Phantom Felines And Other Ghostly Animals - Gerina Dunwich 2006

The Phantom Carriage of Lookout Mountain Road
Other Ghostly Animals

by Gerina Dunwich

Up in the Hollywood hills, above the hustle and bustle of the city and not far from the allegedly haunted ruins of Harry Houdini’s old burned-out mansion, lies the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Lookout Mountain Road. It is an area of frequent ghost sightings. In the summer of 2000, I was hired to do tarot readings for a birthday party at a house on Lookout Mountain Road. It turned out to be quite a festive event, lasting for about six hours and attended by actress Fairuza Balk and many other people who worked in the entertainment industry. Around midnight, it began to break up.

After collecting my payment, I packed up my Rider-Waite deck, got into my car, and began heading home. Within minutes I reached the bottom of Lookout Mountain and then turned left onto Laurel Canyon Boulevard. It was at that moment that I spotted an old-fashioned carriage pulled by two white horses racing madly down Lookout Mountain Road toward the intersection. Oddly, there was no galloping sound.

The silent apparition lasted for only a second or two before vanishing into thin air. At the time I thought I had simply imagined it due to the fact that I was extremely tired and my eyes were strained from hours of card readings. However, I later discovered that other people had also witnessed the same thing at the very same location.

Upon further research, I also learned that this apparition was said to be responsible for a number of traffic accidents at the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Lookout Mountain Road. Apparently some drivers, upon seeing the phantom carriage suddenly appear, slam on their brakes or swerve to avoid hitting it, resulting in a collision with other vehicles.