I’m sure many of you have seen the Netflix series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, which focuses on the tragic story of Elisa Lam. Poor Elisa had mental health problems, which they believe led to her demise at such a young age. But, before the authorities realised what had happened, there was a lot of talk (and still is) about the hotel itself and the influence it may have on people. Today, I will write down a few facts and figures about The Cecil Hotel as I find the building and its history fascinating.
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The Cecil Hotel is now known as Stay on Main and is based in downtown Los Angeles, near the area known as Skid Row (Skid Row is known for its extremely high homeless population). It opened its doors to the public on December 20th, 1924 (some sources say it was 1927) and was advertised as an upmarket hotel with 15 floors and 700 guest rooms. Unfortunately, two years later came the Wall Street Crash. The Cecil became a budget hotel with cheap rooms for cheap deeds; it was considered a hotbed for violence and criminal activity. These are just a few things I have found out.
* Amy Price was the manager of The Cecil between 2007-2017. She said there would be 1-3 calls to 911 daily.
* Kenneth Givens was a long-term resident of The Cecil. He said, "It pretty much was lawless [back in the '80s]," Givens recounted. "Usually, the higher floors at the Cecil [was where] people used to get killed."
*American Horror Story: Hotel is loosely based on The Cecil.
* There have been many rumours and reported sightings of ghosts at the hotel, including this photo taken by an 11-year-old that supposedly shows something hanging outside the window of the 4th floor,
* The TV show Ghost Adventures checked into The Cecil for an episode; the episode is available on YouTube.
* Elizabeth Short, known posthumously as The Black Dahlia, was rumoured to have been seen at The Cecil in the weeks leading up to her death.
* After Elisa Lam’s death, her phone was never found. Her Tumblr posts were continually updated long after her death, although it’s unclear if it was via a hacker, an auto-publish feature or something altogether stranger.
* Richard Ramirez was a serial killer known as The Night Stalker. He was rumoured to have stayed at the hotel, but there is little evidence to confirm this apart from an eyewitness testimony, which often isn’t reliable.
*Jack Unterweger was an Australian serial killer who would kill women with their bras. He was known to have stayed at The Cecil during his killing spree.
Strange Deaths at The Cecil Hotel:
This is not a list of all the deaths at The Cecil Hotel. Amy Price claimed to have seen around 80 deaths in the ten years she was manager.
* January 22nd, 1927: Percy Ormond Cook was 52 years old and died of a self-inflicted gun wound to the head. He was depressed after being unable to reconcile with his wife and child.
* November 19th, 1931: W.K Norton was 46 years old and died by consuming poison. He had checked into the hotel the previous week under the alias of ‘James Willys’.
* September 1932: Benjamin Dodich was 25 years old and died of a self-inflicted gun wound to the head; he was discovered by one of the maids. No suicide note was ever found.
* July 1934: Sgt. Louis D. Borden was 53 years old and died by slitting his own throat with a razor. He left a few notes, one saying poor health was the reason for his suicide.
* March 1937: Grace E Magro died by falling from the building; her body became entangled in telephone wires on the way down, slowing her descent. She later died at the hospital. It’s unknown whether this fall was intentional, accidental, or more sinister.
* January 1938: Roy Thompson was 35 years old and died by falling from the building. He had jumped after staying at The Cecil for a few weeks.
* May 1939: Erwin C. Neblett was 39 years old and died from consuming poison. He was found dead in his room.
* January 1940: Dorothy Seger was 45 years old and died from consuming poison. She was found ‘near death’, and her death date is listed as January 12th, 1940.
* September 1944: An un-named newborn died after his mother, Dorothy Jean Durcell, threw him out of the window, believing him already dead. She was found not guilty through reasons of insanity.
* November 1947: Robert Smith was 35 years old and died after jumping from the 7th floor.
* October 22nd, 1954: Helen Gurnee was 55 years old, and it is unknown if she jumped from the building or was pushed. She had checked into the Cecil a week beforehand under the name ‘Margaret Brown’.
* February 11th, 1962: Julia Frances Moore was 50 years old and jumped from the 8th floor. No suicide note was found.
* October 12th, 1962: Pauline Otton (27) jumped from the 9th floor after an argument with her husband, from whom she was separated. She landed on George Giannini (65), who was walking by at the time. Police initially thought they had jumped together in a suicide pact until they realised his hands were still in his pockets and his shoes were on (they more than likely would have come off on the way down if he had jumped).
* June 4th, 1964: ‘Pigeon Goldie’ Osgood, aged 65, was found dead in her room that she had lived in for five years by a maid; she had been raped, beaten, and stabbed. Jacques B. Ehlinger was accused but was acquitted. The murder remains unsolved.
* December 20th, 1975: An unknown woman, who was approximately 23 years old, apparently jumped from her 12th-floor room. She is still unidentified but had checked into the hotel under the name of ‘Alison Lowell’.
* September 1st, 1992: An unnamed man, aged around 20-30 years old, was found dead after falling from the 15th floor; it’s unknown if it was purposefully or accidentally. He has never been identified.
* February 1st, 2013: Elisa Lam, 21, died from accidental drowning after a mental health episode. Her body was found in a water tank on the hotel roof after guests complained that the water ‘tasted funny’.
* June 13th, 2015: The body of a man, aged 28, was found outside the hotel. His cause of death has not been determined.
So, what do you think of The Cecil Hotel? Is it an evil place, bringing death and misery, haunted by those who have lost their lives? Or has it just had a terrible press? Let me know what you think of this in the comments and what you can find out – would you stop there? Thanks for reading, look after yourselves, and I will see you soon!
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