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BONNIE VENT’S STORY

In 2004, I was asked to film a promotional spot along with Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster, for CBS’s upcoming The Munsters fortieth-anniversary DVD. I had arranged for Barris Kustom to bring a replica Munster car—or Koach, as it was called—to be used in the spot but was disappointed when we found out that we couldn’t film in front of the old Munster house because of filming already scheduled.

On the day of the shoot, we were escorted to what is called Mediterranean Square. I had been getting a surreal feeling from the moment I set foot on the lot, but now, in this location, it amped up to another level. Once the interview started, we all had to remain silent or mess up the shoot, so that is what we did. The publicist was standing next to me, and we both looked up to see the shutters on a façade slowly open with the appropriate creaking noise and then watched as they slowly closed again. My first thought was that being on the back lot they had been rigged to do that; however, looking over at the publicist and seeing his eyes wide, staring at the façade, I knew something wasn’t right. The director yelled “cut,” and the publicist turned to me and asked, “What the f… was that?”

I said, “You mean it doesn’t just do that on its own?”

The publicist told me that the reason he chose this spot for the shoot was because it hadn’t been used in years and that the whole thing was nothing but a façade with nothing behind it. I decided to check behind the building, and sure enough, it was empty, just the back side of the façade.

We didn’t have time to ponder what we had just seen, because it was time for Butch to drive the replica Munster Koach around the square for the show. They had actually driven the car from Barris’s shop close by the studio lot and drove it out to the square so Butch could climb in. Butch was supposed to drive around in a circle until the director yelled “cut.” Unfortunately, Butch wouldn’t make it that far.

Butch Patrick made it through the first lap, but on the second pass, the rear driver’s side wheel came completely off. The tires are known as “wrinkle tires” and are huge. The car was driven over from the shop, driven onto the lot and checked out before being used. To this day, there is no logical explanation for the tire to have come off, nor do I have a logical explanation for the shutters opening and closing other than someone having fun with us.

After finishing the film shoot, Butch asked the driver to stop at sound stage 28. He explained to me that it was known as the “Phantom Stage,” because that is where The Phantom of the Opera was filmed. He also told me it had a haunted reputation. When we entered the stage, I was immediately greeted by the spirit of an English actor. He was trying to explain to me what he was doing there. He seemed very upset that talkies had been invented and felt they cost him his career. People do talk about a caped spirit here, but that also was the fashion of the day. I saw no sign of Lon Chaney, however.

The flash flood special effects still thrill guests more than thirty years after their creation.

We couldn’t stay long because the stage was in use, and we didn’t want to get in the way. But now that the stage has been torn down and the opera set saved, it will be interesting to see where the spirit person decides to go next.

On another trip back to the studio for an interview for the Hallmark show Home & Family, I went back to the Munster House. The whole house now looks very normal, with real grass and plants out front. It was changed for Desperate Housewives. But for someone who is a medium and channel, this was a very interesting day. The latent energy of all those films and television shows are soaked into the very fabric of the studio, and paranormal experiences from the back lot of Universal Studios abound.

Bonnie Vent is owner of Genesis Creations Entertainment. She is also a medium/channeler, a paranormal author and vlogger with numerous books and DVDs to her credit. She works with Amazon as a merch designer and is a web developer and content creator.