LA’s Haunted Hotels – The Ghostliest Places To Stay In Los Angeles

Hollywood Rosevelt, The Queen Mary & The Cecil All Have Ghost & Mystery Histories

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Travel Blogger

If you’re in your hotel in Los Angeles suddenly get the look like you’ve seen a ghost, perhaps you have seen a ghost.

Certainly if you’re at one of these places, and you won’t be alone. There have been ghost sightings, murders and other strange happenings at them.

Here are three hotels known to be haunted in Los Angeles and the stories behind them.

The Hollywood Rosevelt, Hollywood

Supposedly, the ghost of Marlyn Monroe walks the hallways of this hotel on Hollywood Blvd. It was her home for a while and it’s said she will occasionally stand next to you at a mirror in the hallway between the lobby and the cool pool cabana bar.

I’ve stood there hoping she would come stand next to me – perhaps even put her arm around me – but nothing.

The Queen Mary, Long Beach

Ghosts supposedly roam the lower decks, and I’ve heard reports about several sightings during tours at a walkway near the engine room. The first-class pool supposedly is a playground for passed-away former passengers. I’ve also heard stories about ghosts showing up in guests rooms while staying on the Queen (she is a hotel in addition to being a Los Angeles tourist attraction).

The Queen Mary even has “Haunted Encounters” as one of its tours.

I’ve been on the Queen Mary dozens of times and stayed on her four or five times. I have to admit, I was a looking around corners the first time I stayed on her, but pretty much forget about it now. Perhaps I’ve just been lucky.

Or otherwise, because former Queen Mary employee Craig Post told me some ghost stories that will raise the hair on the back of your neck.

A couple that stand out involve workers during the retrofit when the Queen moved to her permanent location in Long Beach hearing the laughter of children in the first-class pool. When they went to check it out, they saw wet footprints of adults leading straight into a wall.

Another one is even more spooky. A chef for the staff walked into one of the kitchens one day when all of a sudden the cabinets opened up and dishes started flying around the room as if someone was throwing them. The chef screamed, ran out of the kitchen and when she came back in with others, there were broken plates all over the floor.

“There is activity,” Post said. “I’ve had people tell me of multiple sightings.”

The Cecil, Downtown L.A.

This hotel became locally famous for the mysterious disappearance and death of a guest a few years ago. Elisa Lam, a 21-year-old aspiring actress from Vancouver, went missing and at the same time guests began complaining about low water pressure and funky-tasting water.

She was eventually found in the water tank on the roof. This has led to a lot of speculation – how did she get on the roof and what would prompt her to climb into the water tank? – and there’s even a documentary in the works on it.

There have been rumors of The Cecil behind haunted since it opened in the 1920s. There have certainly been several mysterious deaths at the hotel, including a woman who either fell or jumped off the 12 floor in 1975. The famed “Night Stalker” serial killer also stayed at the Cecil.

The hotel is at 7th and Main and has undergone a renovation since the Lam mystery.

TRENDING

• LA’s Huge Carnaval Halloween Block Party