Paranormal Tales ~ Celebrities' Laurel Canyon Haunted Mansions

 

Laurel Canyon

While there isn't a definitive list of haunted houses in Laurel Canyon, the area is known for its haunted reputation, and several notable locations are rumored to be haunted. The Houdini mansion -- the home of Rick Rubin, and even some residences of famous musicians are mentioned in connection with paranormal activity.

Courteney Cox's Laurel Canyon House

She sold this house because she believed it was haunted, as it was the site of several unsettling occurrences.

 (actual photo of Cox's house)

Paranormal experiences:

Cox experienced several unsettling events, including seeing strange faces and lights, and a plant moving, which she initially dismissed as jet lag or sleep-related.

The woman on the edge of the bed:

Friends who stayed at the house told Courteney they had an encounter with a woman who was sitting on the edge of the bed. Cox initially dismissed their claims, as well as those of the legendary singer-songwriter and previous owner Carole King, who told her that an ugly divorce had taken place in the house and that it was haunted.

The UPS driver:

The experience that finally convinced Cox to sell the house was when a delivery driver came to the door. After she answered, he asked if she knew the house was haunted. When she asked why he thought so, he responded, "Because there is someone standing behind you". This chilling encounter was enough for Cox to sell the house shortly after.

A seance with Carole King: 

Cox bought the house from Carole King, who warned her that it was haunted due to a particularly ugly divorce that occurred there. Cox initially dismissed the idea.

Cox mentioned that she and Carole King even conducted a séance in the house to try and get rid of the ghost. However, Cox admits she was too starstruck by King to pay much attention to the séance itself.

These experiences, along with the unsettling feeling she developed after the delivery driver's comment, led Cox to decide she "couldn't sleep there alone ever again" and that it was time to sell the property.

Houdini Mansion

The Houdini Estate in Los Angeles, also known as the Houdini Mansion, is a location with a rich history and a reputation for paranormal activity, including reports of Houdini's ghost. While not confirmed to be Houdini's primary residence, the estate was a place where he spent time, practicing escapes and enjoying the grounds. The property features tunnels, a swimming pool (where Houdini practiced water escapes), and gardens, and has served as a recording studio and event space.

(actual photo of Houdini's mansion)

History:

The estate was built by Ralph M. Walker, a friend of Houdini, who also owned a guest house across the street that Houdini used. Houdini would use the tunnels and elevators connecting the two properties.

Houdini's Connection:

Houdini spent time at the estate practicing escapes and enjoying the grounds. His widow, Bess, even held a seance there after his death.

After her husband, magician Harry Houdini, died on October 31, 1926, his wife Bess held annual Halloween séances for ten years in an attempt to contact him. Before his death, the couple had devised a secret code – "Rosabelle – answer – tell – pray answer – look – tell – answer answer – tell" – which translated to the word "Believe". Bess hoped Houdini would use this code to prove a medium's authenticity if he could communicate from the afterlife.

The séances also served to debunk fraudulent mediums, aligning with Houdini's own efforts to expose spiritualist hoaxes during his lifetime.

In 1929, a medium named Arthur Ford claimed to have received the coded message, but it was later revealed to be a hoax.

Bess's final Houdini séance took place on Halloween in 1936 on the rooftop of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. After ten years of unsuccessful attempts, Bess extinguished a light bulb that had been burning beside Houdini's portrait since his death, saying, "Ten years is long enough to wait for any man." She publicly declared her belief that spirit communication was impossible, marking the end of her quest to contact Harry. 

Paranormal Reports:

There have been reports of ghostly encounters, including sightings of Houdini's ghost wandering the grounds. Some artists recording at the estate have reported strange occurrences, including photographic evidence and temperature fluctuations.

Current Use:

The estate is now available for rent for film shoots, weddings, and other events. It has also been used as a recording studio by Rick Rubin, where many famous bands have recorded albums.

Rick Rubin's Mansion

Producer Rick Rubin's recording studio, known as The Mansion, located in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, has a reputation for being haunted.

(actual photo of Houdini's mansion)

 

Brief history & paranormal experiences:

Built in 1918, The Mansion has a long-standing association with paranormal occurrences.

While recording their album Blood Sugar Sex Magik in the 1990s, the Red Hot Chili Peppers captured a mysterious "wisp of an entity" in a photo taken at the house.

Anthony Kiedis from Red Hot Chili Peppers reportedly found the haunting presence comforting, while guitarist John Frusciante claimed to have an erotic experience with a female apparition.Corey Taylor of Slipknot, while recording there, recounted seeing visions of ghosts, including a man in a tuxedo in his bathroom, according to Far Out Magazine.

A publicist for Rick Rubin, Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald, recounted a personal experience of a ghostly woman in white walking down the staircase.

Despite the spooky stories, many prominent artists like Audioslave, Linkin Park, Jay-Z, Maroon 5, and Young Thug have recorded at The Mansion under Rubin's guidance.

Some artists believe that the unique atmosphere and the presence of spirits may even act as a second muse, enhancing their creativity.

The Mansion's basement is connected to a network of tunnels, which were reportedly used to deliver alcohol during prohibition in the 1920s.

 

Other Residences

Various homes of famous musicians, like Joni Mitchell and Frank Zappa, are also rumored to be haunted, though less definitively so. The area's history as a haven for artists and musicians, coupled with its secluded and sometimes mysterious atmosphere, likely contributes to its reputation for being haunted.

5 Famous Haunted Houses

The houses we're going to be looking at today:   Myrtles Plantation; Chamber's Mansion; Franklin Castle, LaLaurie Mansion; Sprague Mansion.

I grew up in a house filled with paranormal activity and hauntings.  When I was young, in my grandmother's house, no one ever talked about it, or the strange occurrences were shrugged off and given lame mundane explanations.  It probably made the adults living in that house feel more secure about the world around them.  Logical excuses were easier to assimilate into our conventional mid-west lives.

But, aha, I kept a journal, not only during the time I lived with my grandmother in the old house on East Second St in Mitchell SD, but also in the house I raised six of my children in located in 
Fremont NE.  

Here's a link to some of those experiences.  The newest posts will be at the top, but there's more juicy interesting experiences if you scroll down as well:  click  HERE

• Myrtles Plantation
  Location:  St. Francisville LA

Take an historic old antebellum plantation home from 1796, surround it with trees draped with Spanish moss, and set it in voodoo-rich Louisiana and you have the perfect setting for ghosts. But, you still need mayhem and history to generate ghostly spirits and there are lots of both at the Myrtles Plantation.

In 1808, Clark Woodruff took charge of the plantation from his deceased father-in-law, General David Bradford, where he kept things running along with his wife, Sara, and their three kids. Legend has it that Woodruff also took a special liking to a slave he owned named Chloe. But Chloe was immensely jealous of Woodruff’s family and baked a birthday cake filled with poisonous oleander leaves. Woodruff’s wife, Sara, and two of the children died. Chloe confessed, but fellow slaves hung Chloe and dumped her body in the Mississippi.

A host of other natural deaths occurred in the home, but the only other murder was when plantation owner William Winter was shot and killed in 1871 while standing on the front porch. He supposedly staggered inside, dying on the 17th step of the home. Myrtles Plantation is also reportedly built on the site of an old Indian burial ground and during the Civil War, Union soldiers ransacked the home.

While it is hard to separate fact from fiction, popular sightings of ghosts around Myrtles Plantation include the large mirror in the home that contains the spirits of Sara Woodruff and her children, ghosts seen around the 17th step and, of course, Chloe who is outside, tending to her plantings. The house is on National Register of Historic places and is now a bed and breakfast.

• Chamber's Mansion
  Location:  San Francisco CA

In the prestigious Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco is the Chambers Mansion, which was built in 1887 and named after its first owner, Richard Chambers, who was a silver mine tycoon. Legend goes that Chambers lived here with his two nieces who hated each other.

When Chambers died in 1901, the nieces inherited the mansion. One reportedly bought the house next door and moved in while the other sister, Claudia, stayed. Claudia reportedly loved pigs but met her fate one day when she was nearly cut in half from what her family called a “farm implementation accident.”

Ghost expert Jim Fassbinder, who conducts haunted home tours in San Francisco, “claims that an insane member of the Chambers family, who was kept in the attic, chased Claudia downstairs into the Josephine room and killed her.”

The mansion was eventually converted to the Mansion Hotel in 1977, where celebs such as Barbra Streisand, Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams stayed. Many guests have reported strange occurrences while staying there.

• Franklin Castle
  Location:  Cleveland OH

Complete with a tower, turrets, balconies, stone outcroppings, gargoyles, wrought-iron fixtures and fences, this imposing, Gothic-style Franklin Castle is said to be Ohio’s most haunted home.

It was built in 1860 for Hannes Tiedemann, an immigrant from Germany who became a wholesale grocer-turned-banker. Depending on who you believe, Tiedemann was either an evil tyrant who had a hand in mysterious deaths that occurred in the home between 1865-1895 — including the deaths of three babies — or he was a decent and hard-working man, but faced unfortunate circumstances.

There have been many owners of the home including a German singing society and a church group. Presently, it is owned by an Internet businesswoman who wanted to renovate it and turn it into a B&B and hold “haunted mystery weekends,” but a fire in 1999 derailed her plans. 

Paranormal activity includes sounds of footsteps, babies crying, and doors slamming.

• LaLaurie  Mansion
  Location:  New Orleans LA

Horrific stories of torture and abuse inflicted on slaves who worked in this house were reported in the 1830s and the abuser was said to be Madame Delphine LaLaurie, a socialite of great wealth and prominence in New Orleans.

Delphine and her husband, Dr. Louis LaLaurie, would host elaborate parties at the house, but soon, stories of vicious cruelty emerged. In one tale, Delphine was whipping the child of a slave when the child broke away and ran to the roof, falling to her death. The turning point for the home came when a fire broke out and when help arrived, they witnessed horrific scenes of punishment and torture inflicted on the slaves.

The home has undergone many changes and owners over the years, with one of the most recent owners actor Nicolas Cage. Cage said of the LaLaurie house, “You know, other people have beachfront property; I have ghost-front property… ” Unfortunately, Cage lost the property in a foreclosure auction. Read the chronology of the LaLaurie House by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

• Sprague Mansion
  Location:  Cranston RI

One of Cranston’s most prosperous families, the Sprague family, owned Cranston Print Works, a textile mill that was the first to make calico prints and help pioneer chemical bleaching.

When William Sprague died in 1836, he left the business to his two sons, Amasa and William II. Amasa concentrated on the family business while William II focused on politics, serving as a U.S. Representative, Governor, and United States Senator.

On Dec. 31, 1843, Amasa was found shot and beaten on the road between his textile mill and his mansion. A man was hanged for the crime, but later found to be innocent. The true killer was never found. The Sprague family’s fortunes eventually faded and the Sprague Mansion changed ownership many times until the Cranston Historical Society saved it from demolition in 1967.

Hauntings of the mansion most often observed include Amasa in the wine cellar and a spirit thought to be “Charlie the butler” descending the main stairway. Legend goes that Charlie’s hopes and dreams of riches were dashed when his daughter did not marry the wealthy home owner’s son. Read more about the Sprague Mansion ghosts.

The Source for this blog post:

cnbc.com
author:  Paul Toscano