In 1927, the Cecil Hotel—now operating under the name Stay on Main—opened its doors with a grand total of roughly 700 Art Deco‑styled rooms, promising luxury and entertainment for traveling businessmen. Situated at 640 S. Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, the hotel quickly found itself caught in the grip of the Great Depression. Its proximity to the sprawling Skid Row meant that within a six‑kilometer radius more than ten thousand homeless individuals made the surrounding streets their home, setting the stage for a dark legacy that would later fuel the 10 creepiest events ever recorded within its walls.
Why These 10 Creepiest Events Matter
10 The Death Of Elisa Lam
In 2013, 21‑year‑old college student Elisa Lam was discovered lifeless and unclothed inside a rooftop water tank at the Cecil Hotel. Guests had complained about unusually low water pressure, prompting maintenance workers to investigate, which led to the grisly find. Although the coroner ruled the cause of death as accidental drowning, the bizarre circumstances surrounding her final hours have sparked endless speculation about a more sinister force at play.
Lam had traveled alone from Vancouver to Los Angeles and vanished shortly after checking in. Police released unsettling CCTV footage of her wandering the hotel’s elevator, where she appears frantic—pressing multiple floor buttons, peering out the doors, and even crouching in a corner while seemingly conversing with someone unseen. When the elevator doors failed to close, she stepped out and vanished from view. Theories range from a possible pursuer to a manic bipolar episode, leaving the case shrouded in mystery.
9 Elizabeth “The Black Dahlia” Short
In 1947, a mother and child stumbled upon the naked corpse of 22‑year‑old aspiring actress Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park neighborhood. The body was so grotesquely mutilated that investigators initially thought it might be a mannequin. Short’s torso had been bisected at the waist, and her face was sliced from mouth to ears, creating a gruesome ‘Glasgow smile.’ The scene was meticulously cleaned, drained of blood, and the victim was posed with her hands over her head and legs splayed apart, leaving no blood at the location. The perpetrator was never apprehended.
It is believed that Short was seen at the Cecil Hotel not long before her murder. She was chasing a big break in Hollywood and was known for frequenting bars where she tried to connect with producers. Unfortunately, she became infamous for a far darker reason, her tragic end forever linking her name to the hotel’s macabre reputation.
8 Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez
Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez earned his chilling moniker by prowling the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco between 1984 and 1985, hunting unsuspecting victims. A self‑declared Satanist, he employed an arsenal that included handguns, knives, a machete, a tire iron, and a hammer, committing murders that a judge later described as exhibiting cruelty, callousness, and a level of viciousness beyond ordinary human comprehension.
During his brutal spree, Ramirez is reported to have lodged at the Cecil Hotel, where rooms cost a mere $14 per night. The hotel’s surroundings—a well‑known hangout for drug users—offered him easy anonymity as he stalked the night‑time streets. Ramirez was eventually captured, sentenced to death, and died on death row at San Quentin Prison in 2013 at the age of 53.
7 Jack Unterweger
Austrian serial killer and journalist Jack Unterweger checked into the Cecil Hotel in the early 1990s. Between 1990 and 1992, Unterweger strangled eleven prostitutes across Vienna, Prague, and Los Angeles, often using their own lingerie as a ligature. His criminal career began in 1974, but he was released after being touted as a successfully ‘resocialized’ inmate.
While staying at the Cecil, Unterweger worked for an Austrian magazine, penning crime stories about Los Angeles. He leveraged his reporter credentials to secure rides with the LAPD, granting him access to neighborhoods that later became scenes of his own killings. The distinctive knot he used to strangle his victims linked him to three Los Angeles murders, ultimately leading to his arrest in Miami. In 1994, Austrian courts sentenced him to life without parole; he hanged himself in prison on the night of his sentencing, using the same knot that had claimed his victims.
6 Pigeon Goldie
The unsolved murder of “Pigeon Goldie” Osgood continues to haunt the Cecil Hotel. A retired telephone operator, Goldie was a familiar figure around the hotel, known for feeding the pigeons that gathered at nearby Pershing Square. In 1964, she was found dead in her room, having been assaulted, stabbed, and strangled. Police discovered her Los Angeles Dodgers cap and a paper bag filled with birdseed scattered in the ransacked space.
A 29‑year‑old suspect, Jacques B. Ehlinger, was spotted strolling through Pershing Square wearing blood‑stained clothing and was initially charged with the murder. However, subsequent investigations cleared his name, leaving the case unresolved. Goldie’s death remained the last widely reported homicide at the hotel until the shocking discovery of Elisa Lam’s body in 2013.
5 George Gianinni
One of the most bizarre fatalities at the Cecil Hotel involved 65‑year‑old George Gianinni. In 1962, 27‑year‑old Pauline Otton quarreled with her estranged husband in a ninth‑floor room. After the argument, Otton wrote a suicide note and leapt from the window, crashing onto the pavement below. Unluckily, Gianinni was walking directly beneath the falling woman and was struck, resulting in both their instantaneous deaths.
When police first arrived, they assumed a double‑suicide scenario. However, Gianinni’s hands were still in his pockets—a detail inconsistent with a nine‑story fall. After thorough investigation, authorities concluded that Otton’s suicide inadvertently caused Gianinni’s accidental death.
4 Baby Out The Window
In 1944, a heartbreaking tragedy unfolded at the Cecil Hotel when 19‑year‑old Dorothy Jean Purcell, a guest, gave birth to a newborn son in the middle of the night. Unaware of her pregnancy, she awoke with severe abdominal pain while sharing a bed with her 38‑year‑old partner, shoe salesman Ben Levine. Fearing she would wake him, she slipped into the bathroom, delivered the baby herself, and, believing the infant was dead, hurled the tiny body from a window onto a neighboring roof.
The lifeless baby was recovered on the adjacent roof, prompting Purcell’s arrest. Psychological evaluations later determined she was “mentally confused,” leading to a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. The harrowing incident remains one of the most unsettling episodes in the hotel’s history.
3 Suicides In The 1930s
The early 1930s saw a disturbing series of suicides at the Cecil Hotel, beginning with 46‑year‑old W.K. Norton in 1931, who was found dead after ingesting poison capsules in his room. The following year, 25‑year‑old Benjamin Dodich was discovered by a maid, having taken his own life with a self‑inflicted gunshot wound to the head. In 1934, former Army Medical Corps sergeant Louis D. Borden was found with his throat slashed, having left several suicide notes in his room.
The tragic pattern continued: in 1937, Grace E. Magro’s body was discovered wrapped in telephone wires after she leapt from the ninth floor; a year later, 35‑year‑old US Marine Roy Thompson was found on a nearby skylight after a similar jump. In 1939, Navy officer Erwin C. Neblett died from poison ingestion. These deaths occurred amid the Great Depression, a period when the United States experienced the highest recorded suicide rates—exceeding 150 per one million annually in 1937 and 1938.
2 Profile Arrests
In 1976, 26‑year‑old Jeffrey Thomas Paley purchased a rifle, ascended to the Cecil Hotel’s rooftop, and discharged fifteen rounds toward the street below. Although no one was injured, police quickly apprehended Paley. He claimed he never intended to harm anyone, merely wanted to demonstrate how easily a person with mental health issues could acquire a firearm.
The Cecil has witnessed other high‑stakes confrontations. In 1988, 28‑year‑old salesman Robert Sullivan was arrested at the hotel after the body of 32‑year‑old nurse Teri Francis Craig was discovered at the home she had shared with Sullivan for seven years. Sullivan’s arrest added another name to the growing list of violent incidents tied to the hotel.
1 Paranormal Activity
One of the more recent eerie episodes at the Cecil Hotel occurred in 2014 when a young Californian captured a ghostly figure on camera. The photo shows a translucent silhouette perched on the ledge outside a fourth‑floor window, sparking immediate media attention and linking the apparition to the hotel’s grim past.
The young photographer recounted to reporters, “When I looked at that window, it just looked kind of creepy to me, and then I showed my friend, and he kind of freaked out. It still creeps me out.” He claimed the image caused him numerous restless nights, adding a modern layer to the hotel’s haunted reputation.
The Cecil Hotel has long been considered one of Los Angeles’ most haunted locations, drawing ghost hunters and morbid tourists alike. Many believe the numerous suicides that plagued the building have trapped restless spirits, preventing them from moving on and ensuring the hotel’s reputation for paranormal activity endures.