image via Taph Madison

Nat King Cole

It's not even Christmas yet, but here we are talking about Nat King Cole. A singer all the year round, Cole also made many appearances on TV and in movies. After his death in 1965, he was put to rest in the Freedom Mausoleum, in the Sanct of Heritage. Image via Alan Light

Errol Flynn

Dorothy dandridge.

Maybe best known as the first black woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress (for 1954's Carmen Jones , a take on the opera Carmen ), Dandridge was an actress, dancer, and singer. Her ashes are interred in a section of the Freedom Mausoleum called the Columbarium of Victory. Image via Wildhartlivie

Spencer Tracy

Actor Spencer Tracy starred in such classics as the original Father of the Bride , Boys Town , Guess Who's Coming to Dinner , and Desk Set (alongside his long-time lover Katharine Hepburn). Tracy died in 1967 and is buried in a quiet garden corner near the Freedom Mausoleum that just says "Tracy" on a plaque on the wall. Image via Kafziel Complaint Department

Pioneering soul singer/songwriter Sam Cooke sang "You Send Me," "A Change Is Gonna Come," and "Another Saturday Night." He also died under odd circumstances , wearing just a jacket and his shoes, in the manager's office of a hotel in what would be Vermont Vista in present-day South LA. He's buried in the super-private, walled Garden of Honor. Image via Taph Madison

L. Frank Baum

The fellow who brought us timeless American classic The Wizard of Oz was also an advocate for both women's suffrage and the extermination of Native Americans. Baum is buried to the west of the Great Mausoleum, in a spot marked by a hefty tombstone. Image via Gregorius24

Sammy Davis Jr.

Definitely the funnest member of the Rat Pack, Sammy Davis Jr. was known to refer to himself as "the only black, Puerto Rican, one-eyed, Jewish entertainer in the world." He died in 1990 and is buried in the Garden of Honor, which is basically never open to the public. Image via Taph Madison

Jean Harlow

Made famous by a role in Howard Hughes's Hell's Angels , Harlow was THE platinum blonde bombshell, rocketing to the peak of her fame in the 1930s. Harlow's signature feature, her white-blond hair, was achieved with great literal pain, via weekly treatments that sometimes used actual bleach and ammonia, which most people know now create a toxic gas when combined. She died at 26 in 1937 under mysterious circumstances and is buried in the first wing of the Sanctuary of the Benediction. Image via Taph Madison

Theda Bara may not have been a household name since, like, 1915, but she created a whole type of screen star in the early days of film: the vamp —"a woman so cruelly attractive that she could ensnare any man, exploit him, trample him, and walk away with an enormous grin on her face." She's buried in the Great Mausoleum, in the Columbarium of Memory. Image via Taph Madison

Clark Gable

Clark Gable (and his giant ears) was once one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. Famous for his role in Gone With the Wind , he died in 1960 and is buried next to his third wife, Carole Lombard, in the Sanctuary of Trust of the Great Mausoleum. Image via Taph Madison

Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard was a comedian, an in-demand actress during the 1930s, and the third wife of Clark Gable. She died when a plane she was riding in crashed into the side of a mountain in Nevada. She's buried right next to Gable. Image via Taph Madison

Louis L'Amour

A prolific writer of Westerns, Louis L'Amour was the first novelist to be given a Congressional Medal of Honor. Many of his novels and short stories became films starring guys like John Wayne, Sam Elliott, and Tom Selleck. L'Amour died in 1988 and his grave is visible from the western side of the walkway leading to the Great Mausoleum from the nearby parking lot. Image via Meribona

William Wrigley Jr.

The chewing gum mogul William Wrigley Jr. owned the Chicago Cubs, Catalina Island, and the Pasadena mansion that's now used as the headquarters for the Tournament of Roses Parade. Wrigley died in 1932 and was buried on Catalina Island (the memorial where he was buried still stands on the island), but was moved to Glendale in 1947. Some say that his body was moved out of wartime fears that his grave would be bombed, but the move didn't happen until after the war was over, so that doesn't seem too likely. He's buried in the Great Mausoleum, in the Sanctuary of Gratitude.

George Burns and Gracie Allen

The husband-and-wife comedy duo behind the long-running George Burns and Gracie Allen Show died more than 30 years apart, but are buried next to each other. (Burns was said to visit Allen's grave every month after her death.) Their shared tomb in the Freedom Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Heritage reads "Gracie Allen. George Burns. Together Again." Image via Wildhartlivie

Actress Clara Bow embodied flapper ideals and was an incredibly busy actress through the 1920s. She started to fall out of favor in the 1930s, and the addition of sound to films showcased her then-undesirable Brooklyn accent. She eventually left Hollywood and moved to Nevada with her husband, Rex Bell, also an actor. She's buried in the Freedom Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Heritage. Image via Taph Madison

Picking Jackson's Burial Place: Security Was Key

Holly Terrace at Forest Lawn in Glendale, Calif., the mausoleum where Michael Jackson will be buried on Sept. 3, 2009

The private invitation is understated considering the life it is commemorating: a beige cover, with two corded strands, one black, one brown, each ending in sashes, framing the words "Michael Jackson: August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009." It opens to a portrait of the artist in vivid color, holding flowers. Other portraits — a young Michael and an older Michael, in what is presumably a carnival ground on his Neverland estate — decorate other pages in the thin brochure, along with lyrics and words by the deceased. It asks the recipient to be at The Great Mausoleum of Forest Lawn Memorial Park by 7 p.m. on Sept. 3 for a private service over his "final resting place."

Many aspects of the Great Mausoleum in Glendale, Calif., would have delighted Michael Jackson. It is, in its way, a kind of necrological version of his Neverland, filled with Hollywood pomp, kitsch and idiosyncrasy: rolling hills; art so classic, it's almost camp; and an impressive collection of the relics of the famous dead. But above all, Michael Joseph Jackson's family will take comfort in knowing that their often reclusive son will probably be undisturbed by prying fans and press. "Security was highly critical in the final decision," a source close to the family tells TIME. "[Michael's brother] Randy Jackson was tasked with checking out all of these places, and he worked with the family to make sure Michael will be protected all the time. That was a high priority."

The Great Mausoleum takes its architectural inspiration from the Campo Santo in Genoa, Italy, and features 11 terraces, each named for a flower and filled with its own set of luminaries. Jackson will lie in the Holly Terrace, sharing proximity with Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Carole Lombard. And Jackson will not be far from the comic Red Skelton, whom he once befriended. "Red was very fond of Michael and would no doubt find humor in the fact that they will be spending eternity together," says a Skelton friend.

If the stained-glass lighting within the arched-ceiling architecture is not enough to put the fear of God into trespassers, the not-so-subtle security will keep them away. That has been a feature of the mausoleum long before its latest celebrity client. Family members and plot holders must pass through guards or security camera–manned doors in order to visit loved ones in the structure. Curious wandering is forbidden. Roger Sinclair, 77, a historian of cemeteries who has bought a plot for himself in the Great Mausoleum, was not made to feel welcome, even as a future occupant. Says Sinclair: "I was looking at Travis Banton, a costume designer located near W.C. Fields. And the guards came right up and stood there, two guys in suits. They walked me away, and I was escorted out." Explains Sinclair: "I'm a property owner, and I wasn't at my [exact] property. It's not a place to go wander around."

Sinclair remembers a time when the area was relatively open. Security guards recall an incident decades ago when a vandal-prankster removed a brass letter from one of the celebrity plaques. Since then, sections have been either locked off or carefully monitored. Sinclair adds, "There are cameras and sound devices."

Lisa Burks, a friend of Sinclair's and a self-described "grave hunter" (her website is called Adventures in Grave Hunting), says she was once escorted from the Great Mausoleum by security after leaving flowers at Jean Harlow's grave. "If the Jackson family wants privacy, they could not have picked a better place than this," says Burks. "This place is the cream of the crop for protecting celebrities."

Story Highlights
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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's family and about 200 of their closest friends gathered on a hill Thursday evening for their final farewell to the pop singer, who died 10 weeks ago.

Thursday's service for singer Michael Jackson began 90 minutes past the announced start time.

Jackson's burial may lay to rest some of the mystery and controversy that erupted with his sudden death on June 25.

His large family was divided over where the superstar's final resting place should be, but matriarch Katherine Jackson settled on a crypt inside the well-guarded and ornate Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California.

It began with Jackson's five brothers -- each wearing a single sequined glove -- carrying his flower-covered bronze casket onto the outdoor stage among six large bouquets of white lilies and white roses, along with green topiaries.

His three children, led by daughter, Paris, 11, placed a crown atop their father's coffin, which a family spokesman said it was "to signify the final resting place of the King of Pop."

Jackson's children, parents and siblings took their seats in the front row, while his nieces and nephews filled several rows of white chairs behind them.

After an opening prayer by Pastor Lucius Smith, soul music legend Gladys Knight sang the gospel hymn "His Eye Is on the Sparrow."

Clifton Davis sang "Never Can Say Goodbye," a hit he wrote for The Jackson 5 -- the group that featured a young Michael and his brothers.

What was said by Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, and others who took the lectern is not publicly known, because the family barred news cameras from the ceremony. A family statement issued afterward said close friends and family, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, spoke "spontaneously to celebrate Michael's life."

Lisa Marie Presley, one of Jackson's former wives and the daughter of Elvis, attended the service, according to the family statement. It did not mention Debbie Rowe, Jackson's second wife and the mother of his two oldest children.

Macaulay Culkin, the "Home Alone" actor who spent time with Jackson during his Neverland Ranch days, was there with his girlfriend, actress Mila Kunis.

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Actors Corey Feldman and Chris Tucker were also seen arriving for the service.

Motown founder Berry Gordy, who gave Jackson and his brothers their first big record deal, and Quincy Jones, who produced Jackson's "Thriller" album, were there. Music producer Teddy Riley, who helped with Jackson's 1991 "Dangerous" album, attended.

The guest list included TV executive Suzanne de Passe, who produced a miniseries about Jackson's family, and Kenny Ortega, who was producing Jackson's comeback show.

Thomas Mesereau, the lawyer who successfully defended Jackson in a child molestation trial, sat just behind the Jackson family.

When the hour-long service ended, his brothers lifted Jackson's casket for a final time to carry him inside the Great Mausoleum, where he was placed in his crypt at 9:43 p.m. PT (12:43 a.m. ET Friday).

The family statement said it was "his final resting place."

The family and friends then drove to an Italian restaurant eight miles away, in Pasadena, California, for "a time of celebration."

The massive mausoleum, the final resting place for Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and dozens of other celebrities, is normally open to tourists, though the public is denied close access to crypts. Security guards, aided by cameras, keep constant vigil over the graves and crypts, which are surrounded by a world-class collection of art and architecture.

The Forest Lawn Web site boasts that the mausoleum, which draws its architectural inspiration from the Campo Santo in Italy, "has been called the 'New World's Westminster Abbey' by Time Magazine."

Visitors will see "exact replicas of Michelangelo's greatest works such as David, Moses, and La Pieta" and "Leonardo da Vinci's immortal Last Supper re-created in brilliant stained glass; two of the world's largest paintings," the Web site says.

Jackson's burial was delayed by division among family members, though Katherine Jackson would make the final decision, brother Jermaine Jackson recently told CNN.

He preferred to see his youngest brother laid to rest at his former Neverland Ranch home, north of Los Angeles in Santa Barbara County, California.

That idea was complicated by neighbors who vowed to oppose allowing a grave in the rural area -- and by Jackson family members who said the singer would not want to return to the home where he faced child molestation charges, of which he was ultimately acquitted.

The mystery of where Jackson would be buried became a media obsession in the weeks after his death.

After his body was loaded onto a helicopter at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center hours after his June 25 death, it stayed in the custody of the Los Angeles County coroner for an autopsy.

It was only later disclosed that Jackson's corpse was kept in a refrigerated room at the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn cemetery until his casket was carried by motorcade to downtown Los Angeles for a public memorial service in the Staples Center arena.

Again, speculation about Jackson's whereabouts grew when the media lost track of his casket after his brothers carried it out of sight inside the arena. It was only recently confirmed that it was taken back to the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn while awaiting his family's decision.

Though Thursday's interment may settle one Jackson mystery, a more serious one remains. The coroner announced last week that he had ruled Jackson's death a homicide. A summary of the coroner's report said the anesthetic propofol and the sedative lorazepam were the primary drugs responsible for the singer's death.

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Michael Jackson’s final resting place a mystery

Michael Jackson's glimmering casket took center stage at the Staples Center, sitting for more than two hours as celebrities memorialized the “King of Pop” under the watchful eyes of millions. And when the ceremony was over, it was gone.

By law, the golden casket that presumably held Jackson's body should be exactly where his death certificate says it is: back at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills cemetery, the site of a private family memorial service held before the Staples ceremony. Los Angeles County records show the cemetery as the temporary location, where it must stay until those records are officially updated.

But where Jackson's body will eventually be laid to rest remained a mystery, fed by the same level of rumor and speculation that surrounded much of his life. Will he be interred at Forest Lawn? Is Neverland Ranch still a possibility?

What if he's not buried at all, but cremated? The family isn't talking — and may not even have decided yet.

The casket was first seen leaving the mortuary at Forest Lawn, where it got into a hearse for the 10-mile trip to the Staples Center. But before the service even started, the hearse was seen leaving the facility — empty — and wasn't spotted again.

But to keep in good standing with the law, the casket would have needed to return to Forest Lawn at some point, presumably after the crowds went home and the television cameras were long gone.

Robert J. Biggins, a former president of the National Funeral Directors Association, said Jackson's body is likely in his casket which he identified it as a custom-made, top-of-the-line coffin made by the Indiana-based Batesville Casket Company that is called a "Promethean." The casket is probably in a temporary holding area — perhaps a mausoleum — pending a final location, he said.

"This happened so quickly that it's something that has to have an awful lot of thoughtful consideration," said Biggins, who is the owner of Magoun-Biggins Funeral home in Rockland, Mass. "This is bigger than your average burial."

Family appears divided Conjecture about Jackson's final resting place has been as fraught as the rumors about where his memorial service would be held in the days before the Staples Center was announced. His 5-page will, signed in 2002, does not include final wishes for his body.

Forest Lawn is one likely possibility. If Jackson is buried there, he would join other celebrities such as Liberace, Gene Autry, Bette Davis and Andy Gibb. Recently deceased actor David Carradine and "Tonight Show" sidekick Ed McMahon also are buried there.

The Jackson family seems divided over whether the body should go to Neverland, which would surely turn the Santa Barbara County ranch into a West-coast Graceland. But Jackson abandoned the 2,500-acre estate after going into seclusion following his acquittal on child molestation charges in 2005, and many of the things that made it unique — the merry-go-round, Ferris wheel and zoo — are gone.

Billionaire Thomas Barrack, who owns Neverland in a joint venture with Jackson, has expressed an openness to the idea of having the singer's body buried at the ranch. The family would need to get permission from local land-use officials to bury Jackson on private property, then submit an application and paperwork with the state Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.

The state application would then need to be approved by the funeral board, a process that could take anywhere from seven to 30 days.

Beyond that, accessibility remains an issue at Neverland. A single two-lane highway leads to the property about 130 miles north of Los Angeles, and infrastructure changes would likely be necessary to accommodate the additional traffic.

Another possibility is cremation. State law requires that the person who has control of the cremated remains obtain written permission of the property owner or governing agency to scatter on the property.

Delay allows burial to be ‘done right’ Funeral experts said the delay in Jackson's funeral may be due to the fact that such celebrity deaths create logistical, security and legal headaches.

"One of the issues you're going to run into with any high-profile name, whether it be a former president of the United States or somebody of Michael Jackson's stature, is what does the cemetery — if it's to be a burial — do to establish security, to protect the remains, to protect the privacy of the family during the service, to protect remains afterward and what kind of built-in overhead comes with it," said Paul Elvig, former president of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association.

Experts said even a two-week delay between death and funeral is not unusual. The body of singer James Brown was kept in a sealed gold casket inside his South Carolina home for more than two months before being interred in 2007 at the home of one of his daughters.

"You're probably talking more about an impatient public and an impatient press wanting to know what's going to happen and that impatience needs to be understood," Elvig said. "If a body's been properly prepared by an embalmer, it can be held for a considerable period of time with minor touchups to it."

Biggins said he is even encouraged by the delay.

"I think the fact that there's this pause is a wonderful thing because it's being given thoughtful consideration," he said, "to make sure this is done right and this is done in a way that honors his legacy."

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