The Ghost of Frankenstein picks up right where Son of Frankenstein left off: Baron Wolf von Frankenstein deeded the Frankenstein estate to the village. Unfortunately for the village, things were not going well, so the villagers logically deduced that they are all had been cursed by the Frankenstein Castle. The Mayor attempted to talk the villagers out of the being cursed non-sense, but when threatened with being voted out of office, the Mayor let the villagers go rampage their way to the castle with dynamite.
The Mayor does not win a Profile in Courage. That said, was it within the powers of the local government to empower angry villagers to blow up the Frankenstein Castle?
Baron Wolf von Frankenstein had deeded the Frankenstein Estate to the village. This was within the Baron’s rights to deed the property and get out of town due to the “unpleasantness.” As such, the village now owned the Frankenstein Estate.
Normally there are land use committees that develop plans to use public property. While local city council meetings can be chaotic, they do not normally end with a mob armed with explosives and torches. Moreover, buildings with historical significance can also require additional review in order to be approved for demolition. See generally, San Diego Trust Savings Bank v. Friends of Gill, 121 Cal.App.3d 203 (Cal. Ct. App. 1981).
Consider that in San Jose, California, a demolition permit requires: a completed Building Permit Application that shows 1) a plot plan with the the building site and distances to property lines and to structures on the site, such as pools, septic tanks, detached garages, etc; 2) Non-buildable areas; 3) For any buildable area, hire a licensed engineer to prepare and wet-stamp a demolition, drainage, and compaction plan; and 4) Secure other Clearances.
The reason for all of these rules should be clear: no one wants Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) being blasted all over where people live. The villagers who decided to blow up Castle Frankenstein did not get that memo on the dangers of manmade chemicals.
It is well-established law in California that it is a crime to maliciously place dynamite in a building with intent to destroy it. People v. Cole, 28 Cal.App. 448, 451 (Cal. Ct. App. 1915). The intent of these laws should be self-explanatory: blowing up buildings results in chunks of said building flying and hitting other buildings (and human beings) with great velocity. These laws are in place to protect the public welfare so no one gets hit with a high-speed door/rebar/brick/stove/glass/etc.
There was zero permitting process in Ghost of Frankenstein. The location where life was created from dead corpses would have historical significance, albeit one riddled with grave robbing and murder. However, that dark history is not a reason to give way to anarchy. Laws are in place to protect public safety, which includes people using explosives to blow-up a castle. No good comes from lawlessness, which was evidenced by the villagers freeing Frankenstein’s Creature, which had been encased in sulfur. If they had not resorted to being an angry mob, the Creature would not have been released from his sulfuric tomb. And the fourth Universal Frankenstein film would have been over in 5 minutes.
