Jan. 21-23, 1958
Los Angeles

People who lived on Lorna Lane in Brentwood had any number of reasons for staying away from the home of Maurice and Dr. Paula Olivier.

It could have been the gates, which were always locked.

Perhaps it was the frontyard, where the Oliviers cut down two large trees and installed floodlights that burned all night — until the couple had the utilities shut off because they thought the neighbors were stealing electricity.*

Possibly it was the fire started by candles that the Oliviers were using because there was no power.

It could have been the smell, because according to the Mirror, the Oliviers’ "horror castle" was sparsely furnished and filled with tin cans and debris.

Maybe it was because Maurice, a pharmacologist who was busy inventing tranquilizers, had long, shaggy hair and warned people not to trespass.

Or because he and his wife always answered the door armed with a pistol.

And some might avoid the house after police responding to calls about gunshots found 12 bullet holes in the ceiling and more bullet holes in a medicine cabinet and in the headboard of a bed.

Whatever the reason, everybody on Lorna Lane left the Oliviers alone — except for the prowlers who Maurice said were sent by the pharmaceutical companies to steal the secrets to his tranquilizers.

And then one night, the German shepherds got hungry.  All 10 of them.

Paula ran to a neighbor’s home, bleeding profusely and covered "literally from head to foot" with dog bites, the papers said. Police responding to the call found the dogs tearing at Maurice. In one of the more bizarre aspects of this bizarre case, doctors discovered that although many of the dog bites were fresh, others were old and had become infected, officials said.

Interviewed from his bed at General Hospital, Maurice blamed the mauling on a dog named Gunner. His wife was mixing formula for some of the younger dogs and pointed a spoon at Gunner, Maurice said.

"He’s been taught to lunge at anyone with a weapon in his hand," Maurice said. "I suppose he thought the spoon was a weapon. He lunged at her arm and twisted it. I pulled his tail to  get him away. Then he attacked me. Whenever I’d fight him off, he’d start in on my wife again. None of the other dogs joined in. They just barked and ran around like crazy."

Maurice said he had no idea how Gunner got a bad burn on his back. "Who knows how that happened?" he shrugged.

The dogs were taken to the 11th Avenue Animal Shelter, which was bombarded with calls from people seeking to adopt them. Shelter officials said the Oliviers hadn’t made any arrangements on what to do with them.

The Times never followed up on this story, so we don’t know what became of the dogs or Paula Olivier. According to California death records, Maurice Charles Olivier died June 3, 1996, at the age of 77.

The "horror castle" was apparently torn down. Zillow lists a home at 640 Lorna Lane having been built in 2005. 

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* Alternative explanation: Maurice also said all his money was tied up in litigation against the pharmaceutical companies over his tranquilizer patents.