HODINI MANSION

‎2400 Laurel Canyon Boulevard.... on several occasions, it is said that at almost the exact stroke of midnight, people have witnessed an old carriage pulled by white horses dart out onto the canyon road from Lookout Mountain as though at full gallop.
reposting by christopher lissner/los angeles/antebellum corespondent



At some point in his career, the great HARRY HOUDINI, escape artist extraordinaire, entered into the motion picture business, relocated to Hollywood, purchased a lavish estate on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, and spent much of his time there. The house had parapets, towers, an indoor theatrical stage, underground tunnels, secret passageways, basement pools and a secret deep dark cavern where Houdini kept a locked chest with all his greatest secrets. To this day no one’s ever found it! The estate was destroyed in a massive fire in 1959, but Harry Houdini still haunts the site, roaming through what’s left, cobblestones, and decrepit marble staircases that survived the fire. Occasionally one can see his ghost standing alone on a staircase, still haunting the ruins of his old estate. His form can also be seen wandering the garden grotto.


A good story, but IT'S NOT TRUE.

Shortly after the fire in 1959 everyone started assuming that the house that was burnt to the ground was Houdini’s house. And although, it was magnificent, and creepy, and weird, everything Houdini’s house should be, it wasn’t his house. It’s all rumor. A rumor that seems to have sprung up in the 1960s, especially after the house stayed vacant after the fire ripped through the area.


Where did the rumor come from?
Well no one really knows, but there are two likely sources. The first is that the house did at one time belong to R.J. Walker. Again according to conjecture and rumor, Walker was apparently a good friend of Houdini’s and the rumor states that before his death, Walker bequeathed the house to Houdini. However, Houdini’s name fails to appear on any of the property deeds, invoices, transfers of title, etc for the estate. Course, this rumor keeps alive with people claiming, that Houdini lived and stayed at the guesthouse across the street, which was connected by an underground passageway. And others claim that he visited once in a while when he was working on some movies in the area. In reality, Houdini would stay at the ALEXANDRIA HOTEL, (downtown LA) when he was in town to perform his act. When he was in town to work on his movies, the movie studios often put him up as close to where they were shooting as possible. Even more, there has been no credible link established between R.J. Walker and Harry Houdini. And second reason for the rumor, Houdini’s wife, Beatrice, moved into the Laurel Canyon area after Harry’s death, ironically around the corner from the Walker Estate.



Other aspects of the story state that the previous owner, the wealthy owner of several furniture stores (this makes some sense as supposedly R.J. Walker may have been a wealthy department store magnate) had a homosexual son who got into an argument with his lover, and through him off a balcony letting him fall over thirty feet to his death. According to the story, this occurred at a party and the wealthy furniture store owner, spent every dime getting his son off. The house, now cursed, was sold to HODINI.


Rumor also has the property up for sale back in 1999 for a reported $1,777,777.77.
Seven is often considered a lucky number.

According to Dennis Hauck’s Haunted Places, Houdini’s mansion is located at 2398 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, near the intersection of Laurel Canyon Drive and Lookout Mountain Avenue.




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