Rumors about hauntings have persisted for years. Employees report ghostly security guards patrolling the lot at night. Others recount seeing the ghost of a man climb the stairs in the main administration building to the executive screening room, originally Ince's private projection room, on the second floor. And guards on the third floor have been frightened by the apparition of a woman from time to time. She disappears quickly, leaving a cold spot or chilling wind in her wake.

Remodeling can be extremely irritating or upsetting to a spirit. Just prior to some major reconstruction in 1988, Ince's ghost began to reveal his displeasure. The first to encounter him were two workers who reported seeing a man in an odd, bowler-type hat watching them from the catwalks above Stage 1-2-3. When they spoke to him, he turned and walked through the second-floor wall.

Later that summer, special-effects man Eugene Hilchey was swapping stories with a worker who had seen a man wearing an odd hat, this time on Stage 2-3-4. Hilchey thought the ghost might fit the description of Ince. What the worker said next convinced him that it was indeed him. "I don't like what you're doing to my studio." Then he disappeared through a wall.

Much of Ince's original lot was saved, and the sense of history is very strong. Today, Culver Studios is one of the busiest lots in town. Let's hope the indomitable spirit of Mr. Ince finds some peace in that.