Two More Tours Added!

GHOULA presents...
The CURSED Tour of
HAUNTED GRIFFITH PARK

NOTE: This tour will be coming to an end in September. These are the last tours of the year. It is uncertain whether this tour will return next summer, because GHOULA has another project planned for next summer. This may be your last chance to see it.

Not only is Griffith Park one of the largest urban parks in North America, it is also the most haunted public space in the United States, and the site of some of the oldest ghost stories our city has to offer, including the infamous 150 year old curse! Even today, it is said that there are so many sightings still, that the ranger's office has a "special occurrence" form just for citizens that want to report their ghostly encounters.

Those of you that regularly attend GHOULA events may already know that we have been talking about doing (and attempting to do) this tour for the past few years, but due to circumstances beyond our control... it never happened. Its almost as if the "Los Feliz curse" itself was preventing us. Well this summer, GHOULA is defying the curse, and finally making good on our promise.

So, come join us if you dare... for this unique bus tour as we explore 4,310 acres of haunted history.

DATES: September 28, 2014
TIME: 12:30pm, 3:30pm, (7:00pm SOLD OUT)
(tour runs 1 1/2 to 2 hours each)
PRICE: $35.00
MEET-UP LOCATION: The Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round
4730 Crystal Springs Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027
(follow signs up the fire road to Lot #1 next to the Merry-Go-Round) (map)



For more ticket info...
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-cursed-tour-of-haunted-griffith-park-tickets-12436547047

Real Ghosts with REEL Ghosts!

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959)
Date: September 12 (Friday)
Time: 7:30pm
Theater: The Bing Theater (LACMA)
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90036
Admission: $5.00

This is your chance to see this movie about ghosts in an actual haunted theater! (Note: this event is not hosted by GHOULA, and is just an event we feel our members should know about. Thus, the event staff may not answer any questions regarding their ghosts.) The whole square block containing LACMA (and the Bing Theater) are said to be haunted by a few ghosts, as well as an ancient murder victim (LA's oldest unsolved murder), known locally as "The La Brea Woman."

NOTE: This screening is the first part of a William Castle double-feature. The second film will be the classic "13 GHOSTS," which will be screened using a new print that allows patrons to "see" the ghosts without the "ghost viewers" that were issued during its original release. This evening is part of the "Let There Be Fright: William Castle Scare Classics" festival in September.

"House on Haunted Hill" (1959) is the first of William Castle's Horror "gimmick films." When it was originally screened, a plastic skeleton (sometimes an inflatable skeleton) was hoisted over the audience in effort to scare the patrons. Most of the time, people just threw popcorn at it (but had great fun all the same). This trick would later be employed at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion (it's debatable whether its any scarier there).

This classic horror film has a special place in GHOULA's black heart. The very first GHOULA event was a screening of this movie (with Emergo) as a fundraiser for the preservation of the Ennis House (the movie's "House"). Also, this film was in the line-up of GHOULA's first year of its "Haunted Films @ Haunted Places" free outdoor film series.

Now, GHOULA is pleased to announce its involvement with this special screening of the film at LACMA. GHOULA has been asked by the Motion Picture Academy to provide the EMERGO for this screening.

(To read about the ghost of this haunted theater...)

The Ghosts of Laurel Canyon Tour

GHOULA presents...
The
Ghosts of Laurel Canyon Tour

NOTE: This specialty tour is part of a series of tours GHOULA is conducting this year (and only this year), where we take a theme and run with it, telling only ghost lore that fits the theme. This gives us an opportunity to visit locations or tell stories that are not typically heard. These are one-off tours that will not be repeated. We are only doing these "bus tours" this year. Past tours have included... The Haunted Houdini Tour, The Ghost-buster Ghost-Bus-Tour, The Many Ghosts of Valentino, and The 13 Richest Ghosts of Los Angeles, and now this tour...

DATE: Sunday, August 24, 2014 (SOLD OUT)
TIMES: 12:30pm and 3:30pm
(tours run 1 1/2 to 2 hours each)
PRICE: $35.00
MEET-UP LOCATION:  Cat and Fiddle Pub
6530 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles (map)
NOTE: The Meet-up will be in the court yard at the entrance.



“When I got home I mixed a stiff one and stood by the open window in the living room and sipped it and listened to the groundswell of traffic on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and looked at the glare of the big angry city hanging over the shoulder of the hills through which the boulevard had been cut."
-- Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye (1953)

For little over 100 years local outsiders, eccentrics, and artists have sought solace in this seemingly isolated canyon (5 minutes from Hollywood). Unfortunately, this idyllic refuge has also been the site of many murders and violence over those same years. Whatever it is that attracts these alternative personalities to this enclave also seems to provide the perfect recipe for paranormal activity, because it seems that Laurel Canyon's ghost lore also goes back almost as many decades, giving it a reputation in Los Angeles as the place where the spooks dwell.

If you have taken one of our specialty tours this year, you have most likely already heard a story about a haunted place in Laurel Canyon. Richard Carradine, our tour guide, grew up there, and loves this local lore, and thus tries to work in at least one Laurel Canyon ghost in each tour. Think of that individual story as an appetizer, for this main phantom feast presented in this tour. If you haven't been on one of our tours, here's is you chance to hear more stories and lore from a man who lived in the canyon for 40 years collecting such stories. This tour will provide Mr. Carradine a chance to tell stories that have never been told publicly (and do not appear in print or online) including his own person encounters with the unknown.

Seating for this bus tour is VERY limited. Only 24 seats!
(12 guests per tour. 2 tours. 1 Day)

or for more ticket info click on this link...
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-ghosts-of-laurel-canyon-tour-tickets-12661345425

Tales of the Lonesome Ghost!

GHOULA presents...
The "Park" After Dark:
Tales of the Lonesome Ghost!

This is a live show created by
Captured Aural Phantasy Theater

THE DATE: August 13th, 2014 (Wednesday)
THE PLACE: Cahuenga General Store (aka Hallenbeck's)
5510 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601 (Map)
THE TIME: 8:00pm - 10:30pm
(no-host food service from 8pm to 9pm, Show starts at 9pm)
ADMISSION: $20.00 (SOLD OUT!)


This August represents the 45th anniversary of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. We just couldn't let this milestone slip by without a proper celebration to honor our favorite dark ride. So, for ONE NIGHT ONLY we will pay our last respects to one of the Mansion's most under-appreciated ghosts and its ties to L.A. with a tribute to "The Lonesome Ghost."

Captured Aural Phantasy Theater will resurrect the original (unused) script for Disneyland's Haunted Mansion for a site-specific performance in a haunted venue.

Come join us for a spooktacular show in a haunted historic cafe as we try to recreate the imagined "Lonesome Ghost" that never was (from the never built 1950's version of the Haunted Manson) while conjuring up the real "Lonesome Ghost" that possibly is (from the former home of the possible inspiration for that Haunted Mansion character). Also, as a nod to Disneyland's proposed, but never built, "haunted" restaurant (like the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction), there will be themed food/drink service before the show (available for purchase). This is your chance to glimpse a Mansion that never materialized.

GHOSTLY BACKGROUND:

The idea of a classic "Haunted House" attraction at Disneyland seems to have always been a part of Disney's land, even if it wasn't fully realized until 14 years after the park's opening (and 3 years after Disney's death).

The original concept for this attraction was that guests would be led through the house by a tour guide like the Winchester Mystery House in Northern California. Along the way, the guests would encounter a disembodied voice that would speak directly to them called "The Lonesome Ghost." As this walk-thru evolved into a dark ride, the human guide was eliminated and the idea of the ghostly voice was expanded (or possibly the two parts were merged), and eventually given the new name the "Ghost Host."

While Disney's designers were working on the early version of this now famous ride, were they influenced by something happening in a small North Hollywood studio a couple of miles away? Was the "Lonesome Ghost" a reference to the local radio personality, who went by the on-air alias of "The Lonesome Gal?"

One has to remember that in the 1950's, "The Lonesome Gal" was a wildly popular late-night radio show that was heard on over 400 radio stations across the country. The secret to the show's success was a simple gimmick. Between musical interludes, the nameless "Lonesome Gal" (portrayed by actress Jean King) would whisper sexy/suggestive non-sequiturs, speaking into the microphone as if she were talking to her lover. Lonely males would listen to her program and daydream that she was talking directly to them. During the Korean War, soldiers listened (and re-listened) to boot-leg episodes that they brought with them. To avoid lonely men stalking her (and to create a little mystery), Jean King wore a black mask when appearing in public to promote the show or the show's sponsor (a local downtown brewery that made "Brew 102").

Given that the early "Lonesome Ghost" version of the Haunted Mansion was developed during the height of her "Lonesome Gal" fame, the "lonesome" moniker for the mostly voice-only character (who addressed the tour directly) seems more than coincidental. Although there have been many reasons given for the elimination of the "Lonesome Ghost," one little discussed possibility is the very litigious nature of Jean King, who would threaten lawsuits to anyone trying to capitalize off the character she created.

The building where those historic radio programs were recorded  (as well as the upstairs apartment used by Jean King) still exists today, and its said to be haunted. Just about any paranormal phenomena one can think of, from disembodied voices to phantom footsteps to moving objects, have been seen/experienced by the current (and past) tenants.

In a strange case of the after-life imitating art imitating life, could the "Lonesome Gal" now be a "Lonesome Ghost" like the one she inspired?

For ticket info:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/park-after-dark-tales-of-the-lonesome-ghost-tickets-12298556313