Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
........(does anyone know W.C. Field's home address?) 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Charles
Actually, I sort of do.
My buddy used to work for Christopher Franke, one of the guys from Tangerine Dream. Franke lived in W.C. Fields' former home.
I visited my friend there, but it was some time ago, probably the late 90s. As such, I can't remember the exact address, but it was in this area right by Lake Hollywood, I think on Wonderview Drive. Supposedly his next door neighbor was Ice T. |
SPEAKING OF OLD POSTS, the exchange above is from
February 2020. I got in touch with my aforementioned friend, and I was off by a whopping three miles!
THIS is
the location of W.C. Fields former home, which I mentioned in my post above:
Despite what I wrote above, Christopher Franke did
not live in this home, though he did
own it. The home that Franke lived in was one of the houses
above this house. Obviously, Franke is mega rich to be able to afford
two homes in this area!
_____
At one point, I explored the entire home for myself. There's actually a semi-interesting story behind my exploration. Go ahead and read it if you're bored!
My friend Laurence was in charge of Franke's fan club. He would go to the house, open the mail, extract the checks, and then send off whatever items a person ordered - things like CDs of the Babylon 5 soundtrack and stuff like that.
The “office”, if you can call it that, was the first room you entered into in the house... it might have been a converted garage or something.
Franke didn't care what time Laurence worked at, so Laurence would often come by very late at night after finishing his bartending job.
Laurence had previously told me that the old house gave him the creeps. In short, he was convinced the house was
haunted.
_____
So late one night, Laurence calls me on the phone, and he's freaking out. He told me he'd gone outside to have a smoke, and when he came back in, all of the furniture had been rearranged.
But that's not the part that really upset him. He told me he was downstairs, sitting at a desk and filling out the orders when
he distinctly heard footsteps running across the floor above him, ending with the sound of a slamming door! He insisted they were HEAVY, human footsteps, not the lightweight sound of a mouse or a raccoon.
So Laurence asked if I would come and keep him company, which of course I did! He's definitely not the type to indulge in practical jokes or pranks (I've known him 35 years now), so I was obviously intrigued.
Now I hope none of you think I'm a boring sort of soul, but I do
not believe in ghosts. So, bolstered by my lack of faith in the occult, I offered to inspect the house, on my own, in the middle of the night, lights out, just to make sure there weren't any ghostly creatures wandering about. In the words of FDR,
I had nothing to fear but fear itself...
_____
I examined the entire property, other than the two upper paths on the side of the hill. I did visit the observatory, which was locked; I didn't ride the ancient-looking elevator, out of fear of getting stuck in the thing - God only knows the last time that thing had been used.
The house was furnished, and not updated to modern decor. What was clear was that Franke never occupied the house, it was full of old furniture and trappings.
Laurence had asked me not to turn on any lights, as he was afraid that Franke might look down, see the lights on, and call the police. So I did my exploration with a tiny LED keychain light as my sole source of illumination. Not the super-bright, powerful kind you can buy now on Amazon, but rather a really weak, dim one. It was some kind of cheap, giveaway item, and it had CBS written on the side (which is where my mom worked).
_____
Perhaps the most interesting thing I found was this basement room, stacked to the ceiling with Franke's old 1970s era synthesizers. But that wasn't the most interesting find in the room.
Sitting on a shelf were several ancient, leather-bound guestbooks, from various parties and soirées, full of old signatures made in fountain pen. Sadly, I wasn't really into silent movies as much as I am today, and my memory fades regarding specifics... but the signatures were from the likes of people such as Charlie Chaplin, Clara Bow, Mary Pickford, etc, etc.
Imagine such treasures, just sitting abandoned on a shelf, covered in dust! I bet those books would be worth a million bucks! I'm not gonna lie, I really wanted to
STEAL them. Sadly though, my mother didn't raise me to be a thief. To make matters worse, this was the pre-smartphone, early 1990s, so I couldn't even take pictures of them.
_____
One of the most impressive rooms was just a large ballroom for dancing, no furniture at all, just a huge, square, empty room. Looking around, I figured
this place is as good as any...
I sat down in the middle of the floor, surrounded by nothing but blackness. And I said aloud
“Oh spirits and stars of the silent age, appear to me! Tell me your tales or give me some kind of sign! I am anxious to hear from you - awaken now and confide in me!”
Nothing happened. I know I said that I don't believe in ghosts, but like Agent Mulder, I
WANT to believe. Sadly, I was sorely disappointed.
_____
After examining the entire house, I returned to Laurence. He seemed relieved that I hadn't encountered any wandering spirits of the dead.
Laurence continued working there for a few more weeks, but after several further frightening “supernatural” occurrences, he tendered his resignation. And thus ends my tale of W.C. Fields' old, “haunted” house.
Sorry I don't have a more
noirish tale to tell, but I hope you enjoyed this bit of a ghost story!
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