Scott Michaels served as the inspiration for the "Eternal Darkness Tour" on Season 1 of American Horror Story and was a historical consultant for Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, for which he received a Special Thanks credit for his work. He is an icon in the world of Hollywood death. In 1994, Michaels helmed LA’s infamous Grave Line Tours, driving tourists around Hollywood in a funeral hearse. He also launched his popular celebrity website, FindADeath.com, which chronicles the last days of celebrities’ lives. In 2005, he launched his own Hollywood tour company, Dearly Departed Tours, which quickly became the authoritative celebrity death source.
Michaels also opened a museum at his tour company’s Hollywood location, featuring his giant collection of celebrity death-related artifacts and oddities, with Jayne Mansfield’s "death car" as its centerpiece. In 2009, Michaels collaborated with Dearly Departed Podcast co-host Mike Dorsey to release the hit documentary The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter about the Manson Family, which BuzzFeed readers ranked the 4th-scariest documentary ever. He also starred in the E! special Hollywood Death Trip, with Halloween actress Danielle Harris, and has appeared as an expert on numerous TV shows.