Ghosts and Hauntings

 

Curse of Griffith Park

In 1863, Don Antonio Feliz died of smallpox and left all his lands to Don Antonio Coronel. Don Feliz’s blind, 17-year-old niece, Dona Petranilla, finding herself left with nothing, was said to curse Don Coronel. In the years that followed, a mysterious series of disasters struck the various owners of the land which would later become Griffith Park. Colonel Griffith, the last private owner of the land, turned the entire 3,000-acre property over to th City of Los Angeles in 1896 to serve as a public park. Seven years later, Griffith was convicted of the attempted murder of his wife in a Santa Monica hotel. He served a two-year sentence at San Quentin.

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The Monster of Elizabeth Lake?

Legend has it that a monster lived inElizabeth Lake (17 miles west of Palmdale on Elizabeth Lake Road). It was said of old that the Devil himself created the lake and kept one of his pets in it. The stories go as far back as the 1830s when Don Pedro Carrillo abandoned a ranch on the lakeshore after a mysterious fire. He complained of the La Laguna del Diablo. In 1855, Americans settlers tried moving into the area but later abandoned it claiming that it was haunted. Not long afterward, Don Chico Lopez and two other men claimed to witness the ascension of a huge monster with bat-like wings from the lake. Lopez also abandoned his lakeside ranch, selling out at a loss. He claimed that his livestock were quickly disappearing. Rancher Miguel Leonis, who later acquired the lands, also claimed to sight a griffin-like creature over the lake. In 1886, yet another rancher, Don Felipe Rivera, claimed to see a beast over the lake. There have been no similar sightings reported since the 1880s.

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Miscellaneous

Los Angeles Pet Cemetery
  
This is where many Hollywood stars bury their pets. The Little Rascal's dog Petey, Hopalong Cassidy's Horse and Mary Pickford's dog are all interred here. However, the dead animal that does the most haunting here is Kabar, a Great Dane that belonged to Rudolf Valentino. The dog died in 1929 but it's playful phantom is still reported panting or licking people that wander near it's grave.

Beverly Hills Bowman Drive (Private Residence)
    
An unknown ghost resides in the upstairs bedroom. Beds are unmade, pillows cut open, etc. Even a figure of a person can be seen in the mattress!

Gaynor House (Private Residence)  

The owners of this house first reported paranormal activity in 1989. The ghost is believed to be a former maid, even in her death is obsessed with cleaning. Recently, a maid quit after seeing a stack of pillows rise and fly around the room.

Pickfair Mansion   

This was the home of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. I had friends who owned the place for several years and have had the experience of seeing the ghost of a maid who was accidentally shot in the maids quarters. According to the previous owners, there were at least two other ghosts who haunted the place as well. In the beautiful entry way with it's hand painted murals on the wall was often seen a ghost who was thought to be Douglas Fairbanks. It is my understanding that when they sold the place, the new owner tore much of the original home down and rebuilt on a different site on the property.

Laurel Canyon 

 There have been numerous reports over the years regarding an intersection on Laurel Canyon. This is a canyon road transiting from Hollywood, CA and the San Fernando Valley. According to the reports, on several occasions at the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Lookout Mountain Dr. almost on the exact moment of midnight people have witnessed an old carriage pulled by white horses that seems to dart out onto the canyon road from Lookout Mountain as though the horses are at a full speed gallop. The carriage disappears into the same nothingness from whence it came leaving even car accidents in its wake. Just down the road from this intersection lies the burned out ruins of what was Houdini's mansion. This entire area is fraught with stories of hauntings and ghosts. It is a beautiful canyon drive with shade trees drooping over the road almost the entire way and it is filled with old mansions from Hollywood's early days. The old home of Tom Mix is there too.

Westwood Memorial Cemetery 
 
The apparition of Marilyn Monroe has supposedly been seen here, typically over her tomb.

Crawford House   

The activity started in the house while Joan Crawford owned it. She and her daughter reported hearing voices from within the walls. Ms. Crawford had the house 'exorcised', without luck. After her death, the wall behind her bed erupted into flames, the fire department was unable to find the cause. Since then, the house has had a few owners, all of which reported some sort of activity.

Mann's Chinese Theater 
 
The Ghost of actor Victor Killian, roams the sidewalk here, looking for the man who murdered him. According to Police reports, Killian met a man at a nearby bar in 1982. After a few drinks, Killian invited the man back up to his apartment. Killian's bludgeoned corpse was discovered the next morning. The killer has never been found.

Hollywood Sign   
 
A 24 year old woman jumped off the "H" to her death. She's also been seen at her previous home on Beachwood Drive.

Roosevelt Hotel 
 
A stop at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a must, as at least two famous, and several not so famous ghosts reside there. The hotel's most famous haunting concerns a mirror which sits outside the elevators on the hotel's lower level. Hundreds of tourists pass the full length mirror each day without knowing its strange history. The mirror originally was part of the furnishings in a room which was frequently used by Marilyn Monroe. Several people have reported seeing the tragic actress' image reflected in the glass of this particular mirror. Upon turning around, of course, no one was there.

Disneyland    

The ghost of a woman named Dolly haunts the Matter horn Mountain where she was crushed to death after she fell out of her sled and was hit by the sled behind her. There is a ghost of a young man haunting the old People Mover ride. When it was operating, girls (especially those with long blonde hair) would sometimes feel an unseen someone pull viciously at their hair. The boy died a few years ago on a Grad Night when he jumped out of the cabin of the People Mover, tripped, got caught and dragged underneath the car. He grabbed desperately at his girlfriends long blond hair to save himself, but to no avail. The ghost's of one or two people have been seen on Tom Sawyers Island. At least three boys (all Grad night victims) have drown in the Rivers of America. The "it's a small world" ride has three different ghosts. They are all people who worked there and they loved this attraction. Lights have turned themselves off/on by themselves, as well as the all the dolls moving without power.

Altadena Zane Grey Mansion

The Zane Grey Mansion was built in 1907 by Arthur Woodward, a wealthy inventor from the Chicago area. The Woodward's lived in the house from 1907 to 1918 then sold the house to author Zane Grey. Zane Grey dies in the house on October 23, 1939 and the home remained occupied by the Grey family until 1970. After the home was sold, the new owners noticed that the house had very cold spots near the fireplaces, library, kitchen and pantry. The kitchen clock would cease working when certain people entered the kitchen. Cold air would blow in the pantry and in the butler's pantry. The owners, convinced that there was a draft coming from the floor removed all of the shelving in the areas and found no holes. The house is made of reinforced concrete with 18" thick walls. From time to time you can hear someone walking across the butler's pantry floor to the formal dining room.