I am a big fan of The Last Podcast On The Left, and recently I was diving into some unheard, older episodes when I got into one about supposedly haunted places in Hollywood. One of the places they mentioned was Dan Aykroyd‘s home, which the actor-writer-comedian-musician-radio host claims is haunted by none other than “Mama” Cass Elliott.
The LPOTL trio discussed several places, so they devoted not much more than a passing mention of the Aykroyd story — so I did a bit more digging, and it’s a fascinating tale.
The home in question is located at 7708 Woodrow Wilson Dr. in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. The six-bedroom place was custom built in 1951 by the parents of actress Natalie Wood, who first came to prominence as the child star of the original Miracle On 34th Street when she was just 8 years old. She was a pre-teen when the house was built, essentially for her. Her parents officially transferred ownership when Wood became engaged to fellow actor Robert Wagner. The pair were actually married twice — first from 1957 to 1962 (ending in divorce) and again in 1972 (ending with Wood’s mysterious death in 1981). Between the two marriages, Wood was married to U.K. talent agent, producer and writer Richard Gregson from 1969-’71.
Wood took a break from acting during the ’70s to raise her two daughters — one from Wagner and one from Gregson. She was making what would be her comeback film, Brainstorm, when she drowned in 1981 in the Pacific Ocean near Santa Maria Island in the company of her husband and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken. Officially, her cause of death was listed as “drowning and other undetermined factors” because there were conflicting witness statements. Wagner was even considered a person of interest in the investigation for a time. The trio were out on Wagner’s yacht Splendour at the time, alongn with the vessel’s captain, Dennis Davern. Wagner became a person of interest in 2018 because in 2011, Davern said he initially lied to police. He now claimed that before she entered the water, the couple had an argument related to her behaviour with Walken. Vanity Fair examined the story HERE a few years ago when a tell-all biography came out.
At any rate, nothing has ever been proven in court, and no matter what you believe when it comes to the supernatural, it’s unlikely the haunting of Wood’s former home is related to her death. She hadn’t lived there for more than 15 years. She moved to Beverly Hills and sold the place to Elliot (born Ellen Naomi Cohen) in 1965, reportedly for $174,500. Elliot was about to give birth to her daughter and wanted the place — overlooking Laurel Canyon near Lookout Mountain — as a home but also as a gathering place for her famous, creative friends. It was at Elliot’s home that Crosby, Stills and Nash met. She and Joni Mitchell — who spent a lot of time there — were matriarchal figures in the Laurel Canyon scene. Ladies Of The Canyon. There are scores of photos online of Mama Cass hosting parties with members of The Mamas & The Papas, Eric Clapton, Captain Beefheart and many others. Guests could write their name and phone number on her graffiti wall in the living room.
Elliot didn’t pass away at home, either. She died of a heart attack in her sleep in an apartment in Mayfair, London which was owned and offered to her by friend and fellow musician Harry Nilsson. Elliot had just finished a run of successful solo shows. And here’s where it gets weird: She was 32 years old — the same age that The Who’s drummer Keith Moon was when he died in the same room four years later. Nilsson was obviously spooked by all this, so Moon’s bandmate Pete Townshend stepped in and bought the flat from Nilsson so he wouldn’t have to be there ever again. Nilsson had owned the Mayfair flat on Curzon Place since 1972 and had it redesigned by ROR — a company Ringo Starr ran with sculptor/furniture-maker Robin Cruickshank.
After Cass’s death, Nilsson exclusively called Los Angeles home. He eventually bought her Hollywood Hills home — not so much for himself, but so drinking buddy Starr could always have a place in town. Nilsson did live there for a bit, though, before he moved to Bel Air. Starr began leasing 7708 Woodrow Wilson Dr. from Nilsson in 1979. In November that year, while he was hosting a party, a fire broke out upstairs when sparks flew out of one of the home’s six fireplaces. The fire caused $135,000 damage and destroyed some of the former Beatle’s memorabilia. Neither Ringo or any of his guests were hurt.
A few years later, in the early ’80s, Aykroyd and his wife Donna Dixon bought the home. Their experiences are partially what inspired Aykroyd to write the 1984 blockbuster Ghostbusters. Among Aykroyd’s claims are stories about a presence getting into bed with him, doors slamming, the piano playing by itself, his Stairmaster powering up on its own, things moving around on the counter and Dixon’s jewelry mysteriously moving. Aykroyd has said he’s never seen an apparition of Elliot, but he’s certain it’s her, and claims when he and his wife sold the property, they had to disclose that events took place in the house which couldn’t be explained logically or rationally.
In 2020, Aykroyd became the narrator of the Travel Channel show Hotel Paranormal. To mark the occasion he chatted with Yahoo Entertainment and got onto the subject of the Woodrow Wilson Drive home. “Something got into bed with me one night, I believe, when I was alone there,” he said. “The door was closed but not locked. And it opened. And I felt a chill and then I felt something compress next to me on the mattress. And what am I gonna do? I’m tired, I’d just come from work. There’s no one there. So I just snuggled up next to it and I went to sleep.”
Aykroyd further claimed his daughter saw a red-haired man and red-haired girl walking at the end of the hall. “One of our friends, an ex-Army boxing champion, scared of nothing, said he saw a huge black mass moving across the stairway. Numerous people said there was stuff going on in that house.”
I dunno. For starters, I don’t believe in ghosts. But if I did, I’m thinking that’s probably not Cass. My feeling is, ghosts only haunt places where they died or where they were wronged in life. Cass wasn’t wronged and, it seems to me, she only would have made predominantly happy memories during her decade on Woodrow Wilson Drive. It’s far more likely she and Moon would be lingering around Nilsson’s old flat (now totally renovated) in Mayfair. Not only that, but Aykroyd is far from the only person to claim to have experienced paranormal activity in the home. It seems Ringo’s family did as well. Zak Starkey, his eldest son, claims there were ghost children who used to play in the garden, and there were sightings of an old lady in a chair.
When singer Robbie Williams rented the house from Ringo for three months in 1991, Zak asked him if he’d met the kids yet, and further claimed, according to Mail Online, that “we used to play with them when we were little.” Williams seems to believe Cass’s presence remains in the house, and has talked about how the presence could be felt the moment he moved in. On the Alien Nation podcast, he said he actually tried to speak to the ghost — telling it he was scared and would respect its space if it would do the same for him. Williams also said on the podcast that a friend staying with him had a run-in with the ghost. This live-in friend came downstairs after having a shower and told Williams he’d just just had a conversation with “someone who wasn’t there.”
Adding to speculation that the home is haunted by Cass, Williams claims The Mamas & The Papas hit California Dreamin’ suddenly came on the TV — something which he said left his pet dog scared and unwilling to re-enter the room again during the remainder of their time there. When it was finally time to leave, Williams said some movers refused to go inside the house, claiming to have seen the spectre of “the old lady in the chair.” Speaking on the U.K. show Marley’s Ghosts, Williams said, “When I moved out, the removal men wouldn’t go in because of the old lady sitting in the chair. Ringo’s son, Zak Starkey, asked if I’d seen the children in the garden and the old lady. I never saw the kids but the old lady certainly kept cropping up.”
There are unconfirmed reports that British actress Renee Zellweger also rented the house from Starr in the ’90s. If that’s true, it’s not known if she had any strange experiences. In December 2008, Aykroyd and his wife sold the property for $3.8 million to Vacation actress Beverly D’Angelo. It had been listed for a little more than a month — initially at $4.2 million. Like Aykroyd, D’Angelo has chosen to embrace the home’s otherworldly inhabitants. In 2011, she appeared on A&E’s Celebrity Ghost Stories (Season 3, Ep. 8) to talk about the time she was stirred by a “skittering sound” as she was drifting off to sleep in her bed. She got up and went over to the mantle and suddenly her jewelry shot about and onto the floor. “That was absolutely freakish,” she said.
Other rumoured musical ghosts:
Buddy Holly | Clear Lake, Iowa residents claim they’ve seen strange lights and a phantom plane in the field where Holly’s plane crashed.
Elvis Presley | Some say whenever The King’s name is mentioned in the RCA building in Nashville, strange things happen. People have also claimed to see him on the grounds and rooms within Graceland.
Whitney Houston | Daughter Bobbi Kristina says she can still feel her mom’s presence and believes she turns lights on and off.
John Lennon | People, including Yono Ono, claim Lennon can occasionally be seen around the Dakota, and outside the historic building’s entrance where he was murdered.
Liberace | Tivoli Gardens, the restaurant that Liberace owned and designed, has been the scene of occasional sightings of Lee looking into windows from outside.
Gram Parsons | The singer-songwriter and former member of The Flying Burrito Brothers died of a drug overdose in Room 8 of the Joshua Tree Inn in 1973. There are special tours of the room, which you can stay in and try to commune with the departed Grievous Angel.
Sid & Nancy | Nancy Spungen is said to haunt Room 100 of New York’s Hotel Chelsea, where her boyfriend Sid Vicious was accused of stabbing her to death months before his own death from a drug overdose while out on bail. Unlike Parsons’ hotel room, Chelsea management had the room demolished and the space incorporated into another adjacent room to discourage fans from coming to look.
Hank Williams | The country legend is said to haunt the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, where the Grand Ole Opry used to be held. Staff claim to have seen him backstage and a mysterious white mist on the stage. Others claim Williams haunts the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tenn., where he spent his last night.
Patsy Cline | Also supposedly spotted around the Ryman Auditorium.
• • •
Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
