Zak Bagans and Ghost Adventures Crew probe silent movie theater in LA where owner was murdered

This week on Ghost Adventures, Zak Bagans and the team head to Los Angeles where they investigate a haunted silent movie theater — where the owner was murdered by a hitman.

Los Angeles might be the City of Angels but the Ghost Adventures team are seeking the somewhat darker side of the movie-star town.

The team investigate the murder of Lawrence Austin, the man who ‘saved silent movies’. He ran the Silent Movie Showcase on Fairfax Avenue, which was one of the few theaters in the world to screen purely silent films.

However, in 1997, 74-year-old Austin was shot three times in the face with a .357 magnum.

He was killed by a hitman hired by James Van Sickle, a projectionist at the theater who had been in a relationship with Austin.

He promised to pay Christian Rodriguez $25,000 if he killed Austin, and an additional $5,000 to kill a woman who worked at the theater, called Mary Giles, in a bid to make it look like a robbery.

It turned out that Van Sickle was due to inherit Austin’s estate if he died, worth some $1million.

But does Austin’s spirit rest as silently as the movies he loved or is there paranormal activity at the theater?

Last week the team investigated some paranormal goings on at a restaurant in New Mexico.

Ghost Adventures airs on Saturdays at 9/8c on Travel Channel.