In Los Angeles, there is a neighborhood where many rich and famous people live. It includes modern and historic elements in its shopping and living. With great culture and healthy options, this neighborhood reigns as one of the best places to live. This great neighborhood is called Los Feliz.
Besides its great location and activities, Los Feliz has another reason for being known, a darker reason. Los Feliz has its own Murder Mansion. While the murder mansion gives the impression of multiple murders, this house only saw one murder, one attempted murder, and one suicide. The moniker makes for great news. Though what occurred in this house is impossible to really understand.
The Perelsons of Murder Mansion
Built in 1925, this house had a quiet start. Nobody probably thought too much about the large Spanish style house. Like the other houses nearby, it indicated rich but nothing else really stood out. Then Dr. Harold Perelson bought the house in the 1950s. Dr. Perelson moved into the house with his wife, Lillian, two daughters, and a son.
They fit into the neighborhood, making friends with the neighbors. One of the neighborhood girls even babysat for the Perelson family regularly. No one predicted what would happen next. To the neighbors, Dr. Perelson seemed like a nice, quiet man and loving father. Suddenly he turned into the monster under the bed.
Troubles for the Family
The Perelsons struggled in 195os. The family suffered several setbacks that led them into some financial difficulties. First, Dr. Perelson had spent many years developing a new injection system. He had a gentleman’s agreement with Edward Shustack. Unfortunately, Dr. Perelson did not have this agreement written into a contract. After a few years, Dr. Perelson realized that Shustack would not stay by the agreement. Sadly, the family had already sunk over 20 thousand dollars into this invention. Dr. Perelson filed a lawsuit against Shustack and it took a few years before the judge ruled in Dr. Perelson’s favor. Still, he did not receive what he had expected.
Second, his children were involved in a car accident. As the other driver blamed the oldest daughter for the accident, Dr. Perelson took them to court seeking money for damages. Again he won, but only received money for hospital bills, not what he wanted.
Basically, by 1959 the family struggled financially. In a letter, the oldest daughter mentioned that she would need to support herself and indicated the financial difficulties. She received that chance, just not in the way she thought.
The Monster Under the Bed Emerges
Early December 1959 began normally enough. The weather had started to cool for Los Angeles and nights could get cold. On December 5th the neighborhood went to sleep as normal, but by the time they rose everything would have changed. Like the rest of the neighborhood, the Perelsons went to bed on December 5th, never realizing what would happen next.
Early on December 6th, between four and five in the morning, Dr. Harold Perelson rose. Going downstairs he took a small hammer and went back to his room. Standing over his wife, Dr. Perelson swung down the hammer hitting her head, causing a hole in the skull. Blood soaked her pillow and Lillian Perelson drowned in her own blood.
Next, Dr. Perelson entered his oldest daughter’s room, with the now bloody hammer. Luckily, the blow glanced off her head and woke her. Seeing her father standing over her with the hammer, she screamed, fought off her father, and ran to the neighbors. Her two younger siblings woke at the sound of her scream and came to investigate. Dr. Perelson sent his younger children to bed calling his actions only “a nightmare.” The children did not listen and ran down the stairs.
Instead of pursuing his children, Dr. Perelson went into the bathroom and removed a bottle of pills. Walking into a bedroom, he took the pills and laid down, waiting to die. The only possible suicide note he left comes from a book left open next to him, Dante’s The Divine Comedy. It read “Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
While Dr. Perelson drifted into death, the police arrived. Unable to stop the death of the doctor, they looked around to see the book, the bottle of pills, and the dead body of Lillian Perelson. Through the scene and the testimony of the children, police could determine that what happened was a murder-suicide.
Murder Mansion Sold
The house in Los Feliz, now named murder mansion, sold to a family a year later. Though the family bought and kept the house for 50 years, no one ever lived there. The house sold again in 2016 and the people who bought it stripped it down to the studs before selling it again. Someone bought this house again in December 2020 according to Zillow.
The scariest monsters are the unpredictable ones. While known killers can scare people, the unexpected killer terrifies. A seemingly harmless, friendly man turned killer causes more fear, than the killer behind bars. That is the true monster under the bed because there is no way to predict when or what will cause someone to turn to murder.
Sources
- Compass “Los Feliz Neighborhood“
- Zillow “2475 Glendower Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90027“
- Medium.com, Maysh, Jeff, “The Murder House“
- Strange Remains “The sinister story of LA’s ‘Murder Mansion’”
- The Line-Up, Mahon, Chris, “Los Feliz Murder House: The L.A. Dream Home That Turned into a Nightmare“
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