The History of The Cecil

The Cecil 

"During its early years, it enjoyed great success as a tourist destination and as a residence for middle class Angelinos.  However, by the 1930s this would rapidly change as the Cecil became known as a budget hotel for traveling salesmen and other transients. Series co-creator Ryan Murphy had said in numerous press conferences that the Cecil Hotel was the main source of inspiration for this season of American Horror Story, specifically the recent strange case of Elisa Lam, as well as the hotel’s lengthy history of brutal murders, crimes, and strange occurrences." - Blumhouse

The Cecil is one of LA's most famous hotels but for all the wrong reasons, it was a home to maniacs, murderers and ghosts and people even say that all the rooms are cursed.

Elisa Lam

Elisa Lam in Elevator before Death

As stated in the previous post, the most recent death at this hotel has been of Elisa Lam, she was found in February 2013, two weeks after her death after hotel guests had started to complain about the taste of the water, which they later found out that her body had been decomposing inside the rooftop water tanks for two weeks. When they investigated this they found a security video showing her entering the elevator alone, and she appears to have a conversation with someone who is not there. The rooftop area of the hotel is protected by an alarm and it is considerably difficult for someone to gain access to. 

Richard Ramirez

Ramirez and Unterweger mug shots.

Richard Ramirez or The Night Stalker, terrorised LA from 1984- 85, by stalking and killing 13 women, whilst staying on the top floor of the Cecil. He would dump his bloody clothes in the dumpsters out back after a night of killing. 

Jack Unterweger

Jack Unterweger was a sort of copy cat killer and mimmiced the actions of Ramirez, he murdered three prostitutes whilst staying at the Cecil.

"In 1991, serial killer Johann Unterweger (a twisted serial killer homage to Ramirez) also used the Cecil as a home base. Unterweger was an Austrian visiting Los Angeles under the guise of a true-crime writer researching prostitute killings in the United States. Unbeknownst to his employers, Johann had already killed seven prostitutes before coming to America. Johann used the LAPD as unwitting accomplices, as they took him on ride-alongs through LA’s red light district. Later, Johann would return to these same spots to seek out his victims, and then return to his residence at the Cecil."- Blumhouse

The Black Dahlia Before & After

The Black Dahlia

On January 15th 1947, a nude female body was found on a field on south Norton Avanue between coliseum and West 39th Street, the body had been cut in half at the waist and had been drained of blood, the corners of her mouth had been slashed all the way to her ears, there was multiple cuts on her thighs and breasts, because the body could not be identified she was called the Black Dahlia, but was later identified as Elizabeth Short, and was last sighted at the hotel Cecil. The Black Dahlia makes an apperarance on the first series of American Horror Story - The Murder House which is also set in LA.

Newkirk, D. (2015). The history of the Cecil Hotel is so dark and gory that some say all 600 rooms are cursed. Available: https://roadtrippers.com/stories/the-history-of-the-cecil-hotel-is-so-dark-and-gory-that-some-say-all-600-rooms-are-cursed?lat=40.86368&lng=-96.70166&z=5. Last accessed 19th March 2016.