S1E10: Delusions of Ghostly Grandeur

A haunted mansion, a paranormal “expert,” and Bridget absolutely ready to believe. The only problem? The story they’re chasing doesn’t hold up—but that doesn’t stop anyone from committing to it anyway. Between questionable investigators, forced scares, and reactions that feel just a little too eager, the real mystery becomes who’s buying it… and who’s just playing along.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Does dance mean that you actually channel the dad and talk to them? Yeah, but that's all creepy.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

What's new everyone? My voice is a little shot and I'm dealing with some allergies, but I want to thank you for tuning in to more Girls Next Door. Today we're recapping season one, episode 10 of The Girls Next Door entitled Ghost Busted. It's spooky, it's silly, it's a stretch, and yes, it's gonna be a scream, y'all. October 30th, 2005 was the day this Girls Next Door episode aired. You know what else happened in 05? America watched the rise and heartbreak of one of the most influential trendsetters of the entire 2000s. She single-handedly forced white Louis Vuitton doctor bags with multicolor logos onto the forearms of moms and maul girls everywhere. When she swapped sweatpants and Uggs for cowboy boots and Daisy Dukes, we followed obediently. And she asked the question that has haunted us for decades Is this chicken or is this fish? Jessica Simpson, our Y2K reference for today is her 2005 divorce filing from Nick Lachey, the breakup that officially closed the book on MTV's hit series Newlyweds Nick and Jessica after three wildly successful seasons. Fans were devastated. But looking back today with a little perspective, it's one of those if we knew then what we know now moments. In time, both Nick and Jessica found love again, remarried, and built beautiful families. And most of us love that for them. Now, shall we pivot from emotional pop culture drama to alleged paranormal trauma? Then kick off those candies, hang up your trucker hat, and silence your sidekicks. Let's get into Ghostbusted.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

What do you think I should say for Jillians? I thought of Gillian Grace shot in the face, but then I thought that kind of sounds pornographic too.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

We open with Holly and Kendra painting prop tombstones. Halloween was a huge deal at the mansion, so the entire property gets transformed into a haunted playground all month long. One of Hef's favorite holidays, which of course means the biggest party imaginable.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Halloween is a major deal at the mansion.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

One of Hef's favorite holidays, one of the mansion's biggest parties, the biggest and best Halloween party in the world.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

According to Bridget, it's the biggest and best party in the world. Does it feel like she says that about all the parties? I think so. We are shown footage of past Halloweens at the mansion, elaborate costumes, haunted mazes, and the usual suspects in attendance, including Paris Hilton and Bill Maher. Eclectic crowd. They have lots of decorating to do. Bye-bye, Pink Room.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Hello, Hello.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

In Bridget's room, it's Bye bye, Pink Pride and Hello Haunted Hostel. Bridget shares Hef's affection for the holiday, so she goes all out, decorating her space with skeletons, spider webs, and synthetic body parts. Bridget, who claims to have seen female apparitions appear in her bedroom, tells us that the Playboy mansion had long been rumored to be haunted by the spirit of the prior owner, Mrs. Letts. According to Bridget, Mrs. Letz met her fate when she leapt from the foyer's second story balcony onto the marble floor, killing herself. Except none of that happened. The story was later revealed to be completely made up by a former girlfriend and then passed along like a haunted game of telephone. Yes, there was a Florence Letz, wife of original owner Author Letz, but she didn't die in the mansion. Author passed away from pneumonia after a nervous breakdown in 1923, and Florence left the property shortly after. No balcony leap, no dramatic marble floor finale. Which is funny when you think about it because Hugh Hefner may actually be the only prominent resident to die on the property. So if the mansion is haunted now, statistically speaking. So she tells Holly and Hef's assistant, Mary O'Connor, she's hired a paranormal investigator and a medium.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

Let's get somebody to exercise the cellulite off of my ass.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

The editors were definitely on their toes when they added that little buttump bump sound effect after Holly joked about wanting someone to exercise the cellulite off of her butt. Really, Holly. I can't help but wonder how these women didn't fully grasp the level of influence they had over a young, impressionable nation. With that kind of visibility comes responsibility, don't you think? A responsibility to be more self-aware, to be more careful about body shaming, even when it's directed at yourself. I know, it's a different time, and today even celebrities are far more sensitive and inclusive when it comes to body image. But moments like this remind me just how tough it was for our generation growing up under those standards. And honestly, we made it through that. We deserve some respect. Do I sound like a Karen?

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Oh my god, we need to get a paranormal investigator in here. We need to have a seance, we need to figure out what's going on around here.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Bridget suggests a seance to call on Mrs. Letz to recreate her deathfall. Mary, a no-nonsense kind of woman and seasoned mansion worker, sets the record straight. She didn't do that, she says. On screen, we're introduced to Dr. Barry Taft, Paranormal Expert, and Paul Clemens. Dr. Taft, to his credit, he's legit, UCLA doctorate thousands of investigations, research, and telepathy, precognition, remote viewing, consulting on films, law enforcement, government agencies, the whole deal. Paul Clemens, however, comes up on Google as an actor and special effects makeup artist. Okay. Holly says she doesn't really believe in the paranormal, but wants to. Kendra says her room is the haunted one, and Bridget is just incredulous. What? You said you don't believe. I don't, says Kendra. Then how could you say your room is haunted? Paul asks. He seems equally offended by a non-believer. And while it seems to me that Kendra was probably just playing her part and making conversation in the spirit of participation, the group knocks her down pretty hard. So she has to change course and make a joke to save face. Well, I wake up and my room is always messy, and I don't know how it got that way. Bridget rolls her eyes hard. Yeah, right. I know what happened.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

I think that I felt strange here from the very beginning. Strange feelings. What type of feelings? I get a feeling of being watched.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Bridget admits she often feels watched in the mansion. Which, respectfully, ma'am, you're filming a nationally televised reality show. Dr. Taft suggests Bridget might be a catalyst for paranormal activity, which she absolutely eats up. And to be fair, Bridget has leaned fully into this interest over the years. She's done paranormal podcasts, specials, interviews, the works. But here's where I struggle. Bridget always seems to be doing the most. On her Girls Next Level podcast, she once told a story about encountering a ghost in a Disneyland bathroom because a stall door popped open after she thought it was locked. And listen, how many of us have waited for a restroom stall we swore was occupied? Be honest. Hang in there. I'll try to explain her version of events. Paraphrased, but definitely how she told it.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

So I was with my friend at Disney, you know, and we had to go to the restroom because we had been walking for like a really long time. And um, so we went to the ones that are like kind of far away by that thing in the corner place where the cafe used to be. And there was only like two stalls in there. But there was like a woman like cleaning and refilling the toilet paper in one of them, you know. So I like tried to open the other door, but it was locked. And I jiggled the handle and everything. Well, when the woman finished up in the other stall, I just decided to use that one, you know. And right as I'm about to close the latch behind me, the other stall door just pops open. And guess what? No one was even in there. I mean, it sent chills all down my spine. It was so freaky.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Okay, still, I don't want to totally dismiss her experiences. Bridget also once mentioned being sent to therapy as a child because she claimed to see visions of her deceased grandfather. So maybe she is sensitive, maybe she's intuitive, maybe she's just imaginative. There you go, Bridge. I threw you a bone. Truthfully, guys, this episode isn't one of my favorites. I would have loved more archival footage of legendary Halloween parties instead of this Scooby-Doo storyline, but we work with what we're given.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

This is the strange balcony that I was telling you about. That does a story.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

I just got an amazing reading. Barry and Paul tour the mansion with their paranormal reading instruments drawn, every spike in temperature or air pressure, and these guys are so dramatic. Before they leave, they try to warn Bridget about the seance she will be performing with a hired medium. You're already highly susceptible to experiences. Be careful of inviting something more in. Next thing, we see Bridget in full-length, sexy colonial vampire getup, and she's opening the mansion door for Dorothy Mitchell, who is simply cited as psychic. Dorothy is an unassuming middle-aged woman with dark hair in a long black dress. Bridget asks Dorothy if seance means channeling the dead, and she replies, Yes. Bridget shimmies her chest, bends at her knees, and wearing a shit-eating grin and a baby voice, says, Mmm, cool. That gives me the goosebumps. Bridget. So much. Holly is dressed in a short velvet off-the-shoulder dress with a gothic crimson rose pattern, and Kendra is casual in black pants and a red tank top. Whatever makes Bridget happy, says Kendra. Love it, K-Dub. Way to be a sport.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

I desperately want to be a catalyst for the haunted. I want to see ghosts, and I never do. Whatever makes Bridget happy, I guess. I don't believe, and I don't like to think there's ghosts and stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Hef joins the women sitting at a small round table with candle centerpiece. Dorothy has everyone hold hands, and she closes her eyes while seeming to have a unilateral conversation out loud, but muttering to herself things like, Oh? Hmm, okay. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Even though the girls and Hef have told her about Bridget's visions and Mrs. Lett's, psychic Dorothy decides a vague female spirit older than time itself is responsible for the haunting of the mansion.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

What does that mean? After the paranormal psychologist and the medium left, I felt kind of gypped because I felt like we still didn't know whether the house was haunted or not. Nobody gave any answers.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Disappointed by the sketchy seance and paranormal investigation, the girls change into their jammies and head into Hef's bed to watch a horror film he produced in high school. And to be fair, it doesn't look so bad for what it is. It's also a reminder that Hef truly loved film and the horror genre long before Playboy became an empire. The episode ends with Bridget fantasizing about haunting the mansion herself one day. And truthfully, now that she mentions it, if anyone's sticking around to haunt Playboy as a ghost, it's Bridget. Alright, guys, thanks so much for sticking it out with me today. Don't forget to like, share, subscribe, meet me in the comment section. I'll engage. Let's talk more girls next door. And I want to invite you to join me next time. We'll be road tripping with the girls to Bridget's hometown. I've got some behind the scenes stories that didn't make it on screen. And once you know what really happened in Lodi, California, you'll see the entire episode in a whole new light.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Hi, love you guys. See you next time.