Have you ever wanted to live in DraculaOpens in a new tab‘s castle? Well, if you happen to have a cool $3 million at your disposal, you finally can! Oh, but did I mention by “castle” I actually meant “fabulous Hollywood mansion,” and by “Dracula,” I meant “the original big screen vampire Count, Hungarian actor Bela LugosiOpens in a new tab“? If you thought I meant the real Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, well sorry to say that one’s not for sale. I’m also pretty sure that one doesn’t have either a gym or a hot tub, so I think Lugosi’s house is the better deal.
Thanks to the Daily MailOpens in a new tab, we’ve learned the beautiful, possibly haunted (!!), Tudor-style home in Beachwood Canyon—located just below the famous Hollywood sign—is once again up for sale by the current owner. Built in 1932, at the beginning of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Dracula star Bela Lugosi actually only resided there during the peak of his fame as one of the Universal monstersOpens in a new tab, from 1934-37. Lugosi would later fall on hard times and move to several regular, low-key apartments scattered all across the Hollywood area. And despite what Tim BurtonOpens in a new tab‘s excellent film Ed WoodOpens in a new tab might tell you, Lugosi never lived in a suburban home in Baldwin Hills—his undead heart always belonged to Hollywood.
In the decades since, other well known celebrities have lived in the home, like MiseryOpens in a new tab and American Horror StoryOpens in a new tab star Kathy BatesOpens in a new tab, and Two and a Half MenOpens in a new tab actor Jon CryerOpens in a new tab. But no matter which famous actors and actresses may have resided there, the house is always referred to by its original famous owner’s name, and is called “The Lugosi Manor” (or Castle La Paloma) to this very day.
Remember when we said it was possibly haunted up there before? Well, according to some, Lugosi’s spirit still resides there. Psychic Sylvia Browne—who should be familiar to anyone who grew up watching The Montel Williams Show in the ’90s—once did a paranormal investigation in the home and said she encountered Lugosi’s ‘earthbound spirit’ in one of the rooms, where he rested in a wooden casket, wrapped in his signature Dracula cape. He looked into Browne’s eyes and said: ‘You weren’t invited.’ Yeah, sounds like nonsense to me too, but you never know…Lugosi was buried in his Dracula cape.
Although the home has been updated with modern fixtures many times since it was originally built, many of the original features remain intact. You can see photos of the home, as well as random video shots of the exterior, in the video below.
Would you live in Lugosi’s (maybe haunted) mansion? Let us know down below in the comments.
Images: Universal Studios
