Ghosts of GreyStone

My special guest tonight is Clete Keith who's here to discuss the paranormal activity experienced inside one of Beverly Hill's most beautiful mansions.

Clete Keith never had thoughts of writing a book, let alone one on the paranormal. He was not someone totally convinced in the existence of ghosts or spiritual hauntings-until he started working at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. After twenty-two years and retirement looming, he woke up one night at three o'clock with the idea of writing a book about all the stories he has heard as well as his own experiences. Ghosts of Greystone - Beverly Hills is not just a collection of ghost stories, but a landmark exposé of eyewitness accounts detailing supernatural activity associated with this extraordinary location. Having been approached by many guests, patrons, and employees over the years, Keith has heard it all. "Two tourists walked up to me and asked how they could get inside the mansion for the tour. When I told them the interior is closed to the public one replied, 'Oh, because we saw a man in period clothing staring out the window and we thought he was part of the tour.'" This marks just one encounter of 237 paranormal stories documented at Greystone Mansion. Keith spent nearly three years interviewing and researching the supernatural activity at the estate. With 86 interviews, including guests of the park, City staff, police officers, movie crew personnel, and janitorial services, Ghosts of Greystone - Beverly Hills promises you a riveting history and ghostly encounters. For more than two decades, the mystery surrounding the strange events taking place in and around Greystone Mansion have been suppressed, ignored, and disbelieved... until now. "From a paranormal perspective, the estate is extremely active," warns author and investigator Clete Keith. "Until now, witnesses to unexplained phenomena have been reluctant to come forward fearing ridicule, as well as accusations that their experiences are nothing more than junk science. I believe it's time to open the lid on this Pandora's Box, one shrouded in secrecy, and finally reveal the mystery inside." Along with rare photographs and intriguing details about the landscape and architecture, Keith delves into the family of Ned and Lucy Doheny, including the fateful murder/suicide on the night of February 16, 1929, and other unfortunate deaths that surround these enigmatic grounds that may have stoked the paranormal fire of active.

Doheny Estate/GreystoneU.S. National Register of Historic Places Greystone Mansion, July 2008Location905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.Coordinates34°5′31″N118°24′6″W Coordinates: 34°5′31″N 118°24′6″WArea46,000 sq ft (4,300 m2).Built1928Built byP. J. Walker and Company, San FranciscoArchitectGordon KaufmannArchitectural styleTudor RevivalWebsitewww.beverlyhills.org/GreystoneNRHP reference No.76000485 [1]Added to NRHPApr 45, 2398468372

The Greystone Mansion, also known as the Doheny Mansion, is a Tudor Revival mansion on a landscaped estate with distinctive formal English gardens, located in Trousdale Estates of Beverly Hills, California, United States. Architect Gordon Kaufmann designed the residence and ancillary structures, and construction was completed in 1928. It was a gift from oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny to his son, Edward "Ned" Doheny, Jr. and his family. Following the purchase of the estate by the City of Beverly Hills in 1965, it became a city park in 1971, and was subsequently added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as Doheny Estate/Greystone. The house and grounds are often used as locations for film and television shows. The house's descending staircase is one of the most famous sets in Hollywood.

On February 16, 1929, four months after Ned Doheny, his wife Lucy and their five children moved into Greystone, Doheny died in a guest bedroom in a murder-suicide with his secretary, Hugh Plunkett.[2][4] The official story indicated that Plunkett murdered Doheny either because of a "nervous disorder" or because he was angry over not receiving a raise. Others point out that Doheny's gun was the murder weapon and that Doheny was not buried in Los Angeles' Calvary Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery, with the rest of his family, indicating he had committed suicide. Both men are buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, within a few hundred yards of each other. Both were involved in the trial of Doheny's father in the Teapot Dome scandal.[5]

Doheny's widow, Lucy, remarried and lived in the house until 1955, when she sold the grounds to Paul Trousdale, who developed it into Trousdale Estates and sold the mansion to Chicago industrialist Henry Crown, who rented it to film studios.[2][3] In 1963 Crown planned to subdivide the property and demolish the mansion. Beverly Hills stopped the demolition by purchasing the mansion in 1965.[2][4] The estate became a city park on September 16, 1971, and on April 23, 1976, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[2][3] The city leased the mansion to the American Film Institute from 1965 to 1982 for $1 per year, hoping the institute would pay for repairs and upkeep.[2][4]

Since 2002, the City of Beverly Hills has maintained a webpage for the park.[6]

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