Brad Pitt's $40M Former L.A. Home Had a Massive, Heart-Shaped Swimming Pool When He Bought It [Exclusive]

Cassandra Peterson (a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) was the home's previous owner and sold it to Pitt in 1994. She spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about the property

Brad Pitt sold his longtime Los Angeles home sold last month — but it was lacking one of its most unique original feature.

Cassandra Peterson (a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), who owned the home before Pitt and sold it to him for a reported $1.7 million in 1994, tells PEOPLE that the Academy Award winner, 59, inherited a "gigantic heart-shaped pool" when he moved into the property.

Peterson, 71, notes it was "one of the first pools ever built in Hollywood." Sadly, the feature didn't seem to suit Pitt's personal tastes as he had it replaced during his time as owner, she says.

While the actress, who bought a house next door after selling to Pitt, so the pair remained neighbors for years, says it was "kind of a shame" to lose the pool because of it's historic nature, she understands the decision was a practical one.

The feature was "Olympic size" and required a "huge pump to run it," she recalls. "It was always leaking. The pump was always breaking down. It was kind of a nightmare."

Related:Elvira Says L.A. Mansion She Sold Brad Pitt Is Extremely 'Haunted' but 'He Loved It' [Exclusive]

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After putting the estate on the market in January for around $40 million, Pitt sold the home last month, along with a sprawling compound of adjacent properties he acquired over the years.

Peterson says Pitt, a well-known architecture buff, seemed committed to preserving as much of the property as possible when he first moved in.

"As far as rooms and bedrooms and all that go, I think he would've stuck with the architectural integrity of the house and not done too many changes," she says. "I mean, just knowing how he talked about that type of thing."

Peterson also recalled meeting with Pitt ahead of the purchase, at which time she warned him the home was "haunted," but he wasn't deterred.

"We were just kind of warning him that a lot of weird things have been going on there in the house since we moved in," said Peterson "And he was very excited about that. He thought that was really cool."

"I've seen people walking around upstairs, for example, real people just walking. One time [a ghost was] sitting downstairs in front of the fireplace, once walking into my bedroom and back out," Peterson recalls of the spectral encounters. In another instance, "We saw a person floating around at the bottom of the pool, things like that."

"I know that sounds nutty. I'm Elvira. I know you expect that from me, right?" the Yours Cruelly, Elvira author says with a laugh, but she insists, "I don't have hallucinations, I wasn't high and I can't explain those things."

"There are not many buyers who that would be a selling point for, but he was like, 'Oh, that's so awesome,'" she says. "I love that he appreciated the house so much."

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Related:Brad Pitt Has Sold His L.A. Home of Nearly 30 Years After Listing it for $40 Million

Now, after almost three decades of ownership and many renovations and expansions, the Babylon star has sold the sprawling estate, located in the neighborhood of Los Feliz.

A real-estate source previously confirmed to PEOPLE that he was trying to unload the 1.9-acre property off-market for about $40 million in January.

The home is where Pitt and his ex-wife Angelina Jolie, 47, raised their six children — Maddox, 21, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 16, and 14-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. The couple split in 2016.

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