80: A Nepo Baby’s Hollywood Castle: America’s Billionaire King William Hearst | Dark History with Bailey Sarian
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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. ♪

Hi, friends. I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian, and I'd like to welcome you to my study and to my podcast, Dark History. If you're new here, hi. This is a chance to tell the story like it is and to share the history of stuff we would never think about. All you need to do is sit back, relax, and just let me ramble and tell you about that hot, juicy history goss.

I need a Red Bull injection. Okay, so maybe if you're new here or not, or whatever, I've talked about Hearst Castle so many times. You've heard me mention this castle over and over again because it's always just fascinated me. I mean, a castle in California? Oh!

Ah, growing up, I thought the only royalty we had here in California was like Ronald McDonald. But when you approach this gigantic property, the castle starts to emerge on top of the hill and it just gets like bigger and bigger and bigger. And then you see the whole thing.

Sounds like I'm being nasty. And then you see this whole thing, like this big, mysterious, beautiful castle that's just overlooking the ocean. It gets you thinking, like, what is the deal with this place? Why is it here? So you can actually tour the property, which I was so excited about. So while I was on the property, I could hear the like waves crashing and there was this fog surrounding me. I mean, the place just had this mystical vibe. I

I mean, I had to know more. Like who lived here? It seemed to me like it was some kind of evil villain or maybe it was just actual royalty. Well, turns out there is indeed a man who may not have been royalty, but he was the kind of guy who created an entire castle for himself just because he thought he deserved it. Well, and because he's like, I can't.

Boo for you. A castle that would go down in history as one of the most notorious party spots in America. I mean, this castle was filled with millions of dollars of stolen art, Hollywood megastars, illegal booze, orgies, and exotic animals from all over the world. I'm talking about Hearst Castle. Burp-burp-da-da!

As we can see, we have Joan here. If you can't see, Joan is dressed up in her... She's going to the bowl. She is going to some kind of bowl. She looks fabulous. Girl, you really went all out for this. Good for you. Mm-hmm. She's feeling real good after that boob job. Don't blame her. And the man who created Hearst Castle? Why?

his name, William Randolph Hearst. Now you might remember him from our yellow journalism episode that I did last season, but overall he owned a bunch of newspapers and was essentially one of the creators of clickbait and that naughty F word, fake news. Yeah, he like started that, but he wasn't just good at stirring the pot to sell newspapers. This guy was like a

a professional at spending money. And I mean, he had this castle to prove it. And if you were anyone of great importance, you would get an invite. Jeff Allen, who was a tour guide at Hearst Castle for 30 years, said, quote, there was an old saying in Hollywood that there were two groups of stars, the ones who had been to Hearst Castle and the ones who had said they'd been to Hearst Castle. End quote.

Okay, like...

I mean, he could give us a little bit more, like give me all that hot gossip. So vague. If you don't know, Hearst Castle is enormous and the buildings are over 80,000 square feet on the inside. It's essentially a tourist attraction now. And you might even recognize it from Lady Gaga's music video, Guy, where she's dancing around like a really fancy pool with a bunch of hot guys, I think. I can't remember, but I remember the pool.

Yeah, that was at Hearst Castle. But back in its heyday, it had its own zoo, and that pool I mentioned? Well, it fits. 345,000 gallons of water, and is surrounded by Roman columns and expensive marble.

But to understand why it exists in the first place, it's important to understand the guy who built it. So let's get right to the source of young William's trauma. He had mommy and daddy issues. Yeah, we're just gonna start off with that. Like it wasn't just one, it was both. So young William was born into a wealthy family and lived quite a privileged life. I mean, it was all thanks to his dad. His name was George, George Hurst. So George, he was born into poverty.

and barely literate and he just really struggled growing up. His life would change when he struck gold, well actually silver. During the California gold rush which happened in the late 1800s, he found a buttload of silver, an amount that equaled 3.3 million dollars in today's money.

So he was sick. George's wealth set him up for like the life he had always wanted. He goes on to own a bunch of businesses and he even gets elected to the U.S. Senate in 1887 and he gets into the newspaper business. Now owning a newspaper, especially at this time, was a very big deal. I mean, people, first of all, actually read the newspaper back then.

You know, it was all they had. That's how they got all of their information. And owning it put you in control of the conversation being had, the narrative. This man, he grew up in poverty. He couldn't read. He didn't really have anything going for him and literally hit the jackpot.

I mean, many think of him as like the definition of the American dream coming from nothing and ended up with everything. I'm talking servants, multiple properties. He's living comfortably. And it's just so ironic that a man who couldn't read owned newspapers. Right. I think maybe he could read by then, but why?

There's no information about that. George ends up falling in love and marrying someone from his hometown, a teacher named Phoebe, also his distant cousin. Oh, God. And in 1863, they had their only child, William Randolph Hearst.

Now, George was a bit of a workaholic, so growing up, William spent most of the time with his mother. And then the two of them would go on bougie little mother-son Euro trips that would end up lasting like a whole year. They toured castles throughout Europe, went to the world's most famous museums, and studied their architecture. So, William, I mean, from a very young age, was...

Very cultured. I mean, right off the bat, he knows what good art looks like. He knows good architecture. These trips were his core memories. So when William did spend time with his dad, it would be on like one of the many plots of land the family owned. And one of these purchases was 48,000 acres in a place called San Simeon.

a town a few hundred miles away from Los Angeles in California. It honestly looks like a little storybook village, like just right by the ocean. Oh, it's on the Pacific coast. It's so pretty. You gotta see it. Now, George didn't really care about building anything on this land. He just kind of liked having it.

So little William and his family spent time there camping. But it definitely wasn't like an everyday person type of camping. George had these really big World War I army tents erected.

by his servants on one of the hills that looked out at the ocean. So these tents were like the size of a whole apartment and they actually were set up around the entrances to the house. So even though there was a house, they got to tell themselves that they were roughing it. They were campers. They were essentially glamping, which is like, hey, did they invent glamping?

Maybe. But this was just the way William grew up, like it was his normal. In one of the biographies written about him, it was said that William didn't even know that poverty existed because he spent so much of his time in his mom's little kangaroo pouch. He just kind of walked through life thinking everyone was a millionaire. And everywhere William went, I mean, people treated him like a freaking prince because of the Hearst family reputation for wealth and power. Even when he went with his dad to meet the president of Mexico,

young William knew that the ruler was, quote, in his father's pocket. And all this gave William a real privileged rich boy attitude that he would carry with him for the rest of his life. I mean, during his time at Harvard, because of course he went to Harvard, he would throw keggers right out in the open on campus. You know, not afraid of anyone. I mean,

He's like, "My dad's a Senator. Who's gonna stop me?" And William wasn't just partying. He also just was a big fan of pranks. Ugh, pranks. He would even send chamber pots, which are like little ceramic pots

Yeah, they're little ceramic potties. Okay, and they're called chamber pots. And he would send these to his professors with little paintings of the professors inside the bowl, which like some people were like, ooh, what a diss. And I'm like, I'm not sure if it was a compliment or not, but I mean, wouldn't you want to shit on your own face? I kind of want to. He's like, all right, thank you. Like, all right.

Then in 1885, he pulled one prank too many and finally got expelled. But that didn't mean anything to him. Well, you know, it wasn't over for William. After college, he gets into the newspaper business just like his dad, and he ends up taking over the San Francisco Examiner. And it turns out he's actually really good at it. He knew, like, it didn't matter if what he was printing in his newspaper was true. It just has to be juicy.

in order to sell. So here's an example of one of his headlines from February of 1898. It said, quote, "Crisis is at hand. Spanish treachery." Like just yelling at you 'cause it's like all caps. It's like, oh my God, chill. And then quote, "The spirit of war pervades the breasts of all Americans."

I don't know. I guess he was just really good at stirring the pot. And this in turn made him a fortune and gave him a lot of

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.

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What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

Let's get back to our story.

By the early 1900s, William was essentially controlling the media. Around this time, William also had a bit of a reputation as a stage door Johnny. I know, I was like, what's that? But it's basically a groupie for Broadway shows. But it wasn't because he appreciated the art of theater. It was there because he loved him some showgirls.

This is actually how he met his wife, stage actress Millicent Wilson. He waited for her on the side stage door, smoking a cig, just waiting to take her out on a hot date. Even though he was in his 30s and she was 16, William has his eye on the prize and he ends up marrying Millicent and they end up having five kids together.

But pretty early on in their marriage, it's very clear that William, he didn't want to give up his playboy ways. Like we've learned here many times before, divorce wasn't really an acceptable thing for quite some time. So Millicent moves to New York to live her life

and William stays in California to live his, but they remain married. So you know that's gonna work out. And honestly, in my book, what a dream. Perfect marriage. Around 1918, William began a relationship with another woman. Many people consider his actual like life part

Her name was Marion Davies, who was also a young actress. He definitely had a type, okay? He just liked that new car smell, you know what I'm saying? Meanwhile, William's daddy, George, dies, leaving his entire fortune, properties, and papers,

all to his wife, Phoebe, not William. Not getting this money drove William crazy. I mean, George left everything to his wife because William had a reputation for being straight up reckless with his money. And he's like, but I have big dreams and I'm a

Grown-ass man, that's not fair. He finally got it all on April 13th, 1919, when a nasty influenza epidemic arrived in the US and took out his mom, Phoebe Hearst. Now, Phoebe left a legacy as a very charitable, likable person, I mean, especially in California.

She also left 56-year-old William Hearst everything. Her art collection, the family fortune of $10 million, which is like...

$172 million in today's money. Countless other properties, including that campsite in San Simeon. William and his mom were extremely close. So when she died, oh, he was devastated. But also he was kind of like low-key happy because now he had total free reign of the family fortune. Woo!

He's like, "I waited for this." But in 1919, everything changes. He turns to a family friend and one of the most talented architects of the time, Julia Morgan. Julia, Julia, Julia. She was a bad bitch. She was the first licensed female architect in the state of California. Round of applause.

And she had an amazing career even before she started working with the Hearst. She was the perfect person for William to collaborate with to spend all that money he just inherited. So William's goal was to create one of the greatest buildings in America.

something people would remember him by. So William goes with a land that's been in the family since he was a kid, that campground. He told Julia, quote, End quote.

He apparently wanted the decorations to be tasteful and simple. But pretty soon after construction started, William did what he does best. He let the power go all to his head. And because he was the one signing the checks, I mean, people listened. He turned the San Simeon land into a mega property.

The property was located on a huge hill which overlooked the ocean and had beautiful, gorgeous views. On the hill, he built four houses and five guest houses. The main house was called Casa Grande and it was 68,500 square feet and had a total of 115 rooms. Yeah.

That's a lot. It had 38 bedrooms, 30 fireplaces, and 42 bathrooms. So plenty of places to take a crap in peace, you know? That's nice. It is nice when you need that quiet bathroom in the corner that no one goes to, you know? Casa Grande also had 14 sitting rooms. Yeah, whatever that means, right? I guess they sat in those rooms. Any room can really be a sitting room if you just try hard enough.

Then there were three guest houses on the property. They had a total of 46 rooms, including lobbies. Yes, they had guest houses with lobbies. The castle also had three chefs, three butlers, and tons of servants. There were two swimming pools, the Neptune Pool, which was outside, and the indoor one, which was called the Roman Pool outside.

And the way Hearst Castle is decorated, it was just all over the place. The main house is in a Spanish style, but most of the guest houses are Mediterranean. It's very maximalist. Yeah, he's one of those for sure. And then something else I noticed when I toured the castle, you can tell William planned out every single detail on the property.

I mean, it's something from the most beautiful movie you've ever seen. It's so gorgeous. William did a lot of art buying, like paintings and sculptures, and it's been reported that he spent about $1 million a year on art. I mean, the guy even brought in ancient sculptures from Egypt, and no idea how he got that, which...

Very questionable. And honestly, well, sadly, it's just not surprising. It's like rich person 101 behavior. Steal from Egypt. I bet you he was one of those weirdos snorting mummy powder. But the reason he did all of this was because he wanted Hearst Castle to be special. And not just the art hanging inside. So he hired an art dealer named Arthur Bynes.

who had connections all over the world, especially in Spain. He was known for having under the table dealings because the things that he would buy for William, they weren't really things that were for sale. Bynes would swoop in and buy up pieces of buildings from the war wreckage in the Spanish Civil War

or one of a kind art deco cathedral ceilings from Spain. And if Arthur couldn't get entire pieces of a building, he would just look for, let's say, a piece of a Roman column, and then he'd put on his Bob the Builder hat and recreate the rest to just match it, look like it, you know? Which is why some of the buildings at Hearst Castle look kind of like a mismatched puzzle.

It's fun though, I like it. William even said, "I know it is partly made up, but it is effective." I mean, honestly, all you have to do is squint a little bit and everything matches. When you squint, it looks like it matches. You won't even notice. Now my personal favorite part of Hearst Castle has nothing to do with the art.

or the 5 million rooms. Well, I kind of love all the bathrooms. That's comforting. Anyways, but it's something that William had put on the property that really set him apart from other castles in history. Back then, Hearst Castle was home to California's largest private zoo. William

loved animals, especially the ones... This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

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What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. History. History.

The zoo at Hearst Castle was called the Hearst Garden of Comparative Zoology. Sounds very official. So his zoo was home to over 300 animals. In the fields around the property, you would find animals grazing peacefully next to each other, like antelopes, exotic types of deer. There's llamas, kangaroos, ostriches, emus, sheep.

You name it, it was probably there. And like I said before, it was all in the details for him. The ride up to Hearst Castle is like this long, it's not long, but it's kind of long. It has a lot of turns though because you have to like go up this hill. He put in feeding cages for animals like grizzly bears, cougars, chimpanzees along the way as kind of like a little sneak preview of things to come. There were some flashier animals like giraffes, lions, tigers, and tigress.

elephants and they would be in large fenced in habitats not far from the main part of the castle so guests could like walk right up to them be like look i'm touching an animal earl earl come look at me i'm touching this that's what they were really there for come look at me earl

So William even named an elephant after his longtime lover, Marion. But she was apparently pissed off to be sharing a name with an elephant.

Valid. William also had this ape named Jerry that the guests love to mess with. They'd throw a rope into his habitat and start playing tug of war with him. Not ideal to do, you know. William said he wanted his guests to feel as though they were driving through an area populated by quote, interesting and exotic animals in their natural state.

In cages. Oh, that's funny. If he really wanted that, I don't know. Like, you know, don't bring him to the castle. You know? Okay. But all right, sure. The Hearsts were basically like the Rockefellers of the West Coast. I guess he saw this castle as a sign of status.

but not even the Rockefellers could top the circus that was partying at Hearst Castle. William would host extravagant events and wild parties inside the castle walls. There would be the luxurious bedrooms, the

pools and the over the top everything just would really set the stage for party hosting. Now, all of these rooms weren't just for looking. I mean, this place was like Candyland for the rich and famous. It was a real life, great Gatsby situation. William, like mentioned before, was a bit of a control freak, maybe a diva, but he needed exactly everything to be the way he wanted it to be. I mean, even coming down to his guests.

Now every castle event started with a guest list. Sometimes it was 40 people on a quiet weekend. And sometimes he'd go balls out and would literally invite hundreds of people to just go off. And William was a control freak when it came to the whole who he was associated with.

Like if you were in, you were in. And if he didn't like you, you were out. Bye. People had to be invited to Hearst Castle by King William himself. So an invite was much more than just a typical Friday night dinner at the Olive Garden with your Aunt Barbara.

An invite to the castle was like a badge of honor to anyone invited. I mean, even Hollywood stars. It was a sign that you made it to like this cool inner circle. And William would just like handpick the guest list and then send out invites one of two ways. Like he would either call you up or there'd be some kind of classy handwritten note. So if you got one of these coveted invites from William, girl, it was like welcome to the tippy top of the social food chain.

You made it. Welcome. VIP section right this way. In these invites and in general, William always referred to the castle as the ranch, which was so weird because it was obviously a castle, not a ranch. Like what kind of ranch has 38 bedrooms and 40 baths? I've never seen those on Zillow. Well...

Okay, anyways, this would be considered an example of William wanting to come across as like a normal, salt of the earth kind of guy who just didn't have every opportunity in life served to him on a silver platter. A ranch was humbling. A castle sounded too over the top, which is what he wanted, but he wanted to appear humble.

Very confusing man. Now most people wouldn't dare RSVP "no" to a castle invite. One, because who would pass up on an opportunity to hang at the castle?

And two, people knew that William was Petty Catherine Hepburn, an iconic actress from the golden age of Hollywood. One time she got an invite and like nobody knows why, but she had to turn down the offer. Okay. And it was a decision she had regretted because after that he ghosted her and she never received another invite again. She was like, oh shit. Sorry, William. Okay.

But like, he just doesn't forget. But 99.99999% of the time, people RSVP'd yes without thinking twice. And these invites weren't a casual, like come by whenever situation. William was very specific about his invites. The events would always start, I mean,

right on time, on the dot. And if you were a good guest at dinner, a lot of the times your invite was open-ended. Now this technically meant that guests could stay as long as they wanted. But the thing is, some Hollywood stars, they tended to stay a bit too long for William's liking. I mean, hello, why would they want to go back to their boring mansion? They just want to stay there with the animals. Look,

Earl, I'm touching an elephant. I mean, why would you want to leave that? It was said that the longer a guest overstayed their welcome, the further their chair got from William at dinnertime. Once a person's chair was at the far end of the table, I mean, as far as possible from William, and that was the castle's way of saying, pack your bags, bitch. It's time to go. Get out of here. Let's go.

The castle's official guest list over the years, I mean, was enormous. And it was bananas how many megastars loved to go there. Charlie Chaplin, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant.

Ah, they all partied at Hearst Castle. Then there were the powerful heads of studios who showed up like Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers, and Louis B. Mayer, who was running MGM. So many saw it as like the perfect opportunity to network, obviously. But like William wasn't just a Hollywood clout chaser. I mean, his newspapers and radio stations gave him global influence. So I mean, he was buddy-buddy with some big name politicians like US President Jennifer Coolidge.

Just kidding, Calvin Coolidge. Calvin Coolidge. Oh, and that British guy, he was friends with Winston Churchill. Yeah, he's like, no big deal, whatever. We're like chill. Okay, so what did one of these coveted weekend getaways look like at the castle, you ask? Ugh, let me tell you. Usually they were hosted by William and Marianne.

who was essentially his wife at this point, but not in the eyes of the law, especially because Millicent, she was still living up in the East Coast, licking caviar off her fingers and in no rush to get a divorce, right? Good for her. Now, William and Marion did their best to try and keep things classy within the party, right?

Okay, so a bunch of people would come over for the weekend. When guests would arrive, they'd be escorted by a butler to the library or like one of those millions of sitting rooms. And if he wasn't too busy, William would swing by, say hello, sometimes help the people settle into their guest bedrooms, you know. So there was always a lot going on at all times. But anyway, some weekends were on the more, you know, relaxed side.

But relaxed at the castle had a very different definition. For example, if you wanted morning coffee, the only place you could get it was at the buffet, which was in the main house. And William didn't want people to lay in bed all day. So when mealtime rolled around, guests had to show up promptly at the scheduled time, which is like not bad at all. That's not really asking. It's like you're staying at my mansion. The least you could do was show up to breakfast. Bitch.

Okay. Now after everyone ate, guests had a few options. There were like a variety of things you could do. If you're one of those sporty people, you could play tennis because they had this huge grand tennis court, which was right next door. Or you could go down to the private beach for a

private stroll. Or if you felt like having just a relaxing but bougie morning, you could drive around the property in a flashy car that had a chauffeur ready and waiting to take you around and show you the world. Some guests would hang back and play board games or do puzzles with Marianne. She loved a puzzle. William was also a fan of taking ridiculously long horse rides around the property. He would do like eight hours crotch on a

saddle chafing, oof. One movie director remembered that he was forced into a horse riding expedition where William took everyone through the mountains and the director described it as sadistic. I mean, I guess he didn't have a good time, but who's going to complain to the guy that's paying for everyone's weekend getaway, you know? I'll bounce on a horse for eight hours acting like everything's fine and dandy. I'll suck it up.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

Now let's get back to today's story, huh?

Before the main event, people had to report for pre-dinner drinks exactly at 7.30 p.m. in the assembly room where the murder was about to take place. Sounds like a game of Clue. But just because it was like a dinner at a fancy palace didn't mean there was an open bar.

Guests would be allowed one martini before dinner, and it would purposely be very weak. Nobody could get a good buzz off of it, and some people would get a second martini if they secretly chugged the first one and no one saw, you know? This is all because William had a thing about drinking too much.

I guess because growing up, his dad was a big time alcoholic and I guess someone else in his life was as well, Marion. So he's obviously a little sensitive about people getting, you know, shwasted. And also since he's controlling everything, the one or two martini rule made sure he wouldn't have to see people drunk. Honestly, smart. You don't want people sloppy around your fancy place, throwing up in bushes and shit. But it made a lot of people upset because it's a party.

And then when 9:00 PM rolled around, it was time for the actual dinner and everyone would gather in the grand dining hall. The grand dining hall looked just like the dining hall from Harry Potter. I'm at least told this. I still haven't seen the Harry Potters. Don't come for me. But I've been on the ride, so I get the gist of it.

Okay. I even took one of those tests to see what house I belong to. And it was like, I belong to like Huff and Puff or something. Let me know. Slytherin or something. I'm Huff and Puff. Anyway, so the dining hall looked just like the Harry Potter ones. Okay. And it's all like grand. And all 40 guests could like easily fit in this dining hall.

Now, if you're having dinner on this relaxing weekend at the castle, you'd probably get some classic American steakhouse food. They would have prime rib, baked potatoes, buttered string beans. Finish it off with an apple pie. Yes, daddy, I will take that, you know? After dinner, everyone headed to the castle's private movie theater.

William would usually force everyone to like watch one of Marian's movies that she was a star of. Yeah, you know? Yeah. One of those people and you're like, okay, we fucking get it. And people there may have been thinking like, finally, some spicy love scenes, which wrong because William had any spicy love scenes completely edited out of the movies because he would get uncomfortable watching them around other people.

which I kind of get that. It's like that first time you watched an R-rated movie with your parents and then like, oh no, there's a titty and it's awkward. And you're like, what do I do? Like that.

Now, as I dug more and more into William and his castle, the more I was like, oh, you know who this is reminding me of? My Super Sweet 16. Yeah, remember that show? I mean, think about it. This spoiled brat is just playing with daddy's money and telling everyone how to be. Like, no, I want to do a horsey ride now. And then like, everyone must watch my favorite movie. William is definitely a character from My Super Sweet 16.

But anyways, Gloria Vanderbilt, a famous socialite whose family we talked about in the Guilted Age episode, has a great quote about life at the castle. She said, quote, life in this historian empire is lived according to the disciplinary measured laid down by its dictator. And

End quote. Okay, go off, Gloria. Go off. And to Gloria's point, Hearst Castle had some very specific rules. Rule number one, no drunkenness, which is weird because he did have like a stocked wine cellar during Prohibition, but fair. Rule number two, no bad language or inappropriate jokes.

Which, again, is a little strange because William's own newspapers were pretty questionable. And the best one of all, number three. No sexual relations between unmarried couples. Which also is kind of funny because, you see, William was literally disrespecting his marriage while his wife is living in New York. So...

Okay, all of his rules did not apply to him, obviously. Knowing all that information, guests kind of looked around and were like, "Eh, these rules are a little hypocritical, no?" But William insisted people had to live by them as long as they wanted to sleep over in the castle. And the real reason why people wanted to put up with all that noise is because it allowed them to go to the most exclusive events at the most exclusive property in all of America.

He would throw these like huge costume parties and hundreds of people would attend.

I mean, they were a favorite at the castle. Many people wanted to see celebrities and politicians just acting all goofy. I mean, that's why I'd want to go. But whatever the reason, they loved these damn things and went all out for them. Some of the biggest ones were the covered wagon, aka Wild West theme, which is fun. Another asked guests to come as their favorite historical figures. Charlie Chaplin went as Napoleon.

But one of the more strange things was babies. All the guests were told they had to come dressed as babies. I know you're probably picturing bonnets, binkies, booties, and bibs. And when you realize William was around his early 70s at this point, just wonder if he was walking around the castle in a giant custom diaper. Like, is it that kind of baby? What else kind of baby can it be? But the biggest costume party they threw at the castle went down in 1937.

where Marion planned a very detailed theme party for William's 74th birthday. The theme of the party was circus. I know!

No, my favorite Britney album. What about you? To really drive home the theme in case the entire private zoo wasn't enough, an entire wall of the castle was ripped down so they could bring in a whole merry-go-round. And then after the party, they rebuilt the wall as if the merry-go-round had always been there. Marian and William weren't happy with people just showing up in their own cheap,

They spirit Halloween outfits. Every party featured real movie costumes that were driven directly to the castle from Hollywood studios. And these outfits weren't just like trucked there and dumped wherever. Expert costumers from the studios would go up there with them to help the people get dressed.

And a few sources say that William would go through all the costumes and handpick what every guest would wear. Yeah, that's a little weird. Like, Linda, you're going to be a slutty polar bear this year, okay? Kenneth?

Sexy snake. All right, sweet 16. Now, if you think these costume parties were lacking drama, well, you'd be wrong. First of all, think of all the personalities at these events. They're actors and actresses. All they know is drama. So everyone thinks, you know, they're the bell of the ball. And everyone wants to make their own statement, including Norma Shearer, who was a huge actress at the time.

Norma was invited to a costume party that was all American themed, but Norma was like,

Okay, I have a better idea though. So she came dressed up as Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before getting her head chopped off. So you see, she was playing Marie in a big Hollywood movie and thought it would be slick to wear the actual movie costume to the castle. The gown was so gigantic that the back seat of Norma's car had to be taken out to fit in. Serious commitment. And at dinner, it took up four chairs.

Now, this was like a big middle finger to William because for one, he had just been kicked out of the entire country of France just before this. The New York Times headline said it was for, quote, "hostile actions," end quote.

But that was all I could find. And the other reason this was a dig was because Norma beat Marion out to play Marie Antoinette in the very movie she was starring in. Ooh, it was petty. She was like, "Oh, what? You were supposed to play Marie? That's so funny, 'cause I got it instead." It was cold. Drama. I guess you just had to be there. Wild. I was a fly out on the wall. I was there.

I went back in time. And the drama at these parties continued because not everyone followed the castle rules. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

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So Marian, you know, while she was seated next to her little boo-boo, William, I guess this one time a big old flask had just fell out of her purse and it was like filled with gin, which, hello, sin. William clocked it and he was not happy.

But Marion played it off. She leaned over to William and was like, hey, honey, how do you like my new perfume? And he did like a little sniff sniff as she scooped up the flask and tried to cover it, you know, secretly trying to hide that it was her own flask. Apparently, Marion would scheme with other guests and strategize ways to keep hard liquor secret from William.

There's always one who does that. The plan they came up with was also kind of gross, but genius. Marion and her pals and other naughty guests would hide booze in different bathrooms, but not like in a cabinet under the sink. They would hide the good stuff in the freaking toilet.

Yeah. I don't, I look in my mind, I don't think it was in the actual bowl. I think it was probably like in the tank itself with the water sat because I couldn't imagine someone putting alcohol and with pee. Right. That makes no sense. Right. Anyways, but they were doing that. I mean, look, there was almost 50 bathrooms.

No one's gonna find it. Take Howard Hughes, for example. Now, among other things, Hughes was a world famous pilot, director, producer, American businessman, and he was also a nepo baby, just like William. Some of you may remember that Leonardo DiCaprio played Hughes in the movie "The Aviator." And that movie was also based on a book called "Howard Hughes: The Secret Life." Now, in that very biography, we get a very juicy story about some things that happened at the castle.

that William would not have approved of. Hughes and his best friend, Ben, were both known in Hollywood as free spirits who just like did whatever the hell they wanted.

whenever they wanted. Now these two guys would head out in LA, they would pick up young ladies, go back to Ben's and get a little freaky. And I'm not talking like your standard missionary. These boys were having all types of fun. Foursomes, Eiffel towering, rusty trombones, just all over the place. So one weekend, Hughes and his buddy were invited for a nice stay at the castle.

So they drive up there, they settle in. But instead of an eight-hour horseback ride with William, these guys were looking to do reverse cowgirl for about eight hours. As we have learned, castle parties are like the place to be seen, especially if you're an aspiring young actress who wants their big break. And old Howard Hughes knew this. So when he and Ben got to the party, they had their pick of gorgeous women just willing to do what

So the four of them went upstairs and the clothes just came off and they would just go at it. Now, according to the book, they said the only thing that interrupted them were the roars from the lions in the castle's private zoo. I know, I know. Like, shut up, Mufasa. You're going to give this away.

And it all got to the point where it seemed like the guests were just kind of messing with William and totally ignoring the castle rules, like they're mocking him. I mean, he used to be a prankster, this William guy, but as he got older, he didn't really fancy pranks anymore.

One time Harpo Marx, a famous actor-comedian whose first name spells Oprah backwards, fun fact, broke into the castle vault, stole a bunch of mink coats, and decided to dress up the statues all over the property.

Now, I guess it had rained that day, so all those pretty furs had gotten ruined. And when William saw this, oh, Mr. Super Sweet 16, William was pissed. To be fair, I mean, he...

Wouldn't you be pissed if all your expensive furs got ruined from the rain? Anyways, he got even more pissed when he got pranked by Cary Grant. Grant, with the help of William's son, made his way into an airplane, most likely on William's private airfield. He loaded the thing up with sacks of flour, like cooking flour, and then he took off. As they flew over the castle, Grant dropped the sacks of flour like bombs all over the property.

I'm not sure why he did this, but honestly, I think it's hilarious. I'm not drunk, William. William did not think this was funny. By the time Grant got back to the castle, he found his bags were packed and waiting for him at the front door. Ooh, you pissed her off.

Now, allegedly, William kicked him out, and Grant wasn't the only one to get the boot from the castle. Dorothy Parker, who was a famous cultural writer, got kicked out of the castle for having one too many cocktails. And then there's David Niven, who was an Oscar-winning actor. I don't know how William found out, but apparently David had a stash of hard liquor under his bed. And as soon as William found the stash, he threw David's ass

By 1937, the parties were over. William was spending cash like a freaking maniac for so long that it finally caught up with him. Some experts report that he spent nearly $50 million on his art collection alone. Then another 50 million was spent on New York real estate, which at any time,

any other time in history would have been very smart, except that this happened during the Great Depression and his real estate investments were tanking. And he hung on to the newspapers that were losing him millions of dollars every year. When all records were put together, William's horrible money management became very clear and alarm bells went off.

His company had $125 million of debt and some experts say that his personal debt was bigger than some countries at the time. Then when World War II broke out and the US Army goes to William and gives him a serious warning, they say, "Hey, your property is very close to the Pacific Ocean, which means it would be really easy for the Japanese to bomb your location. Maybe take your parties elsewhere?"

I don't know. And William listened. He and Marion ran off to safety on the East Coast while all these Hollywood stars just stayed put in Los Angeles. After the war ended, William and Marion went back in 1945 and picked up where they left off. And he was doing what he did best, more construction on the castle and losing more money. His sons pleaded with him to stop.

I mean, they were just watching their inheritances just go down the damn drain. But in 1947, because his heart was in such bad shape, William and Marian left the castle for the final time. They moved into a house in Beverly Hills where William lived until he died in 1951 at the age of 88. Marian didn't go to the funeral of her lover out of respect for William's wife, Millicent. Which is just, you know, okay, sure.

I think that's the one time he would probably show up, but I don't know. Who am I? William's will was 125 pages long and it gave instructions on what to do with all of his real estate. Hearst Castle was given to the state of California, but the interesting thing is that California didn't accept the gift for three years. Then on July 2nd, 1958, the Hearst Castle officially opened as a museum.

After they tore down the private zoo back in the 30s, they let some of the animals just go free on the land. And if you visit, to this day you can see descendants of the castle's animals in the area, especially zebras. They're hanging out along the highway near San Simeon. And to me, that is the most poetic ending to all of this. The animals live on, but there isn't one descendant of William in sight.

I guess the whole reason I wanted to do this episode was because I've been to this castle and naturally I was like, tell me more. Because it's so random. It's so random. There's a castle in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere. But again, like when I did some research, it was like, ooh, this is quite the story. I mean, the costume parties, the sneaking of booze, all the fun. There's this guy who had like everything a person could ever want, but he was just never satisfied. Kind of.

how these stories always go, right? It just seemed like William was never truly happy. And he kept working on the castle because, I don't know, it's probably better than working on himself. He was the castle and the castle was him. I mean, his identity was the castle.

Yep, deep. Here's an insane stat. If William were to build the castle today in 2023, it would cost right around $700 million. And that's just the building. If we include all the decor, it would probably be valued at over a billion dollars. I know, it's...

Just think it's wild that in the United States, a country that was created because we didn't like being ruled by a king, this guy wanted to make himself a king. Snaps. Well, everyone, thank you for hanging out with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because we deserve that.

I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story or let me know if you've visited Hearst Castle before. So make sure to use the hashtag Dark History over on social media so I can follow along. Also, join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, also don't forget to check out my murder, mystery, and makeup. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices and I'll be talking to you next week.

Goodbye. Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junia McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Maiden Network.

writers Katie Burris, Alison Filobos, Joey Scaluzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot and edited by Tafadzwa Namarundwe and Hannah Bakker. Research provided by Xander Elmore and the Dark History Researcher Team. A special thank you to our expert David Nassau, and I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. Thank you. Thank you. Say bye, Joan. You look like such a pretty little princess.

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