Just about every city has some supposedly haunted mansion, cemetery or lunatic asylum (“if you listen carefully to thewind on moonless nights, you can hear the screams of the insane…”). Most cities, in fact, have at least one company offering tours of their spookiest places.
Ghost tourism has boomed over the past decade, propelled by the public’s interest in the mysterious and supernatural. There are hundreds of ghost tours offered across the country, from Hollywood (“Come see Haunted Hollywood and ghosts of the stars!”) to New England (“Visit Boston’s infamous haunted locales!”).
Some places have more historical lore to draw upon than others. Salem, Massachusetts, for example, exploits its infamous witch trials of the 1690s, while tourists, goths, wannabe vampires, and Anne Rice fans flock to New Orleans, Louisiana, with its reputation for mysticism and voodoo.
Ghost hunting
Ghost Hunters Academy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ghost Hunters (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Many tours tout their guides as “Certified Ghost Hunters” or “Certified Paranormal Investigators,” though that’s like claiming to be a “Certified Kitten Petter.” For better or worse (usually worse), anyone can call himself or herself a ghost hunter; there is no accrediting institution, and “certifications” can be bought from online diploma mills for about $50.
Ghost tours can be a very lucrative business: It is a service with little overhead and start-up costs. Anyone can offer a ghost tour, and tickets often cost $10 to $30 or more per person. With a large group, a good storyteller can make $500 in one evening for guiding a walking tour and telling ghost stories. Everyone likes a good ghost story, and the tours can be fun. The best ones tell their audiences about fascinating local history, throwing in some spooky lore as well.
Tours are often run by self-proclaimed ghost hunters, but no one should confuse telling folklore with doing actual investigation. Ghost tours are one way in which the public learns about “real” ghost hunting, with many companies giving a “Ghost Hunting 101″ course or talk along the way.
Reality
Unfortunately, much of what is taught (such as that spirit voices can be captured on audiotape, or that ghosts can be detected using electromagnetic fields) is unproven theory without any scientific basis. Most guides invite participants to take plenty of photos on the tour, and see if any “ghost orbs” (white spots) appear in the images.
If enough people take enough photos, usually a few will show something that looks odd, fooling the photographer into thinking a ghost has been photographed. What the tours often don’t tell the customers is that these “orbs” could be any number of perfectly ordinary things such as insects, dust, or moisture on the camera lens.
So this Halloween, if there’s a chill in the air and you want a chill in your spine, check out the local legends and lore—for entertainment only!
Photo taken by Dave Dyet. There are no usage restrictions for this photo
CREDIT:
For all of their stomach-turning gore, horror films and haunted houses attract people in droves. This ability of the human brain to turn fear on its head could be a key to treating phobias and anxiety disorders, according to scientists.
When people get scared, their bodies automatically triggers the “fight or flight” response—their heart rates increase, they breathe faster, their muscles tense, and their attention focuses for quick and effective responses to threats.
“It’s nature’s way of protecting us,” said clinical psychologist David Rudd at Texas Tech University.
If the brain knows there is no risk of really being harmed, it experiences this adrenaline rush as enjoyable, Rudd explained. The key to enjoying such thrills lies in knowing how to properly gauge the risk of harm.
“Young children may overestimate the risk of harm and experience true ‘fear.’ When that happens you see the child cling to a parent and cry, convinced there’s a very real chance of harm,” Rudd told LiveScience. On the other hand, “adults may well scream but quickly follow it with a laugh since they readily recognize there’s no chance for real harm.”
On a higher level
This phenomenon also explains why people can enjoy skydiving, bungee jumping and extreme sports.
“In these cases, those engaging in high-risk activities will tell you that the risk is lowered by their training and precautions,” enabling them to enjoy the experience, Rudd said. The key structure in the brain responsible for this effect is likely the amygdala, he added, which is key to forming and storing memories linked with emotions.
The ability to enjoy fear makes evolutionary sense, said environmental psychologist Frank McAndrew at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill.
“We’re motivated to seek out this kind of stimulation to explore new possibilities, to find new sources of food, better places to live and good allies,” McAndrew said. “People enjoy deviations from the norm—a change of pace, within limits.”
Key to therapy
If exposed repeatedly to a fearsome stimulus, the brain will get used to it and no longer experience it as frightening. This is a key behind cognitive therapies for anxiety dysfunctions such as phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder, where a person’s system overreacts to perceive something as threatening when it is not, Rudd said. When such cognitive therapies are combined with medicines, their success rate at improving symptoms “is 80 percent,” he added.
Meanwhile, McAndrew is exploring what makes houses feel haunted in the first place.
“We’re focusing on what architectural features make houses appear haunted or not,” he said. “We’re finding they tend to be laid out in a confusing way, so that you’re not sure where you are in the house. They’re high in ‘mystery’—you can’t see very far in the house. And there are all kinds of sounds and smells not usually found in a house that can make it seem creepy.”
5 Most Haunted Places In America
Stories of Ghosts, Spirits and Haunted Houses for Halloween
Ahhh, Halloween. A time of free candy, hot chicks dressing up as French maids and strange stories of the dead. We’re all out Butterfingers, and the last babe in fishnets just left the building, but we still have plenty of grisly anecdotes.
So prepare to be terrified by tales of sadistic slave owners from the dead. Read if you dare, the horrifying accounts of presidential slave abolitionists from the dead, and brace yourself for the shocking saga of the bankrupt comedian with an apparent foot fetish… from the dead.
5. The LaLaurie House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Facts can morph into fiction over the years, and while some now claim this narrative has developed into more exaggeration than actuality, one of the best-known ghost stories in the Big Easy is easily the sickening chronicle of Madame Delphine LaLaurie. The madame grew up in the lap of luxury, and was twice widowed before she married physician Dr, Louis LaLaurie. The wealthy couple bought a three-story mansion in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter and were known to throw lavish parties, even by upper class standards.
To neighbors and friends, Delphine presented herself as a congenial and caring woman, but behind the closed well-crafted doors of her opulent manor there was a sinister side to this well-bred socialite. Ms. LaLaurie was a cruel and twisted woman who delighted in creating new tortures for her stable of slaves. Legend has it one of Ms. LaLaurie’s young slave girls either snagged a knot while brushing her owner’s hair, or accidentally burned it with a hot curling iron. Regardless of the innocent mistake, the malicious mistress began beating and whipping the frightened 13-year-old servant, until, panic stricken, she ran out of the room. In her desperate escape to avoid the corporal punishment of an insane slave owner, the poor child jumped out of a closed window, and splattered on the street below. The incident was purportedly hushed up, but rumors started to grow about a darker side of the happy hostess.
Colleagues would whisper to each other about how it seemed the LaLaurie’s slaves would suddenly go missing, only to be replaced with a new unpaid laborers, and accounts of Delphine chasing and beating slaves with her horsehide whip swept through the affluent community. A few months later, a fire broke out in the kitchen of LaLaurie Mansion. As firemen arrived on the scene they were startled to discover the blaze was purposely set by a pair of slaves who were shackled to the stove. The slaves admitted to starting the inferno in hopes of being discovered.
After the flames were put out, the firemen noticed a locked door to a hidden upstairs room. Inside the attic they found no less than a dozen naked slaves – both men and women, chained to the walls, locked in dog cages and strapped on medical tables. Body parts were strewn about. Eyes torn out from their sockets, mouths sown shut and genitals had been sliced off. One man had a hole drilled into his head to expose his brain. A stick was jammed inside his cranium as if it were some sort of gruesome medical experiment.
The LaLauries were not home at the time of the fire, but word reached them, and fearing their ghoulish secrets had been uncovered, they fled, never to be seen again. In the centuries since these horrific incidents, there have been numerous ghost sightings and unexplained incidents at the mansion. It is said the plaintive wailing of the mutilated slaves and even the unrelenting crack of Delphine LaLaurie’s whip can still be heard to this day.
4. The Former Home of Redd Foxx – Las Vegas, Nevada
By the late-‘80s, one of the original modern day blue humor comics, Redd Foxx had earned and subsequently spent tens of millions of dollars. Gambling, women, drugs, were a few of his vices. Alimony put a huge dent in his wallet, and to make financial matters worse, he failed to pay his taxes. In 1989, in front of news cameras, the I.R.S. busted into his home on 5460 S. Eastern Avenue in Las Vegas, Nevada, seized all of his possessions while Redd stood in the street wearing little more than a pair of briefs around his waist, and a disgusted look on his face. Two years later Foxx died bankrupt and bitter. There are some however, who suggest ol’ Redd never moved out of his Las Vegas mansion.
Many paranormal experts conclude that it was Redd’s impoverished upbringing that won’t allow him to “let go” of his remaining worldly goods and travel away from this mortal plane. Some suggest that having had so little money to begin with, and making so much only to have it ripped from him during his final years, it is not hard to believe that Redd Foxx has decided to stick it to the afterlife’s version of “the man” and stay where he was most contented.
It was at this home that Redd was said to be at his happiest, and most comfortable. The building is now owned by Shannon Day Realty, Inc. and while the I.R.S. may have succeeded in apprehending his earthly treasures while he was among the living, Redd Foxx, cosmic prankster refuses to be evicted.
Former tenants of the building say they often heard unexplained noises, and light switches that were manually flipped in the down position when no one else was in the building, would inexplicably be turned to the on position hours later. Doors would open and close themselves, and window blinds would rustle without the benefit of wind. Karen Henderson, a real estate agent at the company, claims to frequently hear the front door chime, as if someone opened the door and walked through to the lobby. When she picks her head up from her computer monitor to welcome the visitor, there is often no one there to greet her. On other occasions, she swears her Word documents have changed font color from black to red on the monitor, and at other times the font will appear black on the screen, but print red on the page.
“Just about any time I wear sandals or open toed shoes, I get the sensation that the tops of my feet are being tickled. I just chalk that up as Redd being in a playful mood.” To honor the spirit of Redd Foxx, and to make sure this spectral stand-up remains on good terms with his corporeal housemates, Shannon Day has painted little red foxes all around the agency. “I have seen some things I can’t explain,” says the current owner of Redd’s former property, “I don’t necessarily believe, but if he is here I want him to feel welcome.”
3. The Comedy Store – Hollywood, Ca.
Not a haunted house per say, but The Comedy Store on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, California has been an in-between residence for many up and coming comedians over the years.“They say there’s a couple of different spirits that haunt this place,” confirms an employee of The Comedy Store who does not wish to be identified. “The Belly Room gives me the heebie-jeebies. Waiters and wait staff say they had the room set up for the night, walked downstairs into the kitchen, came back and everything was put back the way it was.” Our insider adds, “This place is kind of like (the movie) The Shining… A lot of things have happened here… you don’t have a place like this that doesn’t leave some sort of trace.”
Whatever happened, most likely happened during the ‘40s and ‘50s when the establishment was known as Ciro’s; the most glamorous night club in Hollywood. For a time, Ciro’s was the social hotspot of Tinseltown’s rich and famous. Top-tier talent like Martin and Lewis and the Desi Arnaz Orchestra would perform to equally well-know audiences of Betty Davis, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. It wasn’t all laughter and music at Ciro’s however. While the club may have officially been owned by Hollywood Reporterpublisher Billy Wilkerson, it was a poorly kept secret L.A. crime boss, Mickey Cohen was running more than a few illicit activities out of Ciro’s back room. The anonymous tipster also mentions, “There’s a stairwell in the back, and people don’t realize it, but there’s a machine gun port there. People have been whacked walking up the stairs when they shouldn’t have been… that whole area is creepy.”
Modern day comics at The Comedy Store are concerned with tickling the funny bone, but Cohen’s boys were more likely to fracture a femur bone, bust a kneecap, or, if mob justice decreed, the offending party took a dirt nap. Much of this rough business was done in the basement and backroom. It is rumored there are still bodies buried under the floors. Perhaps the most famous ghost of The Comedy Store is Gus. Gus worked as a part-time doorman at Ciro’s and part time hit man for Cohen’s gang. Whether he crossed the wrong goodfella, or he was simply a shoddy doorman, Gus was brutally slain by his former employers. But just because he got himself killed, the ghost of this departed tough guy sees no reason to leave his favorite hangout. Gus is one of the friendly ghosts.
Other tales of playful poltergeists include candles relighting themselves seconds after being blown out, and chairs piling themselves in an aisle seconds after being neatly stacked. Comedian Blake Clark refused to believe in paranormal manifestations, until he started working at The Comedy Store. Blake recalls locking up alone after hours and watching in startled amazement as a chair glided from one end of the stage to the other. Clark also remembers fellow comedian Joey Gaynor taunting the apparitions once the club had closed for the night. After Gaynor goaded the ghosts to show themselves, an ashtray levitated off the table, and ostensibly hurled itself at the sardonic comic’s head. Gaynor ducked just in time and the projectile exploded against the wall behind him.
The Comedy Store’s lower level contains no affable apparitions. The banshees of the basement are just plain evil. The furious ghost of a woman who purportedly performed illegal abortions on many of Ciro’s dancing girls is said to be violent and frightening; and she’s the sweet one by comparison. Another ghoul is described in “Haunted Hollywood,” (a book by Laurie Jacobson and Marc Wanamaker) as a hulking, amorphous 7-foot figure of pure malevolence. Still another is capable of chilling the air enough you can see your own breath, while simultaneously heating your skin until it burns. The Comedy Store is owned by legendary surrogate mother of stand-up comics, Mitzi Shore, and her son, comedian/actor Pauly Shore. It is rumored the phantoms and the Shore’s live under an uneasy alliance. If the ghosts promise not to haunt Mitzi or Pauly, the Shore’s pledge never to show Pauly’s 1996 comedy, Bio-Dome, within 500 feet of the building.
2. The White House – Washington D.C
The official residence and home office of our nation’s leaders has certainly welcomed a good number of transparent figures over the years, but it’s also been reported, and by some fairly credible witnesses, that this place is crawling with spooks – and not just the CIA kind.Legend has it that when First Lady Edith Wilson planned to re-landscape the famous Rose Garden, another First Lady intervened – the late Dolley Madison to be specific. Dead Dolley designed the original Rose Garden while she was a living Doll, and reportedly, was so upset after hearing the news of the remodeling, she had a few choice words with the workmen on the grounds from beyond her gave. The gardeners reportedly left in quite a hurry, and since then there have been no attempts to give the well-known flower patch another makeover.
Over the years there have been multiple sighting of a deceased British soldier carrying a torch and roaming the halls at night. Little is known of this ghost, but he is rumored to be one of the men who burned down the White House in 1814. Another First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln supposedly heard the specter of Ol’ Hickory himself, Andrew Jackson on a number of occasions cursing a blue streak, which leads us to the most celebrated phantom of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – Abraham Lincoln. While on this mortal plane, Lincoln spoke publicly about an eerie dream he had. “In the dream, I was awakened by a faint moaning coming from somewhere nearby. I stood, and began hunting the noise, finally finding my way to the east room, where men and women were shrouded in funeral shawls. I saw a coffin on a dais, and soldiers at either end. A captain stood nearby, and I addressed him ‘Who is dead in the White House’ say I. ‘The President,’ is his answer, ‘he was killed by an assassin.’ In the coffin was a corpse in funeral vestments, but the face was obscured. A loud sob left the crowd, and I awoke.”
It is said that Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman believed the spirit of Lincoln would occasionally roam his former home, and both Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy would speak openly, often asking the 16th president for advice. During a visit to the White House, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was put up in the Lincoln Room on the second floor when she heard a knock on the door. When Her Majesty opened door she claims she saw the gangly ghost of Honest Abe and fainted on sight.According to Maureen Reagan, daughter of the late Ronald Reagan, even the Reagan’s dog, Rex refused to enter the Lincoln bedroom, but could often be found just at the doorway barking and snarling at no one in particular.
1. The Whaley House – San Diego, California
Constructed in 1856, on a former gallows site, the Whaley House is the oldest two-story structure in Southern California history. The home contains a ballroom, a theater, a parlor and even a courthouse. What gives the Whaley House its mark of distinction though, is the family of ghosts, who are believed to inhabit the premises. Whaley House is haunted, honestly and legally. The structure is one of only two haunted houses certified by the California government. (The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose being the other.)
There are reportedly as many as 13 different apparitions who linger in the home possibly believing sunny Old Town San Diego to be a more attractive option than the hereafter. Chairs move by themselves, windows and doors open and close without explanation. Chains, footsteps and strange mists are known to frighten the docents of the domicile today. Even the family dog, Dolly, runs down the halls, and brushes against legs of guest’s while pursuing an ethereal kitty cat.
Thomas Whaley, the original Lord of the manor, often materializes at the head of the stairs to the master bedroom. It is not uncommon for visitors to smell the smoke of his cigar or hear his baritone laughter echoing throughout the house. Anna Whaley (Thomas’s wife) is also known to make frequent appearances. Described as a beautiful and graceful woman dressed in gowns of gingham, her flowery perfume and lilting voice envelope the air followed by the eerie strains of a distant piano.For the most part the spirits of Whaley House are on the friendly side of the astral plane. Yankee Jim Robinson, on the other hand has an axe to grind. Robinson, according to legend, was a horse thief, a claim jumper and an alleged murderer. It was, however, the stealing of a rowboat with the aid of his unlawful associates, which eventually earned Yankee Jim the hangman’s noose.
While Yankee Jim’s henchmen only got a year in the pokey, Robinson was hanged for his crime. (It seems his reputation preceded him.) At a time when the average man in the county stood about 5 foot 5 inches, Yankee Jim stood well over 6 feet. The hulking Robinson was hung from a branch barely taller than him. Instead of snapping his neck instantly, the dastardly cur was left to twist and choke, nearly on his tippy toes, for up to 45 minutes before he was pronounced dead. Thomas Whaley, a witness to Robinson’s death often wrote in his journal that the ghost of Yankee Jim resided on the property. Visitors to the estate often experience feelings of strangulation as they walk through the archway located between the music room and the parlor. It was in this exact location, four years prior to the creation of the mansion, on a dark and moonless night, that the hangman’s noose seized the life from Yankee Jim’s ornery body, leaving just his restless spirit behind.
About our writer: Joe Oesterle is an award-winning writer and illustrator, but what he often fails to mention is that many of those awards were won on a New Jersey boardwalk. Pick up his latest books “Weird California” and “Weird Las Vegas” in any Barnes and Noble near you, and look for his next book, “Weird Hollywood,” due out soon. www.JoeArtistWriter.com And be sure to check out his latest humorous animated video, entitled, “The Balloon Boy Song.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrYRquNyZxU
From the materials for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, held in Seattle. A drawing of the Battle of Seattle. Despite the “1866” written on the drawing, this should be 1856. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The skyline of Seattle, Washington at dusk. Interstate 5 is the freeway that cuts through downtown and Puget Sound is visible to the left. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: The top of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington Deutsch: Turmkorb und Spitze der Space Needle, in Seattle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Seattle Downtown Skyline (Photo credit: Canadian Pacific)
Seattle lies on a narrow strip of land between the salt waters of Puget Sound and the fresh waters of Lake Washington. Beyond the waters lie two rugged mountain ranges, the Olympics to the west and the Cascades to the east. It is a city built on hills and around water, in a mild marine climate that encourages prolific vegetation and abundant natural resources.
White settlers came to the Seattle area in 1851, establishing a townsite they first called New York, and then, adding a word from the Chinook jargon meaning “by-and-by,” New York-Alki. They soon moved a short distance across Elliott Bay to what is now the historic Pioneer Square district, where a protected deep-water harbor was available. This village was soon named Seattle, honoring a Duwamish Indian leader named Sealth who had befriended the settlers.
The new town’s principal economic support was Henry Yesler’s lumber mill at the foot of Mill Street (now Yesler Way), built in 1853. Much of the mill’s production went to the booming city of San Francisco, but the mill also supplied the fledgling towns throughout the Puget Sound region. A brief Indian “war” in the winter of 1856 interrupted the town’s development, but when the Territorial legislature incorporated Seattle in 1869, there were more than 2,000 residents.
The 1870s were fairly quiet, despite the discovery of coal near Lake Washington, and the consequent growth of another extractive industry whose product also found its way to San Francisco. In the early 1870s the Northern Pacific Railway Company announced that its transcontinental railroad western terminus would be at Tacoma, some forty miles south of Seattle. Despite local leaders’ disappointment, Seattle managed to force a connection with Northern Pacific shortly after its completion in 1883, and the town’s population soared in the late 1880s. Lumber and coal were the primary industries, but the growth of fishing, wholesale trade, shipbuilding, and shipping also contributed to the town’s economic expansion and population growth. One estimate is that in the first half of 1889, Seattle was gaining 1,000 new residents per month; in March alone, there were 500 buildings under construction, most of them built of wood. The explosive growth was slowed but not stopped by a devastating fire on June 6, 1889, which leveled the buildings on 116 acres in the heart of the city’s business district. No one died in the fire, but the property damage ran into millions of dollars.
Enthusiasm for Seattle was little dampened by the fire. In fact, it provided the opportunity for extensive municipal improvements, including widened and regraded streets, a professional fire department, reconstructed wharves, and municipal water works. New construction in the burned district was required to be of brick or steel, and it was by choice on a grander and more imposing scale.
The 1890s were not so prosperous, despite the arrival of another transcontinental railroad, the Great Northern, in 1893. A nationwide business depression did not spare Seattle, but the 1897 discovery of gold along and near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory and in Alaska once again made Seattle an instant boom town. The city exploited its nearness to the Klondike and its already established shipping lines to become the premier outfitting point for prospectors. The link became so strong that Alaska was long considered to be the personal property of Seattle and Seattleites.
During the early 1900s, Seattle, now having discovered the rewards of advertising, continued to experience strong growth. Two more transcontinental railroads, the Union Pacific and Milwaukee Road systems, reached Seattle and reinforced the city’s position as a trade and shipping center, particularly with Asia and the North Pacific.
The city’s population became increasingly diversified. Scandinavians came to work in fishing and lumbering, African Americans to work as railroad porters and waiters, and Japanese to operate truck gardens and hotels. There were significant communities of Italians, Chinese, Jews, and Filipinos. The International District, home to several Asian ethnic groups, was largely developed during this period.
With its population now approaching 240,000, Seattle announced its achievements by sponsoring an international fair in 1909. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition celebrated the economic and cultural links Seattle had forged along what is now known as the North Pacific Rim. The forty-two story L.C. Smith building was completed in 1914. For more than four decades it was the tallest building in the American west and a symbol of Seattle’s booster spirit and metropolitan aspirations.
World War I transformed the city’s shipbuilding industry, which turned out 20 percent of the nation’s wartime ship tonnage. The war also brought Seattle national attention when, early in 1919, workers struck the shipyards to maintain their high wartime wages. This event soon led to the Seattle general strike of February 6-10, the longest such strike in American history. The strike lacked a cogent objective, but its success fueled postwar American fears about radicals and socialists. Along with the city’s early ventures into municipal transit service and public electrical power, the general strike helped establish Seattle’s reputation as a hotbed of political radicalism.
Seattle also had a reputation for a boom-and-bust economy, and the twenties brought depressed conditions in shipbuilding and the lumber trade. The Depression of the 1930s hit Seattle particularly hard, and a “Hooverville” of shacks and lean-tos housing nearly 1,000 unemployed men grew up at an abandoned shipbuilding yard south of Pioneer Square. World War II sparked an economic rebound as shipyards flourished again. The Boeing Company, a modestly successful airplane manufacturer founded in 1916, increased its workforce more than 1,200 percent and its sales from $10 million to $600 million annually during the war years. The war’s end, however, brought an economic slump to the area that persisted until the middle 1950s.
When Boeing successfully introduced the 707 commercial jet airliner in the late 1950s, it heralded another burst of municipal optimism. In 1962 Seattle sponsored a full-fledged world’s fair, the futuristic Century 21 Exposition. The fair left the city a permanent legacy in the Seattle Center and its complex of performance, sports, and entertainment halls, as well as the Pacific Science Center, the Monorail, and the Space Needle.
Since Century 21, the city population has remained fairly stable around the half-million mark, while suburban areas have grown explosively. The Boeing Company suffered a slump in the early 1970s that severely depressed the local economy. The region’s economy has subsequently been steadied and diversified. Weyerhaeuser and Boeing have been a part of that development, along with such high-technology firms as Microsoft. The political strength of Washington Senators Warren G. Magnuson and Henry Jackson in the postwar decades greatly contributed to growth at such research institutions as the University of Washington, and in defense related activities. Seattle has also enjoyed an expanded air and sea trade with Asia, Alaska, and the North Pacific.
Seattle has always exhibited a spirit of optimism, enterprise, and self-promotion. At one time this was institutionalized as “the Seattle Spirit,” a movement that enabled the city literally to move mountains by washing down high hills to improve building sites, to connect Lake Washington and Puget Sound with locks and a canal, and to build the world’s largest man-made island at the mouth of the Duwamish River. More recently, this spirit can be credited with accomplishments like the Forward Thrust program of the 1970s, which built the Kingdome arena and numerous parks throughout the city, including Freeway Park that spans the I-5 freeway with waterfalls and hanging gardens.
Seattle is proud of its arts and cultural institutions, the many live theaters, and the downtown art museum. It is proud of its parks, of its professional and collegiate sports, of Pioneer Square and the Pike Place Market, and, above all, of the beauty of its surroundings. Seattle is also a city of parades, not always respectful of its own brief heritage, not as radical as its legend would have it; a city of homes that has many who are homeless, a city that wants great growth but demands that somehow the setting remain untouched.
English: Cloth Covered, Hard Bound Book, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving. Published by Thomas Crowl and Company, New York, circa 1907, with gold foil lettering and silky flower pattern cloth. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Real Places Behind Famously Frightening Stories
Light your pumpkin and read about the real places behind some of the world’s classic spo
When Blatty was a student at Georgetown University in 1949, he read newspaper accounts of an exorcism performed on a boy in the D.C. suburbs. He never forgot them; by 1973, they had laid the groundwork for his bestselling book and Oscar-winning movie.
Blatty set his exorcism in Georgetown and made his victim a young girl. In the film, she lived–and levitated and spewed vomit–with her mother in an imposing brick house at 3600 Prospect Street, NW (Blatty had lived on that street during college). Just a short walk away is the famous outdoor stairway that Father Damien Karras tumbled down to his death. The house is private, but the steps are very public, linking Prospect to the busy thoroughfare of M Street, NW.
New York’s Hudson River Valley was the backdrop for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” one of the earliest examples of ghost stories in American literature. Irving, a native New Yorker, relied on local landmarks and the lore about them handed down from Dutch settlers who arrived some 200 years before the story was published in 1820.
The real action in “Legend” begins in what is now called Patriots Park; a monument marks the site where in 1780 three men captured British spy Major John Andre beneath a tulip tree. The bad vibes from the event lingered, according to Irving, and it was not far from the “fearful tree” that the hapless Ichabod Crane first saw “something huge, misshapen, black, and towering.” That something of course was the infamous headless Hessian who chased Crane to the Old Dutch Church.
The church still stands, amidst the small graveyard where Irving’s ghostly Hessian soldier, would tether his black steed to the headstones. The writer himself is buried in the adjacent Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which offers tours of the real sites behind the legend.
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(Patrick Ward / Corbis)
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Ponden Hall and Top Withens, England
Brontë probably had two places in mind when she imagined Wuthering Heights, the haunted house in Yorkshire at the center of her only novel. The Heights’ remote, windswept location could have been that of Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse that overlooks the moors south of her hometown of Haworth. The structure itself could have been based on Ponden Hall, a 19th-century manor house also near Haworth; the single-paned window on the second floor may well have been the one that Catherine Linton’s ghost tried to climb through one wild, snowy night. (Ponden’s owners, Stephen Brown and Julie Akhurst, do offer tours to small groups.)
(iStockphoto)
“The Flying Dutchman”
Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
The story of a ship called the Flying Dutchman doomed to sail the seas for eternity is a trusty old chestnut much loved in the arts. Richard Wagner turned it into an opera, Washington Irving wrote about it, American artist Albert Pinkham Ryder created a moody portrait of it, and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” introduced modern audiences to the legend.
Many believe the original vessel was sailing between Holland and the Dutch East Indies in the 17th century. As it approached the Cape of Good Hope near the tip of Africa, a fierce storm arose. The captain, perhaps eager to get the trip over with, vowed to round the treacherous coastline even if it took him until doomsday.
Those who want to see the results of his folly can stand watch from the Cape, now part of South Africa’s breathtakingly gorgeous Table Rock National Park.
(Stock Connection Distribution / Alamy)
The Shining, Stephen King
Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colo.
One fall night in 1974, King and his wife stayed in Room 217 of this rambling clapboard hotel in the Rockies. En route to the room, King said later, he saw ghostly children in the halls.
That encounter became a pivotal scene in his novel about a hotel caretaker who becomes possessed by the lodge’s evil spirits and in the 1980 film, starring Jack Nicholson. The Stanley didn’t make it into the movie, however; director Stanley Kubrick used Oregon’s Timberline Lodge, a spooky looking manse of stone and wood.
The Stanley embraces its notoriety just the same. Built in 1909 by automaker F.O. Stanley, the 138-room lodge offers ghost tours that include stops in the Kings’ room and the eerie long corridors. Guides also mention the ghosts King didn’t meet, such as a long-dead housekeeper who folks clothes still and a spirit who does not like anyone touching the hotel’s antique Steinway piano.
Not scary enough? Turn on any TV then and watch “The Shining,” which plays continuously on the in-house channel.
(Imagestate Media Partners Limited – Impact Photos / Alamy )
Dracula, Bram Stoker
Poenari Castle, Romania
The crumbling fortress perched on a cliff above the Arges River was one of several used by Vlad Dracula, ruler of southern Romania in the 15th century and the man behind Bram Stoker’s immortal (pardon the pun) vampire tale. The castle was in ruins when Dracula came to power. To restore it, the legend goes, he forced several hundred prisoners to ferry bricks and stones up the cliff along a human assembly line.
Poenari (poh-yeh-NAR) is open to anyone able to ascend the more than 1,400 steps that lead to the summit. Once there, spectacular views of the Carpathian Mountains unfold from the battlements–the same ones that Dracula’s wife jumped from in 1462 as she chose death over being captured by the Turkish army encamped below.
The castle Stoker described in his breakout 1897 novel was probably a composite of three. Of those, Poenari was the only one the real Dracula inhabited. He was imprisoned briefly in the second one, Bran Castle, also in Romania. And the third one is Slain’s Castle in Scotland; Stoker stayed near Slain’s for several years and reportedly was inspired by the grim Gothic building on the rocky east coast. It is in ruins now, while Bran is a museum.
(Lee Pengelly / Alamy)
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Holy Trinity Church, Buckfastleigh, England
Richard Cabell was not a popular guy. Some said he was such a hellion that when he died in 1677, his neighbors built a sepulcher around his tomb in Holy Trinity’s cemetery to make sure he couldn’t get out; they even covered the actual grave with a heavy stone slab for good measure.
Such precautions, however, did not prevent Cabell’s hounds from surrounding the mausoleum at night, howling for their master to rise up and hunt with them across the moors of southern England. This legend grabbed the keen imagination of Conan Doyle when he visited Devon in the early 20th century, and he based one of his best-loved Sherlock Homes mysteries on those spectral hunters. In his story, giant paw prints found next to the savagely mutilated body of Sir Charles Baskerville led Holmes on a ghost-hunt.
Much of the 13th-century church burned in 1992. But Cabell’s vault is intact; peek through the barred windows if you dare.
(Gary Eastwood Photography / Alamy)
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
Menabilly, England
“Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderly again.” And so begins Daphne du Maurier’s Gothic romance about a young bride trying to live in a home possessed by the spirit of her husband’s first wife.
Manderly was largely based on Menabilly, an Elizabethan-era manor the English writer first saw in the 1920s when she trespassed on its grounds near the Cornish coast. Two decades later, du Maurier–flush with the proceeds from the bestselling novel–was able to rent Menabilly. She lived there with her family until 1969.
The manor house is not open to the public. However, the owners rent out two cottages on the grounds as holiday rentals. The beach around Polridmouth Bay–where Rebecca deWinter’s wrecked sailboat washed up–is accessible via a short hike from the village of Fowey.
Fans of the 1940 movie version of “Rebecca” shouldn’t even try to find the baronial estate that features so prominently in the Oscar-winning film. Director Alfred Hitchcock used a model for the exterior shots. He shot the movie in California since England was in the throes of World War II at the time.
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Comments (12)
I would like to tell u that I don’t believe in the sleepy hollows because its just a legend maybe it is real that would be great because I love the sleepy hollows that’s what I would like to tell u thank you very much
Posted by Brooke on February 19,2013 | 01:37 PM
Hi, I’m Romanian and wanted to tell you that the ruler that inspired Bram Stoker’s novel wasn’t named Vlad Dracula, but Vlad Ţepeş. Dracul (without the “a”) was a nickname he got for being a severe, merciless ruler. It literally means devil or demon. Dracula is just the name that Stoker gave his character, probably after mishearing Vlad’s real nickname( Romanian is a very odd and difficult language for foreigners). Vlad used extreme measures against his enemies (like impaling them in huge stakes and leaving their bodies there to rot, as a chilling reminder that he is not to be messed with) and in at least one known instance he called all the court’s trusted men and their families to a feast and he slaughtered them,because he got word they were plotting against him. Plus, the pronunciation of Poenari you wrote in brackets, is incorrect.
Posted by Diana on January 30,2013 | 09:17 PM
Doesn’t sound as if the person who wrote this piece ever read “Rebecca”. Manderly was not possessed. Nice photo of Menabilly though.
Posted by Jamie Curtis on January 27,2013 | 10:34 PM
While everyone was reading “The Exorcist”, I was not. I was living on Prospect Street in Georgetown, and the thought of reading that scary book about something that took place just a couple of blocks from my house (even though that was not the real location), was too much. I did eventually read the book, and saw the film crew around Georgetown when the movie was being filmed. It is still the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, and I have seen it multiple times! The man who was thrown out the window in the book was a friend, not a boyfriend, as I recall. I think the house in the movie was for sale a couple of years ago. Who could actually live in it – although it probably has fantastic views? Such a creepy story!!
Posted by Suzy on December 9,2009 | 12:16 PM
Sprague Mansion in Cranston, R.I., should also be of interest. There have been many sightings there by folks who no nothing about this old estate. There have been sightings of children playing and many other things seen too! Murders have been linked to the people who lived there in the past!
Posted by Melvyn G. Tavares on November 19,2009 | 08:59 PM
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article. Like most people when I heard these stories I would imagine what the places looked like. It was really neat to see some of the places look exactly what I had imagined.
Posted by Tracey on November 12,2009 | 11:51 AM
Although the final exorcisims took place in St. Louis, the boy was posessed and first had signs at his home in the Mt. Ranier neighborhood of Northwest D.C. a few miles north of Georgetown.
Posted by Aysha on November 5,2009 | 01:00 PM
Visitors to Cape Point in South Africa will have to enter the Table Mountain National Park (not the Table Rock NP as stated in your article).It is a fantastic place to visit – and the windswept heights and barren mountains lend an espceially romantic atmosphere to the whole Flying Dutchman story too.
Posted by Caroline Voget on October 30,2009 | 03:15 AM
And the exorcisms actually took place in St. Louis, in a hospital that has since been torn down.
Posted by Miles on October 29,2009 | 06:44 AM
The boyfriend took the first tumble, but Karras throws himself down the stairs, too.
Posted by Sara on October 27,2009 | 11:46 AM
Actually it wasn’t father Damien in the film that took the tumble down the steps. It was the boyfriend of the mother. Just thought you should know.
Posted by Nathan Branstetter on October 26,2009 | 12:56 PM
At some point or another every historian becomes interested in the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes. It is interesting here to learn that it is open to visitors. Great article.
The Pickman House, Back view that abuts the Salem Witch Memorial (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne by sculptor Bela Pratt (1867–1917), in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. Copyright (if any) has expired on this image, as the sculptor died more than 70 years ago. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Salem, Massachusetts (Photo credit: Dougtone)
Salem, Massachusetts (Photo credit: Dougtone)
Salem — seat of Essex County, is located on the northeast coast of Massachusetts at the mouth of the Naumkeag River.
Most people have some knowledge of Salem’s history because it is a fundamental part of early America. Originally the land of the Naumkeag American Indians, it was settled by European colonists in 1626. The city is perhaps best known as the location of the notorious Salem Witch Trials. However, it has also been the home and workplace to numerous authors, artists, architects, state officials and activists, and it is still known for serving as a vital seaport in the nation’s earliest international trade.
Salem was founded in 1626 by Roger Conant and a group of immigrants from Cape Ann. At first the settlement was named Naumkeag, but the settlers preferred to call it Salem, derived from the Hebrew word for peace. In 1628, they were joined by another group, led by John Endecott, from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The events for which Salem is best remembered began in 1692. A local physician diagnosed several teenage girls as bewitched, which resulted in the hanging of 19 persons and one being crushed to death. When the hysteria had played itself out the following year, an edict was issued that released all people from prison who had been accused of witchcraft. Since then, no one has been hanged for witchcraft in the United States. The history of that period can be explored at the Salem Witch Museum. Numerous original papers from the trials are kept at the Peabody Essex Museum.
The first provincial assembly of Massachusetts was held in Salem, in 1774. During the War of Independence and the War of 1812, Salem was a sanctuary for privateers. During peacetime, Salem ship captains took their vessels to distant ports and earned great wealth for their city. The tall ship Friendship, a replica of an East Indiaman merchant ship built two centuries earlier, is the largest wooden sailing vessel built in New England in more than 100 years. It is berthed at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, at the peak of Salem’s sailing prosperity. A house believed to have inspired him to write The House of Seven Gables is maintained and open to the public, along with Hawthorne’s nearby birthplace.
At the center of Salem is Washington Square, an eight-acre common dominated by a statue of Roger Conant, the city founder. It is surrounded by magnificent 18th-century homes. Chestnut Street is home to a large concentration of historic mansions as well.
Salem Normal School opened in 1854 to train young women to be teachers. Over the years, it transformed its mission and eventually became Salem State College in 1968.
In 1874, a Salem philanthropist donated $25,000 and a mansion on Charter Street for the establishment of the city’s first hospital. Salem Hospital opened on October 1, 1874, with 12 beds. It was heavily damaged in the great Salem fire of 1914, and new facilities were built on Highland Avenue.
The Salem Atheneum was formed in 1810 by the union of the Social and Philosophical libraries. By 1837, it boasted a collection of around 9,000 volumes. The Salem Public Library is located in the Historic District of Salem, in an 1855 renovated brick mansion originally owned by sea merchant John Bertram.
A witchcraft trials scene depicted in ‘Pioneers in the Settlement of America’ by William A. Crafts. Vol. I Boston: Samuel Walker & Company, 1876.
Early Salem: The 1600s
In the 1600s the community – which included much of land now incorporated into other towns and cities – prospered under the leadership of historical figures like Roger Conant and Gov. John Endecott. The National Guard considers its origins to be in the 1630s in Salem, where the first military muster was held on the historic Salem Common – today a well-preserved open space. Pioneer Village in Forest River Park, the country’s first living-history museum, recreates life in Salem Village from this time period.
During the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692, accusations were lodged against more than a hundred innocent people, and ultimately led to the deaths of 20 men and women.
Salem today contains many landmarks of the trials, the hangings of the accused and the parties involved, as well as numerous museums, tours and attractions that expand on this history. Related spots include: The Witch House (also known as the Corwin House, where witch trials Judge Jonathan Corwin lived, it is now a museum and the only remaining structure with direct ties to the trials), the Old Burying Point, the Peabody Essex Museum, the Salem Witch Museum, the Wax Museum of Witches & Seafarers and the Witch History Museum.
The Great Age of Sail: The 1700s
The city eventually recovered from that dark period, and in the 1700s prospered through its waterfront. By 1790 Salem was the sixth-largest city in the country and possessed a world famous seaport. It was during this period that international trade thrived, particularly the East India and China trades. America’s first millionaires reportedly made their homes in Salem at this time. Today several historic waterfront areas thrive, including Pickering Wharf. Derby Street is home to the visitor’s center, at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Next to the site, is the Friendship, a working replica of the East Indiaman a tall ship of 1797.
In 1760 Salemites established one of the first book-sharing networks in the country, allowing residents – most of them wealthy – to discuss their books and their love of the printed word. Then in 1781 the spoils of the Revolutionary War helped create a Philosophical Library. In 1810 the Philosophical Library merged with the book-sharing network to create the Salem Athenaeum, which found a permanent home at 132 Essex St. thanks to a bequest from Caroline Plummer. The Athenaeum later moved to a striking building at 337 Essex St., its current home, which was dedicated in 1907. In addition, in 1899 the Salem Public Library opened on the same block as the Athenaeum when Captain John Bertram (a merchant, philanthropist and former seaman) provided a handsome brick building at 370 Essex St.
The Peabody Essex Museum, the oldest continually operated museum in America, was established by sea captains in 1799. Today it is internationally know for its diverse collections, programs and exhibits – from early Americana to modern marvels. Many rare documents of American and Essex County history are housed at its Phillips Library.
The museum in 2000 re-erected Yin Yu Tang, a late-Qing dynasty Chinese house that serves as a portal to daily life in China 200 years ago – and also symbolizes the connection between Salem and China in the Age of Sail.
Hawthorne’s era: The 1800s
Salem, still at its peak as a port city, was flourishing as it entered the 1800s. This was the era of the famous architect and carver Samuel McIntire, who designed the elegant Hamilton Hall and several Federalist mansions that still remain, particularly in the greater Chestnut Street area named in his honor.
Around the time McIntire was creating his designs, during the transition from the 18th to the 19th century, resident Nathaniel Bowditch was writing the first edition of “American Practical Navigator.” First published in 1802, “American Practical Navigator,” revolutionized sea travel. Considered the founder of modern maritime navigation, Bowditch’s book became one of the most popular in America by the end of the 19th century, and was considered the Bible of sea navigation.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born here and worked in the Customs House which still stands today. Hawthorne used Salem for the setting of “The Scarlet Letter,” as Arthur Miller later did with “The Crucible.” (Both works were made into major motion pictures.) His classic novel “The House of Seven Gables” was inspired by a real building, which still exists and was recently restored.
This was also the era of Alexander Graham Bell who in the late 1800s lived, worked and made history with his inventions – including important developments in the telephone.
Another ship replica that is open to visitors, the schooner Fame of Salem, is a tribute to the successful privateers in Salem from the War of 1812. (The Fame and the National Guard’s birthplace aren’t Salem’s only ties to the military: Salem residents and factories helped provide supplies in nearly every war from the Revolution to World War II, and the Coast Guard stored seaplanes at Winter Island during the latter.)
Old Town Hall was built in 1816 after the land was donated to the city by John Derby III and Benjamin Pickman Jr., and served as the headquarters for city government until 1836-1837 when the new, present-day City Hall was erected on Washington Street. The Salem Willows park and its waterfront and amusement park were established in the 1800s, drawing people from all over.
The Great Salem Fire of 1914 by Barbara Pero Kampas. The Great Salem Fire of 1914 started on June 25 at 1:37 PM, following a long June dry spell at the Korn Leather Factory at 57 Boston Street. The fire … Hawthorne’s Haunts in New England by John Hardy Wright. Loosen the latchstring and peer into the places where Nathaniel Hawthorne passed back and forth from nineteenth-century New England to the fertile cou… A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Frances Hill, Karen Armstrong. This acclaimed history illuminates the horrifying episode of Salem with visceral clarity, from those who fanned the crisis to satisfy personal vendett… In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 by Mary Beth Norton. In 1692 the people of Massachusetts were living in fear, and not solely of satanic afflictions. Horrifyingly violent Indian attacks had all but emptie… The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent. Martha Carrier was hanged on August 19th, 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, unyielding in her refusal to admit to being a witch, going to her death rather… The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion Lena Starkey. The reign of terror that swept Salem Village in 1692 is still the most celebrated of all witch hunts. It was a tragedy of individuals, which underline…
Tombstone Ariona is one of those places that intrigues me, for some unknown reason or another. While I was researching the history of the town, I came across some difficulties finding verifiable information. There was little or no census info., and the info. in the Tombstone local library wasn’t the same as the historical information found online. It was very frustrating, but it seemed that the stories of good old Tombstone being told by the tourist wranglers, tour guides, and local venues were really the ones that the city was standing by. I could find no death records for the prominent years that the city was in operation as a mining town. An explaination for this is that there were so many travelers in and out of the city, that it was impossible to keep track of all that died, most before even 24 hours of residency. Another good excuse was that people didn’t carry identification at that time.
Signature of Ed Schieffelin, a prospector who discovered silver in Cochise County, Arizona Territory in 1877, which led to the founding of Tombstone, Arizona (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Ed Schieffelin during a visit to the Yukon River in Alaska in 1882. Cropped version of original image. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Bird Cage Theater as it appears today. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ed Schieffelin discovered the Tombstone district in 1877 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: was built by Albert Schieffelin, brother of Tombstone, Arizona founder Ed Schieffelin, and William Harwood as a first class opera house, theater, recital hall, and a meeting place for Tombstone citizens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Tombstone (Photo credit: bugmonkey)
TOMBSTONE ARIZONA HISTORY
Underground America is looking for sponsorship in order to funda documentary series on this town andmany others like it. Ask ushow you can help makethis video series happen!!
HERE IS A COMPILATION OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE HISTORY OF TOMBSTONE, GATHERED FROM MANY WEBSITES LISTED AT THE END OF THE BLOG. ENJOY! I do not own any of these images, the websites they are hosted on, or the copyrighted clip art or formats used on the host sites.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMBSTONE
ombstone was founded in 1877 by a prospector named Ed Schieffelin. Ed was staying at what was then called Camp Huachuca (wa-chu-ka) as part of a scouting expedition against the Chiricahua (chir-i-cow-uh) Apaches. During his time there he would venture out into the wilderness “looking for rocks”, all the while ignoring the warnings he received from the soldiers at the camp. They would tell him, “Ed, the only stone you will find out there will be your tombstone”. Well, Ed did find his stone. And it was Silver. So, remembering the words of warning from the soldiers, he named his first mine The Tombstone.Click here to learn more about Ed Schieffelin It wasn’t long before word spread about Ed’s silver strike. Soon prospectors, cowboys, homesteaders, lawyers, speculators, gunmen and business people flocked to the area in droves. In 1879 a town site was laid out on the nearest level spot to the mines, known at that time as Goose Flats, and was appropriately named “Tombstone” after Ed Schieffelin’s first mining claim. By the mid 1880’s Tombstone’s population had increased to around 7,500. This figure counted only the white male registered voters that were over 21 years of age. If you take into account the women, children, Chinese, Mexicans and the many “ladies of the evening” the estimates are that the population was between 15,000 and 20,000 people. At its peak, it is said to have been the fastest growing city between St. Louis and San Francisco. There were over one hundred saloons, numerous restaurants, a large red-light district, an even larger Chinese population, schools, churches, newspapers, and one of the first public swimming pools in Arizona (which is still used today). There were a few theaters in town, the most famous of them being Schieffelin Hall and the Bird Cage Theatre. Schieffelin Hall was where the “respectable” people in town went for entertainment. It opened in June of 1881 and was built for the people of Tombstone by Ed Schieffelin’s Brother Al. It is the largest standing adobe structure in the southwest United States and was built to be used as a theater, recital hall and a meeting place for Tombstone Citizens. Wyatt and Morgan Earp attended a performance there the evening that Morgan was killed by an assassin’s bullet. It is still in use today by city government and civic groups.CLICK HERE to buy a vintage image of
historic Schieffelin Hall.
The Bird Cage Theatre is another story. It was a saloon, theater, gambling hall and brothel. Legend has it that no self-respecting woman in town would even walk on the same side of the street as the Bird Cage Theatre. It opened its doors on Christmas Day 1881 and ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year until closing its doors in 1889. In 1882, The New York Times reported, “the Bird Cage Theatre is the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast.” Evidence of this can still be seen in the 140 supposed bullet holes that have been found in the walls and ceiling. The Bird Cage was named for the cage style crib compartments suspended from the ceiling. It was in these “Bird Cages” that the “ladies of the evening” entertained their customers. The story goes that they were the inspiration for the song, “She’s only a bird in a gilded cage”, which was quite popular during the early 1900’s.
Two major fires swept through Tombstone during the 1880’s. Legend has it that in June of 1881 a cigar ignited a barrel of whiskey at the Arcade Saloon. The subsequent fire destroyed over 60 businesses in the downtown area. But the town rebuilt itself and kept on growing. In May of 1882 another fire ripped through downtown Tombstone destroying a large portion of the business district. Again, the town rebuilt.
Tombstone is also the home of Boothill Graveyard. Boothill began in 1879 and was used until 1884 when the New Tombstone City Cemetery was opened on west Allen Street. After the opening of the new cemetery, Boothill became known as “The Old Cemetery”. The City cemetery is still in use today. Legend has it that Boothill was named for the fact that many residents there died violent or unexpected deaths and were buried with their boots on. However, it was actually named Boothill after Dodge City’s pioneer cemetery in the hopes of attracting tourists in the late 1920’s. Many famous Tombstone folks lie there including the victims of the 1881 Shootout on Fremont Street between the Earps and the Cowboys. For many years, it was neglected. The desert overtook parts of it and vandals removed grave markers. Then, in the 1920’s concerned citizens began the process of cleaning up the Old Cemetery and researching the placement of the graves to preserve it for future generations (and to make a little money on tourism).
The most famous event in Tombstone’s history was the famed Gunfight at the OK Corral, which didn’t actually happen at the corral, but in a vacant lot on Fremont Street. On October 26, 1881, members of the “Cowboys” had a run-in with Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp with help from Wyatt’s friend Doc Holliday. 24 seconds and 30 shots later, Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury were mortally wounded. In many peoples opinion, it was this one event that has kept Tombstone alive for all these years.
In 1882 the Cochise County Courthouse was built at a cost of around $45,000. It provided offices for the county sheriff, recorder, treasurer, board of supervisors, and included a well-built jail. The courthouse was a comfortable symbol of law and stability in these turbulent times. The county seat remained in Tombstone until voters in 1929 chose to move it to Bisbee, a bustling copper mining town 29 miles away. The last county office left the courthouse in 1931. Budget cuts in 2010 by Gov. Jan Brewer almost forced the Museums closure. Luckily the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce stepped in and met the demands from the state to take over operation of the museum.
As the silver mining continued the mineshafts were dug deeper and deeper to get the precious ore. Once they hit the 520 foot level, the water table was reached which flooded the mines. Attempts to pump out the water marginally worked for a few years but soon became too costly to continue. As the mining slowed down, the people of Tombstone started leaving, but not before $37,000,000 worth of ore had been taken from the many mines in the area. It is estimated that by the early 1930’s Tombstone’s population dwindled to around 150 people.
Today, Tombstone is home to around 1500 year round residents who enjoy the wonderful climate that Cochise County’s high desert has to offer and believe in preserving the history and heritage of the Wildest Town in the West!
TOMBSTONE
NAME: Tombstone COUNTY: Cochise ROADS: 2WD paved LEGAL INFO: T20S, R22E CLIMATE: Mild winter, hot summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime
COMMENTS: Many ghost towns in the area that are worth seeing. Video available, see below. REMAINS: Many original buildings and cemetery.
Tombstone’s post office was established December 2, 1878 and has yet to be discontinued. Tombstone is the most famous of Arizona mining camps with its colorful history. Discovered by Ed Schieffelin in 1878, the mine went on to produce millions. Tombstone had over 15,000 residents at one time. Fires nearly caused the death of Tombstone twice but the town was resilient. Famous for the O.K. Corral shootout with the Earps and Boot Hill cemetery, Tombstone is well worth the visit! – GTombstone Ariona is one of those places that intrigues me, for some unknown reason or another. While I was researching the history of the town, I came across some difficulties finding verifiable information. There was little or no census info., and the info. in the Tombstone local library wasn’t the same as the historical information found online. It was very frustrating, but it seemed that the stories of good old Tombstone being told by the tourist wranglers, tour guides, and local venues were really the ones that the city was standing by. I could find no death records for the prominent years that the city was in operation as a mining town. An explaination for this is that there were so many travelers in and out of the city, that it was impossible to keep track of all that died, most before even 24 hours of residency. Another good excuse was that people didn’t carry identification at that time.
Signature of Ed Schieffelin, a prospector who discovered silver in Cochise County, Arizona Territory in 1877, which led to the founding of Tombstone, Arizona (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Signature of Ed Schieffelin, a prospector who discovered silver in Cochise County, Arizona Territory in 1877, which led to the founding of Tombstone, Arizona (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Ed Schieffelin during a visit to the Yukon River in Alaska in 1882. Cropped version of original image. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Bird Cage Theater as it appears today. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ed Schieffelin discovered the Tombstone district in 1877 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: was built by Albert Schieffelin, brother of Tombstone, Arizona founder Ed Schieffelin, and William Harwood as a first class opera house, theater, recital hall, and a meeting place for Tombstone citizens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Tombstone (Photo credit: bugmonkey)
TOMBSTONE ARIZONA HISTORY
Underground America is looking for sponsorship inorder to funda documentary series on this town andmany others like it. Ask ushow you can help make
this video series happen!!
HERE IS A COMPILATION OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE HISTORY OF TOMBSTONE, GATHERED FROM MANY WEBSITES LISTED AT THE END OF THE BLOG. ENJOY! I do not own any of these images, the websites they are hosted on, or the copyrighted clip art or formats used on the host sites.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMBSTONE
ombstone was founded in 1877 by a prospector named Ed Schieffelin. Ed was staying at what was then called Camp Huachuca (wa-chu-ka) as part of a scouting expedition against the Chiricahua (chir-i-cow-uh) Apaches. During his time there he would venture out into the wilderness “looking for rocks”, all the while ignoring the warnings he received from the soldiers at the camp. They would tell him, “Ed, the only stone you will find out there will be your tombstone”. Well, Ed did find his stone. And it was Silver. So, remembering the words of warning from the soldiers, he named his first mine The Tombstone.Click here to learn more about Ed Schieffelin It wasn’t long before word spread about Ed’s silver strike. Soon prospectors, cowboys, homesteaders, lawyers, speculators, gunmen and business people flocked to the area in droves. In 1879 a town site was laid out on the nearest level spot to the mines, known at that time as Goose Flats, and was appropriately named “Tombstone” after Ed Schieffelin’s first mining claim. By the mid 1880′s Tombstone’s population had increased to around 7,500. This figure counted only the white male registered voters that were over 21 years of age. If you take into account the women, children, Chinese, Mexicans and the many “ladies of the evening” the estimates are that the population was between 15,000 and 20,000 people. At its peak, it is said to have been the fastest growing city between St. Louis and San Francisco. There were over one hundred saloons, numerous restaurants, a large red-light district, an even larger Chinese population, schools, churches, newspapers, and one of the first public swimming pools in Arizona (which is still used today). There were a few theaters in town, the most famous of them being Schieffelin Hall and the Bird Cage Theatre. Schieffelin Hall was where the “respectable” people in town went for entertainment. It opened in June of 1881 and was built for the people of Tombstone by Ed Schieffelin’s Brother Al. It is the largest standing adobe structure in the southwest United States and was built to be used as a theater, recital hall and a meeting place for Tombstone Citizens. Wyatt and Morgan Earpattended a performance there the evening that Morgan was killed by an assassin’s bullet. It is still in use today by city government and civic groups.
CLICK HERE to buy a vintage image of
historic Schieffelin Hall.
The Bird Cage Theatre is another story. It was a saloon, theater, gambling hall and brothel. Legend has it that no self-respecting woman in town would even walk on the same side of the street as the Bird Cage Theatre. It opened its doors on Christmas Day 1881 and ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year until closing its doors in 1889. In 1882, The New York Times reported, “the Bird Cage Theatre is the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast.” Evidence of this can still be seen in the 140 supposed bullet holes that have been found in the walls and ceiling. The Bird Cage was named for the cage style crib compartments suspended from the ceiling. It was in these “Bird Cages” that the “ladies of the evening” entertained their customers. The story goes that they were the inspiration for the song, “She’s only a bird in a gilded cage”, which was quite popular during the early 1900′s.
Two major fires swept through Tombstone during the 1880′s. Legend has it that in June of 1881 a cigar ignited a barrel of whiskey at the Arcade Saloon. The subsequent fire destroyed over 60 businesses in the downtown area. But the town rebuilt itself and kept on growing. In May of 1882 another fire ripped through downtown Tombstone destroying a large portion of the business district. Again, the town rebuilt.
Tombstone is also the home of Boothill Graveyard. Boothill began in 1879 and was used until 1884 when the New Tombstone City Cemetery was opened on west Allen Street. After the opening of the new cemetery, Boothill became known as “The Old Cemetery”. The City cemetery is still in use today. Legend has it that Boothill was named for the fact that many residents there died violent or unexpected deaths and were buried with their boots on. However, it was actually named Boothill after Dodge City’s pioneer cemetery in the hopes of attracting tourists in the late 1920′s. Many famous Tombstone folks lie there including the victims of the 1881 Shootout on Fremont Street between the Earps and the Cowboys. For many years, it was neglected. The desert overtook parts of it and vandals removed grave markers. Then, in the 1920′s concerned citizens began the process of cleaning up the Old Cemetery and researching the placement of the graves to preserve it for future generations (and to make a little money on tourism).
The most famous event in Tombstone’s history was the famed Gunfight at the OK Corral, which didn’t actually happen at the corral, but in a vacant lot on Fremont Street. On October 26, 1881, members of the “Cowboys” had a run-in with Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp with help from Wyatt’s friend Doc Holliday. 24 seconds and 30 shots later, Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury were mortally wounded. In many peoples opinion, it was this one event that has kept Tombstone alive for all these years.
In 1882 the Cochise County Courthouse was built at a cost of around $45,000. It provided offices for the county sheriff, recorder, treasurer, board of supervisors, and included a well-built jail. The courthouse was a comfortable symbol of law and stability in these turbulent times. The county seat remained in Tombstone until voters in 1929 chose to move it to Bisbee, a bustling copper mining town 29 miles away. The last county office left the courthouse in 1931. Budget cuts in 2010 by Gov. Jan Brewer almost forced the Museums closure. Luckily the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce stepped in and met the demands from the state to take over operation of the museum.
As the silver mining continued the mineshafts were dug deeper and deeper to get the precious ore. Once they hit the 520 foot level, the water table was reached which flooded the mines. Attempts to pump out the water marginally worked for a few years but soon became too costly to continue. As the mining slowed down, the people of Tombstone started leaving, but not before $37,000,000 worth of ore had been taken from the many mines in the area. It is estimated that by the early 1930′s Tombstone’s population dwindled to around 150 people.
Today, Tombstone is home to around 1500 year round residents who enjoy the wonderful climate that Cochise County’s high desert has to offer and believe in preserving the history and heritage of the Wildest Town in the West!
TOMBSTONE
NAME: Tombstone COUNTY: Cochise ROADS: 2WD paved LEGAL INFO: T20S, R22E CLIMATE: Mild winter, hot summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime
COMMENTS: Many ghost towns in the area that are worth seeing. REMAINS: Many original buildings and cemetery.
Tombstone’s post office was established December 2, 1878 and is still in operation today. Tombstone became one of the most famous Arizona mining camps with its colorful history. Discovered by Ed Schieffelin in 1878, the mine went on to produce millions of dollars in silver ore. Tombstone had over 15,000 residents at the ehight of its operation. Fires nearly caused the death of Tombstone twice but the town was resilient. Famous for the O.K. Corral shootout with the Earps and Boot Hill cemetery, Tombstone is well worth the visit! –Tombstone has since earned the nick-name “the Town Too Tough to Die”. One day in 1877 the prospector Ed Schieffelin stood in Camp Huachuca and he looked out on the mountains in the northeast. The rich colors of the mountains looked very pleasing and full of promise and he decided to go there and dig a little. When he mentioned that to the soldier at his side, the soldier warned him against digging in that area, saying that the Apache indians that controlled and settled in the mountains, would respond with violence.“All you’ll find in those hills is your tomb-stone”. In February 1878 Schieffelin decided to go alone on the search after his fortune. He found a vein rich with silver ore, not the gold ore he was hoping for, but large enough to make him an instantly rich man. Remembering what the soldier had told him about never finding anything but his tombstone, he registered the two mining sites: “the Tombstone” and “the Graveyard”. He decided to send for his brother, Al, and have him come and survey the value of the ore so he traveled all the way to Signal (now ghost town about 170 miles away by plane from Tombstone). The brothers returned together with Mr. Richard K.Gird, who saw the ore value, and the brothers into a partnership. On the way back, Ed found two more spots teaming with silver ore and registered those lots as “Lucky Cuss” (his nich name for himself) and “the Toughnut” (he joked that will be “a tough nut to crack”). 40 million dollars in silver (value of 1.7 billion dollars today) was the result from those and other mines in the area between 1880-1886. Tombstone who flourished under the hunt of silver in the beginning of 1880 was known as one of the most notorious and violent towns in the Wild West – where the silver was king, – but now, Tombstone is a very nice place to visit.The city had 4 churches, a school, two banks, a newspaper (“The Epitaph”), one opera and about 15000 citizens. One big fire destroyed the Main Street in 1881 and in 1882, and each time it was built up again.
Ed Schieffelin left Tombstone and set off after a new adventure to the Yukon. Despite the fact that these facts are difficult to verify, Tombstone was the place were men lived fast, and died quickly.
The fight which took place by the OK Corral in 1881 is remembered as the most notorious gun fight in the history of the town. The main reason for the shooting was a struggle for political power in the newly founded Cochise County. On the one side was Sheriff Johny Behan and Clanton clan who ran a place called “moonshine ranch” where they dabbled in stolen cattle and staged bar and coach robberies. The good guys were U.S. Marshall Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, and the known alcoholic gunman “Doc” Holliday. In the afternoon on October 26, came Earp brothers and Holliday to corner of Fremont and 3th Street where five young members of Clanton gang were looking a fight. According the late explanation of Ikke Clanton, Wyatt Earp pushed his gun into Clantons stomach and yelled “You son of a bitch, you can have a fight.” Clanton turned around and tried to run away, and in about 30 seconds, 3 of Clanton’s men were dead and Virgil and Morgan were serious wounded. The Earp brothers and Holliday were questened in court and found not guilty. Two months later around midnight a masked man tried to kill Virgil Earp, but they only invalided his arm for the rest of his live. Three months after that, an asian man killed Morgan Earp. Wyatt Earp, who worked outside the law to find the killer, killed 3 men who were suspected for the murder of his brother, and left Cochise County forever.
Because of the many killings that occured almost every day, President Chester Arthur was ready to send military into the town in hopes of getting some much needed help, when the troubles topped in 1882. 110 permits for serving the alcohol were given to bar and restaraunt owners.
In 1886, water was flooding into the mines which collapsed under the massive amount of water, and that was end of mining. Charleston and Millville, sister cities, died, and Tombstone was seriously “wounded”. The numbers of citizens dropped but the town survived. Mines started to open again in 1890 an those worked until after the change of the new millenium, when flooding stopped the mining, yet again. When the town lost the title as County town to Bisbee, proclaimed the newspaper “Graham County Guardian”: “Tombstone got his dead stitch”. The pockets of silver in the mountains are changed to silver in the pockets by the tourists, and Tomb-stone is still in live and lives good as a tourist town by his history. Beside others, the restored Crystal Palace Saloon from 1879 were was the office of city Marshall Virgil Earp and Sheriff Johny Behan; and OK Corral, which became famous in one turbulent moment of shooting, are now booming tourist attractions, and are open again. Allen Street (named after John Allen), once filled with over 130 bars, casinos, bordells and the Courthouse have all been restored. The original Cochise County Court-house build in 1882, including court hall and gallows are now official “State Historic Parks”.
OK Corral
Courtesy Dolores Steele
City Hall
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Tombstone Epitaph
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Longhorn – 1884
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Big Nose Kates Saloon
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Birdcage Theater – most famous Honky-Tonk in America between 1881 and 1889
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Tombstone
Courtesy Theresa and Cian Corcoran
Tombstone
Courtesy Theresa and Cian Corcoran
Tombstone
Courtesy Theresa and Cian Corcoran
Tombstone
Courtesy Theresa and Cian Corcoran
Tombstone
Courtesy Theresa and Cian Corcoran
Boot Hill Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Tombstone
Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Ed Schieffelin Grave Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone in 1881
Courtesy Arizona Historical Society
John Heath Lynching Feb. 22, 1884
Courtesy Arizona Historical Society
Custom made Cherrywood Bar
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Card table in the Bird Cage
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Bird Cage Theater
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Tombstone
Courtesy Dolores Steele
Tombstone
Courtesy Dolores Steele Tombstone
Courtesy Theresa and Cian Corcoran Tombstone
Courtesy Theresa and Cian Corcoran
Tombstone
Courtesy Theresa and Cian Corcoran
Tombstone – late 1890s or early 1900s
Courtesy Tom McCurnin
Golden Nugget Saloon Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Tombstone – Courthouse
Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Tombstone – Ed Schieffelin Monument
Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Inside Crystal Palace Saloon
Courtesy Tom McCurnin
Tombstone – Silver Nugget Saloon
Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Tombstone – Undertaker Car
Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Tombstone – Undertaker Car
Courtesy Bobby Krause Zlatevski
Schieffelin Hall
Courtesy Tom McCurnin
St. Pauls
Courtesy Tom McCurnin
Miners Shack
Courtesy Tom McCurnin
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
Tombstone
From the Johnnie Walker Collection
Courtesy Charlie Osborn
English: The grave of Elizabeth Short, better known as the Black Dahlia, who was murdered in 1947. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Notorious B.I.G. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ronni Chasen
Legendary Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen was a veritable institution in the movie industry, representing everyone from filmmakers to producers and composers. She orchestrated the Oscar campaign for Driving Miss Daisy, and was recently organizing Oscar pushes for Alice in Wonderland and for actor Michael Douglas, who reprised his role as Gordon Gekko in the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. But in the early hours on Nov. 16, while driving home from the Hollywood premiere of the film Burlesque, Chasen’s Mercedes coupe was shot at five times and her body was found slumped over in her car. The murder has many in Hollywood scratching their heads and sparked a massive police hunt, with some sources claiming it was a planned hit. Adding to the mystery, the leading suspect in the murder reportedly committed suicide, according to The Daily Beast.
Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.
Rapper Tupac was shot from a white Cadillac while stopped at an intersection on the Las Vegas Strip in Sept. 1996. Just six months later, fellow rapper Notorious B.I.G. was shot from a red Impala while stopped at an intersection in L.A. You can take your pick of the many theories as to who was behind the shootings. Did Notorious order a hit on Tupac and the Bloods retaliated against B.I.G.? Was their rival gang the Crips responsible for both murders—Biggie ordering the hit on Tupac, then reneging on the deal and getting shot for it? Were the rappers accidental victims of hits targeting their labels’ CEOs, who were both at the scene of the rappers’ murders? Did their labels’ CEOs actually order the hits themselves as a plan to boost the East Coast/ West Coast rivalry that was selling so many records? In 1999, detective Russell Poole, who suspected dirty cops to be behind the hit, resigned in protest and 13 years later, both murders remain unsolved.
Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia) It remains, to this day, one of the most gruesome and puzzling murders to ever hit Hollywood. Elizabeth Short was a 22-year-old aspiring actress with long, dark hair and piercing blue eyes, whose mutilated body was found in the Leimert Park district of Los Angeles on Jan. 15, 1947. Her corpse had been severed at the waist and drained of blood and her face was slashed from the corners of her mouth to her ears. The media sensationalized the already horrifying case, claiming at the time of her murder that Short was wearing a tight skirt and sheer blouse as opposed to the black tailored suit she was allegedly last seen wearing. And although it was reported that she received “The Black Dahlia” nickname from a drugstore, some say it was the media’s effort to paint a portrait of Short as a femme fatale. The crime was the basis for author James Ellroy’s 1987 book, The Black Dahlia, which was later adapted into a 2006 film of the same name, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson. But more than 60 years and many rumors later, Short’s death remains unsolved.
Read more about Elizabeth Short A.K.A. The Black Dahlia:
David Carradine Best known for his role as a Shaolin monk in the 1970s television series Kung-Fu, David Carradine became a successful character actor in Hollywood films, including memorable roles as a stumbling drunk in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and the scheming villain in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill franchise. But on June 4, 2009, Carradine was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok, where he was shooting a movie. The actor’s body was found hanging in the closet with a rope tied to his neck, wrist, and genitals, in an apparent act of autoerotic asphyxiation. Following his death, two of Carradine’s ex-wives, Gail Jensen and Marina Anderson, stated that Carradine indeed had a self-bondage fetish and an overall penchant for “deviant sexual behavior.” Since then, Anderson has publicly claimed that she conducted her own investigation of Carradine’s death, ruling he was murdered.
Natalie Wood Born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, Wood became a successful child actor with her role in the 1947 film, Miracle on 34th Street, later transitioning to an ingénue opposite James Dean in 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause. The part earned Wood an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress—as did her performances in Elia Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story. But Wood was also known for her high-profile relationships with many men, from Elvis Presley to Dennis Hopper. On the evening of Nov. 28, 1981, she was in Catalina Island taking a break from filming the sci-fi film Brainstorm with her co-star, Christopher Walken, and her husband (for the second time), Robert Wagner, when she allegedly slipped and fell into the water while trying to secure a dinghy. According to Time, Wood’s autopsy revealed she drank “seven or eight” glasses of wine. A passenger on a boat nearby claimed she heard someone yelling cries of help that evening and heard another voice answer: “Take it easy. We’ll be over to get you.” In the wake of Wood’s death at the age of 43, her lawyer said, “It was not a homicide… not a suicide. It was an accident.”
Johnny Stompanato The inquest into the fatal stabbing of Hollywood bodyguard Johnny Stompanato was a major television event, with both his girlfriend actress Lana Turner and gangster Mickey Cohen testifying before 120 journalists filling the courtroom’s 160 seats. There was even an unidentified man shouting “Lies! All lies! This mother and daughter were both in love with Stompanato! Johnny was a gentleman!” as he was dragged from the courtroom. But as the story goes, Stompanato was anything but a gentleman as a bodyguard to Cohen, a rumored blackmailer, and an alleged abusive boyfriend to Turner. Though the star’s daughter Cheryl Crane was found guilty of justifiable homicide when she stabbed Stompanato with a kitchen knife at Turner’s house during a fight, rumors persisted that Turner had murdered Stompanato herself and passed off the crime to her daughter, who was 14 at the time.
George Reeves With his hulking physique and square jaw, George Reeves was an ideal fit for the lead role in the 1950s television series, Adventures of Superman. However, after the series, Reeves had trouble finding work and was in dire financial straits due to his extravagant Hollywood lifestyle. According to the Los Angeles Police Department report, between approximately 1:30 and 2 a.m. on June 16, 1959, Reeves reportedly shot himself in the head in the upstairs bedroom of his Los Angeles home, while his fiancée, playwright Leonore Lemmon, and friends William Bliss, writer Robert Condon, and Carol Van Ronkel were partying downstairs. The houseguests allegedly heard a single gunshot and Bliss ran into the room to find Reeves’ lifeless body. Police reports at the time said that Reeves was depressed because he wasn’t earning roles, but his mother refused to believe Reeves was the type to kill himself. Other theories place the blame on Reeves’ relationship with married ex-showgirl Toni Mannix, wife of MGM general manager Eddie Mannix, as did the 2006 film Hollywoodland, which starred Ben Affleck as the late Superman star.
Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee
Bruce Lee, a Hong Kong martial arts master, became a star after his performance as Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series, The Green Hornet. He went on to star in many martial arts films and famously pummeled Chuck Norris in the legendary final scene of Way of the Dragon. However, on July 20, 1973, six days before the release of his latest movie, Enter the Dragon, Lee met with producer Raymond Chow to talk about a new project, Game of Death. The two then drove over to Lee’s colleague’s home, Taiwanese actress Betty Ting Pei. When Lee complained of a headache, Pei allegedly gave him an Equagesic—a combination of aspirin and a muscle relaxant. Lee reportedly decided to take a nap, but never woke up. The only substance found in the actor’s autopsy was Equagesic and it was later ruled that he died due to a hypersensitivity to the muscle relaxant in the drug. However, many conspiracy theorists claim that Lee was either murdered by the triads, he died from a Dim Mak (“death strike”) he received some time earlier, or his family was cursed. The final theory resurfaced when, on Mar. 31, 1993, his son Brandon Lee was accidentally shot to death while filming his character’s death scene in the film, The Crow.
Virginia Rappe
Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was one of the first movie stars and with that, he was also at the forefront of one of the first Hollywood scandals. The 350-pound silent-era comedian was accused of killing a young actress named Virginia Rappe. As the story goes, at a party at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on Labor Day weekend 1920, Arbuckle ruptured Rappe’s bladder when he allegedly forced sex on her with a bottle, according to Time. Though he was never convicted—despite going through three trials—his image as a jovial, pie-throwing comedian was ruined, and his career never recovered.
Read more about Virginia Rappe:
Bob Crane Bob Crane, the star of Hogan’s Heroes, had a hard time getting roles after his show was canceled. He did, however, go on to make an extensive collection of home movies of his sexual escapades with the technical help of his friend John Carpenter. Though there were plenty of people with reason to be angry at Crane—he didn’t always tell his partners they were being filmed—Carpenter’s video experience made him the prime suspect in Crane’s murder. On June 28, 1978, Crane was found bludgeoned to death with what was believed to be a tripod and a VCR cable had been tied around his neck. Nevertheless, police couldn’t collect enough evidence and Carpenter wasn’t charged until 14 years after the murder. He was acquitted and four years later, he died of a heart attack.
Read more about Bob Crane:
Jack Nance No witnesses, no suspects: Jack Nance, the star of David Lynch’s Eraserhead, left investigators with a very cold case. He died of a subdural hematoma caused by blunt-force trauma on December 30, 1996. Before he was found dead at his home, Nance told friends that two young Hispanic men had punched him in the eye outside a Winchell’s Doughnuts at 5 a.m. after he’d allegedly told them to change their baggy clothes, get haircuts, and get jobs. But the owner of the Winchell’s didn’t recall the fight and Nance gave no other information about his attackers. In fact, with a blood alcohol level of .24 at the time of his death, some suggest Nance got drunk, hit his head, and made up the story. “I mouthed off and I got what I deserved,” the late actor reportedly said after his alleged attack, according to Premiere.
Read more about Jack Nance:
William Desmond Taylor The murder of silent-film director William Desmond Taylor—who was found shot in the back in his home on February 2, 1922—involved a Hollywood-worthy cast of characters. Some suspected comedian Mabel Normand’s cocaine dealers since Taylor was allegedly protective of Normand and trying to separate her from her pushers. Normand’s lover, director Mack Sennett, was also believed to have possibly murdered Taylor out of jealousy over the comedian’s possible infatuation with the director. Another suspect was Taylor’s former valet, a shady character from Ohio who faked an English accent, embezzled money, and enlisted and deserted the Army three times under three different names. Young actress Mary Miles Minter was also a possible guilty party—her motive? Unrequited love. Despite the plethora of colorful suspects and a confession from one of Taylor’s actresses three decades later, no arrests were ever made.
Who doesn’t want to know whether a certain celebrity was a murder, a suicide, an accident, or just another tragedy? These are our visual heros, and (some of us) we follow their every theatrical move, daydreaming-fantacising-about being like them…about living their lives. What we don’t see, however- thanks to careful Hollywood media management, is that most of them are actually miserable. If you peel away all of the Hollywood hub-bub, the truth is reveiled, and that truth is that they are exactly like you and I, just a whole lot more represeed and fragile. They are born, they live and they die, and sometimes the death is just like their lives- unnatural. Hollywood has a long history of tragedy, and most often it is the most creative and most brilliant members of that community that suffer the most.
Things seem to be changing in modern Hollywood, as far as lifestyle, public interaction, and the health and sanity of the actors and actresses. They aren’t held prisoner by the film studios the way that they used to be (like in the Golden Age of Cinema, late 20’s., 30’s, and so on). Au Contraire, in recent years, more celebrities are dying from accidental overdoses, which occured at social events, or where the product of a “party animal” lifestyle, than any other kind of death. Suicides, murders, accidents…all are far less frequent than they used to be. These days, a celebrity can come right out and talk to his fans, or to a reporter about what is going on in their lives, so when they die, psycologically, it isn’t as big of a media ordeal (Kurt Cobaine, Brandon Lee…these are just examples of questionable deaths that were DROPPED by investigators after a minimal length of time). Still, when a celebrity is murdered, or commits suicide, it’s big news. Still, celebrities die in Hollywood. Some have killed themselves, other celebrities have been murdered, some extremely violently. This is a brief listing of the muders, suicides, and “questionable” Hollywood celebrity deaths that I feel are the most shocking or mind boggling. Some of these are unsolved, some are “questionable” or “unbelievable”, some are simply just bizarre…but all are echos of Hollywood.
Freddie Prinze, the father of Freddie Prinze Jr., got his start at a standup comedian. He had been born Frederick Karl Pruetzel but changed his last name to Prinze because he decided he was going to become the prince of comedy (he originally wanted to be king, but Alan King already had the name). He was the first comedian to asked to have a sit-down chat with Johnny Carson on his first Tonight Show appearance. Being asked for a sit-down chat by Carson was considered the Holy Grail of honors by comedians. He is best known for his role as Chico in the hit television series Chico and the Man.
Prinze suffered from depression and a drug addiction. January 28, 1977, after talking to his estranged wife on the telephone, he shot himself in the head with a semi-automatic pistol. There are some who believe this was an accident due to Prinze’s penchant for playing Russian roulette to freak out his friends. But his death was ruled a suicide. He was only 22 years old.
Lupe Velez was one of the first Mexican actresses to achieve success in Hollywood. She first rose to prominence in silent films including her first starring role opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Gaucho. She worked with legendary directors such as Cecil B. Demille and D.W. Griffith. Her characters were usually feisty and sensual earning her the vaguely racist nicknames “The Mexican Spitfire” and “The Hot Pepper.” She went on to have famous affairs with Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Erich Maria Remarque, and Errol Flynn.
In the mid-1940s she became pregnant with Harald Maresch’s child, but he refused to marry her. This is the reason she gave for taking her own life with 80 Seconal pills. Her note read:
To Harald: May God forgive you and forgive me, too; but I prefer to take my life away and our baby’s, before I bring him with shame, or killin’ [sic] him. Lupe.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding Velez’s death. People note that she was something of an iconoclast and likely wouldn’t have killed herself over the illegitimacy of her baby. The reason for her suicide is often attributed to her own impulsive behavior and a suspected undiagnosed case of bipolar disorder by those who do not believe her suicide note.
There is also controversy about how she was found. One account claims she was found on her bed, completely composed, and surrounded by flowers exactly as she had planned it. The other account is that she was found with her head in the toilet, likely because of of a bad reaction to the Seconal pills causing her to head to the toilet to vomit. These accounts maintain that she drowned in the toilet.
Dana Plato is known mostly for her role as Kimberly on Diff’rent Strokes and for her troubled life. Dana Plato began working in the industry from a very early age, and by the time she got to Diff’rent Strokes at age 14 was already abusing alcohol and hard drugs. She was dismissed from Diff’rent Strokes in 1984 for an unplanned pregnancy. After Diff’rent Strokes, Plato hit hard times. She got breast implants and posed in playboy and could only find work in B-movies. Then she couldn’t even get those and wound up working in a dry cleaners and robbed a video store at gun point. After that she began working in softcore porn.
A day before her death she went on the Howard Stern Show and talked about how she was clean and working to come back. The next day she OD’d on painkillers in her and her fiance’s RV, parked outside her fiance’s mother’s house. That was in 1999. In May 2010, her son committed suicide as well.
Anton Furst
Anton Furst was an Academy Award winning production designer who designed the sets forFull Metal Jacket in which he created a convincing Vietnam in England and Tim Burton’sBatman for which he earned his Oscar.
He killed himself by jumping from the eighth floor of a parking structure in Los Angeles in 1991. He was 47 years old.
George Sanders
George Sanders was known for his brilliant mind, his wit, and his booming voice. The voice was the reason he was often cast in villainous roles such as Shere Khan in The Jungle Bookand Addison DeWitt in All About Eve. He also guested as a villain on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and as Mr. Freeze in the Batman TV series.
Sanders married Zsa Zsa Gabor and then later married her older sister Magda. In his later years, his health deteriorated which depressed and frustrated him and drove him to drink. What destroyed him even more was the deterioration of his mental faculties which was the source of his greatest pride and joy. He was prone to fits of rage and delirium as his wits left him and we began wandering. It was in this stage of his life, at a hotel in Barcelona and taking a drug called Nembutal that he decided to take his life. He was found dead, 10 miles away from his hotel. It was ruled a suicide after authorities found his suicide note which has to be one of the most fascinating suicide notes of all time.
Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck.
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer’s surprising legacy is as the inspiration of Pepe le Pew. The french actor was known as a great on-screen Lothario. Even with his short stature, pre-mature balding, and paunch he became a sex symbol, wooing the greatest leading ladies of the day. Except off-screen he wasn’t like that at all. He was bookish and shy. He married his wife in 1934 and stayed faithful for 44 years until his wife died.
Boyer had a son, Michael, with his wife who committed suicide at age 21 (1965) by playing Russian roulette after separating from his girlfriend.
Then in 1978, his wife, Pat Paterson, passed away due to cancer. Two days later Boyer took his own life with an overdose of Seconal.
Andrew Koenig
Andrew Koenig, son of actor Walter Koenig, is best known for his role of “Boner” on Growing Pains. He didn’t act much after leaving Growing Pains, but he did get very involved with human right activism. His activism mostly focused on the oppression of the Burmese people which involved visiting refugee camps in Thailand and protesting the Chinese government. The latter of which led to an arrest during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In February 2010, Koenig went to Canada to watch the Olympics. On February 14th, his family reported him missing. His body was later found hanging from a tree in a densely wooded area of Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The family confirmed that Koenig had been depressed and took his own life.
Spalding Gray is an American icon. He was a writer and actor, known mostly for his minimalist autobiographical monologues, the most famous of which is probably Swimming to Cambodia which started its life as a play and was then turned into a movie. He was known for being neurotic, funny, and moving. His monologues were considered searingly self-exposed and brave.
Gray struggled with depression and bipolar disorder for his entire life. Then in 2001, he suffered a car accident that immobilized his left leg and injured his brain. He began suffering deeper bouts of depression, likely because of the injuries. Then in 2004 he went missing. When his body was later found in the East River, it was concluded that he had jumped off the Staten Island Ferry.
Margaret Sullavan was born with a muscular disorder that prevented her from walking. As a child she overcame this and became a tomboy to the disapproval of her parents. She also had a hearing defect called otosclerosis which was the cause of her unique, throaty voice. She was known for her rebellious spirit and chose her scripts carefully. She only made 16 films, four of them opposite Jimmy Stewart who was head-over-heels for her.
Sullavan’s first marriage was to Henry Fonda, but it was her third husband, Leland Hayward that touched her the most. They divorced when Sullavan found he was cheating on her with Nancy “Slim” Keith. Their three children stayed with their mother, but over time, the lavish gifts from their father convinced them to stay with him full time prompting Sullavan to have a nervous breakdown.
From then on Sullavan became increasingly depressed, unable to sleep until she took her own life by overdosing on barbiturates in 1960. Her daughter Bridget took her own life through suicide nine months later and her son Bill committed suicide in 2008.
Richard Jeni was a famous stand-up comedian who was known for his stand-up specials (one of which is credited with creating the phrase “Thank you, Captain Obvious) and his appearances in The Mask and The Aristocrats. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest comedians of all time.
In 2007, Jeni shot himself in the face and was rushed to the hospital where he died. Jeni had recently been diagnosed with “severe clinical depression, coupled with fits of psychotic paranoia” and his girlfriend reported hearing him talking to himself a week earlier saying “just squeeze the trigger.” His girlfriend was in the apartment at the time of the shots. They had just discussed his next career move when she went to the kitchen to cook breakfast at his request, when she heard gunshots.
Jonathan Brandis
Jonathan Brandis was a 90s teen idol thanks to his starring role in the TV show SeaQuest. But he had actually been working since he was five years old. In fact, audiences already knew him from The NeverEnding Story II, It, and Ladybugs. At the peak of his popularity Brandis received as many as 4,000 fan letters a week and needed three studio guards to escort him through the mob of female fans onto the SeaQuest set.
In November 2003 Brandis hanged himself. He was rushed to the hospital and died the next day. Friends speculated that Brandis was depressed about his career, but no one really knows why he took his own life.
Peg Entwistle, the suicide blonde of Hollywoodland
Today, September 16, is the 78th anniversary of the suicide of Peg Entwistle. In remembrance, here is a rerun of an article recently posted. Rest in peace Peg.
On the evening of Sunday, September 18, 1932, a mysterious phone call was received at the Central Station of the Los Angeles Police Department:
“I was hiking near the Hollywoodland sign today,” said a feminine voice, “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. I don’t want any publicity in this matter, so I wrapped up the jacket, shoe and purse in a bundle and laid them on the steps of the Hollywood Police Station.”
The officer asked for the woman’s name but she hung up before he could get more information. He called the Hollywood station and the package was found as described, including the alleged suicide note which read: “I’m afraid I’m a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this thing a long time ago it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E.”
Detectives made their way to the Hollywoodland sign, where they found the body of a woman, described as being about 25 years old, with blue eyes and blonde hair. She was reasonably well dressed. With no other identification except for the “P.E.” on the suicide note, her body was sent to the morgue where it remained unclaimed.
Meanwhile, the following morning, Harold Entwistle read in the papers about an unidentified woman, dubbed “The Hollywood Sign Girl” by the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, who had apparently jumped to her death from the top of the letter “H” in the fifty-foot-high “Hollywoodland” electric sign. Entwistle, an actor, lived at 2428 Beachwood Drive and could see the sign from his front porch. He was suspicious about his niece Millicent, who he had not seen since the previous Friday evening walking up Beachwood towards the Hollywood Hills. She said she was going to buy a book at the drug store and then visit with some friends.
Millicent, a struggling actress, was known professionally, and to her friends as Peg. It was Peg’s absence and the alleged suicide note that Entwistle regarded as significant — the report said it was signed with the initials “P.E.” After contacting authorities at the county morgue, Entwistle’s fears were confirmed when he identified the dead woman as his niece.
“Although she never confided her grief to me,” Entwistle told officers, “I was somehow aware that she was suffering intense mental anguish. She was only 24. It is a great shock to me that she gave up the fight as she did.”
Entwistle denied reports that a broken love affair had actuated his niece to take her life. Instead, it was determined that disappointments for a screen career, equal to the success she had enjoyed on stage, were attributed as the reason behind the spectacular suicide.
Millicent Lilian Entwistle was born in Port Talbot, Wales to English parents Robert and Emily Entwistle, on February 5, 1908 while her parents were visiting relatives. They returned to their West Kensington (outside London) home where she lived until age 8. Peg’s mother died in 1910 and four years later, Robert married Lauretta Ross, the sister of his brother Harold’s wife Jane.
In August 1913, Robert was brought to New York by famed Broadway producer Charles Frohman as his stage manager. After a few years, on March 20, 1916, Peg, along with her parents and aunt and uncle, arrived in New York on the SS Philadelphia. In 1918, Robert and Lauretta had a son Milton, and two years later Robert was born. In 1921, Lauretta died from meningitis and a year later, on November 2, 1922, Robert was struck down by a hit-and-run driver on Park Avenue. He lingered for weeks and died just before Christmas 1922. Now orphans, Peg and her brothers were taken in by her uncle Harold and aunt Jane.
A few years later Peg was living in Boston where she made her first appearance on the professional stage with the Henry Jewett Reparatory Company where she was taught to act by Blanche Yurka. In October 1925, Harold Entwistle’s employer, actor Walter Hampden, gave Peg an uncredited walk-on in his Broadway production of Hamlet with Ethel Barrymore. A young Bette Davis was inspired to act after seeing Peg perform in Henrik Ibsen’sThe Wild Duck. Over the years Davis made several references to Entwistle, saying that she “wanted to be exactly like Peg Entwistle.”
After serving an apprenticeship with them for several seasons, she came to New York and was recruited by the prestigious New York Theatre Guild and obtained a small part in The Man from Toronto in June 1926. Afterward she was cast in an important role in The Home Towners, which George M. Cohanproduced in August of that year. Over the next six years Peg performed in ten Broadways plays in such Theatre Guild productions as Tommy, which was her longest running play. Reviewers said that Peg was “attractive in the manner of a number of other fresh ingénues.”
Other plays followed including The Uninvited Guest, a revival of Sherlock Holmes with William Gilletteand Getting Married. Some of her plays lasted no longer than a month or two; however she always received good reviews for her performances regardless of the quality of the production.
In April 1927, Peg married fellow actor, Robert Keith, who was the father of Brian Keith, best known for his role in the television sit-com, Family Affair. The Keith’s toured together in several Theatre Guild plays until their divorce in 1929.
Peg’s final Broadway play was in J.M. Barrie’s, Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire in March 1932. The production starred the popular actress, Laurette Taylor whose alcoholism caused her to miss several performances and forcing producers to end the play several weeks early.
In May, Peg was brought to Los Angeles to costar with Billie Burke and Humphrey Bogart in theRomney Brent play, The Mad Hopes at the Belasco Theatre. The play opened to rave reviews with standing-room-only audiences. One reviewer commented:
“…Belasco and Curran have staged the new play most effectively and have endowed this Romney Brent opus with every distinction of cast and direction. …costumes and settings are of delightful quality, and every detail makes the production one entirely fit for its translation to the New York stage. In the cast Peg Entwistle and Humphrey Bogart hold first place in supporting the star (Billie Burke) and both give fine, serious performances. Miss Entwistle as the earnest, young daughter (Geneva Hope) of a vague mother and presents a charming picture of youth…”
When the play closed, Peg was preparing to return to New York when she was offered a screen test at RKO. On June 13, 1932 she signed a contract to appear in Thirteen Women where she is billed ninth in the opening credits. The film starred Irene Dunne and Myrna Loy as a half-caste fortune teller’s assistant motivated by revenge against the bigoted schoolgirls who tormented her in school years earlier.
The film received poor reviews and negative comments from preview audiences. The Los Angeles Timessaid of the preview: “…its picturization is an utterly implausible tale of mediocre worth.” The premiere was delayed and the film was edited to reduce its running time, significantly cutting back Peg’s screen time. Once it premiered after Peg’s death, one reviewer called it “a dreadful mess of a picture with more defects, deficiencies and lapses than any offering since Chandu the Magician.
Peg Entwistle’s home at 2428 Beachwood Drive
(this is a private residence; please do not disturb the occupants)
The sidewalk in front of Peg Entwistle’s home on Beachwood Drive where she took her last walk
RKO did not option Peg’s contract and she was broke and could not return to New York. She tried finding roles on both the local stage and at the film studios but nothing was available. On Friday evening, September 16, 1932, Peg told her uncle she was going to walk to the local drugstore and then visit friends. Instead, she walked up Beachwood past Hollywoodland and then hiked up the side of Mount Lee to the Hollywoodland sign. There she most likely wrote her suicide note, took off her coat and shoe, and climbed a maintenance ladder behind the letter H and, at some point, jumped to her death.
The coroner determined that death was due to internal bleeding caused by “multiple fractures to the pelvis.” Her Episcopal funeral service was conducted on September 20 at the W. M. Strother Mortuaryat 6240 Hollywood Boulevard (demolished). Her body was cremated at Hollywood Cemetery and held in storage until December 29 when her ashes were sent to Oak Hill Cemetery in Glendale, Ohio for burial with her father on January 5, 1933. Her grave is unmarked.
The burial card at Oak Hill Cemetery where Peg Entwistle’s ashes were interred. H Milton Ross was the father of Peg’s stepmother, Lauretta. (Photo courtesy of Scott Michaels)
Peg Entwistle was buried with her father at Oak Hill Cemetery in Glendale, Ohio. Their grave is unmarked. (Photo courtesy of Scott Michaels)
Some sources claim that shortly after Peg’s death, she received a letter from the Beverly Hills Community Players, offering her a role in a play where her character commits suicide. Since this tale was related in Kenneth Anger’s “Hollywood Babylon II,” the veracity of it is questionable. Other false claims made by Anger are that Peg jumped from the last letter D because it was the thirteenth letter and she associated it with the film Thirteen Women. He also wrote that she was the first of other “disillusioned starlets” who followed her lead and committed suicide from the sign; this is not true. Peg Entwistle is the only confirmed suicide from that famous Hollywood landmark.
Click below to watch Peg Entwistle’s appearance in Thirteen Women (1932)
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Peg Entwistle’s death is particularly shocking and tragic because it is more memorable and notable than her film career. Entwistle was born in the UK in 1908 and dreamed of the bright lights of Hollywood. She had a successful Broadway career before moving out west where she only had one film credit to her name. She played a small supporting role in a movie calledThirteen Women.
When the film received bad reviews and her role was greatly reduced she decided to take her own life and did so in a dramatic fashion. She climbed to the top of the “H” in the famed Hollywood sign and jumped off. Her suicide note is also famed as it states:
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. P.E.
She was only 24.
In this context it’s easy to see the tragedy of Tony Scott’s death as a continuation of a long line of bewildering suicides among both great and small in Hollywood. Perhaps all this says something about the cost of creativity or the depravity of the entertainment industry, but mostly it just makes me sad.
Lou Tellegen, the rise and fall of a matinee idol
By Allan R. Ellenberger
A matinee idol for almost two decades, a romantic actor whose chief pride was his unswerving faith in himself as “the perfect lover,” both on and off the stage and screen, Lou Tellegen is probably best remembered as the untried and unheard of youth chosen by Sarah Bernhardt as her leading man on her last two American tours. He was also known for his marriage to Geraldine Farrar, a union which ended in a bitter divorce. Tellegen became one of the theatre’s legendary figures.
His career was tumultuous throughout most of his life. Born in the south of Holland on November 26, 1883, the son of Bernard and Maria Von Dammeler, Tellegen was christened Isidor Bernard Von Dammeler. He made his stage debut at the age of 5 under the guidance of his mother, who was a dancer of great beauty.
Ten years later, motivated partly by the desire to travel which never left him and partly by a family quarrel, young Tellegen ran away from home. His journeys took him through many countries and eventually to jail in Moscow. Upon his release he returned home to find that his father, a supposedly rich man, had died and disinherited him.
He travelled to Paris, where he found whatever job he could. At different times he was a baker’s apprentice, a trapeze artist, a pugilist and a hack driver. At one point he became acquainted with the sculptor, August Rodin, who induced him to become a model because of his Grecian features and his Hellenic physique. During his stay at Rodin’s studio in Meudon, near Paris, he posed for “Eternal Springtime,” the original which is now in the Metropolitan Museum. It was during this time that he married his first wife, Countess Jeanne de Broncken.
He soon began a series of travels which took him to Egypt and Africa and finally to South America. Upon his return to Paris he was taken in the Sarah Bernhardt troupe just as it was leaving for the United States in 1910. Bernhardt was pleased by the handsome youth and took the trouble to give him acting lessons. He learned his roles on the boat which brought the troupe to America.
His first appearance was in Chicago as Raymond, opposite Bernhardt in Madame X. The second night after the play opened his name was placed in lights beside that of the star, and from that moment on, his future was assured. Later he starred in Sister Beatrice, Sapho, Camille, Jean Marie and other plays. At the time she was nearly 70 years old and he was not yet 30.
His first New York appearance was not with Bernhardt, but as the leading man in Maria Rosa withDorothy Donnelly. He became an overnight matinee idol and was flooded with “mash” notes and besieged by interviewers.
After his last tour with Bernhardt, Tellegen made the decision to stay in the United States. He appeared in scores of plays and was most popular during the late teens and the early Twenties and was quick to make the most of it. It was also expected that motion pictures would knock on his door. Nearly all of the last fifteen years of his life were divided between Hollywood and New York.
Geraldine Farrar and Lou Tellegen
On February 9, 1916, Tellegen married Geraldine Farrar, the Metropolitan prima dona. In August 1921, after they had lived apart for some time, Tellegen entered a suit for separation in Westchester County. Farrar retaliated by suing for divorce in New York county. A decree was granted to her two years later.
He was the leading man, and co-author with Willard Mack, of Blind Youth, a play produced in New York in 1918. His second venture, and a far less auspicious one, was a book of reminiscences, “Women Have Been Kind,” published in 1931. The book named names and places and raised a storm of condemnation.
Close friends said that besides waning fame, and illness, which had made it impossible for him to carry out several of the infrequent engagements offered to him during the last few years, had completely broken his spirit. In his last years he had found little work on stage or the screen. In 1928, when his name was becoming less prominent, he was forced into bankruptcy. That same year his third wife, Nina Romanodivorced him and obtained custody of their child, Rex, who at the time was four years of age.
On Christmas Day, 1929, while he was in the try-out of Escapade in Atlantic City, he fell asleep in his hotel room with a lighted cigarette in his mouth and was severely burned. He was in a hospital nearly three months while the play, its titled changed to Gala Night, went to New York and opened without him. It closed before he could rejoin the cast.
In 1930, at Asbury Park, Tellegen married Eve Cassanova. A year later the actor underwent a facelift in the hope of regaining his screen popularity. A few months afterward, his ex-wife obtained a default judgment for more than $12,000 against him claiming that he had failed to pay $100 weekly for the support of their son. Tellegen did not answer her suit.
Several months before his death it appeared that he might stage a comeback on the screen with the filmCaravan (1934), but an illness of six weeks in the hospital lost him the part. Tellegen’s last stage appearance was in a minor part in The Lady Refuses in New York in 1933. His final screen role was inTogether We Live (1935). When he walked on the set, a newer actor inquired: “Who is the new character actor?”
“Why, that’s Lou Tellegen, once the husband of Geraldine Farrar,” another replied.
Tellegen soon became obsessed that he was losing him mind. He brooded over that. His friends said he had been morose and downcast. Within the previous year he had undergone three major operations. His physician said Tellegen never knew that he had incurable cancer.
Tellegen had become friends with Mrs. Jack Cudahy, the widow of the meat packing heir whose mansion at 1844 N. Vine Street, was just south of Franklin. Tellegen was broke and Mrs. Cudahy allowed him to use one of her rooms. While he was ill, Tellegen expressed his last wish to Mrs. Cudahy. “He told me,” she later said, “that if he should die, he wanted his body cremated and the ashes scattered over the sea that in its restlessness was like his own troubled life.”
On October 29, 1934, Tellegen arose and seemed depressed according to Cudahy’s maid. “He refused his breakfast,” the maid said. Worried, Mrs. Cudahy went to his room to ask if he was ill. She received no response. Then she heard a movement in the bathroom, and asked if he was there. A weak voice replied in the affirmative. She summoned her butler and together they forced open the door. Tellegen collapsed at their feet. “He’s hurt, call a doctor,” Mrs. Cudahy cried.
The butler dashed across the street to a clinic, and brought a doctor, however Tellegen was unable to speak, breathing his last. Mrs. Cudahy added that she had been unable to get any word from him. He died in her arms on the floor of his room.
The police determined that Tellegen had stood before a mirror in his bathroom, shaved and powdered his face, then stabbed himself in the chest seven times with a pair of scissors, the ordinary kind found in sewing cabinets. A final plunge found his heart, and life ebbed slowing from his wounds. How he managed to repeatedly stab himself while in such a weakened condition, and bear the pain of thrust after thrust, mystified police. The autopsy disclosed that two of those stabs penetrated the heart.
Though Tellegen died in comparative poverty, several of his friends guaranteed that he would be given a burial to befit his position in the theatrical world. Mrs. Cudahy assured that Tellegen would receive a suitable burial. Norman Kerry and Willard Mack, also close friends, gave assurances that his last wishes would be carried out.
In New York, when Geraldine Farrar was told of her ex-husband’s death, she told reporters: “Why should that interest me?” she snapped. “It doesn’t interest me in the least.”
Eve Casanova, his current wife and from whom friends say he was never divorced, referred them to “a cousin in Los Angeles” when she was wired regarding disposition of the body. Notwithstanding, when the “cousin” could not be located, no further word was heard from her.
Meanwhile, Tellegen’s body lay forgotten in the county morgue although friends still promised that a proper burial would be provided. No definite date was set for the funeral as they awaited word from his wife, in the belief she might express some wish as to the disposal of the body.
Finally, word arrived from Leonia, New Jersey from Casanova saying she was “horribly, horribly shocked” by her husband’s death. “I will not go to Los Angeles for the funeral,” she said, “however, you see, I am supposed to start rehearsals for a play. A-Hunting We Will Go, and I know Lou would want me to stay here and stick it out.”
She said that in his last letter to her, Tellegen wrote: “I am doomed, for my illness is affecting my mind.” The actress said that he was suffering from cancer, which he thought was only a tumor and that if he had known the truth he would have ended his life sooner. While his death came as a shock, she said that she was “not surprised.”
It was felt that an unintentionally misconstrued remark may have been the indirect cause of Tellegen’s suicide. A few months earlier, Tellegen was invited to a small party. While he was out of the room for a moment once of the men said:
“He is just a ‘has-been.’ He should realize his position and try to make his career over as a character actor. Some of the best character players in the movies are men who, when they realized they were no longer handsome, made the best of it. And the best is a fine character actor.”
One of the women, who had heard only the first part of the statement and that incorrectly, rushed to tell Tellegen that he had been called a “ham actor.” Tellegen flushed and responded: “I guess that’s right. I am just a ham actor.” Months later, seriously ill and delirious in a hospital, Tellegen insisted he was a “ham actor” and a “failure.”
Mrs. Cudahy received permission from his widow to continue with plans for the funeral to be held at theEdwards Brothers Chapel, 1000 Venice Boulevard (razed). One of the mourners was Countess Danneskjold, known on the screen as Nina Romano, the third of Tellegen’s four wives and mother of his son. Entering the chapel on the arm of her husband, the Countess listened as Rev. Arthur Wurtell, of St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church, read the funeral eulogy. They left without waiting to view the body.
First to arrive at the chapel was Mrs. Jack Cudahy. Other friends of Tellegen’s later years who attended the funeral service were Norman Kerry, Julian Eltinge and George Calliga; Clifford Gray, composer;Harry Weber, agent, and Michael Cudahy, son of Mrs. Cudahy. These six acted as pallbearers. Willard Mack, who himself would die of a heart attack only three weeks later, visited the chapel earlier in the day, as did several others from the Hollywood film community.
The service was simple but impressive. Ivan Edwards, the chapel soloist, sang “In the Garden” and “Lead Kindly Light.” Rev. Wurtell read the eulogy and offered a brief prayer. The chapel organ played softly as the small group of mourners filed by the flower-banked bier.
Tellegen’s body was cremated, and his ashes were strewn over the Pacific Ocean.
Because I am mildly obsessed with paranormal shows like Destination Truth and UFO Files, I recently joined a local ghost-hunting group. The investigation took place at a very old movie theater that was being renovated. “Legend” has it that the projectionist committed suicide in the projection booth but there were no records to back that info up, so I have my doubts.
I was impressed with all the professional equipment my fellow ghosthunters showed up with — EVP recorders, video cameras, laser grids to track movement, etc. Our fearless leader, a lovely woman called Annette, took pity on me and loaned me an EMF detector (AKA a “K2” to the cool kids.) Sadly, I didn’t get a haunted vibe about the place (although it was creepy as hell, esp. with all the lights out.) But this is only my first ghost hunt and I am sure the next one…
This is an independent blog. Please note that I am nowhere near fluent, and that these are not translations, but merely works in progress. Please do comment if you come across misreads or anything else you think is important.
Makers
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMBSTONE
ombstone was founded in 1877 by a prospector named 
It wasn’t long before word spread about Ed’s silver strike. Soon prospectors, cowboys, homesteaders, lawyers, speculators, gunmen and business people flocked to the area in droves. In 1879 a town site was laid out on the nearest level spot to the mines, known at that time as Goose Flats, and was appropriately named “Tombstone” after Ed Schieffelin’s first mining claim.
By the mid 1880’s Tombstone’s population had increased to around 7,500. This figure counted only the white male registered voters that were over 21 years of age. If you take into account the women, children, Chinese, Mexicans and the many “ladies of the evening” the estimates are that the population was between 15,000 and 20,000 people. At its peak, it is said to have been the fastest growing city between St. Louis and 
America Underground 
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Comments (12)
I would like to tell u that I don’t believe in the sleepy hollows because its just a legend maybe it is real that would be great because I love the sleepy hollows that’s what I would like to tell u thank you very much
Posted by Brooke on February 19,2013 | 01:37 PM
Hi, I’m Romanian and wanted to tell you that the ruler that inspired Bram Stoker’s novel wasn’t named Vlad Dracula, but Vlad Ţepeş. Dracul (without the “a”) was a nickname he got for being a severe, merciless ruler. It literally means devil or demon. Dracula is just the name that Stoker gave his character, probably after mishearing Vlad’s real nickname( Romanian is a very odd and difficult language for foreigners). Vlad used extreme measures against his enemies (like impaling them in huge stakes and leaving their bodies there to rot, as a chilling reminder that he is not to be messed with) and in at least one known instance he called all the court’s trusted men and their families to a feast and he slaughtered them,because he got word they were plotting against him. Plus, the pronunciation of Poenari you wrote in brackets, is incorrect.
Posted by Diana on January 30,2013 | 09:17 PM
Doesn’t sound as if the person who wrote this piece ever read “Rebecca”. Manderly was not possessed. Nice photo of Menabilly though.
Posted by Jamie Curtis on January 27,2013 | 10:34 PM
While everyone was reading “The Exorcist”, I was not. I was living on Prospect Street in Georgetown, and the thought of reading that scary book about something that took place just a couple of blocks from my house (even though that was not the real location), was too much. I did eventually read the book, and saw the film crew around Georgetown when the movie was being filmed. It is still the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, and I have seen it multiple times! The man who was thrown out the window in the book was a friend, not a boyfriend, as I recall. I think the house in the movie was for sale a couple of years ago. Who could actually live in it – although it probably has fantastic views? Such a creepy story!!
Posted by Suzy on December 9,2009 | 12:16 PM
Sprague Mansion in Cranston, R.I., should also be of interest. There have been many sightings there by folks who no nothing about this old estate. There have been sightings of children playing and many other things seen too! Murders have been linked to the people who lived there in the past!
Posted by Melvyn G. Tavares on November 19,2009 | 08:59 PM
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article. Like most people when I heard these stories I would imagine what the places looked like. It was really neat to see some of the places look exactly what I had imagined.
Posted by Tracey on November 12,2009 | 11:51 AM
Although the final exorcisims took place in St. Louis, the boy was posessed and first had signs at his home in the Mt. Ranier neighborhood of Northwest D.C. a few miles north of Georgetown.
Posted by Aysha on November 5,2009 | 01:00 PM
Visitors to Cape Point in South Africa will have to enter the Table Mountain National Park (not the Table Rock NP as stated in your article).It is a fantastic place to visit – and the windswept heights and barren mountains lend an espceially romantic atmosphere to the whole Flying Dutchman story too.
Posted by Caroline Voget on October 30,2009 | 03:15 AM
And the exorcisms actually took place in St. Louis, in a hospital that has since been torn down.
Posted by Miles on October 29,2009 | 06:44 AM
The boyfriend took the first tumble, but Karras throws himself down the stairs, too.
Posted by Sara on October 27,2009 | 11:46 AM
Actually it wasn’t father Damien in the film that took the tumble down the steps. It was the boyfriend of the mother. Just thought you should know.
Posted by Nathan Branstetter on October 26,2009 | 12:56 PM
At some point or another every historian becomes interested in the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes. It is interesting here to learn that it is open to visitors. Great article.
Posted by Stacy on October 22,2009 | 02:02 PM