Page 45 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Ghosts and Phantoms 25

ecause Hollywood has produced so many
motion pictures portraying ghosts and the
afterlife, it should come as no surprise that
Bmany former homes and places of certain
movie stars who have passed on to the other side are
Haunted
said to be haunted. The following places are said to
be haunted by Hollywood greats:
Hollywood
• Ever since the late 1920s, the spirit form of the
Great Lover, Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926),
• The “Man of Steel,” George Reeves (1914–
has been seen in and around his former home,
1959), who starred in the series Superman
Falcon’s Lair, on Bella Drive.
(1950–57), is claimed to have been seen in the
• The former house of Joan Crawford (1904– home on Benedict Canyon Drive where his
1977) on Bristol Avenue has an eerie history of body was found.
mysterious fires that kept breaking out on the
Sources:
wall where the headboard of her bed once
Hauck, Dennis William. Haunted Places. Reprint. New York:
rested.
Penguin USA, 1996.
• Clifton Webb (1891–1966), who in life was a Jacobson, Laurie, and Mark Wanamaker. Hollywood Haunted.
militant nonsmoker with a distaste for cats, is Los Angeles: Angel City Press, 1999.
said to make life difficult for cigarette smokers Steiger, Brad, and Sherry Hansen Steiger. Hollywood and the
and cat fanciers in his former home on Rex- Supernatural. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990.
ford Drive.

• The ethereal form of Marilyn Monroe (1926–
1962) has been seen to materialize in front of
her earthly home on Helena Drive.
•When popular singer Englebert Humperdinck
bought Jayne Mansfield’s (1933–1967) “Pink
Palace” on Sunset Boulevard shortly after her
death, he claimed he encountered her ghost.
• Guests at the Roosevelt Hotel on 7000 Holly-
wood Boulevard have reported encounters
with the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe and Mont-
gomery Clift (1920–1966). People have sighted
the spirit of Monroe near the full-length mirror
on the lower level, and many guests have had
their sleep interrupted by Clift blowing on a
trumpet in Room 928 as his spirit still rehears-
es for his role as the bugler in From Here to
Eternity (1953).
• Mae West (1892–1980) loved to host seances in
her old home in the Ravenswood Apartments
on Rossmore Avenue, and her spirit has
remained strongly attached to the building.

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