Ghosts Haunt Hollywood At Halloween And All Year Round

Los Angeles has long been viewed as a new city, spring up and sprawling out from downtown to the Pacific Ocean to the San Fernando Velley. But the city of angels has had almost 250 years of haunted history since it was founded in 1781.

At Halloween, Los Angeles is full of haunted houses and mazes (one 13-year old built his own takeoff on The Purge) that can almost compete with the professional scare factories at the Queen Mary or Universal Studios.

The first film shot in Hollywood, In Old California, was made in 1910. Since then, the ghosts of film and television stars from Marilyn Monroe to John Belushi are said to wander Hollywood’s hotels, homes, and watering holes.

A walk down Hollywood Boulevard, with its more than 2,700 stars immortalized in the sidewalk, conjures up flickering images of the past. As the Kinks sang in “Celluloid Heroes” there are “some that you recognize, some you’ve hardly even heard of.”

You may encounter some genuinely spooky people on Hollywood Boulevard. But you can duck into the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, for a drink or to check out its aura.

Marilyn Monroe had a long relationship with the Roosevelt. She posed for her first print ad, a toothpaste spot, on the diving board of the hotel pool. Not surprisingly, the Roosevelt’s Tropicana Pool is “buzzy” with spirit energy, according to psychic Patti Negri.

Built in 1927, the Roosevelt hosted the very first Oscar ceremony in 1929. After 96 years as a film industry gathering place, it’s considered one of Hollywood’s most haunted buildings.

As Marilyn went from starlet to star, she often stayed in a second-floor cabana at the Roosevelt overlooking the pool. The hotel provided Marilyn with a tall, dark wood-framed full-length mirror. After her death, the mirror was moved to the manager’s office.

A hotel maid was dusting the mirror and saw the reflection of a sad-looking blonde. The maid turned to ask if she could help, but there was no one there. While the mirror is not on display, guests can stay at the Marilyn Monroe suite overlooking the pool, replete with vintage Eames furniture.

Alaric S. Rocha, an instructor at the Los Angeles Film School, is both a horror movie maker and an aficionado of Hollywood’s haunted history. Rocha, whose credits include Demonoid and Deadly Embrace, says, “I’ve always been interested in spooky films, truly scary and just fun. I don’t think there’s anything scarier that our imagination!”

The writer-director says that he was a fan of the famed magician Harry Houdini, who died on Halloween in 1926. Houdini lived on a property in Hollywood-adjacent Laurel Canyon, (available for rent!) where the magician reportedly practiced his famous illusions and escapes. After Houdini’s death, his wife Beth continued living in the home for ten years.

“After Houdini died, his wife held seances every Halloween to try and contact him—I participated in one myself at the Magic Castle, another great year-round Halloween haunt!” Rocha says. “They tried to reach him for 10 years before giving up. On the last year of the séance (held on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood), a storm broke out in an otherwise clear sky. It ONLY rained over the Knickerbocker, drenching Bess Houdini and her entourage. She took that as a sign.”

Interestingly, students and faculty at Los Angeles Film School swear the school’s Ivar Theatre is haunted by a ghost backstage. In the 1970s, the theater was called “a mausoleum for souls.”

Many famous Hollywood landmarks are associated with such ghostly visitations. The Hollywood sign celebrated its 100^th birthday this year. The sign, located on Mount Lee in Griffith Park, is a favorite destination of hikers and tourists. But like many LA landmarks, it has a darker side. In1932, starlet Peg Entwistle hurled herself off the “H” of the sign. Even 90 years later, park rangers and hikers in Griffith Park report seeing a woman smelling of gardenias, dressed in 1930’s attire, near the sign.

Speaking of unfulfilled lives, the presence of BLUES BROTHERS and ANIMAL HOUSE star John Belushi has been reported at the Chateau Marmont, at 8221 Sunset Boulevard. Belushi died at the hotel‘s Bungalow 3 of a drug overdose in 1982.

Al Franken reported seeing Belushi’s presence there a week after his death. Guests staying at the Marmont report feeling watched, particularly if they glance into the bathroom mirror. A couple with a young son were perturbed that the boy was talking to himself. The child said he was talking to “the funny man.”

The Formosa Café has been a Chinese food serving dive bar and Hollywood haunt since 1939. Drinkers included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Lana Turner. John Wayne drank and sometimes slept there when he had too much.

At the Formosa, stars rubbed shoulders with gangsters. The notorious Bugsy Siegel had five phone lines for his business. He was shot to death in 1947 in nearby Beverly Hills. The crime, still unsolved, is believed to be related to Siegel’s skimming of profits from the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Whatever the cause, Siegel’s ghost has been reportedly sighted at the Formosa, where he did so much business.

The Siegel story comes from American Ghost Walks, which does walking and bus tours to haunted Hollywood sites. ExperienceFirst offers a Haunted Hollywood Walking Tour with a “true crime” focus. Or as another ghost tour company, LA Ghosts, puts it, “Find out why Los Angeles is the city where dreams are made until they become nightmares.”

Bugsy is also one of many celebrities buried in the famed Hollywood Forever cemetery. The still-operating cemetery is open to visitors and often holds movie screenings and other events.

Chris Cornell, Cecile B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, and Judy Garland are among those laid to rest there. Rudolf Valentino died in 1926, but there are always fresh flowers on his crypt.

The cemetery is known for its lifelike and occasional wacky statuary. The late Johnny Ramone built a statue to himself before his death. Burt Reynolds is memorialized with a bronze statue of himself wearing a cowboy hat. Maila Nurmi has a drawing of her most famous character, Vampira, on her headstone. And Don Adams of “Get Smart” fame has a depiction of the famous “shoe phone” from the show.

You can visit Hollywood Forever on most days. But only on Halloween Night 2023 can you attend a screening of scary ROSEMARY’S BABY sponsored by the hip cemetery. Costumes required, themed cocktails and ‘dancing with the Devil’ DJs are promised.