‘WKRP’ Star Loni Anderson’s Spooky Encounter Revealed

Loni Anderson, who passed away earlier this year, was famous for playing the role of Jennifer Marlowe, the not-so secretly smart, competent, and effective “blonde bombshell,” on the classic CBS sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati. But she wasn’t working on her most famous role at the time of this story; it was the early ’80s, you see, when Anderson had an encounter with a ghost. And not just any ghost — the ghost of classic screen siren Loni Anderson.

It was while WKRP was on break that Loni signed on to play the role of Jayne Mansfield, an actress who, much like Loni, is remembered for being a Hollywood pin-up queen, back during the fifties and sixties. Woman’s World talked about the making of that movie earlier this year.

Alan Landsburg Productions/Everett Collection

One of the things that Loni enjoyed about making the made-for-TV movie was that many original locations were used. However, her delight quickly turned to horror when one day, while taking a shower between takes in Jayne’s former home (then owned by Engelbert Humperdinck), something inexplicable happened. Loni could feel the presence of someone else in the room with her. There was no doubt in her mind she was being watched; she could feel someone’s eyes all over her body. As Loni continued to feel this presence near her, it suddenly dawned on her who it was. Loni believed that she was being visited by the ghost of Jayne Mansfield.

By that time, Jayne had been dead for 13 years. Her death was the result of a tragic car accident: Jayne and two other adults in the front seat were instantly killed when her car slammed into the back of a semi-truck. The impact sheared off the top of the car, and to this day, there are those that believe that Jayne and the other two victims were decapitated. Earlier this year, People magazine revisited that fatal car accident that happened so long ago.

Now, there are other eerie stories about Jayne out there as well. Something about a curse. Truthfully, I’m not sure what to think about all that stuff. I do know, however, that until her dying day, Loni truly believed that she was visited by the ghost of Jayne Mansfield. You can hear Loni talk about her experience on the Ticklish Business podcast right around the 23-minute mark.

Do you doubt her? I really don’t. The weird part of Loni’s story for me isn’t that she was visited by Jayne’s ghost, but rather that the visit happened while Loni was taking a shower. Of course, Jayne always seemed to be something of an uninhibited soul, so maybe, just maybe, it isn’t all that weird after all.