Dateline>City of Angels

Over the weekend I got to return to my erstwhile research into Angeleno ghostlore. (Visitors to my old blog know it’s a favorite topic of mine.) Among the most intriguing stories I’ve uncovered over the years is the notorious White Lady of Elysian Park, a prudish spirit with an alleged aversion to amorous parkgoers. According to local legend, groping couples are occasionally shocked by a ghostly female who peers into their car and shrieks. When they bolt up for a quick getaway, they find their engine (among other things) suddenly impotent. Despite the legend’s popularity in the Echo Park area, very little has been written about it — until now.

Or should I say, until about three months ago? Yes, I’m late to the party on this one, but Metroblogging L.A. included the White Lady among its “Top 25 L.A. Legends,” posted in March. (Also making the list was another fave of mine, the dreaded Curse of Dona Petranilla.)

Metroblog’s rendition of The White Lady is new to me. In this version, the specter wanders the park in search of her lost head, decapitated by a lecherous soldier returned from war. The story is especially interesting in light of a book I’m currently reading by Bill Ellis, entitled Aliens, Ghosts and Cults, Legends We Live. A folklore academic, Ellis is an expert at dissecting so-called urban legends. In his book, Ellis examines a classic pattern for bogeyman stories designed to curtail adolescent promiscuity. The White Lady embodies most of these elements:

• A young couple hooks up in a remote (but popular) make-out spot.
• Something goes wrong, and a killing occurs, often with some body part being severed.
• The victim’s spirit returns to warn, scare off, or even reclaim the missing body part from other young lovers.

Inevitably, these tales also contain some attempt to explain the murderer’s psychology. In this case, the former soldier can’t overcome his wartime programming to rape, pillage and kill.

Normally in such urban legends, authority figures are cast in positive roles, but Ellis also describes circumstances in which the tables are turned to fit the perspectives of communities disillusioned with established authority. Up to the mid-1900s the Echo/Elysian Park area was a center for Angeleno Communist and Socialist activists known as “Red Hill.” This version of the White Lady betrays a stereotyping of military personnel not uncommon in radical-left discourse.

Unfortunately, The White Lady reeks of urban legend. My guess is, if we were to dig through old park crime records, we’d find nothing involving beheadings or soldiers.