Actress Courteney Cox had heard stories about her Los Angeles home being haunted, but she never took them particularly seriously. That changed when a delivery driver arrived at her property with a chilling warning: 'Someone is standing right behind you.'
The encounter left the Friends star so unsettled that she said she could no longer sleep alone in the house. Cox had previously brushed aside the property's spooky reputation, but the driver's unexpected remark made it harder for her to feel comfortable there.
Cox bought the Laurel Canyon property in 1988 from Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Carole King, who reportedly warned her about strange occurrences inside the house. King had apparently experienced unexplained events herself, although Cox admitted she was initially too starstruck to pay much attention when they took part in a séance together.
The Delivery Driver's Eerie Warning
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2022, Cox recalled the encounter that changed how she viewed the house. The remark was particularly unsettling because it was a first-hand experience, rather than a friend recounting an old ghost story. Cox had previously been able to dismiss the rumours, but the driver's warning left her wondering whether there was something to the stories after all.
Courteney Cox Sold her House Because it Was Haunted… 👻Courteney Cox sold her house because it was haunted… 👻
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Kimmel asked Cox whether the experience had prompted her to sell the house. Her answer was brief but telling: 'Probably'. She did not suggest the encounter was the only reason for the sale, but her response may have played a part in her decision.
What the driver thought he saw remains unclear, and Cox offered no explanation for this. Her response to Kimmel, however, suggested that the experience had stayed with her long after the delivery was over.
Stories of Strange Happenings at the House
The unsettling tales surrounding the property come way before Cox moved in. Carole King had reportedly spoken about a ghost, while friends who stayed at the house described seeing a woman sitting on the edge of a bed. Such stories added to the property's reputation, although the alleged sightings were never established as anything supernatural.
For Cox, the delivery driver's comment appears to have made those stories more difficult to ignore. Hearing about someone else's supposed experience was one thing; being confronted with an unexpected warning while going about her own life was another.
Cox sold the property in 1991, just three years after buying it. Although the timing has fuelled speculation about whether the haunting stories influenced her decision, she did not publicly establish that fear of the house was the sole reason she left.
Fist poster 'SHINING VALE' starring Courtney Cox, Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear, Mira Sorvino & Judith Light https://t.co/6hK3h6cEVA pic.twitter.com/DKyvO9bqBJ
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Exploring the Supernatural in Shining Vale
Years later, Cox took on another story involving a supposedly haunted home in the horror-comedy series Shining Vale. She played a woman whose family moves into a house with a dark history, only for disturbing events to begin unfolding around them.
The series mixed supernatural horror with domestic comedy, putting Cox in the middle of fictional encounters with the unexplained. The storyline may have been different from her experience in Laurel Canyon, but the role definitely brought her back to the realm of the supernatural. And while Cox may still not be entirely convinced by the house's reputation, the eerie experience still left her feeling differently about a place she had once called home.
