Among the haunted cemeteries I cover in this live stream are…
Mountain View Mausoleum, Altedena, CA
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA
Archer Woods Cemetery, Summit, IL
Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, IL
Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, IL
Join us one last time for our final installment of this series, we will visit more LA locations that were important in the life (and death) of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and the ghost stories associated with these locations.
After a quick lunch break, the LA Hauntings crew jumped back in the truck and headed the short distance to Benjamin Siegel’s home. The Beverly Hills home was built as a swanky stronghold for the mobster to run his operation and host parties. Totally obscured by bushes, it is impossible to see much of the mansion from the street, just the way Siegel would have wanted it. The home is rumored to have a hidden armory, large liquor storage, and an escape tunnel from the master bedroom to the basement. When the police came to Siegel’s hideout to arrest him for the murder of Harry Greenberg, it was said that they found the mobster cowering in the attic. After Ben set his sights on Las Vegas and the Flamingo, he sold his fortress to help with the financing of the hotel casino, and moved in with his girlfriend, Virginia Hill.
I’ll admit disappointment at not being able to get a view of Siegel’s home, but that disappointment dissipated upon seeing Virginia Hill’s beautiful Tuscan-esque castle of a home! It was at this location on June 20, 1947 that Benjamin Siegel met his end. The bulletproof doors that he had installed at the house did not protect him from the shots fired through the window while he sat talking to his associate Allen Smiley. Although, officially, the murder of Siegel remains unsolved, it’s commonly agreed that Lucky Luciano ordered the hit out of anger with Ben over his handling of the construction on the Flamingo (he refused again and again to hand over expense reports detailing the work). Luciano’s orders were likely carried out by one of Jack Dragna’s men from the driveway next door.
The three bullets fired into the house and into the mobster left a lasting impression on the house. The blood cleaned up, the house sold and resold, but later owners still report feeling panicked in the living room. They occasionally see an apparition of a man attempting to run for cover, perhaps Benjamin Siegel remembering how he met his end and trying to avoid it.
Our final stop on our “half-tank tour,” with our gas light blinking, was the same final stop that Siegel had – Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel lies in the far back corner on the right hand side of the Beth Olman mausoleum. The epitaph on his grave simply reads, “From the Family.” Siegel is said to have told one of the contractors building the Flamingo, who was worried about working with the mob, “Don’t worry. We only kill our own.”
Standing by his crypt I wondered if Ben ever had any idea that his own (Mafia) family would kill him. (As one last parting fact the contractor that Siegel was talking to was Del, the head contractor of the now famous Del Webb developer).
Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel lived and died larger than life. In truth, he was a perfect match with Virginia Hill, who was certainly no babe in the woods. Hill entered the mob life during 1933’s Chicago World’s Fair. The Alabama native quickly became a friendly acquaintance of many higher up members of the (then) Costello crime family, even being romantically linked to boss Joe Adonis. After Siegel’s death, Hill did comply and testify at the famous Kefauver hearings. In 1954 she would flee to Europe to escape income tax evasion charges, only to eventually take her own life with an overdose of sleeping pills in 1966 at the age of 49. The small town girl, initially emerging from Alabama, certainly lived a life few could imagine and even in death, she is shrouded in mystery. Did she really extort millions from the NY Mafia? Most think so, but we are far from certain. And why did she take her own life? Many speculate that she continued to scam American and even Mexican crime rings from a distance. We, personally, would love to track down the site of Virginia’s demise (in Austria) and perhaps this will become another instance where a paranormal investigation and EVP session just may help solve an American mystery.
Did you know we’re on Instagram? If you haven’t been following us, here’s a small sample of some of the fun you’ve been missing. It’s not too late to find us – we are simply LAHauntings over at Instagram! To the left, Scott Markus and Connor Bright take a moment to rest at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
#lahauntings tour guides still work on major studios and back lots. Today one of our tour guides is working at Culver Studios! Founded by Thomas Ince, and later bought by MGM, Culver Studios is where many of the classic films you know where made! From King Kong to The Wizard Of Oz! And it is of course haunted by many of the stars as well as its founder, Ince, who died tragically! #culvercity #culverstudios #losangeles #la #mgm #wizardofoz #kingkong #movies #horror #paranormal #ghost #tours #latours A photo posted by Los Angeles Hauntings (@lahauntings) on Jun 6, 2013 at 9:46am PDT
The perk of working in the film industry is access to places that are off limits. For a few days, I got to work on the haunted backlot of Culver Studios, even working on the soundstage where “Wizard of Oz” was filmed.
Having fun at Comic Con
Visiting the historic neighborhood of Hollywoodland – the reason the Hollywood sign was constructed in the first place (which also originally read “Hollywoodland”). Above you can see the original stone walls that once held a gate, keeping Hollywoodland exclusive.
We were present at the annual Rudolph Valentino memorial service, held every August 23rd at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Conducting at paranormal investigation at the Cobb estate in Altedena, CA.
Of course, we had to find some horror movie filming locations too! On this day, we found where one of the most memorable scenes from one of the classic horror films of all time was shot. Malibou Lake, deep in the Santa Monica Mountain range played host to 1931’s “Frankenstein,” and much later hosted “The Ring” and “Twin Peaks.” In all, over 100 productions were filmed at Malibou Lake, including “Gone with the Wind,” “The Great Dictator” and “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.”
