as Harry Houdini, was born in 1874 in Budapest.
He came with his family to the United States when
his father was appointed rabbi of the Jewish con-
gregation in Appleton, Wis.
aurie Jacobson couldn't not committed suicide, and asked
Houdini took his last name in honor of French
help but notice the smell. for a sign to prove it.
magician Robert-Houdin, and adapted his first
She had gone to a "tiny
That's when the horrible smell
name from "Eri" to "Harry."
and rather seedy hotel in started.
The consummate magician, Houdini had tricks
Los Angeles." Built in the 1930s, it
Ghosts, Ms. Jacobson explains,
that ranged from undoing seemingly fail-safe locks
had provided a temporary home to often are connected with the sense
to escaping from underground burial. He became
many of the Big Bands playing at of smell. Sometimes they leave a
the highest-paid performer of his day.
the nearby Palladium in the 1930s delicate trail of perfume.
Houdini died Oct. 31,
and '40s.
Author, TV producer and Holly-
1926, in Detroit. Since then,
In 1933, a double for wood historian Laurie Jacobson be-
author Dennis Hauck
actor Harry Langdon came interested in ghosts while
writes, Houdini's ghost has
killed himself in the researching her first book Holly-
been reported at his former
basement of the hotel. wood Heartbreak, , a 70-year his-
mansion at 2398 Laurel
Or SO the story went.
tory of Hollywood told through 31
Canyon Blvd. in Hollywood
For years, strange lives of the city's builders.
goings-on had been re-
Hills, Calif. It's an eerie,
"Hollywood is filled with mys-
ported at teries and tragedies, and often
desolate site that burnt
the hotel. ghost stories are attached to vic-
down 50 years ago. Houdi-
Laurie
when she tims of violent crime," she says.
Jacobson:
ni's ghost is said to make its
Searching for
Ms. Jacobson followed literally
spirits in
appearance in the garden
was re-
searchi
HollYwood
ng
hundreds of rumors of ghosts
and on a staircase, all that
her new throughout Hollywood for her book.
remains of the old mansion.
book, Hollywood Haunted, Ms. Ja- She brought psychics along while
Houdini also apparently has come back from
cobson went there with a psychic. researching, and made it a point
the dead to visit his apartment in New York City.
The
psychic felt sure the man had "never to take one person's word"
The brownstone, today a private residence, is at
278 W. 113th St.
No one has heard him crooning, but the ghost of folk ghost has been reported on the balcony, stairway and
singer Phil Ochs has been seen from time to time in an office" at the site.
around 60 Mercer St. in Manhattan, the site of his for-
mer restaurant, Breezin'.
Ochs was part of the famed family of newspaper
publishers. Julius Ochs (1826-1888) was a Bavarian
immigrant whose sons, Adolph, George and Milton,
rose to prominence as newspaper editors and pub-
hicago's most famous ghost is probably Al
lishers.
Capone. But visitors in search of spirits in
In the 1970s, Phil Ochs opened Breezin', a West In-
the Windy City may also want to make a
dies restaurant, in a building constructed in the 1880s
stop at the Jewish Waldheim Cemetery in
that had formerly served as a bank and Western Union North Riverside. Author Dennis Hauck reports that
office. He operated the restaurant until he committed the ghost of a 1920s flapper has been seen at the ceme-
suicide in 1976.
tery gates.
According to author Dennis Hauck, Ochs' "passive
In England, a friendly Jewish ghost is said to haunt
cent Of A Ghost
.
.
.
on a ghost sighting.
A native of St. Louis, Ms. Jacob-
son said she believe,s ghosts make
their appearance for a reason, It
may be unfinished business; or per
their spirits haven't found
their way to the world beyond; or
they may be here to protect loved
ones.
And then there's the:case ofOzzie
Nelson. Also featured in Hollywood
Haunted, Mr. Nelson's ghost re-
portedly roams his former haunts
because he simply didn't want to
take that train to the great beyond.
"He wasn't ready to leave," Ms.
Jacobson says. "And so he
stays."
To order Hollywood Haunted,
contact Angel City Press at 1-
800-949-8039. Books will be
shipped in October.
.
Here, There
and Everywhere
c:
the Lyric Theater on Shaftesbury Av-
enue in London. Her name is Nellie
Klute, and author Terence Whitaker,
writing in Haunted England: Royal
Sharon Tate: A warning from Paul Bern?
Spirits, Castle Ghosts, Phantom
Coaches and Wailing Ghouls, de-
Nellie's spirit delighted guests with stories about
scribes her as "a sprightly, elderly
behind-the-scenes theater life in the early part of the
woman" both "chirpy and forthright."
NS-
She had worked selling programs in century (she died in a raid during World War I),. Mr. C/1
Whitaker said. Later, "two theatrical members.of the* :
several London theaters.
group checked all the . details Nellie had Oven them. UZ.t
(N
and found they were all correct."
The Grand Opera House in Meridian:
An appearance by Sarah Bernhardt?
Ghost hunter and author Lorraine Warren has en-
CD
countered two Jewish ghosts.
She met up with one several years ago. The trouble <
started in church. Mrs. Warren began to feel uneasy, nn
then looked up to see her priest's eyes filled with tears.
ad