Ghostly grounds: Locations around Los Angeles offer spooks and scares
The Alexandria Hotel, located on South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, is well known for being a haunted abode with tenants being spooked by unexplained occurrences.
By Colin Reid
Oct. 29, 2012 11:12 p.m.
Even structres without any marks of a neo-Nazi past are eerie and unwelcoming to walk through at Murphy Ranch, located in the Santa Monica Mountains.
There are two trails that lead to Murphy Ranch. The entrance at Rustic Canyon Road leads to a flight of steps while a longer trail extends into Will Rogers State Park.
An old and abandoned horse stable at Murphy Ranch has been completely changed by years of weathering and graffiti from trespassers.
The cellar in Barney’s Beanery is the spot of most of the bar’s paranormal activity, which ranges from apparitions to sudden and inexplicable movements of objects.
Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood, a 92-year-old bar is known for its spooky hauntings that have startled its employees for decades.
While Halloween means late-night parties and cool costumes to college students, spooks and scares are still the night’s main attractions. From creepy cemeteries to abandoned estates, get in the Halloween spirit and dare to visit these haunted locations around Los Angeles.
Barney’s Beanery West Hollywood
Another historic building haunted by its past, Barney’s Beanery embraces its history while still remaining relevant as a modern bar. Televisions line the walls, a range of license plates cover the ceiling and a walk-in refrigerator holds ghosts as well as cooking ingredients. Essentially a house-turned-eating establishment, Barney’s Beanery is the third-oldest restaurant and has the stories to prove it is one of the most haunted venues in Los Angeles
Manager Jeremey Maine said there’s probably been at least a few shootings and stabbings within the 92-year-old bar, and also mentioned that items seem to fall off shelves with no provocation. Bartender Ashway Lawver said she even saw a blob-like apparition about a year ago when she was searching for pickles in the walk-in refrigerator. So if the bar scene in Westwood is getting a little too dull, head down to the original Barney’s Beanery for a drink and possibly a taste of the supernatural.
The Alexandria
Over 100 years old and slightly reminiscent of the Overlook Hotel from classic film “The Shining,” The Alexandria is a prime spot for Halloween haunts with its grand hallways, swinging chandeliers and open ballrooms. Famous and now deceased actors and even former presidents, including Clark Gable and Woodrow Wilson, have stayed in the hotel. But this long history may have caught up with the building after a few rumors and reports detailed supernatural happenings.
While watching security monitors trained on one of the hotel’s ballrooms, The Alexandria security guard Johnny Rayo said he noticed the lights in the ballroom flickering on and off, as if someone was inside the room turning the switch. But before he could search the room for intruders, he noticed that all of the ballroom doors were locked, making it impossible for anyone to have been inside. So before entering this historic hotel, make sure to be ready for the paranormal or, at the very least, a few faulty lights.
Murphy Ranch
Deep in the Santa Monica Mountains and about four miles from the nearest road, a mimic of the Third Reich still holds a certain thrill. Built in the 1930s by a group of Nazi sympathizers, Murphy Ranch is a stone encampment originally intended as a refuge for those who sided with Hitler during World War II. However, by 1941 the camp was raided and abandoned until the later half of the century, when it became an artists’ colony.
Mementos of this secondary history litter the camp in the form of a mass of graffiti murals. The ruins now stand as a reminder of two lifestyles, one a little more eerie than the other. Steep cement stairways and a rusted gate are some of the only standing structures besides the dark catacomb-like tombs of the neo-Nazi ruins. Even though there are no direct accounts of actual paranormal activity, Murphy Ranch still provides both a spooky look into the past as well as a day’s worth of exercise.
