2nd Annual Peg Entwistle Memorial Hike

On September 16th, 1932, Peg Entwistle committed suicide by hiking up to the Hollywood sign, and jumping of the "H." Come out and join us for a self-guided hike along that haunted trail to Hollywood's most famous haunted landmark (which celebrates it 90th anniversary this year), and meet-up behind the "H," if you dare...

THE DATE: September 16th, 2013 (Monday)
(on the anniversary of her death)
THE PLACE: Behind the "H" of the Hollywood Sign
(Directions to the "H" are below)
THE TIME: 5:00pm - 7:00pm (Sunset)
(meet us at the top)

Since everyone goes at their own speed, and everyone will be arriving at different times after work, there is no set meet-up time. We will just be hanging out at the sign during the time mentioned above. The hike is about 3-4 miles (round trip) and takes about 2 hours (round trip). Also, there is no organized paranormal investigation included in this hike, but local ghost-hunters are welcome to bring their own equipment, and investigate on their own if they wish.

NOTE: The 2nd annual Peg Entwistle Memorial Hike to the Hollywood Sign is part of a two-part tribute to Hollywood's most famous ghost. On the previous Friday, there will be a special SPIRITS with SPIRITS at a restaurant haunted by Peg's ghost (for more info...)

THE GHOSTS:

"I was hiking near the Hollywood sign today, and near the bottom I found a woman's shoe and jacket. A little further on I noticed a purse. In it was a suicide note. I looked down the mountain and saw a body...."
--- Anonymous call to the Hollywood Police Station

81 years ago, this September, a sad, depressed, possibly drunk, unemployed actress left her home on Beachwood Drive and started walking up the road to the Hollywood sign. On that treacherous hike, that probably took her most of the night, she eventually made it to her destination, the fifty-foot letter "H" at the beginning of the internationally recognized Hollywood sign (then the Hollywoodland Sign). She climbed a ladder that was attached to the backside of the flat metal structure, and leaped to her death once she reached the top. It is thought that she did not die instantly, but instead lingered for hours in the brush below, where her corpse was eventually discovered by hikers. For a short time she was simply known as "The Hollywood Sign Girl," until her published suicide note was recognized by her uncle. Her name was Peg Entwistle.

When people tell her tale, they always point out the ironic twist that occurred shortly after her death. A letter arrived at her address, stating that she had landed the lead role in a new play about a woman who commits suicide. However, there's the bigger (more obvious) irony. This act of desperation over the lack of a show-biz career, ended up making her more famous (or infamous) than any of her working contemporaries. Not everyone can easily name the stars of the early 1930's, but most people know the Hollywood Sign Girl.

Her legend seems to grow with each passing year, and as it does, so do the stories of her restless ghost near the famous landmark. Most people describe her apparition as a young woman dressed in a 1930's style white gown walking along a trail (sometimes dazed). She is most commonly seen by hikers (not unlike those that originally found her body) and dog walkers in the very early or very late hours. Witnesses claim that she is accompanied by the strong scent of the gardenia flower (thought to be her favorite perfume). Some accounts even describe her reenacting her final moments stepping off of the top of the "H" only to vanish as she falls. She seems doomed to repeat the last moments of that last night over and over again, just as we also seemed doomed to repeat those last moments with each retelling of her story.

DIRECTIONS: Follow N. Beachwood Drive up the hill to the end (just before the "Sunset Ranch Hollywood" stables). You'll see cars parked around a trail head, so park anywhere you can. Follow (on foot) the dirt trail up and along the ridge adjacent to the stables. This trail will merge into a larger trail (Mulholland Hwy). Make a hairpin turn left (South-West) on this new trail, and follow it (going towards the Hollywood sign) until it dead ends at a paved road (Mt. Lee Drive). Turn right on the paved road, seemingly away from the Hollywood sign. The road will take you up the backside of Mt. Lee, offering great views of the San Fernando Valley and Forest Lawn, to the top of the mountain and a dramatic reveal of the Hollywood sign, the same view Peg Entwistle had before she jumped (incidentally Peg's studio, RKO, is dead center in this view). Below is a link to a map, which you should study, before going out there, since its very easy to get turned around out there on the trails.

View Larger Map

September's SPIRITS with SPIRITS

GHOULA meets for cocktails in haunted places on the 13th of each month. “SPIRITS with SPIRITS” is a casual social gathering of regional ghost hunters and those that just like ghost stories. Open to all, from the curious skeptic to the passionate phantom pursuer. Make friends, and toast a ghost! Let's put the “Boo!” back into “booze.”

All those who attend will receive a free (square) G.H.O.U.L.A. button. If you already have one, please wear it so others can find you, without asking the staff about our group. (i.e. LOOK FOR SOMEONE WITH A GHOULA BUTTON)

THE DATE: September 13th, 2013(Friday the 13th)
THE PLACE: The Beachwood Café
2695 N. Beachwood Drive, Los Angeles (Beachwood Canyon) (Map)
THE TIME: 8:00pm - 10:00pm

NOTE: September's SPIRITS with SPIRITS is part one of a two-part tribute to one of Hollywood's most famous ghosts. On the following Monday (on the anniversary of her death), there will be the 2nd annual Peg Entwistle Memorial hike to the Hollywood Sign at sunset (for more info... )

THE GHOSTS:

"I am afraid I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain."
--- Peg Entwhistle's Suicide Note.

On the second Friday of September in 1932, failed actress, Peg Entwistle, left her home at 2428 N. Beachwood Drive (which still stands) to fulfill a date with destiny. She told her uncle, who also lived at that residence, that she was going to the Hollywoodland Drugstore (presently known as The Beachwood Café) to get a book, a pack of cigarettes, and meet a friend. It is thought that this neighborhood hang-out was possibly the last place anyone saw her alive, when she walked along the sidewalk past the store-front's windows on her way up Beachwood Drive. From there, she walked/hiked all the way to the iconic "Hollywood Sign" that hovers over Beachwood. Using a workman's ladder at the site, she climbed to the top of the giant letter "H," and leaped to her death, hitting the rocks at the base and rolling down the hill 200ft into the brush.

It is generally accepted that her reason for this larger-than=life suicidal act was that her staring role in an upcoming film, "Thirteen Women" (which was to be her break-out performance) was greatly reduced during the editing process to a minor character. However, GHOULA's favorite version of this conjecture is that an astrologer hired as a consult on this astrology-themed movie, gave all the cast members private readings. When it was Peg's turn, the fortune teller saw nothing in her cards (as if she had no future), which supposedly disturbed the young true-believer. Peg was portraying a character in that film that was driven to madness because of her horoscope. Is that what happened in real life?

Although, the sad tale of Peg Entwistle is one of the most famous tragic, cautionary and mythic tales of Hollywood, with so many retellings over the decades (including legends of her ghost haunting the Hollywood sign), one aspect of this story rarely gets mentioned...

Not only was the Beachwood Café possibly the last place anyone saw her alive, it also may be where people continue to see her in death... on that same sidewalk walking past the café's windows, up Beachwood Drive, presumably repeating that same fateful walk of her last night, She generally seen from inside the café, and some versions came that a cold breeze proceeds the sighting.

Supposedly, none of the locals will talk about Peg's ghost wandering the sidewalk of the shopping district. Beachwood "Village" has a small town feel, and like many small towns, they are weary of outsiders, specifically tourists looking for a photo op with the Hollywood Sign. The community even fought having a bus line to connect them to nearby Hollywood. So naturally because of this uneasy tension, the residents play down any tales that may attract visitors to their otherwise sleepy canyon.

Luckily for GHOULA, local historian, Jim Dawson, chronicled some of these stories in a 1993 issue of Far Out Magazine, including a sighting by a waitress (10 years after Peg jumped from the sign). At the end of the night, when the café was closed, a waitress heard a tapping at the window. She looked up, and saw Peg (in her white dress) waving "hello" through the window. However, when she unlocked the door to see what she wanted, the "woman in white" had vanished.

So, come out to toast one of Hollywood's most famous spirits, a woman with many connections to the number 13 (her Hollywood sign had 13 letters) on Friday the 13th...
if you dare!

(to read about last month's haunted location... )
(to see a map of previous SPIRITS with SPIRITS locations... )

GHOULA's Haunted Red Line Tour

When: October 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th,
(Every Sunday in October)

Time: Tours start at 7pm
(Except on Oct 13th, when the tour will start at 5pm to accommodate "SPIRITS with SPIRITS" that evening, which will be in North Hollywood at the end point of the tour)

Meeting Place: The palm tree-lined island in front of Union Station
800 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (map)

Price: FREE TOUR + Metro Day Pass ($5.00)
Please purchase the Metro Pass before the meet-up to save time.

Parking: See below.

Los Angeles' lore is filled with tales of secret tunnels. Whether its supposed opium dens, rum-running passages, discontinued "Red Car" tunnels, munchkin transports, celebrity/mistress escape routes, or simply chambers belonging to a race of subterranean lizard people, many buildings and homes claimed to be connected to other buildings and homes below street level (if only we could find their openings).

So, is there a better way to explore the haunted history of Los Angeles than by traveling underground from location to location via our very own (dead) Red Line Metro Subway with the other living dead of this city?

We will meet-up at Union Station (the starting point for the Red Line) and then travel through 13 stops to the North Hollywood Station (at the end of the line), getting off and on along the way. In addition to Union Station and the North Hollywood Station, we will stop at few other stations, step off the train, rise to street-level, and discuss the ghosts and haunted sites visible from that spot before going back aboard to the next stop on our tour.

Come out and hear spooky tales about a spirit solider, a vanishing padre, and a ghostly car. As well as many other phantom figures from our past that haunt our present.

Parking: Since everyone participating in the tour will need a Metro Day Pass to ride the subway, it is advisable to park at one of the FREE lots provided by the Metro at either the North Hollywood Station (our end point) or the Universal City Station, and then just take the Subway to Union Station to meet-up with the group (The lots around Union Station are expensive and they may close early).

The RETURN of STRINGS That Go Bump in the Night!

GHOULA presents...
The RETURN of
STRINGS That Go Bump in the Night!
An ALL NEW evening of movies, marionettes, and the mysterious.

THE DATE: October 12th, 2013 (Saturday)
THE PLACE: The Bob Baker Marionette Theater
1345 W 1st St Los Angeles, CA 90026 (Downtown) (map)
THE TIME: 7:30pm - 9:30
ADMISSION: ALL SEATS ARE $13 (for ticket info...)
All proceeds go to the preservation of the Bob Baker Marionettes.

This may be your last chance to see more macabre marionette movies on a big screen in an actual haunted marionette theater (before it possibly closes its doors forever)...

Because of a copyright/legal issue, GHOULA can not advertise the main feature film. Trust us, it's a good one that rarely gets screened. Hint: It is a twisted movie from the 1970's that features the puppetry and designs of Bob Baker (pictured above).

Like our previous "STRINGS That Go Bump in the Night," there will be a LIVE horror-themed marionette performance by master puppeteer Eli Presser, a spooky performance from the Bob Baker Marionettes, and...a few surprises and special guests...

Please come out to this enchanted oasis (while it lasts) that has been entertaining the children (and adults) of our city for over fifty years, for this rare spooky night-time event that tempts the spirits... if you dare.

THE BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER'S GHOST(S):

Although people generally associate ghosts with violent/sudden deaths, there are many other theories as to why a ghost will haunt a certain location. Some believe that spirits will return to places that (in life) gave them great pleasure, or perhaps sites where (in life) much time was spent. There is also a theory that confused ghosts sometimes seek out humanoid objects to possess like wax figures, mannequins, or dolls, and thus gravitate to spots where these objects can be found (old wax museums, children's bedroom's, etc.)

So, naturally (or super-naturally) the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, the oldest continuously-operating puppet theater in the United States, is said to have a phantom of a former puppeteer lingering around (seen by staff), watching the staff from his favorite seat on the east side of the theater (last row against the wall, three seats from the aisle). Perhaps he just doesn't want to leave this happy place, or maybe he just likes being around puppets. Additionally, he is seen in the backstage area. On the wings (on the West side of the building), there are mirrors so that performers can check their puppets, or practice moves. While doing this, they will see the ghostly puppeteer (in the mirror's reflection) watching them.  When they turn around, no one is there. Plus, whenever something goes wrong during a performance such as a string breaking or a set falling, it's always blamed on the resident spook, presumably unhappy about something in the show.

In ancient times, the "illusion of life" created by marionettes was thought to be work of other-worldly forces. Who knows, maybe this resident "ex-puppeteer" still lends a hand during performances, animating the inanimate objects, and making them move in realistic ways. Is it possible that old habits die hard,... even if the ghost didn't?

(for ticket info...)