You really have to wonder how anyone could have thought this was a good idea: Dr. Pepper announced via a clue in one of their promotions that it had buried a coin worth as much as one million dollars in the 347-yea-old Granary Burying Ground, final resting place of no less than John Hancock, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams.

Contestants, ready to unearth the coin, showed up at the gates of the Burial Ground on Tuesday, only to find that the city had closed them, fearing the historic site would be damaged by the digging.

“It absolutely is disrespectful,” Boston Parks Commissioner Toni Pollak told the Boston Globe. “It’s an affront to the people who are buried there, our nation’s ancestors.”

Cadbury Schweppes, the inappropriately British company that owns Dr. Pepper, apologized after a coin worth $10,000 was recovered near a 200-year-old crypt.

“The coin should never have been placed in such a hallowed site, and we sincerely apologize,” Artkop [spokesperson] said in a statement. What was Dr. Pepper thinking telling people to dig up Paul Revere’s grave? —MEGHANN MARCO

Dr Pepper apologizes for placing coin near crypt [Boston Globe]

Dr Pepper promotion closes cemetery [Buffalo News]

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