One of the fun things about running a paranormal blog is discovering TV shows I've never watched so I can write about them. Last night's show was Paranormal Witness...I watched an episode called "Hollywood Sign Haunting; The Good Skeleton," and it was creepy! The first half of the show was about the "Hollywood Sign Haunting;" this particular incident happened in 1988 when four high school to college age kids (Christina, Alain, Brian, and Al) decided that they wanted to touch the Hollywood sign. They hiked up there in the dark, and decided to hike back down around midnight; on their way back, they saw a female figure heading up the path toward them...she was wearing heels and had a veil covering her face. Brian said hello a few times, but the woman did not respond and soon approached the four friends, flashing a terrifying skeletal grin at them. As they were running away, Christina slipped, and Alain saw the figure behind her, so he picked Christina up and ran. Brian and Al jumped the fence and drove away; Alain and Christina got separated, so Alain ran to his car and began driving away as the figure was chasing Christina...luckily for Christina, she managed to slip through a crack in the fence and catch up with Alain (but of course she was pissed that he was going to leave her there with a ghost chasing her). Alain did some research after their escape and found out that the Hollywood sign is haunted by the "Lady in White," an actress named Peg Entwistle who jumped off of the sign to her death when her first movie got a bad review.
In "The Good Skeleton," it's 1999, and Thomas, Yuma, and Azha Vuono have moved to Yuba City, California from New York. As soon as they moved into their new house, their normally quiet dog Bo barked at the garage for hours, but no one was there; he suddenly yelped and went silent (I don't like where this is going...), and Thomas found him dead in the front yard and assumed Bo had been hit by a car, even though there was no way Bo could've gotten out of his pen without someone letting him out. The next day, Yuma found daughter Azha having a conversation with no one; Yuma asked who she was talking to, and Azha said she was talking to Nick. When Thomas later asked Azha who Nick was, she drew a picture of a mutilated body. One day Thomas was exercising in the garage and asked Azha if she'd like to keep him company, but she refused to enter the garage because she said that a "bad skeleton" was haunting the garage and wanted to hurt them. Unexplained things started happening to Yuma...she woke up one morning with dirt all over her feet and had no idea why, and one night heard a voice in her sleep that was telling her to "come to the water." With no control over her own actions, Yuma walked outside and headed to the river across the street; Thomas woke suddenly, and realizing Yuma was no longer in bed, ran outside and found her in the middle of the highway after she had just missed being run over by a truck. Azha stopped being afraid of the garage, saying that Nick was a "good skeleton" who would protect them from the bad one; the family later learned from the neighbors that a man named Nick used to live in the Vuono's house, but he died in a motorcycle accident at the exact spot where Bo had been hit by a car and Yuma had almost been hit. Yuma asked her mother to perform a ceremony with her that would help Nick move on, and Azha never saw him again.
This show is creepy, and I can't wait to watch more episodes! I like how they have the real people describe what happened and then have actors reenact everything...very effective storytelling.
My rating: 8.5/10
Thanks for the recap! I just thought I would clarify a few things about it. The show took some liberties for the sake of their own definition of what was scary and creepy to us on the hillside. The spirit's face was not skeletal. She was actually kind of pretty. But, she didn't answer us at all. On the third request for a response, that's when she lifted her head, turned to us and yelled/whispered "Hello." The whisper sounded as if it was surrounding us. It was deafening and quiet at the same time. When we screamed and ran, we actually jumped through her. As we struggled down the hill, I turned to make sure Tina was ok, and that's when I saw the figure again, but just a couple of feet away. We were sliding and running down the wet and muddy path. She was standing straight up and having no trouble at all. When we got to the fence, I one hopped it and forgot to hold the fence door open for Tina. I left her for about 5 seconds to get into the car. I still feel really guilty about even that brief period that I left her. But the show dragged it out for drama I guess. However, Brian and Al did leave us. We all met up later at a diner and were speechless for about an hour or more.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't until 10 years later when I chaperoned our church boy scout troop on a campout that I told the story again. One of the kids said his mom told him about the urban myth of a lady in white at the Hollywood Sign. That same week, I hopped on the internet (very limited at the time) and found out all about Peg Entwistle. Her picture came up and I nearly fainted.
I was glad to share the story with the world after all these years. Up until now, I didn't think the world was ready to hear about it without chastising my friends and I.
Happy Hunting (Ghost hunting that is...)
Alain
Thanks for the info...it's so cool to hear from someone whose story was on one of the shows I've written about! Your experience sounds terrifying...I like reading about ghosts and watching TV shows about them, but I'm glad I haven't actually seen any. : )
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