Haunted Hollywood Hour

Today on the podcast, we’re exploring the history and impact of the most colorful nuns that have ever existed: The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Much of the information for this episode comes from thesisters.org. I also cover the Great Folsom Street Fire with much of the information about my discussion coming from The Folsom Street Fire: Anatomy of a Sex Panic by Michael Flanagan . The Catholic...

Today we’re talking about Satan, ritual sacrifice, child abuse, power tripping authority figures, and moral panic. It’s the McMartin Satanic Ritual Abuse case! Ground zero for the satanic panic was right here in our own backyard, the coastal town of Manhattan Beach south of LA. This episode is heavily inspired by the podcast series The Devil You Know by Sarah Marshall, which goes in depth on the s...

Today, Judy helps me share the extraordinary tale of an enslaved woman who wins her freedom, the California free Black community who comes together to help her, the white authorities who --- surprisingly --- actually do the right thing when faced with injustice (the bar is on the floor, but these are some of the few white men in history who actually step over it) and how Biddy Mason went from ensl...

They were glamorous. They were fashionable. They could rock an absolutely fire smokey eye! They’re silent film stars! And many of them were gay men who loved other men and we are here for them. In today’s episode we’re covering two stories of gay men in silent film. One that’s kind of a messy story -- which we enjoy because we love gay rights and also gay wrongs -- and the second story is so fucki...

The story of LA’s coroners goes all the way back to 1850 when President Millard Fillmore signed a bill making California the 31st state of the US. In its 175 year history, the department that investigates cause and manner of death has seen countless murders --- many of them high profile, all of them with a story to tell. Today on the show, we explore what LA's Medical Examiner has to teach us abou...

The fact that Hollywood, California ended up being the home of motion pictures in the 20th Century was never a given. In fact, the motion picture industry in the United States came very close to not being possible at all in the early 1900s. So how did the movies come to Hollywood? And what were the circumstances that allowed American films to dominate cinema as an artform? Today on Haunted Hollywo...

Calese Crowder – arguably the worst person in Southern California (and that’s saying something) – is at it again. He’s a man who has been caught multiple times "sniffing women" in various retail establishments. And, as of July 22, he was caught doing it again. On this episode, I share all the details we know about the latest incident and Calese's sinister history. When will the public finally be s...

Exciting news from Haunted Hollywood Hour! The pod is preparing for an all new season with improved audio and even more episodes delivered regularly to the feed. But as we get ready to roll out more weird, historical, Hollywood stories, we need to do a lot of behind the scenes podcasting work. So, pardon our dust while you catch up on old episodes and expect all new stories after a short break. Pl...

Resurfaced from the archives, this episode originally aired Jan. 23, 2025. He was part of an ostrich consortium that failed due to an 1880s sex scandal. He shot his wife in the face. He was the embodiment of late-stage capitalism. Today, we're bringing you the story of Griffith Jenkins Griffith — the namesake of Los Angeles' Griffith Park. Historian Karina Wilson ( https://karinawilson.com/ ) is o...

Resurfaced from the archives, this episode originally aired Jan. 29, 2025. Love Wicked ? This guy probably inspired The Wizard of Oz . This story of a whimsical professor is also a tribute to Altadena, a city recently devastated by the wildfires this month. Andrea Antony-Morr is on the podcast this week discussing Professor Thaddeus Lowe who, after being a balloon spy (yes, a balloon spy!) for Pre...

This week’s episode is about Jack Parsons' second wife, Marjorie Cameron, who may actually be more interesting than her rocket scientist/occultist husband. She grew up in the room where her aunt died, was a weirdo in school, worked on secret stuff for the Joint Chiefs, had an orgy with so many people (including Bob Hope and a defrocked priest) and was a key figure in underground art/film and jazz....

In 2011, Michael Darnell Bell, a 25-year-old, is found by CHP officers in a car on the side of the I-5 freeway. It's 3:00 AM in the morning. His car is out of gas. The CHP officers pick him up and drive him to a gas station about 5 miles down the freeway and drop him off there. He’s never seen again. As we delve into the details, we’re gonna get some scientology involvement, mind-reeling clue...

This week, we’re covering another aerospace weirdo with connections to the Mojave Desert. He’s a rocket man, an occultist and a fan of orgies. This is the Jack Parsons episode with Ringa Sunn who is back on the show from Pittsburgh! And Andrea from Long Beach is back! Together, we’ll answer the question on everyone’s mind: did Jack Parsons and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard ever have sex? Info...

Today we're sharing the story of George Van Tassel who left a successful aerospace career to move his wife and 3 daughters literally under a rock in the middle of the Mojave Desert, where he communicated with aliens, held UFO conventions, and devoted his life to building a time machine. Helping me tell today's story is Andrea from Long Beach and Bel who lives in Texas! Research and further reading...

Today's episode is about a turn-of-the-century manhunt in the Mojave Desert that’s been told and retold by various folks over the years like a game of white people telephone… We never fully get the truth of what really happened, but I’ll do my best to parse through the tale of Willie Boy whose story has now been portrayed in multiple movies. Ringa Sunn is joining me today from Pittsburgh, and they...

50 miles east of Los Angeles, there’s a town of about 200,000 that was mostly made up of chicken farms and citrus groves in the early 1900s, but by the 1940’s its population grew when Henry Kaiser opened a steelmill. This is the location of Bigfoot phenomena known as the Fontana Speedway Monster. Canadian Tessa is back, joining me as we discuss the various encounters with the Fontana Speedway Mons...

We’re talking Bigfoot encounters in Southern California with Canadian friend Tessa! Because there's so many Sasquatch stories to cover, this will be a multipart series. Today's episode focuses on the Bigfoot encounters in and around Edwards Air Force Base, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Stay tuned for next week's episode where we cover the Fontana Speedway Monster! Want to support me? B...

Today we’re talking about the man behind one of the most tragic cult stories in US history — David Koresh who was born Vernon Howell and who went on to become the leader of the Branch Davidian religious sect, his life ending on April 19, 1993 following a 51 day stand off with the ATF and FBI who raided their Waco compound, resulting in the deaths of 86 people, 26 of those being children. Many peop...

Today on Haunted Hollywood Hour, we have a little astrological fun and find out our friend’s astrology, then match them with a murderer who has the same sun sign as them. In this case, Bel is an Aries. And I’m going to tell her the story of Daniel Wozniak — who is also an Aries. He’s an Orange County community theater actor who might be the stupidest murderer of all time. I’m going to tell Bel Dan...

Cahuenga Pass is where a California governor got part of his face ripped off, where 10 people died because of cursed treasure, where the Egyptians allegedly buried a god’s penis, and that’s just the beginning! Today we’re bringing you an episode about place, myth, people, history, and inaccuracy. The place we’re exploring is as intrinsic to Hollywood history as any film studio and it's a location...

Maila Nurmi became a cultural icon with her creation of Vampira in 1954 but she earned practically nothing for the role and struggled financially for the rest of her life. Still, Maila's story of ambition, struggle, friendships and fame remains an inspiration for anyone who dreams of making a lasting impact. Who was Maila Nurmi? Learn her full story from writer and historian Karina Wilson on this...

This is an episode that originally aired Oct. 29, 2024. New episodes of Haunted Hollywood Hour will be coming soon! Propaganda told those on the West Coast of the U.S. to fear foreign invasion during World War II. Something did invade the skies over Los Angeles, but it wasn’t an overseas’ military, it was something that remains a mystery to this day. What happened during the 1942 Battle of Los Ang...

This is a rewind of the episode we released on October 31, 2024. We'll be back with an all new episode next week! He lived for 61 years, building up his career in the entertainment industry, first as a dancer, then a manager, then an agent to successful film actors. But in 1964, Marty Martyn would suddenly succumb to an illness, perishing on Christmas Day. 40 years later, a boy in Oklahoma would b...

This week’s story is about defying gender norms in the early 20th century, leading a life of adventure and chaos, and experiencing all the joy and heartache that comes with committing to authenticity. This is a tale of woman who was forced to marry a Reverend when she was just 19, and when she wanted out of the marriage and was refused a divorce, she told her husband she was going to live on her o...

On New Year’s Day, 1970, a man claiming to be an astral traveler visited astrologer Linda Goodman in her room at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. He claimed that inside a hill next to the Cahuenga Pass, there was an ancient Egyptian burial chamber that held the penis belonging to the Egyptian god Osiris. So began Linda’s quest to scan and study that hill to find out if the astral traveler's story...