The full story of the Harlow/Bern House is featured in episode 3 of House Beautiful’s new haunted house podcast, Dark House. Listen to the episode here.
High in the hills above Los Angeles, nestled in the trees of Benedict Canyon, sits a 1930 Craftsman-style house that was once home to one of Hollywood's biggest stars. From the outside, its stone stairways, honeycomb glass windows, and towering turret make the house look as if it were plucked from a fairytale movie set. But the true story of 9820 Easton Drive is exactly the opposite.
Commonly referred to as the Harlow/Bern House, the home gets its name from the original owners, actress Jean Harlow and her husband, movie producer Paul Bern. The couple was married for just two months before tragedy struck—on September 5th, 1932, Paul Bern was found dead with a single gunshot wound to the head and a 38 caliber revolver in his hand. His body was discovered by house staff who, rather than calling the police, immediately contacted executives at MGM, the studio where Bern worked. Though his death was ultimately ruled a suicide by police, many—including some of Bern's colleagues in the film industry—believe he was actually murdered and that the studio covered it up to save Harlow's career. Whichever the case, Bern wouldn't be the last owner of the home to suffer an untimely death.
In 1963, the house was sold to celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, who a year later began dating aspiring actress Sharon Tate. Though the couple eventually split, they remained extremely close friends until, tragically, on the night of August 9th, 1969, they were murdered by members of the Manson Family cult. Sebring, along with coffee heiress Abigail Folger and her boyfriend, screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski, had been staying with Tate, who was eight months pregnant, at the 10050 Cielo Drive home she and husband Roman Polanski were renting at the time. And while the horrific events that night did not take place at the Harlow/Bern House, an alleged interview with Tate from the year before her death suggests a chilling connection to the home.
In 1970 Fate Magazine published an article titled "Sharon Tate's Preview of Murder," which included an interview between Tate and journalist Dick Kleiner. In the interview, Tate recalls an eerie encounter that happened one night while she was staying alone at Sebring's house. According to the story, Tate woke up in the middle of the night and saw a strange, little man in her bedroom. Frightened, she ran out of the room and down the stairs, where she saw a figure tied to the staircase with his or her throat slashed. The article speculates that the encounter wasn't just a dream, but actually, a premonition predicting her and Sebring's heartbreaking fate. Though Tate's family and friends vehemently deny that she ever had any such premonition, the article has to lead many to believe that perhaps the ghost of Paul Bern returned to the home as a warning of what was to come.
Although the current owner—who bought the house from Jay Sebring's parents in 1970—says he and his wife have never had any paranormal experiences while living there, the creepy coincidences are impossible to ignore. In addition to the unexpected deaths of Bern and Sebring, their partners, Harlow and Tate, two actresses who captivated Hollywood, both died at the young age of 26. It's the eerie details like these that make you wonder: is it a coincidence, or is this home cursed?
Curious to learn all the details of the Harlow/Bern House and why it's one of the most haunted homes in the country? Listen to episode 3 of our limited-series podcast, Dark House, for the full story and an exclusive interview with celebrity paranormal investigator and podcast host Bridget Marquardt, who tells us what happened when she visited the Harlow/Bern House herself.
