Craig Owens first fell in love with history and the paranormal in 1972. At that time, he was a seven-year-old boy playing on the grounds of a Southern plantation known as Waverley, located outside of West Point, Mississippi. Although Craig never encountered any ghosts in his youth, the beauty and history of Waverley stayed with him long after his family moved back to his birthplace, Odessa, Texas.
Growing up in Odessa, Craig mostly focused on athletics, grades, and his love of movies. Following high school, he attended college, graduating from Southern Methodist University with a B.F.A. in Communications.
After working in the Dallas film market for a few years, he moved to Los Angeles in 1994 where he found employment as a writer’s production assistant in the film and television industry. His production credits include Wag the Dog (1997), Phone Booth (2000), and The Gilmore Girls (2000-2001). In 2002, he left film production to work for the Century City Chamber of Commerce and later the International Cinematographers Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Local 600. While working for the chamber of commerce, he contributed articles for the Century City View and wrote the “History of Century City.”
In 2009, Craig began staging vintage-style photo shoots at haunted hotels as an idea for an Old Hollywood-themed project. While on location, he saw what appeared to be a “ghost.” This left him wondering if his photo shoots were somehow triggering paranormal activity. The following year, he started his Facebook blog, Bizarre Los Angeles, a page dedicated to Los Angeles’ forgotten history. He also continued to hold vintage photo shoots at haunted locations, this time with a book project in mind.
In 2017, Craig published his first book, Haunted by History, which combines his three loves: history, paranormal research, and Old Hollywood glamour. His book immediately received critical acclaim, earning Publishers Weekly’s coveted star review. In 2020, it placed in the 2020 Eric Hoffer Awards for being among the top books of the year. Craig has been interviewed on countless podcasts as well as AOL News, Los Angeles Magazine, NBC Los Angeles, and Nerdist’s Bizarre States. He has also been featured on My Ghost Stories: Caught on Film, A&E’s Psychic Kids, and Mysteries Decoded. In 2023, he joined former A&E Ghost Hunters alumni Brandon Alvis and Mustafa Gatollari on a brand new TV series called Haunted Discoveries: Family Spirits.
Today, Craig remains one of Los Angeles’ top tour guides for haunted historic locations and has helped numerous investigators, property owners, and historians separate facts from urban legends.
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