‘Truly awful’: Woman cleaning abandoned graves divides the internet

A woman who has shared footage of her cleaning strangers’ graves to social media has sparked debate on TikTok about respecting the dead.

In one of her viral videos, which has amassed 128.3million views, Stacey Habecker (@_the_clean_girl) sprays bright pink cleaning product onto a large crucifix atop an abandoned tomb, which alters its colour from weathered beige to bright white.

Habecker then removes leaves from the grave by hoovering the top of the tomb. She then rips moss and weeds from the edges of the grave, which belongs to a woman called Maria Lugo Texidor who died 34 years ago.

“It looks like it’s been here for 500 years,” Habecker says in the video. “How did this grave get so dirty? Look, there’s a tree growing out of it,” she adds as she pulls off foliage and replaces two bunches of flowers left in the grave’s vases.

She adds: “This transformation is extremely hard for me. But I believe everyone deserves a beautiful grave… [cleaning] is so satisfying. I wish I could live in a graveyard.”

Habecker’s post quickly sparked debate on TikTok, with commenters divided between users who said Habecker had done a “heartwarming” good deed and others who branded the footage “some of the most disrespectful content” they’d ever seen on the app.

“The vacuum felt so disrespectful,” commented one disturbed user, while another commented: “If you use my grave for TikTok views, I am haunting you.”

Another person added: “I don’t think it’s okay to switch the flowers because they are from a loved one as a symbol of love.”

Other users questioned whether the cleaning products Habecker had been using could damage the gravestones and if she had received consent from the deceased’s family.

“Did you have permission to do this?” they asked. “Are you using cleaners that are safe to be soaking into the ground around the grave and don’t damage the stone.”

The Independent has contacted Habecker for comment.

The debate continued on X/Twitter, where one user wrote: “It might seem disrespectful, but imagine being a family member and coming to visit and arriving to a beautiful and clean grave. I’d feel so happy.”

Meanwhile, another person added: “Presentation aside because it’s TikTok, this is actually a really sweet thing to do, to clean up old and forgotten graves.

“The world would be a better place with more people like her.”