LOS ANGELES - A LEGION of male admirers found her irresistible before her death but Marilyn Monroe has not been able to exert the same kind of pull in the afterlife.

A fresh Internet auction for a final resting place in the crypt above the Hollywood legend's tomb has ended with zero bidders willing to meet the estimated US$500,000 (S$700,000) valuation for the spot, local media reported on Tuesday.

Widow Elsie Poncher is reportedly trying to sell her husband Richard's resting place above Monroe in order to help pay off her mortgage. Her husband bought the plot from Monroe's former spouse and baseball icon Joe DiMaggio and has been entombed there for 23 years.

Mrs Poncher, who plans to move her husband to a crypt designated for her, sought to auction the plot at the Westwood Village Memorial Park on eBay after a US$4.6 million offer in August collapsed.

Mrs Poncher told the Los Angeles Times that her husband had requested to be placed above Monroe - face down - as he lay dying.

'He said 'If I croak and you don't put me upside down over Marilyn, I'll haunt you the rest of my life',' the Times quoted her as saying. -- AFP