Haunted Greystone Mansion Hosts 'Hocus Pocus' Drive-In

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Feeling brave? Greystone Mansion, rumored to be one of Beverly Hills' most haunted spots — in a city full of them — hosted a drive-in showing Oct. 23 at 7 of 'Hocus Pocus', the iconic 1993 comedy about a teenage boy who accidentally summons up a trio of witches in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween.

With trick-or-treating banned and many streets in town blocked on Halloween during COVID-19, pulling up to this haunted spots to watch some witches stir up trouble may be the next best thing.

The grand old mansion on Loma Vista Drive was built in 1928 by oil magnate Edward Doheny, one of the richest men in town, as a gift to his son Ned and his young family. Just after Ned's family moved in, Ned was found dead with his secretary Theodore "Hugh" Plunket in what was ruled to be a murder-suicide, but numerous conspiracy theories abound to this day about what really happened.

Here's one account:

Hugh let himself into the house one night in Feb. 1929. He made his way up to a spare bedroom, where he met with Ned behind a locked door. Suddenly, Ned's wife Lucy heard a gunshot from the bedroom.

Lucy called the family doctor instead of the police, for unknown reasons. When the doctor arrived, he and Lucy walked to the spare bedroom, where Hugh answered them with a gun in his hand, appearing agitated. He then went into a backroom, and slammed and barred the door.

Then another gunshot was heard.

When Lucy and the doctor managed to get in, they saw both Ned and Hugh laying dead on the floor.

It seemed like a murder-suicide, and was reported as such. But that's disputed for a few reasons. First, it appears that Hugh was shot from behind, which wouldn't be possible if the death were truly a suicide. The police also were not called until nearly two hours after Lucy says she found the men dead. By the time the police arrived, the bodies were moved. Lucy said that was because the doctor tried to revive them.

Over the years, theories have abounded: one claims that Ned called the doctor to calm Hugh down, not Lucy. Another speculates that Ned and Hugh were lovers, and Ned either killed himself, or Lucy killed both of them.

In 1965, the city of Beverly Hills bought the property and turned it into a public park that has hosted many concerts, plays, galas, and film shoots. Some of these events have to do with the home itself: it was the filming location of the 2007 film "There Will Be Blood," which is loosely based on the Doheny family. Each year since 2002, it hosts "The Manor," a play by Katherine Bates about the the Doheny family performed in different rooms in the house.

That is a particularly eerie event, since numerous people have claimed they've seen ghosts of the Doheny's — Ned, Hugh, Lucy, and a man in a black suit — roaming the halls.

So as you watch the witches on-screen, keep a lookout for ghosts not far behind.