The Entity House

The Entity House might just look like some ordinary house located smack dab in the middle of suburban Los Angeles. But the home is known for having a story that was published into a book (and later adapted into a horror film that earned the house its name). The house was believed to the be sight of a series of hauntings with one victim recalling so many stories of each haunted happening. While the story of “The Entity” may seem to live on forever in books and movies, the home may still have a story of its own to tell of things never been told. Are there spirits still haunting the home? What other stories that have yet to be heard that may have never been revealed in either the book or film adaptation? We will discuss the history of the home and the stories that have given it the reputation of being one of the most haunted places in all of Los Angeles.

The House And The Story Of Doris Bither

The Entity House is located in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City. The house was occupied in the early 1970s by a woman named Doris Bither and her four sons. Bither was not married at the time and had suffered from possible health issues that had required her to take some type of medication. It was deemed that due to trauma and other mental issues that may have stemmed from a difficult childhood, the medication that was prescribed to Bither may have been used to treat her. Bither also had a history of physical and substance abuse in the past.

It was said that at some point during the night, Bither was asleep and was awakened only to be raped by what appeared to be three spirits. She would recall two of them holding her down while a third one would assault her. At some point later, Bither was visiting a bookstore near the UCLA campus when she overheard a lecture taking place about paranormal activity. The lecture had been performed by Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor, both working for a parapsychology lab at the UCLA campus. Bither had heard the last part of the lecture only to approach them soon after about her very violent encounter with spirits. That lead to Taff and Gaynor to set up a preliminary interview with her on August 22, 1974.

The Investigation Unfolds

While being interviewed, Bither had recalled hearing the spirits banging on walls, lights flickering, and even moving around the house (despite the home being occupied by four of her children). It was also reported that Bither had been suffering episodes of what could be known as “sleep paralysis”, which Taff and Gaynor may have believed could have been linked to Bither’s claim of being savagely attacked by spirits. However, their tune changed when multiple witnesses had come forward to talk about their eerie feelings and strange occurrences that had happened near the home. These recollections have included members of Bither’s family that had visited her at the home on several occasions.

They would often hear phantom noises like loud voices and banging on the walls. One such witness claimed to see Bither being thrown around like a rag doll. Another witness account reported one of Bither’s son’s attempting to intervene with one of the spirits and was attacked to the point where his arm was broken. Taff and Gaynor proceeded to investigate the home and had noticed that the lights were flickering on and off constantly. The pair reported that they had no idea of what may have happened next.

As Taff and Gaynor began to interview the teens living in the home, they noticed that the relationship between the teens and their mother didn’t appear to be the best. However, as one of the teens was being interviewed the cabinet doors were reportedly being flung open with no one near them. Some pots and pans would often hit the floor violently without any explanation or reason (and to make matters a lot more hair raising, no tremors or earthquakes were said to be reported at the time). Taff and Gaynor wasted little to no time taking pictures of every room of the house. When the photos were quickly developed, they noticed the sight of white orbs appearing in many of the photos. Sheets of white fuzz had also appeared in some of the photos as well. After the investigation had wrapped up, Taff and Gaynor believed that the best course of action was to remove Bither from the house. Soon after, Taff and Gaynor had taken photos of each room once again only to see a major difference in the photos. No white sheets or orbs had appeared in the photos and it was apparent that the paranormal presence had no longer been in sight.

The investigation of the home and Bither’s apparent attack had taken 10 weeks before a conclusion had been revealed. Doris had described many presences that she had encounters including one in particular that she would only describe as a humanoid that was later known as “The Entity”. During the investigation, nearly 30 researchers had been at the home where Bither had attempted to summon the spirits. Bither would summon them by cursing and yelling at them while some researchers had recording materials alongside them to document the event. The summoning had appeared to work as lights had suddenly begun to turn on and a large green fog had begun to appear. The fog later formed into a figure of what appeared to be the torso of a man. Some researchers were able to see more of the man’s appearance as someone who appeared to be big and muscular in size. The figure that appeared apparently had no face either.

Post-Investigation

During this event, one of the cameras managed to capture the image of a bright white orb before it failed and never took any more images. Bither and her family had left the home in California and relocated to Texas while managing to keep in touch with paranormal investigators. However, as Bither left for what might have been her new life in a new place the hauntings seemed to have continued. At some point, Bither and her family had disappeared to an undisclosed location. She had never come forward regarding her stories around the time of both the release of the book and the film based on her paranormal experiences. Rumor had it that she may have been pregnant with a child that may have been fathered by “The Entity”. In 1995, Doris Bither passed away from an apparent pulmonary arrest.

Is The House Worth Visiting?

As it would appear, the home is still standing and may be occupied by residents to this day. Unfortunately, with the spiritual entities seemingly sticking with Doris Bither, it might not even be haunted to this day. But do not despair though, it would be nice just to snap a couple of photos as you pass through the home on your way to some of the other haunted places that are scattered about in the City of Angels. But if you end up in the neighborhood of Culver City, it never hurts to see the house before your eyes (outside, of course).

Conclusion

The Entity House may have a sordid story about a past resident. But by now, the current residents are probably breathing a sigh of relief knowing that there might be no hauntings occurring at the house. But rest assured, the stories of The Entity still live on in books, films, and in the story collection of many paranormal researchers and enthusiasts. You may come across the investigative works of Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor if you happen to end up on the campus of UCLA along the way.

Sources:

https://maps.roadtrippers.com/us/culver-city-ca/points-of-interest/house-from-the-entity

http://www.ghosttheory.com/2008/09/21/the-entity-haunting-the-true-story-of-doris-bither

https://ghostwatch.net/paranormal-reports/demonic-hauntings/report/11-doris-bithers-the-real-entity