Pleasant Gehman’s Mystical Adventures in Hollywood

Jason Nelson
Exploration Arcanum
4 min readSep 2, 2024

In an interview with Exploration Arcanum, actress, musician, and occultist Pleasant Gehman shared her journey into the mystical arts, her unique place in Hollywood’s history, and her haunting memories of the night River Phoenix died outside the legendary Viper Room.

With a career spanning decades as a journalist, dancer, actor, and musician, Gehman’s life has been a fascinating blend of art, magick, and the eerie spiritual underbelly of Hollywood, making her not just a chronicler of Los Angeles’ punk rock history but an integral part of it.

Gehman’s fascination with the occult began at a young age, living in a Revolutionary War-era house in upstate New York.

“I was in the playroom, and this man’s voice came into my head and said, ‘Tell your mother the barn’s on fire.’ I went hysterical, and when my mom checked, there were flames starting to come out of the barn,” she recalled.

By the late 1970s, Gehman had embedded herself in the Los Angeles punk scene, documenting its wild energy through her fanzine, Lobotomy. In addition to covering the punk rock scene, Gehman also fronted three bands, The Screaming Sirens, The Ringling Sisters, and Honk If Yer Horny, in the 1980s.

Despite the chaos around her, the occult remained a constant in her life. Gehman is one of the over 50 historians, occultists, and witches featured in the upcoming documentary series Magick Show by Richard Metzger.

“People knew I did tarot, and I was just working non-stop,” she said, recalling her direct messages (DMs) on Instagram and email filling up with requests for readings.

“But the pandemic really hit it to a new level because I didn’t know how I was going to survive,” Gehman added. “Thank you, everybody who got a pandemic reading from me.”

One of the most poignant and harrowing experiences in Gehman’s life occurred on Halloween night in 1993, the night River Phoenix died. Gehman was at the Viper Room to cover a performance by the band P, whose lineup included actor Johnny Depp, Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers, and Phoenix as a guest performer.

The night was already unsettling due to the forest fires raging around Los Angeles, casting an eerie orange glow over the city.

“I was already having allergies because of the fires… my eyes were burning. I couldn’t take it anymore,” she explained. Deciding to leave, she made her way to the door, only to be told by the bouncer that there were no ins and outs. “I told him, ‘I know,’ and as he opened the door, I stepped outside and literally tripped over River Phoenix getting resuscitated on the sidewalk,” Gehman said, noting she still gets goosebumps thinking of that night.

“It was so surreal… the sky had this eerie orange tint because of the fires, and there was River Phoenix, right there on the sidewalk, dying. I just got the hell out of there. I took the first cab I saw and went home,” Gehman said.

The next morning, Gehman awoke to a media frenzy outside her home.

“I woke up, and I thought I’d go outside and get centered and grounded for a minute,” she recalled. “I opened the door, and it looked like every news media outlet you could imagine was in my yard.”

Not knowing how the media found where she lived, Gehman said she was inundated with calls for interviews and to be her representation.

“I don’t know how celebrities deal with that. I locked myself inside my house,” she said. “I was already a wreck from watching that happen. And this was just like fucking sharks feeding, which is an analogy a lot of people give about that side of Hollywood. It was really messed up.”

The experience left a lasting mark on Gehman, who said the occult and spirit world has profoundly influenced her life and work in Los Angeles.

She describes the city as a place imbued with mystical energy, where the lines between the living and the dead often blur in places like the iconic Hollywood Forever Cemetary. Known for its lavish gravesites and celebrity inhabitants, it’s a place where the veil between the living and the dead feels particularly thin.

“There was always spirits there, and you can just feel it, it oozes through the whole air, even if you’re not psychic, or you’re not sensitive to that,” she said. “If you just go there and sit quietly on a blanket on the lawn, or the steps, or one of those benches, you can feel the presence.”

As Gehman explained, the necropolis that is Hollywood Forever is infused with old Hollywood energy.

“I’ve been in cemeteries all over the world, and the two most unique places I’ve ever been was the City of the Dead in Cairo, Egypt, and Hollywood Forever,” she said. “Those have the most spiritual vibes and feelings of any of the places that I’ve been to.”

Despite the dark and often surreal experiences she’s encountered, Gehman continues to embrace her role as both a practitioner and dancer in the occult scene in Los Angeles.

She is the co-creator of Belle, Book & Candle, a monthly occult-themed show at Los Angeles’ historic El Cid theater. The show, named after the classic Kim Novak film, features live rituals performed on stage — a practice that Gehman believes has awakened the spirits of the venue.

“There’s been a few sites that have mentioned all the paranormal activity at El Cid. We really are an all-witch show run by and for witches in a haunted venue,” she says with a mix of pride and amusement. “We have a ritual at every show; the audience participates, and I think that energy stirs up the spirits.”

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