After You Learn About The Chilling History Of The Cecil Hotel, It Might Leave You Up All Night
Many dream of visiting Los Angeles, California, in hopes of lounging on pristine beaches, enjoying the vibrant nightlife, and possibly spotting some celebs. But, people around the world also know to avoid one infamous dwelling– the Cecil Hotel.
Since its grand opening in 1927, the hotel has been cursed by tragic and mysterious events. To date, at least sixteen different suicides, murders, and bizarre paranormal incidents have occurred within the building.
And now, the Cecil Hotel’s reputation as haunted and chilling has been cemented in horror lore around the globe.
The Cecil Hotel Opened Its Doors In 1927
Hotelier William Banks Harner was the mastermind behind the Cecil Hotel. In 1924, he finished construction on the building that was supposed to be a hub for socialites and international businessmen.
The establishment was fourteen stories high, home to seven hundred rooms, and boasted stained glass windows and marble– costing Harner about one million dollars.
Just two years later, though, the hotelier would come to seriously rue his construction decision– because, by 1929, the world was engulfed by the Great Depression.
Moreover, the affluent Los Angeles area Harner once sought out for the Cecil Hotel came to be frequented by thousands of homeless people and dubbed “Skid Row.”
So, the hotel that was previously known to be luxurious turned into a well-known crime center. Plus, the Cecil Hotel itself soon became known for the many violent acts and deaths that occurred within its four walls.
skvalval – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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The Beginning Of The Horror
In the first decade that the Cecil Hotel was open, at least six guests committed suicide inside the building. Some victims jumped out of bedroom windows, others used guns or knives, while a few ingested poison.
One victim was Army Sergeant Louis D. Borden, who, in 1934, used a razor to slash his own throat.
Then, just under four years later, thirty-five-year-old Marine Corps fireman Roy Thompson leaped from the Cecil Hotel’s rooftop and was discovered on the skylight of a building next door.
But, the horrific tragedies did not stop in the 1930s. The seemingly cursed hotel only witnessed more and more brutal acts of violence over the following decades.
One fall evening in 1944, for example, a nineteen-year-old woman named Dorothy Purcell woke up to severe stomach pains in the middle of the night. After heading to the bathroom, though, she unexpectedly birthed a baby boy.
Dorothy had no clue that she was pregnant, though, and, after delivering him, supposedly thought the newborn was still birthed. So, she tossed her baby out of the window, and he landed on a neighboring rooftop building.
Tragically, the baby boy was born alive and only passed after being thrown by Dorothy. And at her trial, Dorothy was ruled not guilty due to insanity and was placed in a psychiatric hospital.
A Serial Killer’s Hideaway
The Cecil Hotel is not only home to brutal suicides and tragic accidents, though. The building has also housed some of the most egregious serial killers in history.
Richard Ramirez, who was known as the “Night Stalker,” was one of the hotel’s patrons in the mid-1980s. Ramirez went on to murder thirteen people– including men, women, and children– in the Los Angeles area.
And throughout much of his killing spree, he stayed in a top-floor room at the Cecil Hotel for only fourteen dollars a night.
After murdering his victims, Ramirez would even dump his bloody clothing into the dumpster behind the hotel before strolling into the lobby, often either only in underwear or completely naked.
Then, in 1991, another serial killer named Jack Unterweger also dwelled at the Cecil Hotel. He was known to strangle women using their own undergarments.
And since the Cecil Hotel was aptly positioned in Skid Row– where many women often walked the streets at night– Unterweger used the building as his home base.
Sinister Cold Cases Of The Cecil Hotel
Aside from the known patrons and perpetrators of brutal Cecil Hotel acts of violence, though, there are also a plethora of cold cases tied to the infamous establishment.
One sixty-five-year-old local, Goldie Osgood, is among the cold case victims. Goldie had earned the nickname “pigeon” because of her love of feeding the local birds in a square near the hotel.
Then, in 1964, she was found brutally murdered in her Cecil Hotel room. Goldie had been raped, beaten, and fatally stabbed. Her room was also ransacked.
And although one suspect did pop up on local police’s radar– who had been walking nearby with bloody clothing– they were later cleared by authorities. In turn, Goldie’s case has remained cold for over five decades now.
Another chilling cold case murder occurred more recently in 2013 when the remains of Elisa Lam, a Canadian college student, were found inside the hotel’s rooftop water tank. Elisa had gone missing three weeks prior.
And her body, which was without clothing, was only discovered because some Cecil Hotel residents had complained about lousy water pressure and the water “tasting funny.”
Authorities later deemed Elisa’s death an “accidental drowning.” Still, the public believes more sinister motives were at play– mainly because of the eery surveillance camera footage that was publicly released following the tragedy.
In the footage, Elisa acted very peculiarly in the hotel’s elevator– seemingly yelling at someone, trying to hide, and frantically pressing various elevator buttons.
However, she was completely alone in the elevator– prompting the public to suspect that the Cecil Hotel was really haunted.
The Cecil Hotel In 2022
The building’s last tragedy occurred seven years ago when, in 2015, when another male patron tragically committed suicide.
Nonetheless, rumors and ghost stories about the hotel have continued to penetrate popular media.
In fact, the Cecil Hotel has gained its own Netflix documentary and even served as inspiration for a season of the hit FX series American Horror Story.
So, despite efforts made by the hotel’s owners and New York City developers– who signed a ninety-nine-year lease and began renovating the building in 2011– it appears that the Cecil Hotel will forever remain a mysterious and avoided location in the public sphere.
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