7In Weird Crescenta Valley, we learn about the odd events, people, and places of the valley, along with natural and supernatural oddities. For instance, a new-age religion was briefly located in Crescenta Valley, a religion that later had ties to the rock group The Who. Moreover, Hollywood's King of Sleaze lived quietly in the valley. Who knew that Nat King Cole's Nature Boy was written by a proto-hippie living in Big Tujunga Canyon in the 1950s? In the weird nature chapter, we learn the origin of the wild parrots of the valley, weird critters such as bats and horny toads, and oddball native plants such as dodder, a parasite that looks and feels like strings of bright orange plastic. And of course, Weird Crescenta Valley is rounded out by the usual assortment of local UFO and Bigfoot sightings, along with several chilling ghost stories. Don't be fooled by the Crescenta Valley's stable reputation. It's actually a weird place!