THE CULVER CITY HAUNTING: The Inspiration For ‘The Entity’
When a desperate mother claimed unseen forces were assaulting her, a routine ghost hunt spiraled into one of the most chilling and controversial cases of spectral violence ever recorded.
What began as a routine paranormal investigation on August 22, 1974, in Culver City, California, would become one of the most disturbing and well-documented cases of spectral assault in paranormal history.
Dr. Barry Taff and his associate Kerry Gaynor were discussing paranormal phenomena at a local bookstore when a woman overheard their conversation. This woman, Doris Bither, approached them claiming her house was haunted. After sharing some details with Gaynor, they agreed to investigate her claims.
Upon arriving at Bither’s small house on Braddock Drive, the investigators immediately sensed something was amiss. The living conditions were squalid, and the relationship between Doris and her three sons was visibly strained. Her six-year-old daughter seemed to be caught in the middle of this tumultuous environment. According to Dr. Taff, the house had twice been condemned by the city, and investigators reported feeling an unusual pressure in their ears while inside.
Doris Bither’s life had been marked by abuse. She suffered at the hands of her parents and endured several abusive relationships with men. The negative psychodynamics of the home were palpable, with obvious tension between Doris and her sons, particularly the eldest. Experts note that such troubled environments often act like lightning rods for paranormal activity, either attracting poltergeists or psychosomatically creating them.
Bither’s claims were shocking even to experienced investigators like Taff and Gaynor. She described being physically attacked by spirits, with encounters ranging from bumping into ghostly figures to being sexually assaulted by them. Initially skeptical, the investigators became more convinced when they observed bruises on her inner thighs and body, and when people outside the family corroborated seeing apparitions in the home.
According to Doris, the entities were Asian men. Her children also saw these beings and had nicknamed the most prominent one “Mr. Whose-it.” The most disturbing aspect of her claims involved three spirits working together to attack her. Doris reported that two smaller entities would hold her down while the largest one sexually assaulted her. Her eldest son admitted to witnessing his mother being thrown around the room by invisible forces, and when he tried to intervene, he too was thrown across the room.
Determined to document these extraordinary claims, the team set up high-speed cameras and brought in additional investigators and photographers. In what would become a famous session, approximately thirty researchers crowded into Doris’s small bedroom. She was instructed to provoke the entities, which she did by shouting and cursing at them.
To everyone’s astonishment, lights began manifesting around the room. As Doris continued her provocations, a greenish mist formed in a corner, coiling and swirling as it grew. Within this mist, the upper torso of a muscular male figure became visible. Though facial details weren’t clear, the musculature was apparent enough that one investigator fainted upon seeing it.
Despite professional camera equipment and operators being present, most of the phenomena failed to manifest on film. The most compelling photographic evidence shows Doris sitting on a bed surrounded by investigators, with a free-floating arc of light in the middle of the frame. Curiously, this arc appears smooth and uninterrupted even where it crosses the room’s corners, defying normal light behavior.
Dr. Taff also reported that paranormal activity intensified when Doris’s eldest son played certain music, particularly Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep albums containing songs about devil worship. When the investigators asked the boy to play these songs, they observed increased manifestations of lights and orbs.
The team documented lights and poltergeist activity for approximately two and a half months, with phenomena gradually decreasing over time.
Several factors complicate this case. Doris struggled with alcohol addiction and exhibited belligerent behavior almost daily. Her refusal to address her psychological issues likely contributed to the manifestation of poltergeist phenomena in her home.
Notably, the paranormal activity was strongest when Doris was present, particularly when intoxicated. She could almost summon the phenomena on cue while drunk, yet when sober and with the investigation team, the poltergeist often remained dormant. This suggests that her uninhibited psychokinetic energy may have played a crucial role.
Psychological analysis reveals intriguing parallels. Doris claimed three entities controlled and oppressed her life — perhaps metaphysically representing her troubled relationship with her three sons. Having suffered abuse throughout her life, Doris self-medicated with alcohol to avoid post-traumatic stress, which may have triggered metaphysical effects.
One theory suggests Doris may have been highly psychic or “sensitive,” possessing an untapped talent that, due to her addiction and self-loathing, manifested as self-destructive poltergeist activity rather than constructive psychic ability.
Another possibility is that both Doris and her sons — especially the eldest — were psychic, as such abilities often run in families. The toxic relationship dynamics in the home could have generated enough psychokinetic energy to physically manifest as poltergeist activity. The “spectral rape” description — two smaller entities holding her down while the largest assaulted her — eerily parallels the family structure, potentially representing her subconscious perception of her eldest son as a controlling male figure.
Alternatively, Doris may have attracted actual malevolent spirits. If she had been abused by three influential men in her past, the combination of her psychic abilities, self-medication, and self-loathing could have made her vulnerable to supernatural predators. This case bears similarities to the infamous Bell Witch haunting of 1817, where Betsy Bell, possibly a sexually abused child with psychic abilities, was at the center of poltergeist phenomena.
After Doris Bither left the Culver City home, subsequent residents reported no paranormal activity. The house remains apparently ghost-free to this day. However, Dr. Taff noted that as Doris moved from Culver City to Carson to San Bernardino to Texas and back to San Bernardino, she reported that the phenomena “followed” her and her family, supporting the theory that the poltergeist was connected to her psychological state rather than the location.
Her unstable mental condition became further evident when she claimed to have been impregnated by a ghost. Medical tests revealed she was experiencing an ectopic or hysterical pregnancy.
Since Doris Bither hasn’t been heard from since the late 1980s or early 1990s, and her children haven’t come forward with further information, many questions about this disturbing case remain unanswered. What really happened in that small Culver City house continues to puzzle paranormal researchers and remains one of the most compelling cases of supposed supernatural assault ever documented.
Source: Xavier Ortega
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