7. The Hotel Cecil in Los Angeles was haunted by living predator
In 2011 the Hotel Cecil was renamed Stay on Main, though it retained its historic signage identifying it as the Cecil. Currently being renovated, the Cecil had a long history of being one of the scariest and most dangerous places to live in the United States. When it opened in the 1920s it was a luxurious place to stay, and it retained that reputation until the 1950s, when it and the neighborhood surrounding it began a long slide into decline. Violent deaths and suicides at the Cecil were frequent beginning in the 1950s and continuing until the end of the century. The famous unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia, took place after she was seen at the Cecil’s bar. At least two serial killers claimed the Cecil as their residence.
Suicide by defenestration from the upper story windows of the hotel was common throughout the 1950s and 1960s, to the point that other residents began to refer to the hotel as the Suicide rather than the Cecil. Several unsolved murders occurred within its rooms over the decades, and the hotel became well known as a destination for illicit trysts, drug dealers, and prostitution. In 2013 the naked body of a Canadian student named Elisa Lam was discovered in a water tank on the hotel’s roof after multiple complaints by residents of low water pressure and foul tasting water. The investigation revealed a video of her in an elevator acting strangely prior to her death as well as the fact that she was under treatment for bipolar disorder. Her death was ruled an accident.