Halloween special: Haunted L.A.

Tis the season for numerous blog posts on hauntings a timely subject and always fascinating due to lack of empirical evidence but a certainty by those who have been haunted or "felt something" that can only be described as a dreadful feeling. A nice piece from Jessica Wakeman on haunted hotels in America.  I was intrigued to read paranormal expert Dom Villella's explanation on "residual energy," the idea that because so many people pass through hotels, and engage in some crazy and deadly activity on occasion, there's a possibility that they leave these energy footprints. In Los Angeles, there's definitely that vibe at the Biltmore Hotel downtown (allegedly haunted by a former manager--ex-employees are frequently cited as possible ghosts at allegedly haunted hotels).  Another possibility: the Standard Hollywood where its prior incarnation as an old age home has meant apparitions of elderly customers in the coffee shop (who disappear) and funny stuff like tops popping off liquor bottles on their own. Crazy, undocumented activities reported to me, however, I've been to a haunted house in Tennessee which served as field hospital in the Civil War, a theme explored in Wakeman's piece. And I was recently at the Huntington Gardens and Library and walked (alone) to Henry and Arabella Huntington's mausoleum. (They are buried on the grounds is this neo-classic white marble tomb (above) by architect John Russell Pope who also designed the Jefferson Memorial). There's definitely some "residual energy"---Mrs. Huntington was known to be stern and strong-willed--a visit with an infrared camera may be in order.

Halloween special: Queen Mary scares up ghosts

Do you feel the scary vibe? Hallway (above) is a corridor on the Queen Mary, a classic luxury ocean liner, now permanently berthed in Long Beach's harbor (also scary, because of polluted runoff--but that's another story). The ship promotes its haunted history via a rather cheesy Ghosts & Legends tour that for all its silliness does provide some scares and takes you way down into the bowels of the ship.  Scariest of all is a night on the ship: it creaks and makes odd noises and the corridors tend to bring up memories of "The Shining." 

Cleverly utilizing the ship's grandeur and spooky rep, a recent episode of "Ghost Whisperer" filled it with soggy, wicked ghosts and took full advantage of the glorious Art Deco grand salon. Whether it's truly haunted or not,  the ship is indeed a legend and is worth a visit. You can decide for yourself about the paranormal extras.