Los Angeles is famous for sunshine, movie stars, palm trees, and the promise of reinvention. But beneath the glamour lies another Los Angeles: a city of abandoned hospitals, tragic deaths, mysterious disappearances, and buildings where the past seems reluctant to stay buried.
From Downtown’s historic hotels to Hollywood’s glittering landmarks, here are some of the most haunted places in Los Angeles.
The Cecil Hotel
Few places in Los Angeles have a darker reputation than the Cecil Hotel. Opened in 1924 in Downtown Los Angeles, the massive hotel has been associated with numerous deaths, suicides, murders, and unexplained incidents throughout its long history.
The Cecil’s reputation became internationally infamous in 2013, when Canadian student Elisa Lam disappeared while staying there. Weeks later, her body was discovered inside one of the hotel’s rooftop water tanks. Security footage showing Lam behaving strangely inside an elevator shortly before her disappearance only deepened the mystery surrounding the case.
But Lam’s death was only one chapter in the hotel’s grim history. Serial killer Richard Ramirez reportedly stayed at the Cecil during his killing spree. And another murderer, Jack Unterweger, lived there while committing crimes in Los Angeles.
Over the years, guests and residents have reported strange noises, apparitions, unexplained sensations, and an oppressive atmosphere inside the building. Whether those experiences are supernatural or simply the psychological residue of a century of tragedy, the Cecil remains one of LA’s most unsettling landmarks.
The Entity House
Tucked away on Braddock Drive is a modest-looking home with a reputation considerably darker than its appearance suggests. Known as the “Entity House,” the property became famous because of alleged paranormal activity experienced by a family living there in the 1970s.
According to the story, the family began experiencing increasingly disturbing phenomena after moving into the house. Objects allegedly moved on their own, strange noises came from seemingly empty rooms, and family members reported encounters with an unseen presence.
The story eventually became associated with the 1982 horror film The Entity, although the movie dramatized and fictionalized the alleged events considerably.
Like many supposedly haunted locations, the Entity House occupies an uncomfortable space between documented history, personal testimony, folklore, and Hollywood mythology. There is no scientific proof that a supernatural entity inhabited the property. Nevertheless, its story has become part of Los Angeles’s extensive collection of paranormal legends.
Sometimes, the most frightening houses aren’t gothic mansions or abandoned buildings. Sometimes they’re ordinary homes with extraordinary stories.
The Hollywood Roosevelt
Few buildings represent haunted old LA quite like the Hollywood Roosevelt. Opened in 1927, this elegant hotel has hosted generations of celebrities, filmmakers, and Hollywood royalty. It also reportedly has a few permanent residents who never checked out.
The hotel is famously associated with Marilyn Monroe, who lived there early in her career while she was establishing herself as an actress. Guests have reported seeing her reflection in a mirror located in the room where she once lived.
Another legendary spirit is said to be that of Montgomery Clift, who reportedly spent several months at the hotel while filming From Here to Eternity. According to the stories, guests have heard a trumpet playing or felt a mysterious presence on the hotel’s upper floors.
The Roosevelt’s history makes such stories particularly irresistible. Imagine walking through the same corridors once occupied by Hollywood’s biggest stars and wondering whether one of them never really left.
Of course, there’s another possibility: old buildings creak, pipes make strange noises, reflections can play tricks, and stories become more elaborate with every retelling. But that’s part of the fun of haunted Hollywood.
Linda Vista Hospital
On the eastern edge of Los Angeles sits the former Linda Vista Hospital, a sprawling building with a history almost tailor-made for ghost stories. Originally opened in 1904 as a railroad hospital, the facility eventually became a general hospital serving the surrounding community. Over the decades, thousands of patients passed through its doors, and many died there.
The hospital eventually closed in 1991 after years of declining use and financial difficulties. Its empty corridors, abandoned rooms, and deteriorating architecture later made it a popular location for paranormal investigators and filmmakers.
Visitors and investigators have reported hearing voices, footsteps, and unexplained sounds throughout the building. Apparitions have also allegedly appeared in photographs and on video. The hospital’s reputation became so strong that it appeared in numerous television programs and movies. Its transformation from functioning medical facility to abandoned landmark only enhanced its eerie atmosphere.
Today, much of the original property has been redeveloped, but Linda Vista’s ghost stories remain embedded in Los Angeles folklore. The building is a reminder that some of the city’s darkest histories aren’t found in cemeteries or crime scenes but in places where people once went seeking help.
Pico House
Long before Los Angeles became synonymous with Hollywood, the city was a rough-and-tumble frontier settlement. One of the best places to glimpse that forgotten era is Pico House, the city’s oldest surviving luxury hotel.
Built in 1870 by Pío Pico, the last governor of Mexican California, the three-story Italianate building was once one of the most prestigious hotels in Los Angeles. Located near the historic Plaza, it became a gathering place for politicians, businessmen, travelers, and some of the city’s less reputable characters.
With that much history packed into one building, ghost stories were almost inevitable.
Visitors have reported unexplained footsteps, voices, cold spots, and apparitions inside the historic structure. Some stories involve former guests and residents who allegedly continue to wander its rooms and corridors.
Places like Pico House aren’t simply spooky attractions. They’re also reminders that the city beneath today’s skyscrapers, freeways, and movie studios was once a very different place.
Hauntings in the City of Angels
Los Angeles may sell itself as the City of Angels, but its history has plenty of demons lurking in the shadows. From the tragic Cecil Hotel and mysterious Entity House to the glamorous Hollywood Roosevelt, abandoned Linda Vista Hospital, and historic Pico House, each location offers a different glimpse into the city’s complicated past.
Are these places genuinely haunted? That’s ultimately up to you. But if you walk through Los Angeles after dark on a haunted LA ghost tour, you may discover that the city’s most interesting stories aren’t always the ones you’ll find on a movie screen. Sometimes they are the tales whispered in the shadowy corners of the night.
