| picture courtesy of danshollywoodtours.com |
Back in 1990, the new owners of the Pickfair Mansion, the home that once belonged to silent film stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks was razed to clear space for a small palace for actress Pia Zandora and her husband.
Pia Zandora? Remember the flop The Lonely Lady (1983)?
Yeah..her.
Well, back in 1990, she chose to demolish the house, stating it was necessary due to termites. Many people were upset about it.
Now 22 years later, Pia tells us really why.
It's been known that the Pickfair Estate was haunted. On several occasions, Mary and her husband both had witnessed the spirit of a a female servant. When the couple divorced in 1936, Pickford kept the estate, and eventually married Charles "Buddy" Rogers. After she died in 1979, Rogers reported being visited by a woman in a long, white gown that he believed was his deceased wife.
Rogers soon moved out, subdivided the estate and put it on the market. In 1980 it was bought by Jerry Buss who too reported spirit sightings. Now instead of just a woman in white, he now saw a male servant in the entry hall and a spirit carrying sheet music.
In 1988 the estate was put up for sale again, where Pia Zandora and her husband purchased it. The couple had promised to restore the home, but did not keep to that word. (http://www.businessinsider.com/celebrity-haunted-homes?op=1)
And the Hollywood community wasn't too happy about it. In 1989, against the protests and outcries from movie historians, preservationists and the neighborhood, Zia Pandora and her husband had the house torn down. On Celebrity Ghost Stories, Pia tells us the "truth" behind the demolishing of the Estate.
Her story tells about she and her children being haunted by this lady in white and it wasn't the ghost of Mary Pickford either. She claimed the ghost haunted them so much, they lived in fear. So instead of termintes, a ghost was the cause of the house being razed.
I'm not so sure that made it any better.
Watch the full episode to get the whole story...
What do you think?
Pickfair History- http://www.squidoo.com/pickfair
Thanks for the drop by,
I would have razed the house too, rather than be annoyed by ghosts. Why didn't they call 'ghostbusters'?
ReplyDeleteI love that:0) I just recently watched the movie again and am pretty confident those Ghostbusters would have done an even better job at demolishing the place than a bulldozer....remember the hotel and banquet hall:0)
DeleteAs I will never understand Mrs. Zandora's reasons,never being in her shoes or in the situation, I still feel a ghost is not a good enough reason to tear down such a historical building. No sense in really complaining about it now...what's done is done...but still:0) Thanks D.G.!
Hmm. I agree with DG--they should've called Ghostbusters. :)
ReplyDeleteBill Murray can come by my house anytime...I must confess, I loved that movie. IT was fun looking back at the very young Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver...I wonder if any of them regret doing the movie? I love it:0)
DeleteVery creepy. I'm really curious about ghosts and hauntings but would probably have a heart attack if I ever actually met one.
ReplyDeleteSame here! I love ghost stories, but to have an experience like that...I'm not so sure I would handle it well:0) Thanks Emma!
Deletei didnt beleive in ghost/way too disressing having to live in a house like that/and being stuck in that kinda situation/fuck that/here goes ,rented a room in a house with a supposed history the particulars arent important but long story short this thing whatever it was musta woke me and the dog up at the same time cause as soon as i opened my eyes the first thing i saw was the dog jolt in the chair,look into a doorway about a foot away,look at this thing,looked at me then got off the chair and left the room.i still have a hard time describing the actual incident but ill give it a try.it was a 6 or 7 form that stood in an archway at the bottom of the stairs near the front door of the house/id say it glowed but didnt light up anything around it/at some point it began to shrink into a ball like the size of a beachball and from there just faded into some mirrored picture frames on the wall behind it like it was never there in the first place/just streetlights shining/shadow through windows
DeleteDon't believe it was haunted, just her justification to tear down. Hope Mary is haunting her now.
ReplyDeleteYou *had* to tear it down??? Right, you couldn't just...oh, I don't know...MOVE? Idiot.
ReplyDelete