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58               Creepy Ghost Stories About Los Angeles





              Creepy Ghost Stories

                 About Los Angeles



                        by Jen Lennon




          Rancho Los Amigos Hospital


          There were several facilities that made up the
          Rancho Los Amigos hospital, though only the
          main hospital is still operational. But the
          grounds used to hold a dairy farm and a mental
          institution as well, which have since been
          abandoned.  And oh boy, is the abandoned
          mental hospital scary. In 2006, some Marines
          who were using the empty building for practice
          drills found body parts, including legs, feet, and
          pieces of brains in a freezer in the morgue. Who
          knows how long those had been down there?
          And who knows how haunted that terrifying
          place must be?
                                                          Elizabeth Short                                dignity, something she felt was lacking at other
                                                                                                         hospitals that treated women for mental illness.
          Griffith Park
                                                          You probably know Elizabeth Short by another   Marilyn Monroe’s mother, Gladys Baker Eley,
                                                          name: the Black Dahlia. Her ghost purportedly  was a patient there, along with Billie Burke,
          There are so many terrifying things about
                                                          haunts the Millenium Biltmore Hotel, the last  who played Glinda the Good  Witch in  The
          Griffith Park.  There’s the abandoned zoo.
                                                          place she was seen alive before she was        Wizard of Oz, and many other famous women.
          Supposedly, there’s the ghost of Peg Entwistle,
                                                          murdered. Guests have seen a black, ladylike           Rockhaven is no longer open, and its
          who jumped to her death from the Hollywood
                                                          figure floating down the 10th- and 11th-floor  former      buildings     are     abandoned.
          sign in 1932. But the creepiest thing in Griffith
                                                          hallways.                                      Preservationists have reported that many of the
          Park is a picnic table. It’s known as picnic table
                                                                                                         former residents’ belongings are still in there.
          number 29, and in 1976, a 22-year-old man and
                                                          Greystone Mansion                              They have experienced odd happenings in the
          a 20-year-old woman were crushed to death on                                                   buildings, like intense feelings of anger, and
          top of it when a tree fell on them while they                                                  sensed otherworldly presences in some of the
          were having sex. Numerous park maintenance      In 1928, Edward Greystone, Sr. built Greystone  rooms.
          workers have reported strange occurrences near  Mansion as a gift for his son, Ned. Four months
          the table, and attempts to remove the tree have  after he and his family moved in, Ned was shot  The Hollywood Tower
          been sabotaged. It still lays on top of the picnic  to death in one the manor’s guest bedrooms. His
          table to this day.                              assistant, Hugh Plunkett, was also found dead of
                                                          a gunshot wound, but the mystery of what       When your hotel has inspired a theme park ride

          Bela Lugosi                                     happened to the two of them has never been     called the Tower of Terror, it’s a pretty good bet
                                                          solved.                                        that it’s majorly haunted. The Hollywood Tower
                                                                 Many people believe Plunkett murdered   was once a luxurious apartment building that
          Legend has it that Bela Lugosi hijacked his own
                                                          Ned and then killed himself because Plunkett   catered to the wealthy. It’s still an apartment,
          funeral procession to take one last drive past his
                                                          was being set up as the fall guy in a nefarious  just less luxurious than it once was. But
          favorite cigar shop. The actor, who was known
                                                          business deal Ned had carried out with his     residents have reported many ghost sightings.
          for playing Dracula (and buried in one of the
                                                          father. Still others believe that Plunkett and Ned  Tenant  April Brooks told  The Hollywood
          character’s costumes), used to drive down
                                                          were secretly lovers and Ned’s wife, Lucy,     Reporter, “There are many spirits here. A lot of
          Hollywood Boulevard every day to pick up
                                                          killed them both when she found them in bed    people report the ghost of a man standing on the
          cigars.  And that's exactly where the hearse
                                                          together. When police came to investigate the  seventh floor, in '30s period clothing, staring at
          carrying his coffin went when the driver lost
                                                          crime, they found the bodies had been moved,   the Hollywood Hills. Then he disappears.”
          control of the vehicle and it began moving
                                                          and the stories from Ned’s family seemed
          seemingly on its own.  The driver regained
                                                          rehearsed. It was suspicious, but the case was  George Reeves
          control of the car shortly after they had cruised
                                                          quickly closed.
          past the shop.
                                                                 People have seen the ghost of a man on  In 1959, George Reeves, best known for playing
                                                          the front stairway and the ghost of a woman    Superman on The Adventures of Superman, was
          The Queen Mary
                                                          who smells like lilac perfume around the house.  found dead in his home. He had been shot in the
                                                          Is this Ned and Lucy haunting the grounds? No  head; the police ruled it a suicide, but friends of
          The Queen Mary is haunted by so many people.
                                                          one can say for certain, but it remains one of  the actor believe he was murdered. Since then,
          Like, literally. So many.  There are ghosts of
                                                          Hollywood’s most infamous crimes.              tenants in his former house have reported that
          dead sailors in the engine room. Ghosts of dead
                                                                                                         he haunts the bedroom. Several times, the room
          children in the swimming pool. A ghost of a
                                                          Rockhaven Sanitarium                           has been found a mess—pillows and sheets
          dude in a 1930s-style suit in one of the first-
                                                                                                         tossed around, furniture knocked over—right
          class staterooms. A ghost of a lady dressed in a
                                                          If you’re anything like me, the word           after the occupants had cleaned it. One couple
          white gown dancing by herself in the Queen’s
                                                          “sanitarium” calls to mind images of dirty,    even claimed that Reeves’ ghost appeared to
          Salon.  The former luxury cruise ship is now
                                                          crumbling institutions where the mentally ill  them in the living room, dressed in his
          docked permanently in Long Beach and is used
                                                          were locked up and given dubious treatments.   Superman costume. []
          as a floating hotel. After it was a cruise ship, and
                                                          Which is why the history of Rockhaven
          before it was a hotel, the ship was used as a
                                                          Sanitarium is such a surprise.
          troopship in  World  War II, ferrying soldiers                                                         The ‘X’ Zone Radio/TV Show
                                                                 In 1923, a nurse named Agnes Richards
          across the  Atlantic Ocean.  With so many                                                                   with Rob McConnell
                                                          opened Rockhaven as a women’s mental health
          passengers aboard the ship over the years, it’s                                                       is on The ‘X’ Zone TV Channel
                                                          facility. She worked on building up her patients’
          no surprise that it’s super haunted.                                                                          Exclusively On
                                                          self-esteem and treated them with respect and          SimulTV - www.SimulTV.com
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