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Here is a recant of one of my favorite ghost stories.

“During the summer of 1946, Bob Slatzer met Norma Jean Baker in the lobby of Twentieth Century-Fox Studios. He was a correspondent for an eastern newspaper, and she was a young model trying to get work by making the rounds. They struck up a conversation and made a date for later that evening. Thus began a long relationship that led to their brief marriage in 1952. Even after Norma Jean had been transformed into the Hollywood love goddess known as Marilyn Monroe, they remained close friends until her death in 1962. Since her passing, many strange things have manifested in Bob’s life that have convinced him that her spirit is still with him. In 1973 he participated in an experiment that actually caused Marilyn Monroe’s spirit form to materialize.” – Brad Steiger from Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits and Haunted Places

As  correspondent, Slatzer had become acquainted with Anton La Vey, the author of the Satanic Bible … he also knew that La Vey had a fascination with Monroe. La Vey contacted Slatzer one night to tell him that an “astrological dark moon” would occur on Saturday, August 4, the same way it had eleven years earlier when Monroe had died. La Vey wanted to manifest her spirit and needed the assistance of someone who knew her very well in order to achieve it. Slatzer agreed to the plan and the two went to Monroe’s former home on Helena Drive after LaVey had received permission from the current owner of the property. The owner did not let them in the house itself but she did allow them to sit in the cul-de-sac that led to the property. They positioned their car against the house gates looking out with Slatzer in front driver seat and La Vey in the driver’s seat. The area was still and vacant of any people.  At 11:45 they began.

La Vey had brought several necessities with him – a tape recorder with songs from Monroe’s pictures  and penlight to read some words he had written. The recorder was turned on low volume and La Vey was reported to be either speaking in tongues or chanting. Slatzer’s observations were recorder in an interview for Hollywood and the Supernatural:

“About 12:15 AM, the night was still. Not one blade of grass was moving. The leaves on the eucalyptus tree by the corner of the house were still. All of a sudden, a terrific wind came up. The tree looked as if it were a hurricane for three to four minutes---nothing else on either side of the road was moving. Then from out of nowhere---I didn’t even turn my head or blink, and I have 20-20 vision---this woman appeared. It was as if someone suddenly set her there. She had on white slacks with a little black and white splash-pattern top, little white loafers, and I could see a shock of blonde hair. She started walking towards the car. I had goose bumps all over!”

Once Slatzer was able to control the initial shock, rationality set in. Had the whole thing been set up by La Vey as a publicity stunt? Possible but the thought ran contrary to La Vey’s character as he was intensely serious about his work. Plus La Vey was having his own set of reactions and was sweating profusely and insisting that they should both remain silent.

The figure of the woman began walking slowly towards the car and stopped about 30 feet away from it. According to Slatzer, “Anton had dimmed the music a little and finished  his chanting when she was about halfway to us. All of a sudden she veered off to our left. There used to be a big tree there, and she just stood there, almost as if made of cardboard, with a kind of wooden look, but the figure was highly recognizable as Marilyn Monroe!”

The ghostly figure seemed not to want to walk past the car but rather turned and began to walk slowly down the boulevard. When the figure was about three-fourths of the way down the street, Slatzer decided to follow it. As he approached her, the image turned, walked to the middle of the road and completely vanished. Both Slatzer and the ghostly figure had walked through a small drainage ditch about two and a half feet wide. Slatzer noticed his wet footprints had left imprints on the road but the ghostly figure had left none.

That was the night that Bob Slatzer became a “believer.”

RESOURCE:

Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places by Brad Steiger