The Hollywood Wax Museum

Posted: 03.07.2025 | Updated: 03.07.2025

Hollywood has become a name so synonymous with movies that it’s known as the “movie capital of the U.S.” Located in sunny Los Angeles, it was the birthplace of cinema and the legacy of so many of its icons, their names forever cemented in its famous Walk of Fame.

But a face has to go with the name for an enduring legacy—a wax face, at least. The Hollywood Wax Museum is only a walk away. It remains a historical fixture of Hollywood’s tourist scene, offering photo ops with wax replicas of entertainment’s biggest icons. However, many believe it holds a lot more than that—something otherworldly. 

Los Angeles is crawling with spirits of the unknown drenched in mystery and legends. Ready to come face to face with them?  LA Ghosts invites you to partake in a ghost tour of this sunny city that will leave you chilled to the bone. Be sure to also check our blog for more spooky stories from its most haunted locations.

Is The Hollywood Wax Museum Haunted?

There’s something a little more lively than normal at the Hollywood Wax Museum. As if it weren’t creepy enough to feel like any of Hollywood’s idols are keeping an eye on you, spirits have been known to haunt the museum for decades. 

History of the Hollywood Wax Museum

Thomas Edison may have to posthumously accept one more achievement to his list of accolades — making Hollywood the movie mecca of the United States. Film makers from across the country fled to California in order to escape Edison’s fees from several patents he owned over the filmmaking process. Film makers naturally found themselves drifting towards Los Angeles, and by the 60s, Hollywood dominated the film industry. 

Established in 1964, The Hollywood Wax Museum was conceived by entrepreneur Sapuran Singh Sundher as he took a stroll down Hollywood Boulevard. He expected to at least see one celebrity in person, as he was walking through the center of the movie capital of America. 

But to his disappointment, he didn’t see a single one. Thus, he had a pivotal concept from which to launch his museum: why not create a museum where visitors could at least come close to meeting their celebrity icons? 

Sundher’s American twist also posed a competitive strategy. By this point, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum had already flourished in Europe since 1835. However, it was heavily European-themed, featuring philosophers, monarchal figures, and other figures not quite as well known or relevant to the West at the time.

The Museum Expands

Sundher’s four sons took ownership of the business in 2005. The Hollywood Wax Museum has since expanded and operates in four locations throughout the U.S. 

• Los Angeles, California
• Branson, Missouri
• Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The Hollywood Wax Museum still attracts visitors from around the world, who seek to get a once-in-a-lifetime photo op with their favorite celeb’s lifelike wax figure. Hundreds of which stand positioned throughout its winding and twisting galleries. 

The museum even holds a horror chamber dedicated to some of Hollywood’s classical monster films, such as Dracula and Frankenstein. Guests may get a little more fright than they bargained for with the museum’s endless cast of haunting spirits. 

Hauntings Overview

One can already feel a sense of unease walking into the Hollywood Wax Museum, between the eerie uncanny valley effect and the ironic feeling of all eyes on you. The latter may be true, being that orbs and a number of other strange sightings have been captured in the museum at night. This has led many to believe that the Hollywood Wax Museum is indeed haunted. 

A reporter for the National Enquirer even stayed overnight to check out if there was any truth to the rumors. He was waiting by the door the next day, pale, shaken and vividly horrified. The National Enquirer supposedly never heard from him again. 

Wax and Death

Wax has been used for a number of purposes other than candles for thousands of years. In ancient Greece, children often played with dolls made of wax, while others made sculptures for hexing enemies. It also served as a way to immortalize someone upon their death.

They were called death masks; a wax mold made of someone’s face at the moment of their death.  The practice finds itself reaching into ancient Roman times, when it was used selectively on members of the upper echelons of society.

It boomed by the late Middle Ages when it proved a practical purpose in the midst of the Black Plague. Sculptors were able to use death masks to create accurate, lifelike portraits to be displayed at funerals. 

A new trend occurred by the 18th century — people started valuing death masks for their own intrinsic value. Some merely served as a peaceful, artistic reminder of our own mortality, while others looked at them as a morbid souvenir, some even reaching six figures. 

Thanks to the invention of the photograph, death masks have largely gone out of fashion. However, the Hollywood Wax Museum has some, including the figures of some of Hollywood’s most talented entertainers who have passed on. 

Haunted Los Angeles 

Los Angeles, home to the movie capital of the United States, remains a star-studded gem of fame. Something else hides behind its glitzy facade that sends a blood-curdling shriek of terror racing up your spine. Murder, despair and mystery have all left their star on the less-travelled sidewalk of this city’s history, where the ghosts of the past reach out from the other side.

What better place to make their name known than Hollywood, home to the Hollywood Wax Museum. It’s been a staple venue of the city for over 50 years, housing countless wax figures of entertainment’s biggest icons to ever grace the big screen. But as night sets on the Hollywood hills sign, it’s the ghosts that steal the spotlight.

Curious about what other haunts roam Los Angeles after sunset? Book a spot on our ghost tour with LA Ghosts today, for an up-close experience with some of Los Angeles’ most frightening spots! In the meantime, stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for updates and more. 

Sources:

• https://www.historyoffilm.net/movie-eras/history-of-hollywood/#:~:text=Hollywood%2C%20as%20we%20know%20it,Metro%2DGoldwyn%2DMayer).
• https://sbfdoc.org/highlights/2021/10/18/hollywood-wax-museum
• https://latourist.com/index.php?page=haunted-hollywood-story
• https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/los-angeles-most-haunted-places/
• http://www.danamichelleburnett.com/blog/haunted-hollywood
• https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240209-the-lost-art-of-the-death-mask