Bela Lugosi was an actor from Hungary who immigrated to America in 1920.

He was greatly known for his portrayal of Dracula based on the Bram Stoker novel. 

His unique and incredible depiction of the monster still informs the way we imagine vampires today. 

Despite the wild success he from the film in 1931, he was often typecast which led to a rollercoaster of a career and financial strain in his personal life. In August of 1955, he moved to a small apartment at 5620 Harold Way in Hollywood, CA, and one year later, almost to the day, he died suddenly in his bedroom from a heart attack. 

Lugosi had a horse-drawn funeral procession that started at his home in Hollywood and ending at his burial plot at Holy Cross Mortuary in Ladera Heights, CA. The thing is, the horses didn’t take Bela directly to his final resting place. 

When the driver tried turning the horses to the right to go to the cemetery, the horse violently veered to the left, charging through a busy intersection to get onto Hollywood Boulevard. Terrified, the driver did what he could to make the horses stop. But they wouldn’t until they reached a cigar shop at 6423 Hollywood Blvd. It was the very same cigar shop that Bela had walked to every day before his sudden death for his morning paper and cigars. After a few minutes, the horses continued on to the Holy Cross Mortuary where Bela was buried in his signature Dracula cape. Seems like the driver wasn’t really the one taking Bela to his final resting place. 

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Intro Music by: Pete Byrnes

Story written, recorded, and produced by: Jen Curcio