From haunted hotels to eerie parks, Los Angeles is rich with tons of ghost stories that connect our city’s past to our present. Here are some of LA’s most haunted places that you can explore—or avoid if it’s not your scene.
Warnings mentioned of decomposition, murder, and rape will be mentioned. Please note I do not recommend trespassing past operation hours; it could be dangerous.
Cecil hotel
Residents in east LA know it’s not a walk in the park to live here. Besides the crumbling economic state and gang violence, what difference is one murder? The Cecil hotel opened in 1927 which has recently been renamed Stay On Main this location was known to have housed one of the most infamous serial killers he was known as the night stalker who was later identified as richard ramirez, in the 80’s the staff of the hotel knew of his activities but they had gone unreported due to discriminatory prejudice towards low income districts they felt that there was no need to reach out for his crimes and many others that occured within the cecil hotel but these incidents are not what drew attention to the hotel on February 19, 2013 there was resorts of an odd discoloration in the hotel water accompanied with a foul smell tailing the problem to the source of the water tank a females body was found her name was Elisa lam upon further Her watch and room key were also found with her. Liam’s death remains a mystery. No one knows how she got into the water tank; her own experts deem it impossible for someone of her stature to move the lid unassisted, and the only footage investigators had of her was the last time she was in the elevator. spooky right? But there is more: the hotel is still running. Residents are still able to book rooms, but be warned if you are looking for a good scare. The working staff and visitors of the hotels often state that the top floors are often the most active, accompanied by ghostly cries of our other world friends, the occasional room visitor, and beds of the deceased.
Griffith Park
Maybe staying in a dead person’s room is too much for you. I get that; believe me, I wouldn’t want Elisa’s ghost shoving me in the water tank at night either. Griffith Park is a less committed option, and it’s free! It initially belonged to Jose Vicente Feliz, a soldier and government official who served as the de facto mayor of Los Angeles. After his death in 1863, he left all of this land to a man named Don Antonio Coronel; Dona Petronilla, who was his niece, was left with nothing. Angered, she cursed the land by 1882. Griffith J was the new owner; this man was… Something to say the least: he built an ostrich farm, which later, due to depleting resources, he closed the failing farm. This enraged Burkett (his financial advisor), and he declared that he would have vengeance on Griffith. As a result, Burkett shot Griffith. Thinking Griffith was dead, Burkett turned a revolver on himself and died instantly. 1903, Griffith went crazy and became convinced that his very devout wife and the pop were devising a plan to poison him. Later, he believed he began to see the ghost of Burkett come to take him to the grave. Shortly after that, he passed.
Cobb Estate
You might be wondering is that really all that makes the park haunted by the witch curse, the Cobb estate, otherwise known as “The Los Feliz Murder House,” is also a big attraction. The chilling story of this estate goes as told. On the morning of December 6, 1959, cardiologist Harold Perelson murdered his 43-year-old sleeping wife, Lillian. He struck her in the head with a ball-peen hammer till her skull split and her blood painted the walls and sheets of their colorless room. Lillian was left to asphyxiate in her own blood for the rest of the night, then her husband ended his own life using a concoction of water, acid, and tranquilizer pills with no one to inherent the home. It was left to decay for over 50 years. This was not the only murder. The only thing that occurred on the cursed were. Griffin Park was a well-established dumping ground for the hillside strangler.
LA Zoo
The Griffith Zoo is another fee-free location, but in this story there are no gruesome murders or mysterious bodies found laying around, nor is it a serial killer’s secret clubhouse. Instead, this location was home to an assortment of animals before it was abandoned, and the animals either died or turned cannibalistic. The story goes that these unfortunate animals were bought from various parts of the world and other rehabilitation facilities. From 1913 until the late mid-sixties, at the time the park was called the “Old LA Zoo.” We already know at this point Griffith Park is cursed land thanks to Dona, but that does not excuse lazy contracting. In 1916, the zoo was close to being shut down due to sewage issues. issues the zoo was found that their sewage was being dumped in the LA River, but luck was on the zoo’s side, and they survived being shut down, which allowed it to continue on until World War 1. When their biggest struggle hit, they were met with a meat shortage that left the zoo unable to care for their carnivorous animals. Which resulted in several deaths and led to other surviving animals being cannibalized by their cage members. Over time, in 1964, the old zoo was eventually relocated to a new area at the northeast end of Griffith Park to erase the horrors that occurred in the previous location.
Pasadena Bridge
Now I understand hiking might not be your strong suit. Don’t worry, it isn’t mine either. Pasadena Bridge is only a short walk. On December 12, 1913, the bridge became accessible to the public. On November 16, 1919, the first suicide occurred, followed by several others, which later earned it the nickname “suicide bridge.” It is estimated that more than 100 people took their lives leaping 150 feet into the arroyo below. One of the more notable suicides was when a mother threw her baby girl over the railing on May 1, 1937. She then threw herself off, snapping her neck. Though the mother died, her child miraculously survived. After the baby was blindly tossed, she landed in some nearby trees and was later found held by the thick branches. By the 1980s, the bridge had fallen into significant disrepair; chunks of concrete began to fall from its ornate railings and arches. After the Loma Prieta earthquake near Oakland in 1989, the bridge was closed to collapse. Eventually, federal, state, and local funds provided some $27 million in renovation costs, and the bridge was reopened in 1993, complete with its original detail plus a suicide prevention rail. But that did not stop the people. late October of 2015, when noted actor, model, and musician Sam Sarpong took his own life by jumping off the bridge. To this day, people continue to jump. According to the tales, several spirits are said to wander the bridge and the arroyo below. Others have heard unexplained cries coming from the canyon suspected to be from the lady forever looking for her lost baby. One report tells of an eerie man often seen wandering the bridge wearing wire-rimmed glasses dressed in black with a wide-brimmed hat. Some have speculated this to be death waiting to claim another soul. Other people have claimed to see a woman in a long flowing robe who stands atop one of the parapets before vanishing as she throws herself off the side. In other cases, some people believe to see phantom forms walking the riverbed and often have heard various unexplainable sounds.
Devils Gate
Next on the list is Devil’s Gate. This spot is nestled beneath the fittingly named Devils Dam below the 210 Freeway. The dam was built in 1920 and named Devil’s Gate because of the rock formation’s resemblance to Satan. In the ’40s, the area became a ritual magnet, attracting a group of occultists led by L. Ron Hubbard and some early disciples of Aleister Crowley. It is said that the water running through the gorge sounded like laughter, but besides the creepy laughter and being the hot spot from cult meetings, the damn is known for the mysterious disappearances of children. Between 1956 and 1960, four children in three separate incidents mysteriously vanished around Devil’s Gate Reservoir. Later, in 1970, Mack Ray Edwards confessed to kidnapping and murdering two of the children, but their bodies were never recovered.Afterward, Edwards committed suicide in his cell at San Quentin while awaiting the death sentence.
Hollywood
Last but not least, the Hollywood sign is arguably noted as the most known Hollywood sign, the story goes. In 1932, a young New York stage actress named Peg Entwistle became forever tied to the Hollywood sign. After making it her life mission to make it to the big screen, Peg moved in with her uncle, who lived practically in the shadow of the Hollywood sign. Once there she got to work auditing to open roles and commercials, finally she made it her first big role, in David O. Selznick’s Thirteen Women, but during production her scene was cut and she lost her big break. She spent the summer of 32 waiting on callbacks that never came. On the night of September 18th, 1932, Peg told a friend she would be heading to a drugstore, but instead, at the age of 24, stricken with grief and reportedly intoxicated, set off into the darkness. hiked from her uncle’s home to the Hollywood sign, climbed a 50-foot workman’s ladder to the top of the H, and plunged to her death. Her suicide note read, “I am afraid; I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain.”. The next day, an unidentified female hiker found Peg’s body along with a single shoe, jacket, purse, and her suicide note. The ghost of Peg is typically accompanied by the same smell of gardenias. East La is full of stories make history and LA is full of all kinds of stories, especially the Eerie ones. This was just a glimpse of locations presumed to be hunted by their dark pasts .