Location:

The Harlow / Bern House can be found on Easton Drive, in Benedict Canyon.

Description:

This house is a two story, Bavarian-style mansion that has unique gutter spouts, which are life-sized, wooden carvings of various silent screen stars, such as Pickford, Fairbanks, and Valentino. It also has a lovely swimming pool. A grand wooden staircase connects the first and second floors.

History:

The mansion was owned for a short time in the late '20's and early '30's, by Jean Harlow and her husband, MGM producer, Paul Bern, who had a stormy marriage, which ended when Paul Bern shot himself in the head.

Some claim that the mansion was jinxed because of Bern's suicide. Two other people died there, drowning in the swimming pool.

First Story about the Harlow-Bern House

One man who didn't believe in jinxes bought the place in 1963, a popular hair dresser to the stars, Jay Sebring. He met and fell in love with a young 20 year old actress, Sharon Tate. They stayed together as a couple until 1966, when Sharon left him for her soon to be husband, Roman Polansky. Jay was a good sport, and considered Sharon and Roman his family. However, Jay and Sharon stayed very good friends, up to their murders at the hands of the Manson family.

History of Manifestations:

Right before Sharon fell in love with Roman in 1966, she was spending the night alone in Jay's mansion.

She was trying to sleep in Jay's master bedroom. Overwhelmed with an uneasy feeling of a strong unseen presence, she jumped at every noise, as she lay on the bed with the lights on. Suddenly an apparition of"a creepy little man" scuttled into the bedroom. Sharon recognized the ghost to be of Paul Bern, who totally ignored her, so intent in his mission to find some unknown thing.

Sharon quickly threw on her robe and left the room in a hurry, only to find a more frightening sight on the staircase leading down to the first floor. About halfway down the staircase, she saw a ghostly form, who was tied to the posts, with its throat cut. Racing past this ghastly scene, she hurried into the living room, trying to find where Jay kept his liquor, as she was feeling the need for a drink.

When she couldn't find anything, she suddenly got a strong urge to push on one of the bookcases, which revealed the sought after bar. Shaking with fright by this time, she poured herself a drink to steady her nerves. She suddenly got another urge to tear away the wallpaper along the base of the bar, revealing a solid copper base.

She then walked back up the stairs past the ghastly apparition on the stairs, past the creepy little man who was now pacing the hallway, back to her bed, where she crashed.

The next morning, she thought that she had had a terrible dream, but realized it all had happened when she saw the copped-based bar and the wallpaper she had removed.

Some entity, perhaps Harlow, perhaps one of the people that drowned in the pool, was either trying to warn Sharon or give her a preview of her own ghastly fate. In 1969, after she had married Roman, and was almost 9 months pregnant, She and Jay were together at Sharon and Roman's mansion. Roman was away directing a film. When the Manson family invaded the home, Jay died trying to defend Sharon, and Sharon suffered a ghastly death, like she saw on the stairs that night at Jay's home.

Still Haunted?

Yes, as of 1994.