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(#9) Albert Dekker
Albert Dekker is best known for appearing in East of Eden and The Wild Bunch, but his passing in 1968 made him an unfortunate part of Hollywood history. On May 5 of that year, his fiancée, Love Boat creator Jeraldine Saunders, found Dekker bound and gagged in his bathtub, his body covered in cryptic phrases.
The Tragical History Tour takes curious viewers by the home and explains Dekker's demise. Once, the woman who owned the house even let a tour come in and look around. Company owner Scott Michaels told LA Mag:
Once we went to the location... The woman who lives there now let us into her apartment for 50 bucks. Later we saw her on a reality show, chewing her own hair. I love LA.
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(#12) The Viper Room
This stop on the Tragical History Tour takes curious onlookers to the Viper Room, the club where River Phoenix spent his final moments. Tourists can even see the pay phone where Joaquin Phoenix called 911 on October 31, 1993.
Phoenix passed from an overdose shortly after stopping by the club. His girlfriend, Samantha Mathis, says they were only stopping by to say hello to some people but ended up sticking around because some of Phoenix's friends wanted him to sit in with their band.
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(#5) Jayne Mansfield
- Actor
The most popular artifact at Dearly Departed's museum is the Buick Electra in which Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield met her end. She and her boyfriend were driving the car one night in 1967 when they collided with a tractor-trailer.
It was reported that Mansfield's head was removed, although that's an urban legend - her wig was mistaken for her head in press photos. The owner of the museum was offered a chance to take the car off the hands of its private owner, and he jumped at the chance to claim it. The purchase of the car is what inspired him to move into a larger space.
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(#11) Rock Hudson
On October 2, 1985, actor Rock Hudson passed from AIDS-related complications while in hospice care in his home in Beverly Hills. His passing brought new visibility to the disease.
The Dearly Departed Museum has Hudson's Rolodex, featuring the full names, numbers, and addresses of all the actor's associates; they also have the bed in which he passed.
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(#15) Divine
- Actor
Before filming a guest spot on Married with Children on May 7, 1988, Divine - drag queen extraordinaire and creative partner to John Waters - passed in his sleep from an enlarged heart in Room 261 of the Regency Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. The door stayed in the hotel for nearly another two decades until the building was demolished.
If you see the door in person, you'll see a plaque with some information about Divine's passing and the date of the Regency's demise - December 2007. Lisa Burks, Walter Acuna, and Brian Eilander are thanked on the door’s plaque, though it’s unclear if they handed over the door or simply facilitated the door’s movement from hotel to showroom.
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(#8) Charles Manson
- Band/Musician
The Manson Family is a grim part of the DNA of Los Angeles, and the Dearly Departed Museum has a collection of strange and harrowing ephemera from the cult that ended the free love era. Not only do they have their Helter Skelter Tour, but they also have an entire collection of Manson-related items.
Some of the more significant pieces in the Manson collection are a funeral pamphlet and flower from the open casket service prior to Charles Manson's cremation. The pamphlet features two quotes from the Bible, John 15:13 and Philippians 4:13. Dearly Departed founder Scott Michaels hasn't publicly stated who donated the pamphlet and flower.
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Food tours or leisure tours are great, but sometimes people are always curious about things that really deviate from the norm. The dearly departed tours and museum is a guided bus tour in Los Angeles, which caters to the sick curiosity of many people. Famous attractions include photos of crime scenes, creepy 911 calls, memorabilia of deaths, and visits to the places where celebrities died, and even a three-and-a-half-hour trip to Helter Skelter, which traces the death of Charles Manson.
If you have the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles, you are sure to be interested in this must-see tourist route. The random tool lists 15 of the most creepy sights through the dearly departed tours that you should not miss.
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