Haunted Southern California
By Donna McCrohan Rosenthal, East Sierra Branch
A wailing. A cruel laugh. A sudden chill. A figure seen by a little girl, but nobody else.
These signs of paranormal presence go away after Oct. 31. Recorded throughout California, they trump Halloween year-round.
There are sightings of Native Americans guarding desecrated burial grounds, young couples dressed for the prom roaming high school halls, construction workers who vanished on the job, and phantom actors galore.
For example, most people visit Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood to match their feet with celebrity footprints in the Forecourt of the Stars.
Not Victor Killian.
In life, he played shady characters on the silver screen. In death, he is said to frequent the sidewalk outside the world’s most famous movie house searching for the one whom he befriended, who bludgeoned him to death.
Across the street stands the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, site of the first Academy Awards banquet. A mirror on the lower level once embellished a room used by Marilyn Monroe. To this day, some briefly glimpse her reflection in it. Montgomery Clift spent three months in room 928. Others who bunked there might tell you from personal experience that he never left.
You expect hauntings at cemeteries, people as well as their pets. Rudolph Valentino’s Doberman, Kabar, lies in repose at the Los Angeles Pet Cemetery. We hear that he licks dog lovers who pass his grave.
Still more creepiness awaits in Southern California: An elegant ocean liner turned World War II troopship, the Queen Mary has suspended public tours for now but still hosts ghosts in Long Beach. Upwards of a quarter-century ago, a crewman met his death in the Engine Room. Should you ever find yourself near Doorway Number 13, look for him, bearded and wearing blue coveralls. Or if you happen by the First-Class Swimming Pool, notice that the trails of wet footprints may have no source. In the Queen’s Salon, watch for a tragic lone woman in white, dancing in the shadows.
If you intend to stalk the undead, decide whether you actually want to see an apparition, or simply go where others saw one. To hobnob viscerally drawing on sensations ranging from smells to eerie noises to Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVPs), check out ghost walks in the Kern River Valley with Silver City Ghost Town Ghost Walks and in Barstow, with Haunted Barstow.
Of course, you can travel to where spirits are and not perceive them. That does not mean they are not there. What about that stranger glowering at you from a window? That shrieking behind the bushes on the other side of an iron gate? Or the fellow who taps you on the shoulder, wanting a light for his torch?
If you go and you encounter them, remember, you’ve been warned.