Neve Campbell’s Former Haunted House

I love a good haunted house, especially at this time of year.  One owned by a celebrity is even better.  One owned by the star of my favorite horror film of all time?  Well, I can’t think of anything more thrilling – or more perfectly suited to my annual October postings.  So when I came across a mention of a ghost-inhabited pad formerly belonging to the Scream Queen herself, Miss Neve Campbell, in the book Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites (written by my buddy E.J. Fleming, from the Movieland Directory website), I just about came unglued and promptly added the place to my To-Stalk List.  Identifying the residence in person wound up taking quite a bit of legwork once I finally got out there, though, thanks to a mysterious and misleading address placard.  But more on that in a bit.

Per Berg Properties, Neve purchased the 3-bedroom, 4-bath, 2,347-square-foot home at 8875 Wonderland Avenue in 1996 for $745,000.  Upon moving into the dwelling with then husband Jeff Colt that summer, shortly after wrapping production on the first Scream installment, Campbell, a classically-trained ballerina, installed a dance studio on the premises.  Other amenities included a pool, a spa, a 0.17-acre lot, and plenty of privacy thanks to a large amount of foliage surrounding the perimeter.  Of the purchase, the excited actress told Detour magazine, “I just moved into my first house with Jeff Colt and we’re very, very excited.  It’s in the Hollywood Hills . . . all of a sudden I’m obsessed about houses and furniture.  I walk around the Party of Five set thinking, ‘That’s a nice table.’”

Things weren’t all sunshine and roses, though.  As author Elina Furman explains in her 2000 book Neve Campbell: An Unauthorized Biography, the star awakened one night “after sensing what she believed to be the presence of a young woman’s ghost.  Concluding that her new house was haunted, Neve dubbed her resident specter Madame X.  The story got even more interesting when she discovered that a twenty-two-year-old maid had been brutally murdered in the house in 1991.  The domestic was working for a mystery writer when a delivery man entered the home and committed the crime.  Years later, the furnace in Campbell’s house would turn off and on by itself and the lights would dim of their own accord.  Unwilling to be frightened out of her new home, Neve made friends with the spirit, much as her character in The Canterville Ghost had befriended Simon de Canterville.  She now considers the specter one of the family.  ‘She’s cool.  I’m cool.  We don’t bug each other, so it’s all right,’ she confirmed to Detour in March 1998.”

The actress also talked about the haunting during her 2011 press tour for Scream 4 (though she mentions living in the home with friends and not her ex-husband).  As she told Daily Mail, “I know that ghosts exist because I'”‘”‘ve seen one.  A few years ago I moved into a haunted house in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, with some friends.  It turned out that it was inhabited by the ghost of a woman who had been murdered there in 1991.  Doors would repeatedly slam, windows would open and ashtrays would fly off dressers.  Then there were times when the ghost would actually walk into the room.  After a while it felt normal.  I'”‘”‘d pass her in the hallway and casually wish her good morning.”

Though I have no doubt as to Neve’s claims about the residence being haunted, I do question if a murder actually happened on the premises.  I cannot find a reference to such a killing anywhere – though searching for a homicide that occurred on Wonderland Avenue, or in the Laurel Canyon area in general, is admittedly difficult considering that almost every result kicked back has to do with the infamous Wonderland murders, which took place just down the street in 1981.  My hunch, though, is that the story is pure conjecture, a tale told to Campbell by a mischievous neighbor or perhaps a real estate agent with a penchant for the macabre.

Though I can’t say for certain whether or not a murder occurred there, one definite odd element concerning the property is its address placard, which reads “8909.”  When I first showed up to the corner of Wonderland Avenue and Holly Place, where Neve’s former pad was supposed to be located per both Google and my GPS, I was thoroughly confused to see the 8909 number.  Figuring both map programs were off by a few hundred feet or so, I proceeded to walk up and down the block looking for 8875 Wonderland.  I came up empty.  I was further surprised upon returning to 8909 to discover that its address did not coincide numerically with its neighbors.  I surmised that the number had to have been changed at some point, snapped some photos of the place, and headed home to investigate the matter further.

Searching Google and newspapers.com for “8909 Wonderland Avenue” and “8909 Holly Place” yielded pretty much nada.  So I headed over to the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety website to look through old records.  An inquiry into that database for “8909 Holly” also yielded nothing.  But “8875 Wonderland” kicked back a treasure trove of info, all of which assured me that the house I took photos of was not only Neve’s former residence, but that it bears the address 8875.  As you can see in the permit below, filed in 1990, 8875 is noted as being on the corner of Holly and Wonderland, right where my GPS said it would be.

Another permit I dug up from that same year featured a diagram of 8875 that perfectly matches the layout and placement visible in aerial views of the structure with the 8909 placard.

And a parcel map available on the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor website also shows 8875 Wonderland in the exact spot where the 8909 placard is currently hung.  Why a different address number is displayed at the property is a complete mystery, but what I do know is that Neve Campbell’s former haunted house is most definitely located on the northeast corner of Holly Place and Wonderland Avenue.

The actress sold the pad in February 2000 for $850,000 and it has not changed hands since.  I guess the current owner doesn’t mind having a phantom roommate, either.

Big THANK YOU to E.J., of the Movieland Directory website, for finding this location! 

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Neve Campbell’s former haunted house is located at 8875 Wonderland Avenue in Hollywood Hills West.

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