Griffith Park — The Haunted And Cursed — Heart Of Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA — Howard Hughes allegedly haunts his old offices at the Pantages, and Marilyn Monroe is known to wander the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Hotel Cecil, once home to the Night Stalker and a myriad of mysterious and grisly deaths, has haunted macabre imaginations for decades, even inspiring a season of “American Horror Story.” When it comes to famous hauntings, Los Angeles has no shortage. But perhaps the most enduring legend of ghosts and restless spirits are the haunted woods of Griffith Park.

It all started back in 1863 with Dona Petronilla, the teenage niece of wealthy land baron Don Antonio Feliz, who found herself cut out of his will. She famously cursed the land, vowing it would never be profitable and that its owners would meet untimely or violent ends. The spooky thing about her curse is that it quickly came true.

According to creepyla.com, the man who negotiated the ranch’s water rights was killed in a saloon, and the land’s new owner was murdered by banditos in Mexico. Then along came Colonel Griffith J. Griffith. The wealthy industrialist bought 4,000 acres of the land known as Rancho Los Feliz in the 1880s but was plagued by natural disasters and misfortune. Some said it was the curse of Dona Petronilla. Ultimately, he gifted the land to the City of Los Angeles but couldn’t quite escape the curse. He shot his wife during a drunken rampage at a hotel in Santa Monica. She survived, but he was sent to San Quentin to serve two years thanks to an “alcoholic insanity” defense. He was released from prison, and died from liver disease.

In the end, the curse of Dona Petronilla was fulfilled. The land’s owners died ignoble and violent deaths. And, gifted to the people, Griffith Park, is not making anyone rich as Dona Petronilla vowed it would never. Still, some believe the ghost of Dona Petronilla is not satisfied with the fulfilment of her bloody curse. Her vengeful ghost is said to haunt the land, a lady in a white dress appearing to hikers and visitors over the years.

Of all the supposed ghost sightings reported over the years, the lady in white is one apparition who appears more than any other. For many, it’s appropriate that she would haunt the park because she is the one who famously cursed it. But according to folklore, Dona Petronilla is not alone in haunting the hills. Actress Peg Entwistle who infamously leapt to her death from the ‘H’ in the Hollywood sign in 1932, is said to startle hikers, appearing in all her 1930s Hollywood garb.

Entwistle's death was widely publicized, and the dramatic suicide of a despondent actress struck a nerve in Hollywood. Eighty years after her death, the community organized an outdoor showing of her only film, “Thirteen Women,” donating the proceeds of the event to to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Over the years, Griffith Park has been the final resting place for many a murder victim. In the 70s, it was the preferred dumping ground for the Hillside Strangler(s). Every year, police are called to the massive wilderness park when unlucky hikers stumble upon bodies. In this year alone, a woman’s body was dumped in the park and found wrapped in blankets, a man’s body was found in a park restroom, and another man’s body was discovered near a high-voltage transmission tower in the park.

And every year, when the living Angelenos are looking for a good scare, they head to Griffith Park for the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. The spooky event includes a ride, a series of mazes and haunted houses with toe-curling terrors that fit right in with the storied park’s dark past.