HAUNTED: The Hollywood Sign

Built in 1923, the Hollywoodland sign rose as a beacon of star-studded dreams. But not everyone who chased those dreams survived them. After a would-be starlet died at the sign, whispers spread that her spirit still lingered there. Yet the darker truth may run deeper—as the land beneath Hollywood’s most famous symbol could have been cursed long before she climbed the hill.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Yvette Gentile?

  If you all have spent any time in Los Angeles, or as I like to call it, La La Land, or even if you've seen movies or pictures of it, then you know how iconic the Hollywood sign is. It has nine white letters made of metal, each standing 45 feet tall. They tower above the city from a place called Griffith Park, which is absolutely beautiful if you've never been there. I highly suggest visiting. And as an avid hiker myself, especially when I lived in L.A., I mean, it features woodlands, amazing hiking trails, and even an observatory. But the sign might be its most alluring feature.

• 0:43Yvette Gentile?

  It represents the best that the City of Angels has to offer: fame, fortune, stardom, and of course, a place where dreams come true. The problem is, a lot of people don't get those things when they come to Hollywood. For every famous movie star or celebrated director, there are countless others who never get what they came for: their big break. For them, Los Angeles can feel sometimes like a trap rather than a land of opportunity. It draws you in with beautiful promises just to leave you penniless, disillusioned, and bitter.

• 1:28Rasha Pecoraro?

  But some believe the Hollywood sign and the land around it might also be a trap, maybe in a more literal sense. After one woman's death at the sign in 1932, it was said her spirit never left. And she may still haunt the area along with plenty of other ghosts. In fact, Griffith Park is rumored to be one of the most haunted places in the entire United States. And it could be trapping restless spirits due to a century-old curse.

• 2:10Rasha Pecoraro?

  I'm Rasha Pecoraro.

• 2:12Yvette Gentile?

  And I'm Yvette Gentile. This is So Supernatural.

• 2:46Yvette Gentile?

  A warning. Today's episode features discussions of self-harm and suicide. Please, listen with care.

• 2:57Yvette Gentile?

  Over the decades, people from all over the globe have flocked to Hollywood to make their dreams of stardom come true. Screenwriters, actors, models, directors, costume designers, you name it, Hollywood is the place to be. Though not everyone gets their lucky break. Los Angeles is known to chew people up and spit them out. And when it does, it can leave some feeling extremely lost and dejected.

• 3:30Rasha Pecoraro?

  But before reality sets in, many people hop off of that plane at LAX with a sparkle in their eye. And one of the first things they look for on their drive through town, the thing that says "You made it" is the Hollywood sign. I know that is exactly what I did when I moved to Los Angeles in 1999 to join our mom and of course, my beautiful sister Yvette, in the City of Angels.

• 3:59Yvette Gentile?

  That's right, all three of us. Mom went first, and then I drove to La La Land, and then you came right after.

• 4:06Rasha Pecoraro?

  I always follow you. But you didn't follow me back to Portland. I don't understand that. But anyway.

• 4:10Yvette Gentile?

  No, I did not.

• 4:13Rasha Pecoraro?

  But our Hollywood dreams are happening now, and we're not even in LA anymore.

• 4:20Rasha Pecoraro?

  Regardless, the Hollywood sign is an emblem of hope and promise, which is why it's so iconic and why it is so magical to me and I know to you, my beautiful sister Yvette.

• 4:35Yvette Gentile?

  Yes, Los Angeles will always have a special place in our heart for certain. But that is not why the sign was built. Believe it or not, it wasn't meant to be a symbolic representation of the film industry. It was supposed to be a temporary advertisement for a new housing development. In 1923, a real estate mogul wanted to promote this new construction, and it stretched from directly below where the sign stands now, down to the base of that mountain called Mount Lee. It was called Hollywood Land, which is what the sign originally read back then. It was made out of wood and sheet metal.

• 5:19Yvette Gentile?

  Every letter was roughly 30 feet wide and almost 45 feet tall, each a bit longer than a bus and a little taller than your average telephone pole. And right underneath them, the property developer set up a row of electric lights so the Hollywood Land billboard would be visible day and night. And originally, the sign was only supposed to stand for a year and a half. But as soon as it went up, it became a beloved landmark. Plus, it was a very effective advertisement. People flocked to Hollywood Land from all over the country to buy houses on and near Mount Lee.

• 6:02Yvette Gentile?

  And this was great for business and good for the city. Now, they had more tax-paying citizens, more customers shopping at businesses, and more tourists coming to see the sign. So the developer kept the sign up. And by the late 1920s and early 30s, it was world famous. And so was Hollywood itself. Aspiring actors were flooding into Los Angeles, hoping to become the next big star. This included a 23-year-old woman named Peg Intwistle.

• 6:39Rasha Pecoraro?

  Peg hadn't always dreamed of appearing on the silver screen, but she was introduced to stardom fairly young. She was born in Wales, but immigrated to New York City in 1913, when she was just five years old. Her mother left when she was little, so Peg was raised by her father and later a stepmother. By that point, Peg's father was working on Broadway, both as a stage manager and as an actor. And it was through him that Peg realized she loved the theater. She wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and become a Broadway star. Then, in 1921, Peg's stepmother died of an illness. A year and a half later,

• 7:24Rasha Pecoraro?

  Peg's father passed away after getting hit by a car. Now, she was all on her own, and all before her 15th birthday. So she bounced around and ended up living with her Uncle Charles and Aunt Helen in Los Angeles. They lived right at the base of Mount Lee, under the Hollywoodland sign. The sign was actually visible from their street. And that's how Peg fell in love with the sign. Even in the midst of her grief, she probably saw it as a good omen of the better things to come. She began studying screen acting and learned everything she could about the film industry. But Broadway was still Peg's first love,

• 8:08Rasha Pecoraro?

  so as soon as she was old enough to live on her own, she ended up moving back to New York. Luckily for Peg, she was talented, beautiful, and she had all the right connections. She got cast in some small roles that became bigger roles. And by 1927, when she was 19 years old, she was a bona fide Broadway star. Now back on the theater scene, she ended up meeting a man and getting married. Unfortunately, the marriage just wasn't built to last. She and her husband divorced after just two years. And the split turned pretty nasty. A lot of her friends felt like they had to choose sides and they picked her ex.

• 8:53Rasha Pecoraro?

  He was in the Broadway world too, so I can understand how it was pretty divisive. Even some of Peg's industry contacts ended up turning on her. She stopped getting called to as many auditions, stopped receiving meaty roles, and her Broadway career came to a halt. And of course, the Great Depression didn't make things any easier.

• 9:14Yvette Gentile?

  But that's when Peg figured if she couldn't make it in New York, then it was time to go back to California. Maybe she would finally make the transition from being a stage actress to a star on the silver screen. And luckily, her aunt and uncle still lived in that same house that Peg loved, right under the Hollywoodland sign. And they were willing to let Peg stay with them until she was on her feet and able to support herself again. So with a dream in her heart, Peg moved back to Hollywood in 1931, when she was 23 years old. Less than a year later, she landed a supporting role onstage with a young Humphrey Bogart.

• 9:58Yvette Gentile?

  I mean, damn, right?

• 10:00Rasha Pecoraro?

  I also read they had an affair.

• 10:02Yvette Gentile?

  I did too, I know.

• 10:03Rasha Pecoraro?

  I know. I'm like, ooh, it's scandalous.

• 10:06Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah, but I mean, you know, it's Hollywood. Like, that's what was going on, right?

• 10:12Yvette Gentile?

  Anywho, later in 1932, another opportunity came knocking. Peg was cast in her first major motion picture, and it was called 13 Women. And it was produced by a studio called RKO Pictures. And RKO stood for Radio Keith Orpheum. And at the time, that was an American film production and distribution company. And the plot was similar to a modern slasher film. It was the story of a manipulative, violent woman who vowed to pick off 13 sorority sisters, one by one. But she didn't kill them herself.

• 10:53Yvette Gentile?

  She tricked them into getting into dangerous situations or taking risks. And then she just sat back and let her victims meet their deadly fate. Like a lot of slashers, it featured sexually explicit scenes. There was also plenty of gore and characters in same-sex relationships. All to say, it was a pretty progressive screenplay for 1930s Hollywood. Basically, this was before the pre-Haze Code, right, Rasha?

• 11:25Rasha Pecoraro?

  Exactly.

• 11:25Yvette Gentile?

  And we talked about that.

• 11:26Rasha Pecoraro?

  We learned about that on That's Why We Drink, from M. and Christine.

• 11:31Yvette Gentile?

  Peg wasn't playing the main character, but she knew she was going to get lots of attention for her part because her character was gay. And the executives at RKO thought this was a star-making role, too. Thirteen Women was set to be released in October of 1932. But months before it even hit the theaters on July 31st, RKO wanted to sign a contract with Peg. It promised that she would appear in several upcoming films, guaranteeing that she'd have regular work for the foreseeable future. A contract like this was a sign that RKO was willing to invest in Peg's future.

• 12:14Yvette Gentile?

  Of course, they'd offer her paid work and also she'd get acting classes, makeovers, and access to PR teams. They'd help her build a brand and a recognizable image. It would transform her from a mere actress to a celebrity. Iconic legends like Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe made their names under contracts like these. So Peg had every reason to think her life was about to change for the better.

• 12:47Rasha Pecoraro?

  Except, after the contract was signed, the studio ended up getting cold feet. The executives started to worry that audiences would be offended by Peg's plotline. Hmm, why would studios be offended by a lesbian, anyway?

• 13:06Rasha Pecoraro?

  I'm taking it too personally. Well, the studio didn't want to deal with the controversy at the time. So they ended up cutting almost all of Peg's scenes. Until Peg was only in the film for a grand total of four minutes. Which meant 13 Women wasn't going to be the big break she'd been waiting for. Nobody would ever see her incredible performance. And there wouldn't be any buzz around the risky role. Our K O studios even let Peg's contract expire. Because without her 13 women performance, there was no reason to expect she was about to make it big.

• 13:49Rasha Pecoraro?

  And as you can imagine, Peg was devastated. I'm sure she was used to rejection and setbacks, especially being a professional actress. And you know, she was in Broadway forever, but after her parents' death, her divorce, and now her big break was being completely destroyed. You can imagine Peg felt hopeless.

• 14:13Yvette Gentile?

  Which is maybe why she made a life-changing decision on the evening of September 16th, 1932. 13 Women hadn't been released yet, and Peg knew it didn't matter. Her career seemed over before it had even started. So she allegedly turned to alcohol to cope. Except, once she got drunk, she was in an even darker mood. That night, she told her Uncle Charles she needed to clear her head and go see some of her friends. And then she walked out the door of his house. But she didn't come back the next morning. This made her Uncle Charles very nervous.

• 14:57Yvette Gentile?

  But he wasn't sure what to do. He spent all day waiting for her to return. And for some reason, he didn't call the police or report her missing. But maybe the idea didn't occur to him at the time. Finally, two days after her disappearance, Charles opened the newspaper and a headline caught his eye. It said, "The day before, a woman had been found dead by a hiker under the Hollywoodland sign." She was covered in bruises and scrapes, consistent with a very bad fall.

• 15:33Yvette Gentile?

  When police came out to examine the remains, they saw the woman's purse on the ground not too far away. It didn't have an ID in it, but there was a suicide note inside. Unfortunately, the woman didn't sign it with her name, only her initials, P.E. Now, the police were asking for tips and hoping someone would come forward to identify her. Charles knew Peg had always been obsessed with that sign. Every detail about that story just added up. I'm sure he could just feel it in his bones. So he knew what he had to do next.

• 16:16Yvette Gentile?

  He headed right to the police department to identify the body. And as soon as he laid eyes on the body, he knew it was Peg. What he didn't know was that her spirit would reportedly linger at the sign for decades to come.

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• 17:10Speaker 04

  Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers.

• 17:12Speaker 05

  And I'm Britt. And if you're on the edge of your seat listening to this show, Crime Junkie needs to be your next listen.

• 17:18Speaker 04

  Every Monday, I dive into a new true crime case that our reporting team has been on the ground looking into. From lesser-known disappearances to the most chilling cases hitting the headlines. And I'm going to walk you through it the way I tell my best friend, because, well, that's what I'm doing.

• 17:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's me. And I'm right there with you as we listen together, react to every wild detail, and of course, I ask all the questions.

• 17:41Speaker 04

  And I'm going to have the answers. We have case files, we're talking to detectives and family members, and we're gonna stay focused on the facts.

• 17:49Speaker 05

  So if you're not already listening to Crime Junkie, what are you waiting for? There are over 300 episodes available right now.

• 17:55Speaker 04

  And you can listen to new episodes of Crime Junkie every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 18:06Rasha Pecoraro?

  In 1932, a 24-year-old actress named Peg Entwistle disappeared after telling her Uncle Charles she was going out with friends. Two days later, on September 18th, her Uncle Charles identified her body. She was found at the base of Mount Lee, about 100 feet below the Hollywood Land sign. By now, the investigators realized Peg didn't actually meet up with her friends that night. Instead, she went straight from her uncle's house to a hiking trail on Mount Lee. Then, she hiked in the dark. She followed the path all the way until she found herself at the base of the Hollywood Land sign.

• 18:52Rasha Pecoraro?

  She saw a maintenance ladder bolted to the back of the letter H, and she climbed up it. When she reached the top, with the whole city of Los Angeles stretched out before her, Peg jumped. She tumbled into a deep ravine, and by the time she'd gotten down the mountain, Peg was too injured to get up, or pull herself to safety, or even scream for help. Instead, she spent her final few moments, likely awake and in intense pain, before bleeding to death.

• 19:29Yvette Gentile?

  The entire thing was a massive tragedy, not just for Peg's family, but for the entire city of Los Angeles. Especially because Peg's career was about to take off.

• 19:45Yvette Gentile?

  A few days after her death, her Uncle Charles received a letter addressed to Peg. It was from a stage director who'd sent it before the news broke about Peg's death. They were offering her another major role in a different production. It was a second chance at stardom. Exactly the break Peg needed. Unfortunately, it was an opportunity she wouldn't get to seize. Even though Peg never got to act again, her death wasn't the end of her story. See, there are several popular hiking trails that pass the Hollywoodland sign.

• 20:30Yvette Gentile?

  And soon after Peg's funeral, people on those trails started saying they had seen a woman lingering near the letter H. She appeared both day and night, and usually seemed either sad or confused. But if anyone paused to ask if she was okay or tried to help her, she would vanish right before their eyes. If that's not creepy enough, some witnesses noticed the woman's feet weren't touching the ground. Instead, she hovered just a little bit above it. Plus, she always smelled strongly of gardenias. Which totally makes sense,

• 21:14Yvette Gentile?

  because when Peg was alive, she was especially fond of gardenia-scented perfume. Those rumors kick into high gear at some point in the 1940s, although it's hard to nail down an exact date. All we know is that one night, the H on the Hollywoodland sign, and only the H, mysteriously tips over. The fall damages it so badly that it has to be repaired. Now, the official story is that the H blew over during a bad windstorm. But a lot of locals have a hard time accepting that. It just feels too coincidental

• 21:57Yvette Gentile?

  that the letter Peg jumped from was damaged, while the rest of the sign was untouched. Instead, rumors swirl that Peg's spirit actually pushed the H down the mountain.

• 22:14Rasha Pecoraro?

  In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce agreed to handle maintenance for the sign moving forward. They paid to put the letter H back up. That's when they also removed the last four letters spelling the word "land." Because by this point, the billboard belonged to the City of Hollywood, not the real estate development company anymore. Which was how we ended up with the iconic Hollywood sign we all know and love today. But even after all of this, Peg's spirit apparently still couldn't rest. For decades afterwards, even up until this very day, visitors to the Hollywood sign continued to report sightings of her.

• 22:58Rasha Pecoraro?

  And here's where it gets crazy. Many of these accounts come from park rangers who work in the area.

• 23:06Yvette Gentile?

  And I just have to say, Rasha, you know of park rangers are the ones that are seeing this, who are always up there. It has to be true. They're telling the truth. Yeah.

• 23:17Rasha Pecoraro?

  Plus, their stories are strikingly consistent. Rangers say Peg tends to appear after dark, especially on foggy nights. But sometimes, even when the weather is clear, visitors will see thick, white mist forming beneath the sign and creeping up the H. People who see Peg say she's always dressed in 1930's style clothing. And she still usually smells very strongly of gardenias. Except, apparently, a lot of people don't realize that they're actually looking at a ghost when they see her. Instead, they say she appears like a real, live woman.

• 24:06Rasha Pecoraro?

  Which you can imagine must be very alarming because multiple people have seen her walking to the H. They see her climbing the ladder behind it, and then they see her pausing at the top like she's about to jump. Some witnesses have even supposedly called 911 to report a possible suicide attempt. Then, before the conversation is even over, Peg will vanish into thin air. And if the police report to the scene later, they usually can't find any evidence that someone was ever up near the sign.

• 24:42Yvette Gentile?

  At some point after her death, the city actually put up big chain-link fences all around the sign to prevent people from getting too close. This is, in part, to prevent another tragic death like Peg's. Plus, the fence helps keep out vandals. There are also motion-activated security cameras and alarms that will go off if anyone crosses the fence or gets too close to the sign. On a fairly regular basis, the alarms do activate late at night. The cameras turn on, but when the park rangers check the video feed to see

• 25:22Yvette Gentile?

  who or what is there, there's nothing, not even wild animals. It's almost like the security system is picking up on something that's invisible to the naked eye. Perhaps it's Peg and Whistle's spirit.

• 25:41Rasha Pecoraro?

  Well, that's exactly what happened to an anonymous park ranger who I'm going to call Jake. Jake was working an overnight shift at Griffith Park, and one of his responsibilities was to drive up Mount Lee and patrol the area around the Hollywood sign. So one night, Jake parks there, gets out of his truck, and walks around. He's not looking for anything in particular. It's more of a chance just to stretch his legs and get some fresh air. Except, one of the motion detector alarms goes off. Now, back at the ranger station, Jake's coworkers check the feed, and they see Jake didn't trigger it himself because

• 26:20Rasha Pecoraro?

  he hasn't even crossed the fence or even gotten close to it. Still, the system says it detected a person walking towards the sign.

• 26:32Rasha Pecoraro?

  And the system also says they're only about five feet away from Jake. The system apparently alerts Jake, who grabs a flashlight and searches the area where the person is supposed to be. But, nobody's there. At least, no one he can see. But Jake gets the eerie feeling that perhaps Peg's spirit is nearby.

• 26:58Yvette Gentile?

  Well, it's not just park rangers who've had experiences there. Regular hikers and joggers have spotted things too. In 2013, a woman named Megan Santos lived in Los Angeles, and she knew the area around the sign really well. She liked to jog on the trails there because there were a lot of good views, there are no cars, and plenty of shade from the trees. So one evening, she's on a nighttime run not too far from the sign, and all of a sudden, her nose starts to tickle. She begins sneezing so hard that she has to stop running. And she knows exactly what she's reacting to,

• 27:43Yvette Gentile?

  because the air is suddenly filled with a powerful floral scent: gardenias. Then Megan gets a weird feeling, and she instinctively looks up. That's when she sees a woman in front of her. Megan has never described what the woman was wearing, but she does know that she has blonde hair. At first, it seems like the woman is walking. Her legs are moving and her arms are swinging. But then, Megan notices the woman's feet are not touching the ground. She's floating in the air. Megan doesn't stick around to see anything else.

• 28:26Yvette Gentile?

  She turns around and she high-tails it right back down the trail. But between the smell of the gardenias and the fact that she was floating, let me just say, it seems so possible that this was the spirit of Peg Intwhistle.

• 28:42Rasha Pecoraro?

  But we do have to acknowledge that Peg's ghost isn't the only one that is sometimes spotted in the area. As we mentioned before, Mount Lee and the sign are in a large wooded area called Griffith Park. And the park is famous for the many ghosts and haunted locations in it. Now, nobody's sure why Griffith Park is thought to be so active, but some believe it's because for over a century, the land has been under a horrific curse.

• 29:23Speaker 04

  Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers.

• 29:24Speaker 05

  And I'm Britt. And if you're on the edge of your seat, listening to this show, Crime Junkie needs to be your next listen.

• 29:30Speaker 04

  Every Monday, I dive into a new true crime case that our reporting team has been on the ground looking into. From lesser-known disappearances to the most chilling cases hitting the headlines. And I'm going to walk you through it the way I tell my best friend, because that's what I'm doing.

• 29:46Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's me. And I'm right there with you as we listen together, react to every wild detail, and of course, I ask all the questions.

• 29:54Speaker 04

  And I'm going to have the answers because we have case files, we're talking to detectives and family members, and we're going to stay focused on the facts.

• 30:01Speaker 05

  So if you're not already listening to Crime Junkie, what are you waiting for? There are over 300 episodes available right now.

• 30:07Speaker 04

  And you can listen to new episodes of Crime Junkie every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 30:18Yvette Gentile?

  According to rumor, the spirit of Peg Entwistle has been haunting the Hollywood sign since her death in 1932. But other spirits have been spotted in the surrounding area of Griffith Park, near a picnic table that's just about two miles away from the Hollywood sign. You can reach it by hiking down a trail that passes very near the old Hollywood Land Development. But we've got to warn you, to get to the table, you need to tread over rugged terrain, and there isn't a whole lot of shade, so this trek is not for the faint of heart. However, if you make it to your destination, you'll see the table tucked away,

• 31:02Yvette Gentile?

  almost out of sight, beyond the edge of the trail.

• 31:07Rasha Pecoraro?

  Nobody knows exactly when or how ghosts became connected to this particular table, but in 1976, a young couple named Rand and Nancy were on a date. They both liked hiking, so they were exploring the trails around Griffith Park. At one point, they passed the picnic table and decided to take a break and rest. This table was barely visible from the trail and fairly private. So Rand and Nancy started having a little bit of a make-out session there. Then, one thing led to another, and they began having sex right there on the table.

• 31:50Rasha Pecoraro?

  However, there was a very tall tree nearby, which had a huge, heavy branch hanging right over them. While Rand and Nancy were getting intimate, the branch spontaneously broke off and landed on the couple, crushing them both to death. Their bodies were discovered a short while later. After park officials removed their remains from the scene, they called to have a tree trimmer named Morris Carl to come and chop up the branch with a chainsaw and then haul away the pieces. So Morris went to the picnic table. He revved up the saw, approached the fallen branch,

• 32:35Rasha Pecoraro?

  and after he cut off the crown of the tree, he started having these weird chills. Every time he would move to chop down another branch, his chills got even worse, and he started hearing moaning.

• 32:51Rasha Pecoraro?

  He put his saw on the table, and then he walked over to go warm up in his truck. And that's when he saw the tree move on its own. And to be clear, this tree was something like eight to 10 feet long. It weighed hundreds of pounds, if not maybe a thousand pounds. So it definitely wasn't blowing in the wind, and nobody else was around to push or touch it. But the force was so strong, it knocked Morris's saw off the table.

• 33:24Rasha Pecoraro?

  He was sitting there just terrified in his truck. And then he watched as his windshield fogged up. And an unseen hand wrote the phrase, "Next you die," on the glass. Morris was so spooked and so freaked out, he literally burnt rubber getting out of there. Later, he told the park rangers his story, but no one believed him. They made jokes about it and even teased him instead. Eventually, Morris's supervisor, Dennis Riggs, went out to do the job instead. He grabbed his chainsaw and promised he wouldn't come back until he finished the job.

• 34:10Rasha Pecoraro?

  Except Dennis never returned. Hours passed until finally, someone went out to the picnic table to check on him. Right away, they could tell something was wrong. The tree was still whole, lying over the table. And Dennis was on the ground right beside it. Dead.

• 34:34Rasha Pecoraro?

  Depending on who you talk to, he either didn't have a mark on him, or, according to the police report, his fingernails were broken and his hands were injured. Plus, there were signs that he had been dragged around before his death. Almost like he'd been attacked by some unknown entity that couldn't be identified. Still, the police decided that his cause of death was a heart attack. Either way, many people believe that Dennis was killed by a dark spirit that haunts the picnic table and that very branch on it. For whatever reason, this entity doesn't seem to want anyone to remove the tree.

• 35:19Rasha Pecoraro?

  Which may be why, to this day, the fallen branch is still on top of the table. It has never been removed, and the table has never been repaired.

• 35:33Yvette Gentile?

  That is god awful.

• 35:35Rasha Pecoraro?

  It's wild.

• 35:36Yvette Gentile?

  But just think about Morris. Was he smart?

• 35:39Rasha Pecoraro?

  And getting the heck out of town?

• 35:41Yvette Gentile?

  He was like, "I'm gone." Yeah. Well, this isn't the only horror film-worthy destination in Griffith Park. Not too far from the picnic table, there's an old abandoned zoo. The animal cages are still there and are said to be home to restless spirits, people and animals alike. People who visit after dark report seeing large cats, like lions and tigers, stalking prey. Or a sick elephant with injured feet trumpeting in pain. Then there's the carousel. Late at night, visitors claim to see strange, shadowy figures approaching it,

• 36:25Yvette Gentile?

  only to vanish before they can board. People have also spoken of strange werewolf-like beasts roaming through the park at night, and a young girl who no one has been able to identify. But she's said to be the spirit of a child abandoned in the park, then died there, lost and alone. So Griffith Park is clearly a hotspot for spiritual activity, suggesting something must be attracting restless spirits. The problem is, nobody knows why they are so drawn to the area.

• 37:07Yvette Gentile?

  But one theory hinges on a dark curse from 150 years ago.

• 37:15Rasha Pecoraro?

  In the 1850s and 60s, a man named Antonio Felice owned all of the land that would eventually become Griffith Park. This included most of Mount Lee, where the Hollywood sign would later stand. Antonio didn't have any children, so his 17-year-old niece, Petronia, expected to inherit everything after he passed. But in 1863, when Antonio got seriously ill with smallpox and was about to die, a man came to visit him, an old friend, also named Antonio, but his name was Antonio Coronel, and he also brought his lawyer with him.

• 37:56Rasha Pecoraro?

  Felice could barely speak or even lift his head off his pillow at this point. But Coronel reportedly kept asking him yes or no questions, like, "Do you want me to inherit everything?" Then he'd supposedly "help" Felice respond by moving Felice's head and nodding it for him. In other words, some reports say he physically forced the dying man to name him as his heir. And his dishonest lawyer went along with everything, even rewriting Felice's will according to Coronel's wishes. Needless to say, this was very suspicious.

• 38:38Rasha Pecoraro?

  But the lawyer insisted everything was legally binding and there was no way to dispute the inheritance. So, when Antonio Felice died the next morning, Antonio Coronel got everything.

• 38:54Yvette Gentile?

  Antonio's niece, Petronilla, was furious. Not only did she think Coronel disrespected Antonio's last wishes, he also cheated her out of her inheritance. And as the story goes, she was so angry that she put a curse on Antonio Coronel and his lawyer. It's unclear how she knew how to do that, if she was practicing black magic, or if she had some kind of innate power. "The legends do claim," she said, and this is a quote, "The one shall die in an untimely death and the other in blood and violence."

• 39:38Yvette Gentile?

  But Petronilla also supposedly cursed the land itself, saying animals that lived on the property would get sick and die, any crops that were planted there would wither up before harvest, and no one would ever be able to profit from the land. Then, after she uttered those words, she reportedly dropped dead herself. Apparently, whatever magic she was using came with a high price.

• 40:11Rasha Pecoraro?

  Well, soon her prophecy came true. Apparently, the lawyer was murdered during a dispute at a local saloon. And while Coronel was in possession of it, the land flooded. During which, there were weird sightings of Antonio Feliz and Petronia's ghost riding those floodwaters all the way down the mountain. There are also plenty of droughts and cattle deaths. Eventually, Coronel sells the land, but with so many rumors of the curse, he has no financial success when he sells it. After this, there are many stories of people buying or inheriting this land, just to face

• 40:54Rasha Pecoraro?

  one tragedy after another. To the point where it's hard to explain it all away. But, let's jump ahead to the year 1882, about 20 years after Antonio Feliz's death. That's when a man named Griffith J. Griffith bought the property. In 1885, he thought the land would be the perfect place for an ostrich farm. So he built fences and barns and then partnered with a prominent English naturalist to take care of the birds. The plan was to harvest the birds' feathers to make hats and feather boas. But they later realized that tourists would pay to look at the rare and unusual birds.

• 41:37Rasha Pecoraro?

  The problem was, Griffith had to deal with one disaster after the next. According to some sources, storms thrashed the region. Lightning strikes sparked fires, and when the hills weren't flooded with rainfall, they were drying up during droughts. Some also claimed that the ostriches were all unusually skittish. Sometimes, they'd stampede without warning, almost like they'd seen something no one else could, and it made them panic. On top of that, they reportedly kept having freak accidents or getting sick. The ostriches were dying in droves. And Griffith was losing money.

• 42:19Rasha Pecoraro?

  Eventually, he had no choice but to shut down the farm and lay off all of his employees.

• 42:27Yvette Gentile?

  Apparently, one former tenant and ostrich farmer who had leased the land from Griffith, took this very personally. Because one day, he grabbed his gun, marched up to Griffith, and shot him. The farmer then died by suicide right on the street. Luckily, Griffith survived the attempted murder, and in the midst of all this tragedy and violence, he realized his land was more bother than it was worth. So in 1896, he gave it away to the city. For free. And that is how it came to be Griffith Park.

• 43:08Yvette Gentile?

  But afterward, he became very paranoid that someone was trying to poison him. He believed someone else might try to hurt him, and he was especially suspicious of his wife Tina. For reference, there's no evidence his wife was plotting against him, but Griffith wasn't thinking rationally. They had been living all summer in the presidential suite of a nice hotel near Los Angeles. But before they could go to bed one night, Griffith drew a gun and shot his wife right there in the room. The bullet hit her in the forehead, but miraculously, it didn't kill her.

• 43:51Yvette Gentile?

  Instead, Tina jumped out of a window to escape from Griffith. She landed on a roof, and luckily, the people in the suite next to her called for an ambulance, and Tina survived. Though she was blind in one eye and her forehead was disfigured, Griffith was arrested and charged with attempted murder, but he only spent about two years in prison. Aside from the lenient sentence, Griffith seemed to be suffering constantly. The curse was hitting him hard.

• 44:28Rasha Pecoraro?

  Which would make it seem like Petronia's prophecy came true. No one has ever made a profit from the land. Many of its former owners suffered misfortune and often in very violent ways. Plus restless spirits continue to roam Griffith Park. People have spotted Antonio Felice's ghost on multiple occasions. Sometimes he's riding a horse on the trails. But witnesses also say he sits on rocks and laughs at people as they walk past him.

• 45:03Yvette Gentile?

  Legend goes that Petronia's angry spirit also wanders through the park every night. And she might never rest. Meaning her curse is still on the land, public property or not.

• 45:19Rasha Pecoraro?

  Maybe the weight and power of all that dark history has transformed Griffith Park into a spiritual portal of sorts. One that attracts spirits and causes tragedy to strike. It may also trap the restless spirits of the people who passed away in the park. People like the unidentified little girl who was left alone there. Rand and Nancy at the picnic table. And of course, the beautiful Peg and Whistle.

• 45:52Yvette Gentile?

  However, there might be a silver lining to this whole story. Peg dreamed of being famous. And even though she died before she could get her big break. Her name is well-known today. Peg may be the most well-known ghost in Griffith Park. People have nicknamed her the spirit of the Hollywood sign and the Hollywood sign girl.

• 46:21Yvette Gentile?

  In fairness, this probably isn't what she had in mind. But that's one of the reasons we're telling her story today. Because behind the accounts of creepy ghosts, inexplicable mist, and decades-old curses, there's a real woman at the center of all of this. Someone with dreams, ambitions, and who experienced a lot of deep-seated pain and loss. Someone who so wanted to be remembered. And now, she'll forever be tied to one of Hollywood's most iconic landmarks.

• 47:04Yvette Gentile?

  But Peg can represent so much more than that. She is a reminder to never give up on your dreams and to keep persevering through it all, through the ups and the downs, through the highs and the lows. Because your next life-changing moment may just be a phone call away. Stay hopeful and just keep believing.

• 47:43Rasha Pecoraro?

  This is So Supernatural, an AudioChuck original, produced by Crime House. You can connect with us on Instagram at @SoSupernaturalPod and visit our website at sosupernaturalpodcast.com. Join me next Friday for an all-new episode. I think Chuck would approve.

• 48:08Speaker 06

  When the nights grow longer, the shadows start to stir, and that can only mean one thing: Full Body Chills is back. This season, step inside original tales where every doorway leads somewhere darker, every stranger carries a secret, and nothing is ever quite what it seems. Each story takes you somewhere new, but be careful: you never know what might follow you home. So gather round, listen close, and stream Full Body Chills wherever you get your podcasts.