Spooky season is upon us—time for apple picking in the crisp fall air; scoping the season’s best fall foliage; and of course, braving the unknown with haunted houses. While many of Halloween’s creepiest haunted houses are manmade creations filled with over-the-top costumed specters and ghouls, perhaps the creepiest places of all are those that might actually be haunted.
Los Angeles’ Cecil Hotel is one such place—with its sinister and super creepy past, this supposed haunted hotel has garnered national attention with tales of the macabre spanning its almost 100-year history. But what is the actual history of this property that has spawned numerous documentaries, internet videos, and ghost hunters searching for the truth?
A Walk Through History
Originally opened in 1924, the 19-floor, 700 room Cecil Hotel was meant to be the destination for business travelers and tourists frequenting the Los Angeles area—the huge Beaux-Arts style building, with its charming facade and elegant touches such as a marble lobby, lovely stained-glass windows, and shapely statues, was an obvious bastion for prominent West Coast patrons.
At the time of the Cecil’s inception, the nation’s economy was booming; travel was up, and the three hotelier/owners William Banks Hanner, Charles L. Dix, and Robert H. Schops, invested over $2 million into its development with the hopes of its enduring success.
However, with the arrival of the Great Depression, the U.S. economy went bust—all but slowing business and tourist travel. Though the hotel did enjoy a modicum of success throughout the 1940s, by the ‘30s its heyday of wealthy and affluent guests had ended—mainly due to the decline of the neighborhood and the hotel’s subsequent proximity to what would become known as “Skid Row,” an area known for its poverty-stricken residents and homeless people--victims of the ravages of the Great Depression.
An Unsavory Reputation: Murder, Serial Killers, And Paranormal Possibilities
Records show that the first recorded death at The Cecil occurred in 1927 when guest Percy Ormond Cook shot himself and didn't survive after being rushed to the hospital. Throughout the ‘40s, ’50s, and ‘60s, the trend continued with a rash of additional suicides as guests repeatedly chose the Cecil as the backdrop for their untimely demises. While the suicides alone would be enough to garner a grim reputation for the hotel, it’s the Cecil’s other violent connotations that start to make it seem like a bit more than simply a magnet for a series of unfortunate events.
Though its location in seedy, rundown Skid Row made it a haven for all types of illegal activity, there is only one known occurrence of murder within its walls; "Pigeon Goldie" Osgood, a long-term resident of the hotel who was found assaulted, stabbed, and beaten in her room. However, in the 1980s, it did become infamous as the residence of serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka “The Night Stalker,” who lived there while committing the thirteen murders he was eventually convicted for. Additionally, lesser-known Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger lived at the Cecil as well before being extradited to Austria.
All of these terrible occurrences could just be a product of coincidence—wrong place, wrong time; a bad neighborhood; a rundown hotel; unfortunate souls down on their luck; criminals looking for a place to lie low. It wasn’t until 2013 that people began to see the Cecil as something more—a place with a malevolent air all its own, and a possible site for paranormal activity.
By this time the Cecil had been rebranded as “The Stay on Main.” Though it still featured its signature facade and advertisements on the outside from its time as The Cecil, it had been divided up into sections: private rooms for regular hotel guests; low cost, single occupancy rooms for long-term stays; and hostel-like accommodations geared toward foreign tourists.
It was here that young student Elisa Lam was staying—up until the point when she was found dead inside the hotel’s water cistern. Though her death was ruled accidental, it reignited a macabre interest in The Cecil that has included everything from documentaries to visiting ghost hunters—it was even the inspiration for a season of the popular show American Horror Story.
The Future Of The Cecil
In 2017, the city of Los Angeles designated the hotel a “Historic-Cultural Monument,” acknowledging its part in LA history. However, that same year the property closed for renovations and has not opened its doors since. So what does the future hold for this property known for its sordid past as well as its staying power in a city now known for its burgeoning scene of fresh, brand spanking new architecture that is a haven for big-budget projects galore?
Though reports have circulated about the hotel’s possible reopening in late 2021, it is still unclear as to when (or if) it will eventually welcome guests once more (though it does still house some long-term residents with city protections). Reportedly its reopening would include a rebranding as well as extensive renovations—ostensibly begun, but subsequently put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic; according to the development group that currently owns and runs the property, Simon Baron Development.
What is clear is that the hotel has not lost its ability to spark interest—notably welcoming the crew of Ghost Adventures in 2020 and inspiring the hit Netflix docuseries Crime Scene: the Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel earlier this year. Whatever the fate of this historic Los Angeles hotel, it will no doubt continue to hold a place in the public’s collective imagination that is often captured by the eerie, the macabre, the unexplainable, the gruesome. Whether it’s haunted or not is up for debate; however, one thing is clear—no matter what incarnation the hotel takes, it will forever be known as “The Cecil.”