If you’re a fan of American Horror Story, like myself, you may know that season five, “Hotel,” took place in California in a hotel called Hotel Cortez.  What a lot of people don’t know is that it’s based off of a real hotel in Los Angeles called The Cecil (now recently called Stay on Main). Not only has it housed some serial killers along the way, but some claim that all 600 of its rooms are cursed. However, a more chilling mystery occurred just a few years ago when a Toronto woman went missing and was later found in the hotel’s water tank.

One of the most bizarre occurrences at the hotel happened more recently in 2013, when University of British Columbia student Elisa Lam was reported missing around the beginning of February and was found eighteen days later inside one of the hotel’s water tanks. Guests began complaining of low pressure and brown water coming from the taps in their rooms. When a hotel staff member went up to the roof to check the tank, he found Lam floating inside. After a video surfaced of her in the hotel’s elevator, it lead to many theories about what actually happened to her. Some say she was playing the “elevator game,” a game that ultimately leads you into ‘another world.’ Some claim that she was possessed, which wasn’t far fetched considering the history of the hotel. Others say she was killed by a hotel staff member, which would explain how she gained access to the roof without triggering an alarm.

Oddly, right around the time of her death, there was an outbreak of Tuberculosis on Skid Row. The test to identify it was conveniently called “LAM-ELISA.” Some say that this was the government’s way of hiding the outbreak, and that by naming it “LAM-ELISA,”we would only find information about the missing woman and not about the disease.

Many mysterious events have been occurring since 1924 when William Banks Hanner built the Cecil right along Main Street, or a road known today as “Skid Row.” In 1985, ‘Night Stalker’ Richard Ramirez stayed at a room on the top floor. During this time, he killed 13 women. Copycat serial killer Jack Unterweger also killed three women during his time at the hotel in 1991. Along with serial killers residing at the Cecil, there have been many suicides, including one woman, Pauline Otton, who jumped to her death from a nine story window of the hotel in 1962. One rumor also claims that aspiring actress Elizabeth Short (nicknamed “Black Dahlia” by the media) was last seen alive at the Cecil just before she was murdered.

The hotel has gained the attraction of thrillseekers around the world and even made an appearance on Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. But, even with a name change, it’s still hard to forget all of the tragedies that have happened at the Cecil Hotel since it was built over 90 years ago. We may never know what exactly happened to Elisa Lam, but it’s safe to say that you won’t find me checking in anytime soon. Would you?