GHOULA's Annual Report 2012

(Alhambran F.E. Ormsby, creator of the 13 month calendar, 1929)

HAPPY BOOOOOOOOO YEAR!

GHOULA has many great things planned for the upcoming year. It is 2013, after all.

But first, let's take a last look back at 2012.

"SPIRITS with SPIRITS" continued its monthly meetings, visiting 11 new haunted restaurants/bars (and one possibly haunted bar) in the Los Angeles area. (To revisit the 2012 "SPIRITS with SPIRITS" locations see below)

Last Year, in addition to letting Angelenos know about ghost-themed events that are happening in their own back yard, GHOULA also continued its other usual features like...
"REAL GHOSTS with REEL GHOSTS," where anytime a movie about ghosts was shown in a haunted local theater, the details were posted on this site, and "BOOs Alert," where a link is posted to a news site that mentions a local ghost story.

GHOULA also started two new features...
"(Haunted) Haunted Attractions," where the true ghost stories are revealed about local Halloween attractions. Plus, "BOO-ook Club," where GHOULA provides a forum for people to discuss local ghost-lit.

We also brought back our "Haunted Films in Haunted Places" film series in October. In a partnership with the Echo Park Film Center's Filmmobile. For a third year, we screened a movie with "haunted" in the title in actual haunted location that corresponded thematically with that film. We showed "Tormented by the She Ghost of Haunted Island," which is about an haunted lighthouse on a screen next to the haunted Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro.

GHOULA also hosted it's first (and maybe last) "Haunted VCR Movie Night," where a ghost-themed move (on VHS) was played on (according to claims) a haunted VCR, while participants used a "spirit board" painted on the VCR to communicate with the spirit(s) that haunt the machine. The event took place in a secret underground location in Chinatown thanks to our friends at Beta Level.

Last Year, we created the "GHOULA Challenge," where we asked the paranormal community to help assist in solving some of our city's great "unsolved" murders, by (paranomally) investigating the "crime scenes" on the actual anniversary of the the murder, in hopes that perhaps some spirit communication or ghostly evidence could shed new light on these old cases. We chose the Ned Doheny Murder of 1929, and the William Desmond Taylor Murder of 1922. On the 90th anniversary of the Taylor murder, GHOULA held a meet-up at the 1920's bar, The Prince, to discuss the case. The evening was even mentioned on the BBC News.

Along these lines of marking certain days connected to local ghost lore, we initiated last year, what we hope will be an annual event, the "Peg Entwhistle Memorial Hike" to the Hollywood Sign, on the anniversary of her suicide (jumping off of the "H"), along the very same trails that hikers claim to have seen her ghost.

Because of our groups interest in local history and the folklore of this city, GHOULA was invited to participate in the annual Heritage Day event (in April) held at the very historic (and haunted) Pico House on Olvera Street, along with all of Los Angeles' Historical Societies

With protecting our local history on our minds, in 2012 GHOULA launched a "para-preservation" program to help raise money and awareness for haunted, historic properties in need of funds. We were able to set up access for paranormal investigators to investigate a historic property that had not been previously available. Ghost hunters were charged a fee and all money raised went to the historic property.

We also celebrated the arts, by participating in a "Ghost Night" celebration of storytelling and music at the Hyperion Tavern, participating in "Halloween at the Barn," an evening of Hollywood ghost stories, and hosting a "Ghost Night" at the EVE Gallery with storytelling and a ghost-themed art show.

Speaking of combining art and storytelling, Last year we released issue #2 of GHOULA Comix with a number of local comic book artists. (check it out here...)

Last October, GHOULA also began it first in a series of ghost-themed walking tours with our "Haunted Red Line Tour," where we took groups along the Metro's Red Line. stopping at various stations to talk about the ghosts and haunted sites at that location.

2012 was a great year for GHOULA, and judging from the surprises that are in the works, 2013 will be even better (now that we don't have to worry about the end of the world anymore).

The SPIRITS with SPIRITS locations of 2011.

January - Frolic Room
February - Barney's Beanery
March - Beverly Hilton
April - Coral Cafe
May - Ink/Sweet Lady Jane
June - Hyperion Tavern
July - One-Eyed Gypsy
August - Townhouse
September - Yamashiro
October - Intelligensia Coffee
November - Bar 107
December - The Redwood Bar and Grill

(To view last year's annual report...)

A Scary Christmas to Everyone!

"There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
They'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago"

(from the popular Christmas song
"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year")

"We're all familiar with Dickens's A Christmas Story, and the three ghosts who visit Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve. But few know that Dickens did not pluck this idea of a Christmas haunting out of thin air - that, in fact, he was continuing the age-old tradition in England of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, a period of time believed to provide an open door to the other side." ---Mary Beth Crain (from her book Haunted Christmas)

In the beginning, yule-tide activities revolved around ghosts, demons and other weird creatures that dished out punishments to the naughty as a way of co-opting the pagan winter solstices ceremonies in place before "Christmas." As the Christian holiday gained popularity, these more sinister traditions were pushed back to autumn and became the basis for today's Halloween. So, tonight turn back the clock to a simpler time when darkness ruled the winter, and enjoy a truly traditional Christmas with a horror film, or a simple ghost story.

FA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-GhouLA

Highlights from Dec's SWS

(Picture above is a painting at the Redwood Bar of a ghost ship)

Thanks to everyone who came out this Christmas season to participate in the time honored , yule-tide tradition of telling ghost stories. GHOULA would also like to thank the staff members, who shared their own personal spooky tales of this location...

Namely, the silhouette (and shadows) of the man seen downstairs in the basement area, where the bar stores items. One waitress told a tale about a loud shrieking sound echoing the halls when she once stepped into the elevator to go down there. She leaned back out before the elevator doors closed to see if she could tell where the noise was emanating from, when a security guard turned a corner, and appeared. When she asked about the noise, the guard had heard nothing unusual at the other end of the hall.

(to read more about the ghosts of this haunted location...)

BOOs Alert!

THIS JUST IN:
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Invades Hollywood.
(for the full story, click the link below.)

http://creepyla.com/blog/2012/12/13/yes-ray-there-is-a-stay-puft-marshmallow-store/