New York Woman Gets Sucked Into Her Parents Grave, Sues Cemetery

A woman visiting her parents’ burial plot in the NYC suburb of Long Island was suddenly “sucked” down into their grave, a lawsuit claims. Joanne Cullen said she was attempting to attach a wreath at St. Charles Resurrection cemetery when a sinkhole suddenly opened up and swallowed her waist-deep into the ground. The 64-year-old’s lawyer said the sinkhole caused her to fall forward and smash her head on her parents’ tombstone. Cullen has filed a $5m lawsuit against the cemetery’s administrator in Queens Supreme Court, according to the New York Post. Lawyer Joseph Perrini said: “Getting sucked into your parents’ grave when you go to visit them on a cool December afternoon with the sun going down … it’s terrifying and traumatizing.” The lawsuit claims that the gravediggers who worked on an adjacent grave and created “an underground void” that caused the sinking at the grave site of Cullen’s parents Evelyn and John in December 2016. The Long Island resident claims she suffers from nightmares and headaches since the incident, and now requires counseling thanks to the horrific ordeal. Cullen also cracked a tooth in the fall, her lawyer said. “I will never go back there again,” Cullen said in a statement through her lawyer.