Psychic Medium Troy visits Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills to contact spirits

Troy Griffin
Aug 29, 2017 · 16 min read

A few years ago, I was honored to attend an event at the Greystone Mansion where I gave my thoughts and opinions on what I thought happened there one fateful night in 1929. For those of you who are movie buffs, you may know the historical mansion from films such as National Treasure and X-Men, and television audiences would recognize it from shows like Entourage and Gilmore Girls, amongst others. This was the first time I had heard of the Mansion and had not done any research for background information.

When you walk into this magnificent home, you are immediately brought back to the 1920s and all of the opulence of that time. You can just feel the energy and spirits that have filled this house over the years as soon as you walk in.

Here is some background on the Doheny Mansion/Greystone Manor published by http://www.greystonemansion.org/History.html

“On November 6, 1893, their only son, Edward “Ned” Laurence Doheny, Jr., was born and grew up as heir to one of the world’s great financial empires. Ned went on to marry Lucy Smith of Pasadena and in 1926 Edward Laurence Doheny Sr. gave his son as a wedding gift a premium parcel of land consisting of 12.58 acres with sweeping citywide views.

Construction of the palatial manor home began February 15, 1927 and although Ned, his wife Lucy, and their five children moved into the residence in September 1928, the estate took three years to complete at a cost of over $3 million, an almost unimaginable sum in real estate at the time.
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The original cost to construct Greystone’s entire estate was $3,166,578.12, the Mansion alone cost $1,238,378.76. The extraordinary result became known as Greystone for its abundant use of stone construction and its rather somber gray appearance. In addition to the Mansion, originally located on the grounds were stables and kennels, tennis courts, a fire station, gatehouse, swimming pool and pavilion, a greenhouse, a lake, babbling brooks and cascading waterfalls.

But on the night of February 16, 1929, only five months after the family had moved in, Ned Doheny was found shot to death inside the home, at the age of 36 and the victim of an apparent murder-suicide perpetrated by his longtime personal friend and aid Hugh Plunkett.
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Ned’s wife Lucy continued living at Greystone until 1955, after which she and her second husband Leigh M. Battson sold the majority of the original land to the Paul Trousdale Corporation, developers of Beverly Hills’ prestigious “Trousdale Estate” homes. The following year Lucy and her husband sold for approximately $1.5 million the remaining s18.3-acre parcel, including Greystone Mansion, to Henry Crown of Chicago-based Park Grey Corporation. Mr. Crown, however, never formally occupied the site but instead leased it out as a popular filming location, a legacy Greystone still maintains today.

Built of steel reinforced concrete, faced with Indiana limestone and roofed of Welsh slate, upon entering the Mansion, the hand railings and arch-framed stairway typify both the opulence and craftsmanship of the era and of the entire Greystone property. All of the oak banisters, balustrades and rafters were hand carved, while each of the seven chimneys was designed and crafted by a different artist. The floors of the grand hall showcased black and white inlaid marble and an elaborate living room held a balcony where musicians often performed on special occasions. The kitchen featured a pantry built to secure a large adjoining wall safe that was used to store the family’s silver and gold services. The Mansion was built with a servant’s quarters which occupied two floors of the east wing and accommodated a live-in staff of fifteen.

There are fifty-five livable rooms within the 46,054 square feet of living space in the Mansion. While the Mansion’s bedrooms were spread throughout the second floor, the master bedroom suite was located in the west wing and featured an accompanying sitting room, two baths, a dressing room and a massage room. All the rooms with southern exposure offered a panoramic view of the Los Angeles Basin, from downtown to the beaches of Santa Monica Bay. In the north wing where the two oldest boy’s bedrooms were located, a circular staircase led into an adjacent recreation wing that contained a movie theater room, an original Brunswick bowling alley, billiard room and a hidden bar.”

My travels always have some story to them. Not the typical story (if there is such a thing), like I flew into LAX, had meetings, went to the beach and came home. Most involve either meeting a very interesting person, finding myself in strange and sometimes awkward situations or just doing something that you look back on and think “what was that all about?” This trip was one of those.

Let me start from the beginning of this adventure. I was headed to California to interview with the CW show “San Diego Living”, flying first into Los Angeles to see my mother from another mother and then driving down to San Diego. During my flight to Los Angeles I met a very nice person who owned a local dog food store close to where I live and was headed to a convention in downtown LA. As part of this trip, I was invited to an event at the Greystone Mansion and was excited about the opportunity. While I was in Los Angeles, my publicist called and asked if I would accept a meeting with Oxygen Network up in Burbank on the afternoon of my television interview in San Diego. I found my way to the CW that morning at my 9 am call time, and in the green room there was a gentleman in his late 50’s that I can best describe by my first thought…used car salesmen. (Sorry car salesmen, this is not representative of all car salesmen. Just the bad ones.) He was being interviewed for a book he wrote on politics, my least favorite subject.

Of course, I had to hear him talk about his book on and on to another person in the room who was getting their hair and makeup done. About 15 minutes into the conversation, the man asked this young woman what she was being interviewed for and she told him “I am being interviewed for a reality television show I have, Monica the Medium.” As soon as he heard that she had a television show and that she was a medium, this guy was on her like white on rice. He had a thousand questions to ask her and pushed and pushed to get a picture with her. She gave in allowing him to take a picture with her, and within a few minutes the producer came into the green room and told Monica that they were ready for her and off she went. By this time, being exhausted from just listening to him, I thought “wow, maybe he will be quiet now”. You know where I am going with this. As she was leaving for the studio he kept talking to himself, asking his own questions and answering himself. I guess it was his way of practicing for the camera until Monica showed up on the television screen in the green room, to which he immediately stopped talking to himself, sat down on a chair in front of the screen and started to record her on the television with his iPhone. I did my interview and had to immediately leave for LA to make it in time for my meeting with the Oxygen Network execs.

As I made my way to Burbank I thought “Lord, please do not let the place have floor to ceiling windows as I have a fear of heights and Lord, please don’t let an earthquake happen when I am up there”. I made my way up to the top of the building and was taken to a conference room that was in the middle of the building (dodged a bullet. Woohoo!) Anyway, there I am sitting in this meeting, not really knowing why I was there and going with the flow. They asked a lot of questions about me and my work along with playing my old favorite game “Stump the Psychic”. At the end of the meeting, the executives via video conference from New York asked me what my pitch was. Being a bit confused by the question, I glanced around and said “my what?” “Your television pitch”, she says. I replied that I had no pitch and was not sure why I was there. As you can imagine, the meeting ending quickly. Heading to the elevator, I gave the executive my business card and she did the “Hollywood” thing- she immediately gave it to her assistant and walked away. Oh Hollywood, what do I say.

Since I had not planned on staying the night in LA, I went online through one of those booking websites, the one that doesn’t tell you the name of the hotel until you book. I found a room that had over a four-star rating at $200 a night and clicked “Book”. The motel was named “The Dixie” and I thought “oh no, what have I just done”. I spent the rest of the day convincing myself that I am just there to lay my head down and get out in the morning.

I proceeded to head up to a friend’s house in the hills about an hour away for dinner. I left the hills about 9:00 PM that night, made my way to the neon flashing lights that read “Dixie Hotel” and started to pray that I would not get jumped or robbed in this hotel as I was extremely tired from the interview and driving up to Burbank etc. I entered the room and wow, wow, wow. The room was painted bright red with black trim and had old linoleum that was supposed to look like wood. I stayed in the room with all my clothes on, suitcase and bag in the car in case I had to split during the night. The next morning (early, early morning I should add), I left the hotel thinking to myself what is wrong with this picture? I was on television yesterday, met with top executives in Burbank and then slept in a hooker motel. Quite the day.

Onto Greystone. On my drive up I stopped at Rodeo Drive to pick up a gift for my upcoming wedding anniversary. I made my way into a store, picked up a gift and proceeded to walk back up Rodeo to my car. As I am walking a young brunette model approached me and said that she had something that she wanted me to try, a serum that would get rid of the bags under my eyes. Well, being the sucker that I was and influenced further by her Italian accent, I went into her store where she put this serum under my left eye and showed me what it looked like in the mirror, proceeding with her sales pitch of “for only $750 a month over the next two years, our serum will remove the bags under your eyes”. Back the truck up here a minute- did she say $750 a month for two years? Yes, yes she did! Onto Greystone.

A few friends were waiting for me in the parking lot as I arrived at Greystone Mansion. As soon as I got out of the car, a friend inquired “did someone punch you in the eye?” Taking a few seconds to comprehend what he asked, I then broke out into laughter and had to tell them the story of the model on Rodeo Drive with the serum and how embarrassing it was. Now that I was finally at the Mansion we entered this majestic and magnificent home with its hand carved woodwork, beautiful grand staircase and stained glass windows. It was just breathtaking for the first minute or so until my intuition kicked in hard. As we walked toward the living room, I felt sick, my normal reaction whenever I have spirits around me trying to get my attention. I stopped and said, “there were two people who died here.” I was told that there were indeed two people who had died. We then made our way up the stairs to the second floor where I saw a little girl riding a tricycle on the floor over the bridge way. The view from this floor was amazing as you could look through the floor to ceiling windows (but don’t get too close!) and see Beverly Hills.

We then went down a long hall to the west where the owner’s suite is located and I said that Lucy was having an affair. There was a beautiful double door into this room in which my first thought was “this is going to be an amazing suite.” And amazing it was! When you open the door there is a wallpapered wall straight in front of you and a door to the left and a door to the right. The door to the left went into Ned’s bedroom, bathroom and closet. The door to the right went to his wife Lucy’s bedroom, bathroom, and large closet. In between the rooms was an empty tiled floor room. This room is where Ned and Lucy would meet to talk before entering their rooms. I mentioned that Ned was not murdered here. I felt as though someone may be poisoning Ned in his bathroom. Brushing teeth, water, I am not sure.

We then made our way to the east wing of the mansion. As we passed a bedroom on the right which was the daughter’s room, I stopped and said that it feels like a little girl, not the owner’s daughter, but a little girl died around here. There is a rumor that the owner’s daughter’s friend was playing in the bay window and fell out of the window to her death below. The reason it is a rumor is because the Doheny family were one of the richest families in the world and had friends in high places. With enormous wealth and the privileges that it brings, many things that happened at the Greystone or with the Doheny family were kept quiet. Continuing to make our way down the hall, we entered another room that really got to me. This room made me sick, I was not able to breathe and my anxiety went off the charts.

The room we entered used to be the playroom with a kitchen on the side to fix the kids’ lunches. I was told that the room became a game room (stuffed wild animals) later in its days and they used to slaughter the animals in the kitchen, so I quickly exited this room and we started down the back staircase. When we arrived on the lower basement level of the mansion, there was a small kitchen and dark windowless rooms there. The kitchen was for the help and the dark rooms were where the staff stayed. The best way to describe it is like a room used for solitary confinement in a prison- just awful.

As we walked past these rooms, I again had to stop, anxiety out of control, breathing an issue again. What immediately came to me was “rape.” I said to my friends it feels like there was a lot of rape down here. Amongst the rumors was one that Doheny’s new husband would come down and rape the staff. (This is just a rumor and I am not stating fact here). Making our way back upstairs and ending up in the entry way, we then started down the west hall on the first floor where I could see two rooms, again one to the right and one to the left. Walking down the hall, my anxiety and shortness of breath started acting up again. I stopped and told my friends that the two were killed in the room to the left. As I got closer to the rooms, I could not, just could not go into the room on the left yet. I made my way into the room on the right where I felt anger and quilting or knitting. I also felt like the room was a “Mommie Dearest” room (for those of you who are old enough to remember that movie.) It was not a good feeling at all. I then entered back into the hallway and composed myself, taking deep breaths and then on the count of three I went into the room on the left.

As I entered the room, I could feel the negative energy there. Pausing after my first step, I told my friends that someone was killed on this wall, someone was on the floor over there and they died from gun shots. I was correct on all. I proceeded to tell them that this was not a murder suicide! This was a relationship gone bad between Ned and his Secretary Hugh Plunkett, who worked for Ned for many years. I then stated it was a gay relationship and they were shot by Ned’s wife or someone who worked with them. It was not a murder suicide as the LA Times and Beverly Hills Chief of Police stated at the time. I wondered why it was listed as a murder suicide when the two were drinking in the guest bedroom? Why not drink in the family room, the bar or somewhere more public in the house? It was stated and published in the LA Times that Ned was sitting in a low back chair facing the south with a small table next to him. Ned was shot through the head in this chair, falling backwards to the floor and then on his side. Then there was Hugh, also shot in the head with his brain splattered on the wall above the bed where Hugh was lying face down eagle style (stomach and face of the body on the bed) with the gun in his hand underneath his stomach area. So the common sense question is who killed them?

Who killed them opens a lot of questions. In articles I have read, there are mentions that Ned’s wife Lucy was home at the time in the living room which shared a common wall to the guest bedroom. If she was in the living room, did she hear the shots? It has been written that Lucy waited four hours to contact the police but after only a few hours, she called the family doctor who came over. When the doctor arrived, the family’s long time financial planner Leigh McMaster Battson was already there with Lucy. Leigh had his own key to the mansion and could come and go as he pleased. Did the doctor give Lucy something to put her into a calm state of mind? And did the financial planner coach Lucy into what she was going to say and not say? Four hours is a long time to wait and call the authorities, in my opinion.

One of my biggest questions is how does someone shoot themselves in the head, have brain matter released and then move their arm under their belly with a gun in their hand? So many unanswered questions. And where were the children? I was told that the boys were off at military school and the daughter, I have no idea.

So the call was placed to the Beverly Hills Police Department and they sent out a detective to investigate. Before the detective assigned to this case could make a public statement, the Beverly Hills Marshal (we now call it Chief of Police) Augustus Niestrum along with the L.A. Times Newspaper Publisher (I think it was Harry Chandler) made a public statement to the media stating that the tragedy at Greystone was a murder-suicide.

I believe that Lucy walked into the bedroom after hearing them arguing and shot Ned first and then Hugh. I feel that she then placed the gun under Hugh’s body. Lucy knew about Ned and Hugh’s relationship and wanted out. She had to get out without anyone knowing the truth about Ned and Hugh, though. As a socialite, this would ruin her name and the family’s name and reputation. I also believe that someone close to Lucy was in her ear suggesting that she murder them. I believe it was the financial planner. Since the murder there has been speculation and theories on the murder but the official cause of death for both men is murder-suicide.

Almost a day to the year, Lucy married the financial planner Leigh McMaster Battson.

In 1965, Lucy and Leigh sold the mansion and moved into a 22 bedroom home adjacent to the property. At the end of her life, Lucy (100 years old) moved again into a 5,000 square foot home where she would dress up every day and sit in a wingback chair with her purse in hand. Some claimed that she sat in this chair waiting for Judgment Day and possibly feeling guilty about what she did. Maybe she was also praying for forgiveness.

I was running behind on schedule to get to the airport as I left Greystone Mansion, and rushed my way down to the 405 thinking that it was the middle of the day, and from past experiences getting down the 405 in the middle of the day is relatively easy. That day the highway was packed, backed up, and just a nightmare. When I finally got to the rental car drop off, feeling the pressure to get to the airport before I missed the plane, I pulled the car into the lot and the attendant seemed to take her time coming over as I was watching the clock. When she got to my car, her scanner was not working and she gave me a slip to take to the outdoor booth. I was waiting in a small line at the booth, got up to the booth and gave my slip to the attendant. The attendant checked the computer and said “your car has already been checked in but it doesn’t match the number on my paper.” She then told me to go inside the main building and they would be able to help me. Running out of time, I told the clerk that I didn’t have time to do that and her rude self said, “I don’t know what to tell you.” I replied well I don’t know what to tell you, I have a receipt that my car was on your lot. See ya.

Completely stressed out by this point, I made it to the airport with about 30 minutes before the flight leaves, rushed to the security gate and stopped in my tracks as the line through security was backed up. Thinking I was not going to make the plane, I tried to breathe and start convincing myself that I will have to find another flight home. Then by the grace of god, TSA security opened another line and I made it through fairly quickly. I was fortunate that my gate was the closest to security and as I heard my name being called for last check in, I was so relieved that I made it! Learning how to breathe again, I started to put my bag in an overhead bin and heard someone say, “oh it’s YOU holding this plane up!” Not in a favorable mood at this juncture, I was ready to look behind me and give this person a choice word but when I turned around it was the gal I met on my flight out, the one who owns the dog food store and she was in the seat across the aisle from me. I looked at her and said “you won’t believe what I have been doing and been through”, laughing out loud and happy that homebound I was.

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