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Creepy Haunted Hotels In Los Angeles
The Chateau Marmont has catered to the rich and famous since day one, and it's still largely off-limits to the general public. Opened in 1929, the Chateau has seen its share of spectral shenanigans, with guests reporting paranormal activity ranging from moving furniture to the occasional disembodied voice. The ghosts of Howard Hughes and Jim Morrison are said roam the Chateau's halls, and former Saturday Night Live cast member John Belushi is still "living" in one of its private bungalows.
On March 5, 1982, Belushi met his fate in Bungalow 3 after ingesting a massive amount of controlled substances. According to those who have stayed there in the following years, he remains in residence. One family who rented the bungalow in 1999 said their toddler was talking to someone he described as "the funny man" to his parents. When they held up a photo of Belushi, the boy confirmed it was him.
A Friendly Ghost Bids Patrons Hello In The Georgian Hotel Restaurant
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Built in 1933, the Georgian catered to a celebrity clientele who wanted to get away from it all at the beach. Located in Santa Monica, the hotel housed a speakeasy during Prohibition and catered to famous folks like Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, gangster Bugsy Siegel, and silent film star Fatty Arbuckle.
Today, it still has its share of visitors - both alive and otherworldly. Staffers have reported seeing and hearing unexplained phenomena in the hotel's restaurant, including apparitions and voices, one of which greets them with "Good morning" when they enter. Whoever it is, or was, at least they are hospitable.
Marilyn Monroe Appears In The Mirror Of Her Suite At The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
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In its early days, the Hollywood Roosevelt was a celebrity haunt - the first Oscars ceremony was hosted there - and it's still a playground for the rich and famous today. Two of Hollywood's most iconic stars, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift, are believed to haunt the place. Monroe has allegedly appeared to guests in her old suite (#1200) via its mirrors, and Clift is active in room #928 and its outside hallway. Clift doesn't just appear; he plays the trumpet and even brushes up against guests.
There are some non-famous apparitions too - a little lost girl named Caroline who is looking for her mom, and two male spirits, one still hoping to win an Oscar and another who plays the hotel's piano.
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Two Horrific Acts From The Hotel Figueroa's Early Days May Be The Cause Of Its Hauntings
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Built in 1925 as a YWCA, the Hotel Figueroa was reopened after renovations in 2018 that may have gotten rid of its ghosts - but there are probably a few that still roam its halls. Before the renovation, it was a darker Moroccan-styled boutique hotel usually devoid of guests. Those who did stay there said its elevator doors would open and close randomly, and its TVs and lights would flicker on and off.
Time will tell if anything like that is still happening, but there were a couple of gruesome events at the Fig in its early days. In 1929, radio operator William L. Tallman offed his girlfriend Virginia Patty and was never captured for his actions. About 20 years later, waiter Harry Gordon confessed to the slaying of Hallie Cecilia Oswald at the hotel, saying, "I [did it] because I loved her."
A Girl's Strange Disappearance Added To The Cecil Hotel's Creepy Reputation
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The Cecil, now known as Stay On Main, is so creepy that Ryan Murphy has admitted it was the inspiration for American Horror Story: Hotel. It opened in 1924, but when the stock market crashed five years later in 1929, the Cecil and its surrounding neighborhood fell into disarray. For the next 80 years, it was a transient hotel where many guests took their own lives.
Richard Ramirez (AKA "The Night Stalker") and Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger both called the Cecil home for a short time. But what mostly cemented its ghostly reputation was the passing of Canadian tourist Elisa Lam, 21. The woman's disrobed body was found in the hotel's rooftop water tank in 2013 after guests complained that the drinking and bathing water tasted "sweetly disgusting." A video of Lam in the hotel elevator was released following her disappearance, in which the disoriented girl appears to be talking and gesturing to someone who is not there.
A Forgotten Wing And Ghostly Sightings Make The Alexandria Hotel A Paranormal Investigator's Dream
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One of the first luxury hotels built in LA, the Alexandria was a home away from home to the silent film stars. However, its luster was short-lived as its surrounding area in downtown LA became something of a wasteland. It later reopened as an extended-stay, low-income hotel.
It is said that hauntings regularly occur there. According to staffers, residents, and ghost-hunters alike, Rudolph Valentino haunts his old suite, as do ballroom dancers and a rage-filled teen who inhabits the Chaplin suite. Elevators are said to move on their own and take riders to floors they weren't expecting to visit.
Harry Houdini's Widow Conducted A Seance At The Knickerbocker Before It Was Plagued By Tragedy
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The Knickerbocker hasn't been a hotel for a long time, but it was a celebrity playground during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It opened in 1929 and was star-studded from the get-go. However, after Harry Houdini's widow Bess staged her last seance in 1936 in an (unsuccessful) attempt to contact her husband, the hotel was beset by tragedies from which it never really recovered.
Director D. W.Griffith had a stroke on the hotel grounds and passed shortly after, and actress Frances Farmer was famously dragged from her room and institutionalized. Several people took their own lives there, as well, including costume designer Irene Gibbons, who jumped from her room and landed on the hotel's front awning.
By the 1960s, the neighborhood around the hotel had become rundown, and the Knickerbocker lost its celebrity luster. It changed hands many times before becoming a retirement residence a few years later. Sightings have included Marilyn Monroe, who stares at herself in a bathroom mirror, and a bellhop named Roger who's apparently still on the job.
Spirits May Still Roam The Halls Of The Refurbished Mayfair Hotel
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Much like the Cecil, the Mayfair has been restored for new generations. Also like the Cecil, it has a dark past. According to paranormal detective Paul Dale Roberts, the hotel has plenty of spirits on its grounds. When he stayed there in 1994, he was told a lost little boy wanders the third floor.
A hotel employee also told Roberts about a blonde female, possibly an escort, who passes through the doors of a fourth-floor room, and an "imp" who runs from room to room on the fifth floor.
The Millennium Biltmore Was The Last Place The Black Dahlia Was Seen Alive
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Opened in 1923, the opulent and historic Biltmore is not only one of the most haunted hotels on this list, but also one of the most haunted places in all of LA. Elizabeth Short, AKA the Black Dahlia, was last seen here before her passing in 1947. A woman in black - who happens to look like Short - has been seen roaming the floors before disappearing into a wall. WWII soldiers have also been seen in its lobby, as has a nurse from around the same era.
A little girl is often heard giggling and running through the hallway, but one of the most alarming specters haunting the Biltmore is said to wander the roof - that of a little boy with no facial features.
