Meet Your Favorite Dead Celebrity At These 7 Haunted Hollywood Hotels
By Laura Kent
At? L.A. Family Travel, we love a good haunt! Not so much the surly ghoulish teens hired to dress in gore with strobe lights making us nauseous–but definitely fans of pleasant (and slightly unsettled) ghosts that haunt the corners of our most posh Hollywood Hotels.
Meet the ghosts at these haunted Hollywood hotels. It might be too late to get their autograph, but families could try to snap a photo!?
Send your pic to us if you do, and we’ll publish it in future editions of this article!
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Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel dates back to the Golden Era of Hollywood. It’s an iconic hotel located on Hollywood Boulevard, tracing the Hollywood Walk of Fame, next to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The historic hotel was built in 1927 and has hosted many famous stars, including Tinseltown’s sweethearts Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, and Charlie Chaplin. More recently, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stayed at this hotel. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel offers more than just a luxurious stay—it provides a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with the glitzy ghosts of Hollywood’s past.
Those staying at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel have reported sightings of Marilyn Monroe’s spirit, mostly in her favorite haunt, suite 1200, and also in a long mirror that hangs in the lobby. The mirror was once in Marilyn Monroe’s suite. Marilyn’s ghost seems to have a flair for the dramatic, often shocking people by appearing in the full-length mirror while locking eyes with whoever is in the reflection. But hey, who wouldn’t want to check themselves out if they looked like Marilyn??
Marilyn’s ghost isn’t just a one-room wonder; she’s also been spotted cutting a rug in the Blossom Ballroom, the very same venue that hosted the first-ever Academy Awards. It begs the question, do blonde ghosts have more fun? To be honest, we wouldn’t mind sharing a room with Marilyn, alive or dead; imagine the bragging rights!?
In addition to Marilyn, Montgomery Clift’s spirit haunts Room 928. He’s been heard practicing his trumpet, although it would make more sense if he were practicing “Taps” on his bugle, not trumpet, to perfect his horn-tooting scene in “From Here to Eternity.” But, we’ve never been one to argue with a ghost. He’s said to turn up the heat and radio to let guests know he’s there. His shadowy figure has been spotted pacing the hallways and keeping a watchful eye on guests in his room, like a paranoid, paranormal security guard, making sure visitors are safe from…well, him.?
Guests have also reported a little girl in a blue dress who goes by the name “Caroline” skipping through the lobby. Caroline can be seen playing and wandering the hallways in search of her mother. This ghost seems so real that guests and employees often mistake her for a living child, typically sporting a pink jacket and jeans. Do you think the employees remind Caroline she isn’t allowed in the hot tub without an adult?
Other phenomena witnessed at the Roosevelt include cold spots, mysterious phone calls, and weird orbs. That sounds like a normal teenage Friday night at our house.
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The Knickerbocker Hotel?
The Knickerbocker catered to the Hollywood film industry and was frequented by several of its biggest stars. Today, it is a retirement home and a haunt for celebrity ghosts who never retired.?
Let’s start with a ghost story that we all can relate to. In 1936, Bess Houdini, the better half of Harry Houdini, held her final séance on Halloween night on the Knickerbocker’s roof to contact her deceased husband. This wasn’t the first time she had tried to contact her hubby. Her plan was to contact him through a séance, and then he was to recite a message that she had previously (in his mortality) instructed him to say so both knew that it was really him. Apparently, Harry was a no-show to that séance and every other séance Bess performed.?
And kids…THAT’S what you call “ghosted!”
As his career began to dwindle, director D.W. Griffith spent a lot of time at the hotel as a long-term guest. Once a Hollywood darling and considered the pioneer of directing, he fell into obscurity, and other guests had no idea about the previous fame of the older gentleman, reading in the lobby. That’s where his body was found after a cerebral hemorrhage. Current residents are used to the figure of a dashing older gentleman swinging his cane as he walks through the halls. When newer residents ask about him, long-term employees usually advise them to ignore him. “That’s just old Mr. Griffith,” they say.
Another infamous haunt that wanders the hotel is Golden Era MGM costume designer Irene Gibbons. Irene famously took her life by throwing herself out her bathroom window from room 1129. She left behind two nearly empty pints of vodka bottles, a suicide note, and a bloody bandage. Residents say they also sometimes see her throwing herself out the window and landing on the roof of the structure below.
And it’s not just Hollywood royalty that haunts this hotel. Another famous resident spook is the ghost of an obedient and loyal English Setter, Speck. Speck rides the elevator with guests, allowing them to get off first. He escorts guests through the lobby and waits patiently for his master outside his old room.
?A beloved bellhop named Roger is also afloat. His haunts are free, so there’s no need to tip.?
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Chateau Marmont?
The Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, California, is rumored to be one of the most haunted hotels in the city. This apartment building turned hotel has seen its fair share of famous faces, from Marlon Brando to Jim Morrison. But it’s not just celebrities that have graced these halls—rumor has it that the ghost of comedian John Belushi still roams Bungalow 3. This world needs more ghosts that crack a good joke! Maybe John’s just looking to make a sequel with his blues brother, Dan Aykroyd.
Kidding aside, some guests have reported windows opening and furniture being moved without a soul in sight. It’s said that the hotel’s paranormal energy is trapped in the layers of paint, even though the gothic high-rise has been renovated many times. That must be some paint job!
Other famous guests of the Chateau Marmont include Howard Hughes, Dennis Hopper, Rita Hayworth, James Dean, Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski, and Sidney Poitier. Did these celebs encounter ghostly figures or witness paranormal activity? We may never know.
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The Cecil Hotel
The Cecil Hotel, in downtown Los Angeles, is a place with a history so bizarre it’s almost unreal. This hotel opened its doors in 1924 and quickly became infamous for its connection to a string of spooky events. The Cecil has seen a number of suicides, including a guest who died in 1931 after taking poison capsules. This hotel also became a popular spot for regular suicides during the Great Depression (rest assured, there were plenty of other hotels that had this honor, too). Unfortunately for the Cecil, this hotel’s nickname became “The Suicide” in 2008. Not good.
Aside from suicide, there were plenty of murders, murderers, and unsolved deaths in the Cecil Hotel. In 1964, a man found the body of beloved retired telephone operator “Pigeon Goldie” Osgood lying in her room after someone strangled, raped and beat her. The gentle woman had just returned from her regular routine of feeding the pigeons in Pershing Square. Her murder remains unsolved.
In the 1980s, notorious serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the “Night Stalker,” took up residence in the Cecil Hotel. According to a hotel clerk who had known him, Ramirez stayed at the Cecil for several weeks. Yikes, that’s a hair-raising thought! The Cecil also hosted Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger during his murder spree in the early 1990s.
Most recently, the Cecil was the nightmarish backdrop for the disappearance of a young woman, Elisa Lam in 2013. Lam’s story, which was followed by amateur sleuths around the world and became a Netflix show, turned the Cecil into a source of national fear. A surveillance camera caught Lam, a Canadian tourist traveling alone, inside one of the hotel elevators, demonstrating bizarre, fearful behavior as she pushed several buttons and briefly walked out waving her arms. She then disappeared, prompting the search. Weeks later, guests reported low water pressure and an odd smell in the water. A maintenance man found Lam’s dead body in a water tank on the hotel roof. Investigators ruled the death an accidental drowining though how she could have scaled the 10-foot cistern remains unclear. They didn’t find evidence of foul play. The hotel’s history is so twisted that it inspired season 5 of American Horror Story!
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Millennium Biltmore Hotel?
Once the sight of the Academy Awards, the Biltmore Hotel hosted beacons like Jack Warner and Cecil B. DeMille. Clark Gable and Ginger Rogers walked away with Oscars after that night. This was the place to be seen.
Legend has it that Elizabeth Short, more commonly known as the Black Dahlia, may be haunting this place. Guests have reported sightings of her ghost in the lobby and on the 10th and 11th floors. As the story goes, the Hollywood starlet was seen partying with an anxious-looking red-headed man; maybe they started at the lobby bar and moved to private guest rooms. She was last seen alive leaving the Biltmore in his car on January 9, 1947. Then, six days later, her mutilated body was found in an abandoned lot, but her spirit never left the Biltmore.?
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And that’s not all–there’s a mischievous little boy running around the 10th floor, a nurse ghost on the 2nd floor, and guests staying on the 9th floor sometimes hear the sounds of a little girl giggling and her footsteps.?
Hotel staff says the 2nd and 9th floors are among the most haunted, so apparently, little boy ghosts and giggling girl ghosts are more frightening than the haunted history of the Black Dahlia. I couldn’t agree more. And most moms can relate—little kids can be real nightmares!
But the real kicker? A haunted elevator! I don’t know about you, but I draw the line at sharing an elevator with a ghost. Awkward elevator silences are bad enough without adding apparitions into the mix.
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The Hotel Normandie
Hotel Normandie in Los Angeles is said to be haunted by ghostly apparitions. Some have reported seeing figures, shadows, and unusual energies. Others have heard ominous noises and felt unsettling feelings. The hotel’s history of hauntings is so well-known that it was the setting for a mystery-thriller about a couple who check in for a supernatural stay.?
The 2020 horror film “The Night” is about an Iranian couple who check into a haunted hotel in Los Angeles. The hotel is described as aggressively haunted, with a creepy night manager and noisy guests. That doesn’t seem too far from the truth; maybe Hollywood should consider calling it a documentary.?
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Queen Mary
We can’t talk about haunted Hollywood hotels without mentioning the RMS Queen Mary, the royal liner who’s appeared on the silver and small screen multiple times. She’s the spookiest ship you’ll ever encounter, and your family could book a hotel room here! Docked in Long Beach, California, this ship is like the Disneyland of haunted destinations, and not the Mickey Mouse kind with a cute wizard hat! These ghosts are really nasty!
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Legend has it that the good ole Queen Mary ship is home to a bunch of restless spirits, including a young girl named Jackie Torin, who apparently loves playing peek-a-boo by the second-class pool. To be fair, if there was ever an appropriate game for a ghost to play, it’d be peek-a-boo, right??
If that’s not eerie enough, there’s an engine room crew member whose screams of pain still echo through the ship. And let’s not forget about the lady in white who’s always ready to dance in the lounge. I bet she looks like she’s floating on air as she twirls her way across the ballroom!
But wait, it gets even spookier. There’s this guy named Samuel the Savage who caused chaos back in the 1940s. They had to lock him up in room B340, which, surprise surprise, was drenched in blood the next day. Yikes! And if all that wasn’t enough, the ship apparently has wet footprints by the pool, ghostly kiddos running around, temperature changes, knocking, flickering lights, and slamming doors. It’s like a horror movie come to life!?
If the haunted history isn’t enough for you–the Queen Mary offers ghost tours, ghost investigations, and even overnight stays in the most haunted stateroom, B340. Seriously though? That seems excessive, even for ghost hunters. It’s like the trifecta of everything you DON’T do in a Halloween movie. Isolated in the ocean. Stuck on a boat at night, with way too many tiny hallways.?
So, if you’re ever in Long Beach and feel like tempting fate, go check out the Queen Mary. But don’t say we didn’t warn you about the ghostly peek-a-boo and the floating wet footprints.
Happy ghost hunting, thrill-seeking, and blood-curdling screeching!