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Is the Vanderlip Mansion Haunted in Rancho Palos Verdes?

By Maureen Megowan

Real Estate Agent with Remax Estate Properties - BRE #01368971

July 08, 2008 01:09 PM

The following is an excerpt from my website regarding secrets and little know facts about the Palos Verdes Peninsula (see http://maureenmegowan.com/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1824011&NF=1 )

"There are persistent rumors that the Vanderlip mansion is haunted. Two untrue stories have been circulated on the internet that the wife of Frank Vanderlip went crazy there, or that a daugher of Frank Vanderlip had an illicit affair and was put into an insane asylum across the street, but the stories still appear on several websites devoted to haunted places. John Vanderlip and his wife Narcissa had 6 children, all of whom led normal lives.
Villa Narcissa (The Vanderlip Mansion in Rancho Palos Verdes

This is a picture of "The Cottage" which is the first home built on the Palos Verdes Peninsula by Frank Vanderlip in 1016:

For more about the history of Rancho Palos Verdes go to my website at: http://www.maureenmegowan.com/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1471638&NF=1

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Anonymous

De Anna

i know a little about that my friends told me about it and i might go there and check out that place but i want to know if all that is real?

Mar 17, 2009 10:47 AM

eli

I don't think any of there stories are true. My aunt works for NArcissa. She has been workingthere for almost 30 years. I have gone many times and no sign of anything. I mean I have gone in the day time and I do get the chills but it's actually very pretty.

Apr 06, 2009 10:08 AM

Matt

The area around Vanderlip Mansion IS haunted. Travel down the road from Del Cerro Park at night, and you will be visited by something (or some things) disturbing and supernatural.

Jun 22, 2009 10:43 AM

Bruce Rudy

It's in an interesting area. Part of Portuguese Bend is in the Palos Verdes Landslide zone, so the houses have to be on rollers and the roads are pretty rough. An ex-girlfriend's family owned a ten-acre parcel there purchased for back taxes which can't be built on due to the shifting earth--the topography actually changes since the landslide is still active. I heard that residents there are exempt from County property taxes, but don't know this for a fact.

The Vanderlip house was supposedly inhabited in the early 60s by an inventor named Foster something, don't remember his last name. He was married to an actress named Rula or Ruda (not Rula Lenska). Apparently, while living there, he accidentally ran over their young son, killing him. This Foster ?? was later killed in a plane crash. If anyone knows more about who he was, please e-mail me.

Del Cerro Park used to be a Nike missile site during the Cold War. I've hiked around it during the day, never saw anything too strange. Did make the mistake of trying to sneak out through the gated community of Rolling Hills and got chased off by a homeowner.

Jun 25, 2009 05:02 PM

Maureen Megowan

Remax Estate Properties - - Palos Verdes Estates, CA

Palos Verdes Real Estate Blog

The two main Vanderlip houses, Villa Narcissa and The Cottage Ranch (Villa Suzette( have never been occupied by anyone other than a Vanderlip. Elin Vanderlip , who just turned 90, has lived at Villa Narcissa since the early 1940's.

Del Cerro Park, which is at the end of Crenshaw Blvd. off of Crest at the top of the Peninsula overlooking the Vanderlip estate was never a Nike Missle site but did have radar there. The actual Nike missle site was where the current Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall is located off of Hawthorne Blvd, just up the hill from Palos Verdes Drive.

Jun 25, 2009 06:42 PM

Is the Vanderlip Mansion Haunted in Rancho Palos Verdes?

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Maureen Megowan

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