The Los Feliz Murder Mansion Was The Site Of One Family's Horrifying And Sad Christmas Tragedy
Dr. Perelson Bludgeoned His Wife To Death In Her Sleep Before Attacking His 18-Year-Old Daughter
At 4:30 am on December 6th, 1959, 50-year-old Dr. Harold Perelson stood over his wife Lillian’s sleeping body, and in one swift move, slammed a ball-peen hammer into her head. Her blood pooled quickly, and she eventually drowned in it, with asphyxiation being listed as her official cause of death.
Covered in Lillian’s blood, Dr. Perelson carried on into his 18-year-old daughter Judye’s room, and proceeded to strike her as well. In the dark, however, it was only a glancing blow, and she awoke screaming. Her cries for help woke her two younger siblings, as well as most of the neighborhood. A neighbor from the time, Cheri Lewis, reported that it sounded, “like a wild animal screaming.”
“Don’t kill me,” she was heard pleading, while her father demanded she “lay still and be quiet.” Judye somehow slipped away from him, and ran to get her mother. At this point, she was joined by her younger siblings, who'd awakened to Judye's screams. Finding the bloodbath in the next room, Judye bolted from the house, and started frantically banging on neighbors’ doors for help.
His Parting Words For His Remaining Family Were 'This Is A Nightmare'
The screaming pleas of Judye woke her younger siblings, 11-year-old Debbie and 13-year-old Joel. When they got up to investigate what was happening, they found their father covered in blood, still holding the murder weapon. “This is a nightmare,” he told them. “Go back to sleep.”
By this point, after smearing blood across the windows of neighbors while screaming for help, Judye had returned with their neighbor, Marshall Ross, who had called the police. Other neighbors reported being frozen with fear, and that the whole front door of the Los Feliz mansion was "a mass of blood.”
After Murdering His Wife, Dr. Perelson Swallowed A Lethal Cocktail Of Drugs
Covered in the blood of his wife and daughter, Dr. Perelson strode away from his children and toward the bathroom. According to the coroner’s report, neighbor Marshall Ross entered and confronted him, and the doctor told him to go home and not to bother him. Though some reports mentioned that he swallowed a cup of acid, the police reports record it as follows: Smearing blood everywhere, Perelson proceeded to rip open two capsules of Nembutal (a drug popular with suicides and euthanasia; it was Judy Garland’s drug of choice), and downed them, followed by over 30 pills believed to be a form of codeine.
Perelson then walked back to his wife’s bedroom and laid down next to her. Resting his head on a bloody pillow, his breathing became shallow. Before the ambulance could even arrive, Harold Perelson was dead, still clutching the hammer with which he had attempted to destroy his family.
The Doctor Left A Dark Message To Be Found Before Killing Himself
The night of the crime, police found on the doctor's bedside table Dante's Divine Comedy open to Canto 1: "Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost."
At the time of the murder-suicide, investigators weren’t quite sure what the motives were behind Dr. Perelson’s crime, but leaned towards blaming financial problems. An injection specialist, the doctor had invented a new technology involving improved syringes, and proceeded to sink a large chunk of his savings and years of his life into developing the product. However, a partner with whom he’d made a verbal agreement swindled him out of the rights to his own invention. A bitter legal battle ensued, and Perelson only ended up with a little over $20,000 in settlement money. This, coupled with a car accident involving Judye and the younger kids, sank the doctor further and further into financial duress.
In a letter written to her aunt prior to the murder, Judye wrote,
My parents, so to speak, are in a bind financially… My family are on the merry-go-round again, same problems, same worries, only tenfold.
On top of all of this, the doctor suffered what had been explained as “coronaries” to friends and neighbors, but in the fallout of the investigation, were exposed as multiple suicide attempts. It became clear that the doctor had been growing increasingly disturbed, and his wife had wanted him committed to a psychiatric facility.
There Are Objects In The House That Can’t Be Explained
One of the more puzzling questions regarding the location of the Los Feliz murder-suicide has to do with what has been sitting inside of it for over 50 years. Neighbors and curious visitors have long-reported (and documented through photographs), a Christmas tree, along with neatly wrapped presents in one of the rooms of the mansion.
Given that the crime took place in December, this shouldn’t raise any concern (aside from the general creepiness of the house’s preserved state post-murder). However, there are claims to support that the Perelsons were Jewish, and most likely wouldn’t have had a tree. Additionally, there are Life magazines dating later than the murder date, and cans of Spaghetti-O’s (which were invented after 1959) visible through the windows as well. For a house that was used as just “storage,” these all strike one more as artifacts of daily life, rather than items to stow away.
This gave life to a rumor that a second, unknown family rented and lived in the house for a year after the deaths, unbeknownst to the gruesome recount of what took place. According to this rumor, the squatters conveniently found out on the anniversary of the crime, and fled the house, leaving all of their belongings, including their Christmas decorations, behind. However, there is no solid evidence behind this urban myth, and the tree and presents remain a murder mansion mystery.
Subsequent Owners Refused To Live In The House
In 1960, less than one year after the ghastly incident, a Lincoln Heights couple named Emily and Julian Enriquez purchased the house in a probate auction. A Spanish Revival-style mansion, 2475 Glendower Place boasted a hilltop view and three stories that rounded out to over 5,000 square feet. Despite these selling points, the new owners never moved in, and supposedly only used the house as storage. This was supported by reports from their neighbors confirming that they saw them coming and going with boxes, but never staying overnight.
Emily Enriquez passed away in 1994, and her son, Rudy Enriquez, inherited the house. Like his parents, Rudy claimed to have only used the house as storage. In 2009, he told the Los Angeles Times, “I don’t know that I want to live there or even stay there.” It appears he did neither, and when he passed away in 2015, the house once again entered the market, nearly untouched since the haunting night more than 50 years earlier.
Following The Night Of The Murder, The Interior Of The House Remained Untouched
Though the foul nature of the murder-suicide itself would be enough to carry the tale through history, what has distinguished this crime from other bizarre cases is the fact that the house remained nearly untouched for more than 50 years after the grisly act. Following the night of the murder, the Perelsons' belongings sat gathering dust and slowly deteriorating in the decades to follow despite the house having been sold.
Regardless of whether the Enriquez family actually stored any of their things in the house or not, it is clear by the glimpses snuck through the windows that they did nothing to move or alter the belongings of the original, ill-fated inhabitants. Ultimately, this neglect achieved the perfect haunted house effect, not unlike its nearby Hollywood movie sets, only this was the real thing. Nobody is sure why the new owners would leave such a dark history to settle and stagnate like they did, but it's definitely one of the factors that make the Los Feliz murder mansion especially eerie in the long list of L.A. murder cases.
Curious Trespassers Reported Strange Incidents
Like any bona fide haunted house, the Los Feliz Murder Mansion drew its fair share of curious visitors who wanted to sneak a glimpse through the windows of the well-preserved creepiness. Though the house was owned by the Enriquez family, it was the surrounding neighbors that put the most effort into keeping an eye on the house, and maintaining basic upkeep here and there.
They discouraged trespassers, but at one point things were a bit out of control, with everyone from sex workers to transients to curious teenagers spotted going in and out of the yard. Among these, claims of chills and overall menacing feelings would start to filter out. These amateur ghost hunters reported "orbs," seen inside the house, and people claim they have heard a woman's voice yelling, "No!" as well as reports of ghostly faces looking down from the mansion's windows. At one point, a trespasser was even bit by a black widow spider while attempting to break into the house.
After The Murder, The Perelson Children Disappeared
Due to the frozen-in-time nature of the crime scene, it’s easy to forget that the three remaining members of the Perelson family actually survived, and were somewhere out in the world. Following the murder, it’s rumored that the children were taken into custody by an aunt, but after that, it seems as though Judye, Joel, and Debbie all but disappeared into thin air.
For the reporters and crime enthusiasts that attempted to find and interview them, they were met with mostly false leads and dead ends. Understandably, it seems that the children were trying to distance themselves from the heinous crime as much as possible. Neighbors from Glendower Place commented that Judye was a pretty, popular high school senior prior to the event, but all of that was ended with her mother’s life and her own near-fatal blow. To this day, none of the three children have ever commented publicly on the crime, nor the fact that their house has stood silently, full of their childhood belongings, for the majority of their adult lives.
In 2016, The House Went Up For Sale Again, Not Mentioning Its Grisly Past
When Rudy Enriquez passed away in 2015, the Los Feliz murder house once again found itself in a probate auction, initially listed at $2.75 million.
Nestled in the hills of Los Feliz, close to the Greek Theater, the sprawling mansion was built in 1925. Described in its original ad as “beautiful,” and “delightful,” the three-story home boasts a basement replete with maid’s quarters, four master bedrooms, and a glassed-in conservatory. Oh, and one mustn’t forget the 20 by 36 foot ballroom that graces the third floor. Needless to say, the house is grandiose by any standard, no matter what decade you’re judging it by.
The listing commented that the house was simply "waiting for that special person looking for a wonderful opportunity to remodel or develop." However, no mention was made of the haunt-worthy incidents, nor the fact that the house had stood empty and decaying with abandoned belongings for over five decades.
A Brave Couple Bought The Los Feliz Murder House For $2.29 Million
Despite a setup akin to your run-of-the-mill horror movie introduction, a couple bought the murder mansion for $2.29 million in July of 2016. The real estate agent tasked with selling the notoriously creepy property noted that there were many people interested in seeing the house, but that, "with all of the activity, all of the people coming to see it, only one couple came to court."
The couple is reportedly not deterred by the house's hellish past or the rumors of haunting. They intend to fix it up and live in it. For the first time since 1959, the murder mansion may finally be lived in again.
There Are Rumors Of A Los Feliz Murder Mansion Film In The Works
This is Hollywood after all, and the Harold Perelson murders make for a perfect horror movie.
The plot writes itself, and it's an easy play for producers and screenwriters. After all, what's more frightening than a familicide, and right in L.A.'s own backyard? This isn't the first time that Hollywood has borrowed from reality, (Amityville Horror, The Conjuring, and the "Hotel" season of American Horror Story were all inspired by "true" events and real locations), and if anything, the true story aspect of these cases are what make those movies even scarier.
