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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