In End of the Road, Lars Gunner, Nordic godlike, rock star haunts his house located in Malibu, California where movies stars, rock legends, and the rich and famous have oceanfront homes. Dead at 27 years old, he's not pleased to have his life cut short, leaving behind a wife and daughter. However, he isn't one to give up and his efforts pay off 23 years later when his now grown-up daughter comes across his journal.
My ghost story is fictional but there is a true haunting in Malibu where witnesses have spotted a beautiful blonde woman, wandering at night near a historic sidewalk cafe. At one time, the Hollywood elite frequented the place, enjoying the exotic location that happened to be only minutes from the surf. This beautiful apparition is believed to be Thelma Todd. 
Thelma Alice Todd was born July 29, 1906, and died tragically on December 16, 1935, at 29 years old. She was an American actress and appeared in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, and best remembered for her comedic roles in films such as the Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, also a few Charley Chase's short comedies, and she co-starred with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in Speak Easily. She had roles in Wheeler and Woolsey farces, and several Laurel and Hardy films too.
She lived on the second floor of the building above the cafe, next to Roland West, her married lover, and business partner. West was a film director, who ran the nightclub Joya's on the second floor.
The night she died, Thelma Todd had attended a Hollywood party thrown by Ida Lupino. Thelma's ex-husband, Pat DiCicco was also there.
After a few drinks, the two exchanged heated words. She continued to drink throughout the night, and when she decided to leave, witnesses claimed she was drunk. Sid Grauman called Roland West, who was at home and told him Thelma might need help when she arrived there. But sometime between that phone call and Monday morning, Thelma had died.
On the morning of December 16, 1935, Thelma Todd was found dead in her car inside the garage on Posetano Road. West owned the house but Jewel Carmen, a former actress and former wife of Roland West, lived there. However, at the time of Todd's death, Jewel Carmen's parents were in residence. One could reach the house from the highway by taking the steeps steps up the side of the hill.
Was it suicide? All who knew her said she was in good spirits and wouldn't have done anything of the sort. To add to the shock of losing Thelma in such a manner, on the morning that she died, her maid received a Christmas card from her, and throughout the week after her death, gifts kept arriving at friends' houses, which only added to their grief and disbelief that she was truly gone.
December 18, 1935, a Coroner's Inquest into Todd's death began. The autopsy surgeon testified that there were "no marks of violence anywhere upon or within the body" with only a "superficial contusion on the lower lip." However, other accounts stated that there had been significant signs of injury.
At first, the authorities believed Roland West had something to do with Todd's death. Some witnesses saw Thelma in her gown and mink coat kicking at her apartment door and screaming obscenities. Some wondered if she was so drunk, how did she manage to climb the steep stairs to the house on Pasetano Road?
West claimed later that he and Thelma had words about her drinking and he had locked her out of the apartment. He claimed he woke up about 3:30 when he heard running water and assumed Thelma had found a way inside.
In the end, the jury announced the verdict as 'death due to carbon monoxide poisoning.' But Thelma's attorney was sure the police were looking at the wrong man. He believed Lucky Luciano had her killed. Luciano was a gangster and someone you wouldn't cross. However, Thelma had turned down Luciano's offer to convert her cafe into a gambling parlor.
There were plans for a second inquest, but Hal Roach had it stopped. He was terrified to cross the mobster. Reluctantly, the DA, in the end, closed the case, and the mystery of her death went unsolved.
Perhaps the unsolved mystery surrounding her death is why her ghost still lingers. Was she murdered or had it been an unfortunate accident?
In later years, the building was owned by a production company until recently, and the staff members would sometimes spot a filmy apparition that resembled Thelma Todd at the top of the staircase and then it would float down the stairs and outside to the courtyard area. Perhaps she is a residual ghost and is reliving the last night of her life. In the garage of the house on Posetano Road, people claim to have heard a car engine running when the place is empty. Others claim they could smell exhaust fumes coming from the garage when there was no car present.
The historic Thelma Todd building got a facelift from the new owner, who is Robert Hayman of Hayman Properties. He restored the place to the way it looked in the 1930s when Thelma Todd lived and operated her sidewalk cafe on the first floor.
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End of the Road
A rock legend never dies. Sometimes, he comes back as a ghost...
Lars Gunner, the frontman for Silent Plaids, died 23 years ago and his death was ruled an unfortunate accident. Despite the fact he can't recall what happened to him in his last moments of life, he is convinced he was murdered.
He has been trapped in limbo until his daughter, Cecilia, unearths his journal and is able to see him.
She seeks help from Kaleb, a psychic, but as they resurrect the past, the secrets and lies surrounding Lars' rock and roll life just may be the death of them too.
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End of the Road is coming soon to Audible:
Enjoy a sample narrated by Kelly Jackson.