Those who seek the paranormal are convinced LA is a real, live ghost town

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Those who seek the paranormal are convinced LA is a real, live ghost town
October 30, 2010
by Susan Abram
Daily News

Rob and Anne Wlodarski chase the dead for a living.

At least, that's the motto printed on the back of the windbreakers worn by the paranormal-seeking couple.

On a recent night, when moonrays scattered over the old sycamore trees that surround Shadow Ranch Park, Rob Wlodarski used copper dowsing rods to locate a little girl and eight other spirits they believe inhabit the old ranch house on the West Hills property.

The rods drifted from left to right in his hands, the way an insect moves its antennae when it senses an enemy or food.

"Are you 9?" he asked the little girl after he confirmed her spiritual existence. The slender copper rods moved apart, meaning no.

"Are you 8?" the dowsing rods came together. Yes.

"Oh, you're 8. Sorry," he said politely into the darkness of the night. "I've been trying to get your name, but you won't tell me."

Compared to New Orleans, Gettysburg or Salem, Mass., Los Angeles may seem ghost-lite. But locals who seek a chilling brush with ectoplasm - or just like a good ghost story - swear there's no place as haunted as L.A.

Its canyons and cemeteries, its ancient American Indian villages, its ranchos and missions, and many unsolved murders can overload any paranormal seeker.

The city, after all, is named after angels. Anything is possible.

"Los Angeles rules!" Wlodarski said. "It's got orbs, beams, and tons of spiritual energy. It rocks!"

Hollywood alone could keep ghost hunters fulfilled. It's where the famous die young and the young die trying to be famous, so some afterlife drama is to be expected.

Marilyn Monroe's image is said to appear in a full-length mirror at the Roosevelt Hotel, where she was a frequent guest. Actor Montgomery Clift, who also stayed there while shooting "From Here to Eternity" supposedly haunts room No. 928, his spirit reciting his lines.

If anyone even mentioned chasing or seeing ghosts 10 years

View Haunted Places in the Valley in a larger map
Chasing ghosts in the Valley

From its canyons and cemeteries to its American Indian villages, some say there's no place as haunted as L.A.

Click the link above to see a larger version of the region and the haunted places here.
ago, eyes would roll with skepticism. But with the success of television shows such as "Ghost Hunters," paranormal groups are flourishing in Los Angeles and around the world.

The Wlodarskis now spend much of their time hunting ghosts. The West Hills couple have authored some 20 books, serve as consultants to television producers and host seances, among other activities.

Rob Wlodarski said he became interested in the subject after having a paranormal experience as a child growing up in Fullerton. Anne said she grew up around ghost stories growing up in San Antonio, Texas, because her grandmother was a psychic.

"Los Angeles is different," said Anne Wlodarski. "They (spirits) are spread out here compared to other places."

While the sprawling San Fernando Valley can boast a host of ghosts, the West Valley is the most active because it connected the lands of the Chumash and Gabrielino Indians, Rob Wlodarski said.

The Huwam village, now a housing development in Bell Canyon, was considered sacred, Wlodarski said, and spiritual activity is powerful there. It also has been said the image of the late Lorne Greene, the patriarch in TV's "Bonanza," haunts his ranch built on a knoll there.

There also are those who collect ghost stories, such as the social group GHOULA or Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles.

Those interested in swapping stories can go to ghoula.org. A group gathers on the 13th of each month for Spirits with Spirits socials at Los Angeles bars and taverns, where they swap ghost stories.

On a recent night, members of GHOULA gathered at Castle Park in Sherman Oaks, the last miniature golf course in Los Angeles, for a screening of the 1921 film "The Haunted Castle," as part of the Echo Park Film Center's filmmobile program.

"There are two ghosts here," said the group's founder, Richard Carradine. "The security guards claim to see a little boy at the end of the park. He's been seen in the restroom, locking the doors of the stalls."

And he'll play video games in the arcade, his little fingers tapping buttons and his feet moving pedals, long after the lights have gone off.

And there's also a woman, believed to be the boy's mother. Both may have drowned in pool of water in the park.

"She walks along the fence of the park, and when the guards approach her she disappears," Carradine said.

Carradine's favorite spot in the Valley is the San Fernando Mission founded in 1797. An old American Indian man has been seen at the main doorway of the convento or main house, where travelers once stopped.

"He may have worked for the Spanish, and maybe he waits for visitors," Carradine said.

There also are stories related to El Camino Real, the roadway that links missions throughout the state.

Carradine once heard the same story - years apart from two different people on two different occasions - about the ghost of a monk who carries a candle and walks through homes built on the trail, on his way to the San Fernando Mission.

And stories of nighttime sightings linked to the nearby cemetery also have been reported.

"There always are stories attached to roads along cemeteries," Carradine said.

"There's a woman who is seen walking with a brood of cats. When people take a second look, she disappears and the cats scatter," Carradine said. "She's also been seen on the railroad tracks in the city of San Fernando."

While she and another ghost, a hitchhiker, have been spotted day and night, Carradine said the darkness brings out visitors from the afterlife.

"It's calmer at night," he said. "Los Angeles has its dark history and its ghosts to match."

Back at Shadow Ranch, Rob Wlodarski continues to search for the spirits of the children, the laborers and women who lived and worked at what was once known as the Workman Ranch.

Alfred Workman was a muleskinner from Australia who bought the land in 1869 and built a home for his wife. Colin Clements and Florence Ryerson, who co-wrote the screenplay for "The Wizard of Oz," re-named the estate years later as Shadow Ranch for the eucalyptus trees planted there by Workman.

While it's unclear why spirits continue to linger in the home, there is one account of a boy who suffered a terrible accident and was decapitated. Some say the boy can be seen peering out from an upstairs window.

Others say there is a woman wearing a Victorian-style dress who fearlessly walks right through solid visitors.

And then there's that nameless little girl in the blue dress, who comes out after Los Angeles Parks and Recreation assistant Marianne Hochman locks the doors of the ranch house, now a community center open to the public. Upstairs is a playroom.

"She knows at 9:00 everyone leaves and she likes to play," Hochman said of the little girl. "She doesn't like it when people stay past 9. She comes by and tugs at your arm. I know she's here when it gets very cold in the room."

Rob and Anne Wlodarski, who founded the International Paranormal Research Organization 15 years ago, say their goal is to contact other life forms for informational purposes. They use a tape recorder to capture Electronic Voice Phenomena or EVP as proof of a paranormal presence.

An archeologist by profession - he consults with local developers excavating ancient American Indian sites - Rob Wlodarski said he brings his paranormal believes as well as science to his work.

"Energy doesn't die," he said. "It's transformed and lingers. We don't know why some spirits stay and others don't. Nobody really knows."