For Brad Pitt, life after his high-profile divorce from Angelina Jolie just keeps getting more and more interesting. As the A-lister continues to face off with his equally famous ex in court (they are engaged in a legal battle over their French wine estate and the custody of their six children), Pitt has also busied himself with a variety of Hollywood projects, acting in films such as Ad Astra and The Lost City while also producing others like the upcoming Marilyn Monroe movie Blonde for Netflix.Meanwhile, when he’s not working, it seems Pitt just likes to kick back at his Craftsman home in Los Feliz. And while that may sound relaxing to many, there’s reason to believe that the actor’s primary residence is haunted.
Brad Pitt’s House Has A Dark Hollywood History
Pitt’s Craftsman home is also known as the Briarcliff Manor, and it has always had special meaning to the actor. This, after all, is the house that has been with him almost since the beginning. “This was the first place I bought when I made some money in ’94,” Pitt revealed. Since moving in, he’s also done a great deal of restoration work throughout the home.
“It was really run-down and dilapidated,” the actor recalled. “I lived here for a few years, then I bounced around everywhere, just let friends crash here, and then somewhere in the aughts I fixed it up. Been pretty much hiding out here.”
Over the years, the actor also added some features to the sprawling 5,600-square foot property that would appeal to his children. Aerial footage of the property revealed a skatepark and a bouncy castle.
Originally built for an oil baron back in 1910, Pitt had purchased Briarcliff Manor from another famous Hollywood star, Cassandra Peterson who is best known for her onscreen role as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
Prior to the actress, Star Wars star Mark Hamill lived in Briarcliff Manor during the '60s. However, he moved out after his roommate committed suicide there. The house was also the site of a suspicious death in the past after a Ziegfeld Follies was discovered dead in the pool.
There Have Been Some Reported Hauntings In Briarcliff Manor
Years before the Briarcliff Manor was sold to Pitt, Peterson was eager to settle down with her husband, Mark Pierson, in the home. The actress first spotted the 21-room mansion by chance was walking her dogs and was immediately drawn to it.
Little did she know back then that the home she just purchased was harboring some secrets. And as Peterson herself recalled, “Things got strange the very first day we moved into Briarcliff Manor.”
Indeed, the encounters began almost soon as they settled in. As the house was huge and Peterson has not had a chance to explore the third floor, the actress instructed the movers not to bring boxes all the way up there just yet. But then, it almost seemed like they did.
“I go up, I'm unpacking boxes, and I hear these footsteps across the ceiling like clump, clump, clump, clump, clump, and then, clunk, clunk, clunk. I look up, and I could actually see vibrations as this person walked across the room,” Peterson recalled. “I go running up the stairs and say, "Hey, I told you guys not to…" and I'm stopped in my tracks. I see there's nobody up there. There was nowhere to hide up there. It was just one big empty room.”
After that, Peterson said that “more and more things kept happening.” “This included seeing ghosts two times very, very clearly,” she revealed. “I was talking to the d*** things like they were real people. And then they just kind of vanished before my eyes. Things went on and on there.” Peterson also revealed that she once encountered a woman wearing a 1930s nurse uniform who warned that she was going to “take” the actress’ husband “into the pool.”
It was also after experiencing these paranormal events that Peterson reached out to Hamill who revealed another shocking detail about the exact spot in the house where his roommate was found dead. “We were like, ‘Oh, my god, please don’t tell us that’…of course it turned out to be the master bedroom closet right across from our bed,” Peterson said.
After all the revelations and Peterson’s own experience inside the home, the actress had enough. “I got to the point where I said, I got to get out of here I can't deal with this anymore,” she said. “I sold that house to Brad Pitt. He still owns it and loves those stories. He was the only buyer that probably would have really gotten it for that, you know?”
Has Brad Pitt Seen Ghosts In His House?
While it doesn’t seem like Pitt has had any paranormal experience in his home, the actor has admitted to feeling some heaviness when making his way to the house. “As soon as you turn in past Santa Barbara, I feel it coming,” Pitt explained. “The shoulders start getting a little higher, and I feel it.”
For the moment, it seems Pitt doesn’t know how to deal it with it too. And so, in the meantime, he’s willing to just let things be. “I’m not quite sure what that is and how to contend with it just yet.”