George Reeves’ Ghost

Reeves as Superman

In the 1950s the actor, George Reeves was best known for his portrayal of Superman in the television series, Adventures of Superman.

Reeves died at the age of 45, from a gunshot wound to the head. He was found dead in his bedroom at 1:59 a.m. on June 16, 1959, in his home in Los Angeles’ Benedict Canyon. It was just three days before his marriage to a young socialite.

The cops ruled his death a suicide but others felt it was an accident or even murder.

Home on Benedict Drive

Reeves was a personable and charming actor that was liked by most people who knew him. But it appears he had a darker side.

Those who support the theory he committed suicide point to the fact that by the late 1950s Reeves was having trouble finding work as an actor after his popular series ended. It appeared he was to be forever stereotyped as the caped crusader.

But this belief left out two important aspects of Reeves's life at the time of his death. He had just begun a career as a Hollywood television director, and he had recently put his personal life in turmoil when he left his lover of several years—a woman eight years his senior.

George Reeves with Toni Mannix

His mistress, Toni Mannix, had bought the Benedict Canyon home for him. She became extremely jealous when Reeves dumped her for a younger woman-- Lenore Lemmon who he intended to marry.

Mannix, a one time showgirl, was married to Eddie Mannix, a former MGM vice president who was in good with the cops and had connections to organized crime. Hence, the speculations that Reeves’s death may have been a murder, that the police conveniently covered up.

Some point out that Toni Mannix had Reeves murdered because she was a scorned lover. But others feel it might have been her husband who did not like being shown up by "an actor." 

Lenore Lemmon

To add to the confusion, Reeves's state of mind at the time of his death was muddled. Lemmon told the cops one story—while other’s who attended the party she threw at the home—the night Reeves died-- conflicted with her account of what happened.

George Reeves’s death today still remains an unsolved mystery. But what happened after his death has been well documented over the years.

For over a decade, Toni Mannix had trouble selling the home on Benedict Drive. It quickly gained a reputation for being haunted by George Reeves.

People who believe the murder theory point to this reason as to why his spirit lingers.

One young couple who rented the home was entertaining guests one evening in the living room when everyone heard noises coming from upstairs.

They followed these sounds to Reeve’s ex-bedroom, where his body was found. This room that was kept neat, was now in complete disarray. The bed linens had been torn off the bed, and clothes were strewn across the floor.

When this group returned to the living room they discovered that all the drinks that they had left on the coffee table, were now in the kitchen.

Later, this couple discovered their German shepherd barking furiously at the door to Reeve's old bedroom. They watched as he cowered and slinked away with his tail between his legs. When they opened the door, they found the bed had been moved across the room.

Early one summer morning, around 3:00 a.m., they both saw Reeves ghost in his ex-bedroom. He was wearing his Superman costume. They moved out of the home that same morning.

After this, other renters claimed to hear a single gunshot in the middle of the night, as well as smelling gunpowder in the Reeve’s bedroom.

The young couple was not the only witnesses to encounter Reeve’s apparition. A film crew and actors making a documentary about Reeves also saw him standing in his full Superman attire in his old bedroom.

Reeves bedroom window.

At one point two sheriffs were called out to watch the Benedict Canyon home because there were so many complaints from neighbors. These reports included people hearing screaming, gunshots, and seeing the lights go on and off in the house in the middle of the night. The home was empty at the time.

These neighbors also reported seeing Reeves apparition standing on his front lawn.

Here is a brief video, about George Reeve’s death.

The Loss of Mark and Debby Constantino

Death is not a period but a comma in the story of life.

In happier times.

The paranormal community received startling and sad news this week. Mark and Debby Constantino who were featured several times doing EVPs on Ghost Adventures died in an apparent murder/suicide yesterday.

Debby filed for divorce earlier this month.

The two recently had arguments over money that ended in physical violence—in March Debby was arrested for scratching and slicing Mark’s arm open with a kitchen knife.

Mark and their daughter Raquel were arrested in August and charged with kidnapping Debby breaking her nose and strangling her.

The court let Raquel and Mark out on bond with the stipulation they stay away from Debby.

Yesterday, September 22, Mark went to the home where Debby lived in north Reno and shot and killed her male roommate and then kidnapped Debby.

Another female roommate alerted the police that Debby was missing.

The police went to Mark’s apartment in Sparks where he opened fire on them. They and the FBI spent several hours trying to coax Mark to surrender. When they entered the unit they discovered both Mark and Debby dead.

May both their souls rest in peace.

This is a horrific tragedy for everyone involved but as time passes I hope the Constantino’s will be remembered for the contributions they made to paranormal investigations.

I observed first hand how they conducted EVP sessions, which changed the way I do EVPs. I wrote a post about their unique method back in 2011, here.

Culp’s Ghost: Haunted Death Row

The old Allegheny County Prison in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania became famous in 1907 when the New York Times published a short article entitled, Murderers Saw A Ghost.

According to this piece prisoners housed in the jail’s “Murderers Row” or Death Row, were complaining that a prisoner that had committed suicide was keeping them awake at night.

Old Allegheny Jail

The Allegheny County Jail, like many of its counterparts of the time, is an impressive structure. Henry Richardson, a Boston architect, designed the prison in the 1880s. It took five years to complete, and cost 2 million dollars.

This fortress is a mixture of Syrian arches, French Gothic dormer windows, French Renaissance roofs, and Byzantine columns. Turrets and arches rise 300 feet above the prison’s massive walls. Today it is a National Historic Landmark.

A centerpiece of this design is a Courthouse tower, that is connected to the jail by a Renaissance footbridge dubbed the “Bridge of Sighs.”

This old-world atmosphere is the perfect setting for a haunting.

According to the Times article W. A. Culp was awaiting trial for the murder of his brother, in a cell on Death Row, in 1907, when guilt overcame him, and he took his own life.

At this time, there were 14 other men being held on Death Row in the Allegheny jail. Shortly after Culp’s death, these men began to complain that they were being kept awake all night.

They stated the cause for this was Culp’s ghost. He was visiting them in the row each night and keeping them awake until daybreak when his spirit would then disappear.

At first, their complaints were ignored but these men were so vehement about this ghostly harassment, that the warden at the time—a man by the name of Lewis was forced to move all 14 prisoners to another part of the jail.

This evidently worked for Culp’s ghost then left these men alone.

The article relaying this information was published in the New York Times newspaper on September 15, 1907, as an exclusive. It can be read here.

Another article published in the Times also focuses upon a haunting. This ghostly activity happened in Sag Harbor in 1895—it can be read here.

The Paul Bern-Jean Harlow House

Jean Harlow

Howard Hughes helped the young starlet Jean Harlow shoot to fame in Hollywood in the 1930s. He hired her to be the star of Hell’s Angels that was being converted to a talking picture.

Harlow quickly became Hollywood’s original “Blonde Bombshell.” On film, she eluded a smooth, sexy attitude.

Jean, who never dated her fellow actors, shocked the Hollywood community when she became romantically involved with Paul Bern, an MGM executive. Bern was short, slight of build and 22 years her senior.

Paul Bern and Jean Harlow

In several accounts of their courtship it is stated that Harlow pursued Bern and not the other way around.

The couple married in 1932. Rumors began to spread that their relationship was a tumultuous one.

Just four months after their marriage, Bern alone at the house that he had given to Harlow as a wedding present, was found dead by the butler. Jean had stayed overnight at her mother’s house.

Bern's body

He was found nude and lying on the floor dead from a bullet wound. He had bled all over Jean’s white bedroom. His body was drenched in Harlow’s favorite perfume.

A suicide note was found in the bedroom. Later one employee, Davis the gardener stated it was not Bern's handwriting. Bern's secretary, Mrs. Harrison, said she felt it was a murder.

There was also a female bathing suit and two wine glasses left with a blood spot at the edge of the swimming pool--so it appeared Bern had entertained someone at the home after he had sent Jean to stay with her mother a second time in just two days.

Curiously, Harlow was not called to testify at the inquest into Bern’s death. Right after the murder, the police were told she was “too hysterical” to undergo questioning. 

Several accounts state Harlow supposedly tried to commit suicide after she heard the news.

The butler after discovering the body actually called MGM before the police, so the studio execs Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg arrived first to the scene.

At one point Mayer even took the suicide note--in an attempt to protect Harlow, but the man in charge of the studio’s public relations, Howard Strickling convinced him to turn it over to the police.

The official version.
Click to enlarge

Quickly, rumors spread that Bern had not committed suicide but had actually been murdered by his unstable ex-girlfriend, Dorothy Millette, who he still supported financially. She committed suicide after his death.

Was it a suicide, or was it murder? This remains a mystery.

Tragically, Harlow died just 5 years after Bern’s death in 1937 at the age of 26 from uremic poisoning. Rumors after stated that Bern had beaten her and injured her kidney causing it to fail five years later.

Bern-Harlow House

Subsequent owners of the Bern-Harlow house all have felt the ghosts of both Bern and Harlow haunt the place.

Sharon Tate

In one well know sighting Sharon Tate saw what she believed to be the ghost of Paul Bern. A struggling actress at the time, Tate was dating a Hollywood hairdresser, Jay Sebring.

Sebring had bought the Bern Harlow house in the mid-1960s. He was the real-life character that Warren Beatty’s character was based upon in the film Shampoo.

Tate staying in Harlow’s old bedroom awoke to see the apparition of Paul Bern. He was not aware of her and instead wandered around the room apparently in search of something.

She quickly left the room. As she walked down the stairs, she stopped halfway down. She was shocked to see Sebrings' apparition now tied to the stair rail.

He was bleeding from several slashes to his throat and appeared to be struggling to stay alive.

Jay Sebring

After this, when Tate and Sebring were murdered by Charles Mansion’s followers in 1969, many stated that Tate’s sighting was a premonition--a warning of what was to come--because when the murdered Sebring was found he was tied to a stair rail.

The Bern Harlow house still stands. It is located at 9820 Eastern Drive in Benedict Canyon, Beverly Hills.

The following brief video talks about the Bern-Harlow, Tate-Sebring stories, and the hauntings.

An Angel’s Sign

They come to you or me,

In our darkest hours.

I believe there are

Angels among us.

This is a compelling first person account of a teenagers encounter with a Guardian Angel.

These days when I encounter someone who is skeptical about the idea that Guardian Angels exist I just smile and don’t argue.

As a teen I experienced more than the usual angst that is associated with this time in one’s life. I was depressed most of the time and was good at hiding this fact from my family and friends.

Afterwards I was diagnosed with clinical depression and received professional help but at the time I just thought my feelings were normal.

At the age of 17 my thoughts dangerously turned toward suicide. At the time I did not realize how serious my problem was. I spend a lot of time reading alone in my room.

I didn’t realize how isolated I had become from others during this time-I realize now that this was not a healthy choice.

One evening reading in my room thoughts of hopelessness swept over me--one thought persisted--there was a way I could end my pain.

A darkness then took hold of me. Feeling I had no other way out I calmly decided to end my life.

Mindlessly I went through the motions of my normal routine, I placed my homework in my backpack and then picked up a book and lay on my bed.

I turned my radio on expecting to hear my favorite station but instead all I heard was a loud blast of static. I always kept it tuned to my favorite station so this startled me.

I turned the knob in search of a station but there was only static.

I then heard a female voice singing “Don’t give up.” I had never heard this song before. I then heard this same voice state my name over and over again.

The next morning I realized that what I heard had kept me from following through with my dark plan.

The next time I turned my radio on my favorite station began to play.

Shortly after this, I sought help and was able to see my life from a different perspective.

I believe what I heard on my radio was not a coincidence. It was a Guardian Angel sent to help me.

I have spent my life canceling others and I often hear similar stories to my own.

Angel signs come in all shapes and sizes.

They don’t always appear sometimes they are just a sound.

Haunted Texas Governor’s Mansion

The fourth oldest executive residence in the United States is located in Austin, Texas. Several ghosts, two of them former governors of the state, haunt this mansion.

But the most well known ghost is that of a young man who committed suicide in this National Historic Landmark.

Mansion in 1860s

A Rejected Suitor

This 19-year-old was visiting the mansion when Pendleton Murrah held the office. He was the 3^rd and final Confederate governor of this state.

This young man was visiting the governor’s mansion toward the end of the war when he met and fell madly in love with the governor’s niece. He proposed to this girl but she cruelly rejected him.

He returned to the small guest room located in the north wing where he was staying in this mansion and took a gun and shot himself in the head.

This suicide apparently resulted in his ghost being condemned to reside in this room.

Within a short period of time after his death witnesses started to hear wails and moans coming from this small bedroom. The activity became so pronounced that servants in the mansion refused to enter the room to clean up the blood-splattered walls.

As the months passed people noted the room was always ice-cold. Persistent banging sounds were also heard in the room--keeping visitors awake all night.

The next governor, Union appointed Andrew J. Hamilton, sick of hearing the complaints had the room sealed off. But rattling, moaning and gasping breaths continued to be heard.

A doorknob was seen constantly rattling to the point where the housekeeping staff avoided going into this part of the mansion whenever possible.

This strange activity continued into the 20^th century--when the room was finally unsealed. The noises are always louder on Sundays--this was the day the young man committed suicide.

Witnesses mention hearing these strange noises even today.

Two Governors

Both Texas governors that haunt the mansion are said to linger because of their controversies while holding this office.

Sam Houston

Sam Houston, a hero from the Mexican-American War had gained Texas’s independence with his attack on San Jacinto.

He served as president of the Lone Star Republic and then when Texas became a part of the states he served as a U.S. Senator until 1860. After the outbreak of the Civil War Houston was elected governor.

But he refused to pledge his allegiance to the Confederate States of America. He had been a verbal opponent of secession. Infuriated the Texas Legislature discharged him of his duties.

Houston died in Huntsville, Texas in 1863.

Pendleton Murrah, related to the young man who committed suicide, like Sam Houston departed from Austin before his term was up.

Pendleton Murrah

In 1850 suffering from Tuberculosis he moved to Texas for the dry climate. He ran for the office of the governor in 1863.

The demands of leading Texas’s efforts during the Civil War took a huge toll on Murrah’s health. When it became apparent that Union Troops were about to occupy Texas, he stepped down and fled with other Confederate leaders to Mexico.

He died in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Mexico in 1865.

Ghostly Activity

Pendleton Murrah’s apparition has been seen since his death both inside and outside the governor’s mansion.

Sam :Houston's Bed

Sam Houston’s ghost haunts the bedroom in the mansion that he occupied while governor. This bedroom still has the 4-poster mahogany bed, which he used. *

His apparition has been seen on several occasions. When spoken to he just disappears. His shadow has been seen lurking in a corner of this room.

In the mid 1980s Governor Mark White’s wife and daughter felt strongly Houston’s ghost haunts this room.

The governor’s daughter Elizabeth stated that the room across from her parents--Houston’s old bedroom--frightened her so she would not enter it.

First Lady Linda Gale White had several experiences that she attributed to Houston’s ghost. Awake late one night she noticed that the light in Houston’s bedroom above his portrait had been left on.

She entered the room and turned it off. The next morning she discovered the bedroom’s door was wide-open and the light was on again.

On another night she turned this same light off several times but each time it would almost immediately turn back on.

* This mahogany bed was one of the valuable items that were saved when an arsonist set the Texas Governor’s Mansion on fire in 2008.

Mansion after fire then restored.

Canada’s Haunted Hockey Hall of Fame

This ornate building in Toronto that houses the Hall of Fame was used for over 100 years as a branch of the Bank of Montreal.

For the past 60+ years a ghost known as Dorothy has haunted this building. There have been numerous books and articles written about this female ghost with countless witness reports.

One popular backstory has been circulated for years as to why Dorothy haunts this building.

It was believed by many that Dorothy was a teller at the bank. She became involved in an affair with the branch manager--a married man. Later, when this romance soured this man jilted her. She then committed suicide on the upper floor of the bank in the mid 1900s.

A newspaper article written by The Star in 2009 revealed their research about this well known haunting.

They discovered the popular backstory about Dorothy was actually true.

The Ghost of Dorothea Mae Elliott

Dorothea was only 19 year-old when she shot herself early one morning in 1953. She was transported to St. Michaels’s Hospital where she died later.

Dorothea was orphaned at the age of 9 when both her parents died within a few years of each other.

Employees that worked with Dorothea at the bank remember her fondly. She was a popular colleague who was bubbly and beautiful. Her looks were compared to a Hollywood star of the time--Rita Hayworth.

One female employee noted that she was tall and buxom, sophisticated and well liked by the men. This same employee noted that the morning Dorothea committed suicide her blue dress appeared to be wrinkled and untidy.

Finding herself rejected by this branch manager Dorothea took a .38 caliber revolver from a drawer it was kept in at the bank and went to the 2^nd floor women’s washroom where she shot herself.

Since her death, there have numerous reports of strange activity occurring in this building--first when it was still the bank and later when it became the location for Canada’s Hockey Hall of Fame.

An Active Haunting

For many years staff and employees have refused to be in this building after 6:00 p.m. Most refuse to go up to the second floor.

Common activity reported includes: cold spots, lights flickering on and off and doors opening and shutting without cause.

Other reports include: hearing moans and screams throughout the building as well as people hearing footsteps.

Some witnesses state a phantom hand touched their shoulders.

One former Hall of Fame employee, Rob Hynes who was an events coordinator had a scary encounter with this ghost.

He was in a kitchen on the 2^nd floor behind the conference room when he got a strong feeling someone was watching him. When he entered the conference room he saw one of the chairs moving around. There was no breeze in this room.

He quickly exited this room when this chair headed for him.

One young male visitor to the Hall of Fame started to scream, “Don’t you see her, don’t you see her.” He stated that he saw a woman with long black hair walking through several walls upstairs.

In the early 1990s before the Hall of Fame was located in the building a musician by the name of Joanna Jordan was playing her harp for an event being held in the Great Hall.

She looked up and saw a ghost looking down at her from the ceiling. She had not heard about this haunting beforehand. In later years, when she visited the Hall of Fame she refused to go up to the 2^nd floor.

45 foot high ceiling

More Sightings

On the site Toronto and Ontario Ghosts and Hauntings Mathew Didier wrote about the Dorothy haunting. He at one time worked as a teller at this bank branch. His post solicited many comments.

One man who left a comment was an employer of the bank in the 1980s when it was used as office space for the bank's computer department.

He states that there was a lot of poltergeist activity and cold spots in the building when he worked there. He and his fellow workers did not share what they experienced at the time afraid of dismissal.

Because of the building’s history he and others did not like staying after 6:00 p.m. or going up to the 2^nd floor. They found Dorothy liked to play pranks.

He and forty other employees worked in cubicles on the main level. One day he left his desk to copy a paper two cubicles down from his. He was only gone a few moments but when he returned he found his space in disarray.

His desk was messed up and his coffee cup was spilled. He also found his filing cabinets were locked. None of his colleagues were close enough to have done this in the short time he was gone.

There are many more stories about sightings of this ghost on the research society site mentioned above.