Jean Harlow, Bela Lugosi, Marilyn Monroe and Mary Pickford are just a few of the famous ghosts reported by locals and visitors to Hollywood and the greater Los Angeles area. Several less famous ghosts can be seen as well, according to tour operators that specialize in showing the spookier side of town. If you want to go on your own, places to check out include the Vogue Theatre, Paramount Studios, Universal Studios and the Knickerbocker Hotel.
Located in Pasadena, in the county of Los Angeles, this haunted house is the former First National Bank of Pasadena, which was built on the site of a Spanish mission where insane prisoners may have died in the catacombs. Shortly after the bank was built, it was robbed by three men. According to legend, the robbers were trapped inside the building, surrounded and never escaped. Since then, screams and other unexplained sounds have convinced some people the building is haunted by the former prisoners and robbers. Human remains have been found in the catacombs.
Open to the public in time for Halloween tours, tickets for the Old Town Haunt cost $14 to $21 as of October, 2010.
Old Town Haunt
20 N. Raymond
Pasadena, CA
626-248-7652
oldtownhaunt.com
Starline Tours offers a Haunted Hollywood Tour. "Hollywood's Most Haunted Building," the Roosevelt Theatre, is one stop on the tour, along with the Vogue Theatre and the Chinese Theatre. See where Sharon Tate was murdered, where John Belushi's body was found, where River Phoenix overdosed and the site of Hollywood's most famous unsolved murder, the Black Dahlia.
Tours run all year round, and cost $29 for children and $39 for adults as of October, 2010.
Starline Tours
6541 Hollywood Blvd. No. 110
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323-463-3333
starlinetours.com
Departing daily from the Mann Chinese Theatre, Haunted Hollywood Tours take visitors to the Sharon Tate murder scene, Marilyn Monroe's Haunted Mirror and homes featured in films such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street." The tour also includes celebrity grave sites. It costs $35 for a regular van tour and $75 for a limo tour, as of October, 2010.
Haunted Hollywood Tours
6925 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028
323-464-6266
hauntedhollywoodtours.com
