Halloween is upon us. We’ve been seeing the costume shops that open for business but once a year, the haze of faux cobwebs strung around our neighbors’ bushes, the extra-large stacks of candy in the grocery story.
But we keep looking for…..ghosts.
We’re big fans of ghost stories. As the weather cools and the nights lengthen, something about this time of year just begs for a spine-tingler. We’ve got some good ones woven into our Haunted Hollywood Hunt and out Haunts of Angelino Heights scavenger hunt, but Los Angeles is the 5th most haunted city in the United States, which means there are more than we can fit into our haunted tours.
And so we’re going to share a few of our favorite tales. Sign up for one of our haunted scavenger hunts for even more. Who knows what kind of spooks you’ll run into!
The Comedy Store was once the ultra-swank celebrity hot spot Ciro’s. Every famous face from the 40s and 50s made an appearance in Ciro’s booths. Although the old club has gone, its ghosts remain. Recent staff members at the Comedy Store report objects that move while they’re not looking, lights that turn themselves on, and sometimes the feeling of a dark, malevolent presence. Rumor has it that these undead presences are a murdered mobster and a few joke-makers who like to pull pranks on the staff. This must be some comfort for today’s comedians — even if they “die” on stage, they might get to keep on performing there forever!
The Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of silent movies. But a real-life drama unfolded here in 1997. Former owner Laurence Austin was involved in a love affair with the projectionist who was deeply in debt. The projectionist, James Van Sickle, stood to inherit a good deal of money when Austin passed, so Van Sickle hired a contract killer to stage a robbery gone awry. Austin was shot dead at his own theater and Mary Giles, another employee, was shot twice but survived. Van Sickle pretended to be grief-stricken, but police figured out his plan and arrested him. Van Sickle and the contract killer were both sentenced to life in prison without parole. A pool of blood is rumored to appear and disappear at the site of Austin’s murder.
In our final tale, Orson Welles ate lunch every day for the last few years of his life at the original Ma Masion on Melrose. Currently, Sweet Lady Jane inhabits that same spot — and Welles still visits Sweet Lady Jane. Diners say that sometimes they see a puff of smoke from an otherworldly cigar and occasionally smell the scent of his daily brandy.
Happy Hauntings!
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