Hollywood Sign - Scores 3/6



When I did a random pick of 50 haunted places for my study, I did pick up this site and was going to throw it back into the bin of names, until I thought about it. A lot of romantic stories of hauntings at the sign have been reported, so I figured I really should check into it--maybe the conditions are good?

Nope, not really.

With a score of 3 of 6, this rates in the 3-4 range which means that it could potentially become haunted in the future with enough traumatic history involved, but right now it doesn't have enough "oomph."

This sign in the Hollywood Hills portion of Mt. Lee was built in 1923. It's now under security scrutiny because it's a favorite place for pranks and vandalism. In 1933, a woman jumped to her death from the letter "H." Many report seeing a woman in 1930s clothing near the sign and the scent of her perfume.

There's a sharp distinction between romantic tales such as Hollywood hauntings and more genuinely disturbing tales like you might find in the Ozarks or tidewater areas. I'm inclined to believe that this rating is only this high because of its history, as the land is pretty wimpy, even though is scores.

Here's how it breaks down:
1. The land is sedimentary and volcanic (I'll give it a score for that, but admittedly so far volcanic soil is not real good for hauntings), so this is a weak point.
2. Someone died there.
3. It's older than 50 years.

This is a very weak 3/6 score. I'd like to take it lower, honestly. It has no train tracks, no waterways, and it's not made of stone. I suspect when I get to the point where I grade how much real evidence of haunting there is, this place'll be negated by how low that score will be because it appears to be Hollywood tour groups breathlessly hoping to see something and no real photos. We'll see as I continue my research. I thought you'd like to see one of the lower scoring places. We'll see later on just how low it really goes once I adjust for proof of haunting on top of these physical requirements.

Thanks for continuing to read my research.

Comments

  1. I know that several of the hotels and studios have had reports of paranormal activity, so I thought the sign would score higher....oh well.

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  2. Yeah. I had my doubts. It was just too glamorous a location for a haunting and the land wasn't really tied to the woman who killed herself in that it wasn't a family home or beloved location, it was more a symbol for a desperate actress. There's something very exposed about the location and the geology isn't super good for a haunting. It's fun learning how these places rate.

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  3. I've never researched it myself, but I've heard stories that there were other suicides that took place when the sign said "HOLLYWOODLAND" (13 letters) and that once it was shortened, the number of suicides drastically decreased.
    Maybe just urban legends, though.

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  4. Yeah, so far as I know, it was one pitiful actress. Of course, Hollywood loves its stars but it makes sense because we don't like to let them go. Think how many people things conspiracies around Princess Di's death and how many wouldn't let Elvis go.

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  5. Yeah -I was with Mike and Julie-I thought it would score higher-but I also mis-remembered there being like 10 to 20 suicides from the sign which was wrong-the tale circulating sounds kind of like an urban legend altho you never know-I wonder what that -dangit my memory again-the Chateau Marmont Hotel would score-didnt John Belushi die there and some other people-I could be wrong about the others except for Belushi-all the best-maybe I can wiki the name or something and see if anyone else died at the hotel-best as always!!

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  6. The wiki link for the Chateau Marmont shows a very colorful history-the only other actual death I noted beside Belushis was a fashion photographer Helmut Newton who died in 2004 in the driveway of the hotel-I dont know if it is known for hauntings-all the best:)

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  7. Devin;
    Thanks up about the Marmont. I've been trying to find a last place to add to the list since I had to remove one that had no building. This might be a good one to add--I have so few in the west and coincidentally the west has more volcanic land. What's interesting is, from what I gather of geology, volcanic rock over enough times becomes igneous rock which appears to be tied to hauntings such as granite/quartz, but volcanic rock seems too young to really be associated with hauntings. I hope to do a little post on that soon showing maps of the US and where the best haunted ground is.

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  8. Correction:
    Volcanic becomes metamorphic--not igneous. The names rattle in my head. :-)

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  9. sorry about my earlier coment.
    so anyways i heard that there was once an asylumn behind or near the holly wood sign,one day a pateint escaped and let the other patients out causing a masacar only one guy escaped and locked every one else in when he left. this is just something i heard. My cousin he races cars he was near the hollywood sign when he saw an odd guy, he asked for directions and the guy just said, "okay" and sped off. My cousin followed him but when he got closer the car would just speed up it went on like this for a while then my cousin was at full speed and tailing the guy when he turned the corner my cousin did the same but he was gone not gone as in far away but gone as in vanished.

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  10. Interesting encounter. I haven't heard a thing about an asylum, but there are a lot of legends in the Hollywood Hills, yet the area really doesn't have a lot of tragedy, other than the suicide. It actually has a very pleasant and relaxing feel to it, but I have to admit, if I encountered someone buzzing off like that, I'd certainly wonder about phantoms too.

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