Author Archives: Sarah McGrath-Deneault

Haunted Hollydale Mental Hospital

Nationality: self-declared "cholo"
Age: 22
Occupation: unknown
Residence: Compton, CA
Performance Date: February 26
Language: spanish

My friends and I were hunting for haunted houses and after googling haunted places in los angeles, we decided to go check out the abandoned Hollydale Mental Hospital in Downey, CA.

We drove around the hospital campus for a bit, and then decided we should probably leave considering all of the buildings were fenced in and we really didn’t know what we were doing. Then we pulled in to a nearby parking lot and saw a group of people get out of their car who looked about our age, in their early twenties. We asked them if they were there to check out the hospital and they said yes, so we asked if we could join. They were very welcoming (the four guys were drunk, and the one girl was clearly  their sober driver) and explained that they were there to “initiate” Cherry because it was his first time visiting this haunted place. According to them, it was tradition to run up to the main house, “where they kept the craziest of the crazies”, and touch the front door for your first time visiting Hollydale. We decided this was exciting and tagged along. The girl, Cindy, began to explain how they were from the area and that they heard stories about Hollydale all the time from other kids in school. She also told us the story she knows of why it was abandoned:

Back in the 70’s, there was an outbreak of Tuberculosis at the hospital, and their way of dealing with it was to get all of those who had not yet been infected out and then left the rest of the people there to die. That is why the whole compound looks as if everyone just up and left, because they did. They just closed up shop like it was the end of another business day.

Cindy told us that they had been inside one of the buildings before and they took a whole box of papers from beside a desk and it had a lot of old, interesting papers and files inside.

She also said that about a year ago, the town planned  on tearing the place down because it was costing them money to have policemen constantly patrolling and whatnot, but a group of animal rights activists wouldn’t allow them too because the site has become a breeding ground for stray cats.

 

“Iced”

Nationality: Indian
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 25, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

In order to “ice” someone, you have to hide a Smirnoff Ice somewhere that they would find it, and then once they do they have to chug it right then and there. Then they’ve been iced. It is said to be used to get back at someone.

“It’s a Hard Knock Bootcamp…..”

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Occupation: National Guard
Residence: Savannah, Georgia
Performance Date: March 13, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

My cousin in Military bootcamp for the National Guard in Fort Leonardwood, MO wrote me a letter, and in it she wrote the lyrics to a song that they had made-up in the camp, including her little annotations in parentheses:

(“It’s a Hard Knock Life” melody)

 

Hot guys we never see

Ice cream we don’t get to eat

Mountain climbers, 30x a day (an exercise that sucks)

Then it’s back to scrubbing this bay…

-It’s a hard knock life-

Have to hold our cups to our chests

Always told we look a mess

Holy crap private, front leaning rest (down to pushup position)

You’ll never pass your PT test..

-It’s a hard knock life-

Army Greens and MRE’s (“meal ready to eat”-packaged food you take camping)

5 minute showers and 2 second pees

Trail mix is always gone

Our bunks are always wrong…

-It’s a hard knock life-

We used to play beer pong

Now we march all day long

We always avoid going to the pit (where you get “smoked” with PT)

In formation we aren’t allowed to spit…

-It’s a hard knock life-

I used to do my hair

Now I don’t even care

We used to shave our legs

Gunna throw-up if we have to eat more eggs..

-It’s a hard knock life-

Stand in the freezing rain

Get frostbite, feel the pain

Fingers are broken and I wanna cry

‘cuz I gotta write a 5,000 word RBI (paper you have to write when in trouble)

-It’s a hard knock life-

I really hate to pack

My entire life in that small rucksack (nothing ever fits)

For breakfast we eat lots of cake (drill sgts call pancakes, waffles, and biscuits “cake”)

After a 20 minute run, it clearly was a mistake…

-It’s a hard knock life-

Ask a male to hold my gun

Then we had to drop as one (pushups- “can’t” talk to boys)

I tried to plead my case

But all I got was a “half right face” (position you move to before getting smoked)

-It’s a hard knock life-

People eating candy

Playing pool and watching tv

Boy I can’t wait until that’s me

Living life at AIT! (2nd part-advanced individual training)

-It’s a hard knock life-

 

The informant enjoys singing this song because it helps pass the time and it lightens the mood of bootcamp and brings everyone closer.

party man

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 5, 2012
Primary Language: English

There was a man a few decades ago in the Pasadena/Attadena area of California who tried Ecstasy for the first time when he was 13, and after that his life changed for good and his life became one of sin. He went to crazy parties all the time, especially at this one man named Zaraketh’s house which was at the top of this hill on a one-way street. Zaraketh hosted parties lasting for a week or longer, his house essentially becoming a nudist colony.  After Zaraketh died, he is said to have left his house to the homeless, so now if you drive up the hill at night, your car is swarmed by crazy homeless people.

a take on Gravity Hill

Nationality: American
Age: 21]
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/20/2012

In Attadena, CA there’s a place called gravity hill and if you put your car in neutral, your car will go backwards seemingly uphill, however it’s just an optical illusion for the hill is actually sloping downwards. Also, if you put baby powder on your windshield before doing this, fingerprints will begin to appear as if someone were pushing your car “uphill”.