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MARILYN LIVES! THE HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD ROOSEVELT HOTEL

On a recent trip to Los Angeles to film a documentary based on our book, Dr. Feelgood, my wife wanted to stay at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Not because it was renovated or it’s location. She had heard it was haunted and wanted to explore the unique hotel.

It is a beautiful, art deco hotel that is wonderfully maintained. My wife said she can feel the spirits there as she explored every nook and cranny of the property.

Rumors of Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift or Carole Lombard roaming the halls are often told.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iGBL4-0iNw

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel –
HauntedHouses.com

Haunted Place: Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

ADDRESS:

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
7000 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel Web Site

LOCATION:

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a four star hotel with 4 star prices, located in the heart of historic Hollywood, on Hollywood Boulevard, just steps away from the TCL Chinese Theater and Dolby Theater. It is also close to The Hollywood Bowl and Hollywood Walk of Fame.

DESCRIPTION:

haunted-house

It is described as a Spanish Colonial Revival styled Hollywood Boutique Hotel that rivals any of the upper scale hotels in Los Angeles. It is managed by Thompson Hotels.

Guests walk into a two story lobby, decorated in a rich Spanish style, featuring hand-painted beams. The Hollywood Roosevelt today offers a wonderful mix of historical features and cutting edge amenities, that come sometimes with an extra fee. Some perks that come with a fee include: baby-sitting, in-room wifi, cooked-to-order breakfasts, water, in room honor bar, snacks, fitness center, massages and body treatments, Spa Services, Dry Cleaning/Laundry, Safe-deposit box, and many more.

One perk that is popular with upper-income young people (21-30) is the hotel’s trendy nightclub, TEDDY’S. Another draw for this age group are pool parties that a person can buy a ticket to attend. Other perks include a Roof top terrace.

There are 300 guest rooms and suites, offering a variety of choices. The Hollywood Roosevelt also has 25,000 square feet of conference space and meeting rooms.

Its ballroom, called the Blossom Room, is a popular place for receptions and social events of all kinds, as it has been since the opening of The Roosevelt Hotel. The first two Academy Award banquets were held in the Blossom Room. Many other events throughout the hotel’s history were held in the Blossom Room.

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HISTORY:

Named after President Teddy Roosevelt, this twelve story luxury hotel was built for the rich and famous; the biggest and brightest Hollywood stars. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Spanish Colonial Revival style, found in its structure and its decor, was designed by architects Fisher, Lake & Traver.

It was financed by successful movie stars; Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, and movie mogul Louie B Mayer, among others. This twelve story luxury hotel with 300 rooms and suites cost 2.5 million dollars, which was quite a chunk of change in 1927.

It had its grand opening on May 15th, 1927, offering everything that would please people who were expecting perks and amenities due to their fame and social class. These amenities included a large pool, large banquet rooms, a penthouse library, luxury suites, room service, probably massages, laundry service and an elegant, first class decorum.

Many successful movie stars enjoyed staying here, including Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable and Carol Lombard. The stable of actors and actresses that worked for Louie B Mayer’s film Studio all got to stay here, as he helped to build it.

Some actors and actresses stayed here for a period of time, when they were on their way up the success ladder, that brought them fame and fortune.

Marilyn Monroe was a resident guest for two years when her modeling career soared. Her first magazine photos were taken at The Roosevelt Hotel, pool-side.

Montgomery Clift stayed in room 928 for three months in 1952, while filming the movie, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. During his three month stay at the Roosevelt Hotel, Montgomery Clift was learning his lines successfully and practicing his trumpet skills for this hit film, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY; a role that he received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor. Surely, this was one of the highlights of his life.

By 1984, The Roosevelt Hotel had become a fixer-upper opportunity. Its owners stepped up to the plate, and spent a boatload of money, providing a 12 million dollar restoration/renovation face lift to this grand old Hollywood Dame of a hotel. She once more was a glorious, elegant, historical hotel, with modern amenities and perks that the well-to-do enjoy.

New artistic beauty has been added to the Roosevelt Hotel. According to the hotel’s website, they state “In 1988, British painter David Hockney completed a multi-million dollar mural painted on the bottom of the Tropicana Pool, which has since been hailed as one of Los Angeles’s greatest artistic and architectural marvels. Both the hotel and the pool have been designated Historic-Cultural Monuments by the City’s Cultural heritage Commission.”

In 2005, another major renovation was completed, and was overseen by Dodd Mitchell. The spirit people who stay here seem to approve of the changes, and continue to enjoy their after-life at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS:

When children die in a place when they were with their parents, they sometimes are restless and continue to look for their parents in the last place they saw them while alive.

(Monteleone Hotel-Little boy * Old Faithful Inn-Little boy * Cedar Grove Mansion-Little girl * General Wayne Inn -Little boy * Bodie-little girl * Lake Yellowstone Hotel-little boy)

A little girl spirit who plays here, still is looking for her mother.

People who have emotional and physical problems in this world that lead to negative consequences, are sometimes restless when they unexpectedly die and enter the spirit world; still wanting a comeback from their issues. So, they seek peace by staying in a place that they had success, reliving these memories so they can try to let go of the other failures of their life.

Marilyn Monroe was a troubled, unhappy soul while alive, and used sex, pills and alcohol to ease her deep-seated emotional pain caused by the unfortunate up-bringing she experienced in her love-less childhood. She needed to see a therapist, but never got help. She accidentally overdosed on pills and alcohol and suddenly died: not able to find a way to work out her pain in this world.

Montgomery Clift was a troubled but talented method actor who fell out of favor with Hollywood because of his addiction to pain killers and alcohol. He first started to use this self-medication method lightly to control his intestinal issues. Montgomery started to use them heavily after his 1958 car accident. This drug use affected his ability to show up for filming, and his ability to learn his lines.

Montgomery Clift died suddenly, right before he was to be in a big studio film, “Reflections in a Golden Eye” with Elizabeth Taylor who had put her salary up as collateral, as a promise that he would be reliable and show up for filming. Montgomery accepted a role in the European film, “The Defector”, to prove to the studio and to Elizabeth that he could be a reliable actor.

Restorations of historical buildings can act like an environmental trigger that activate former spirit people who were residents, owners, employees and guests. They are drawn back to the place that they loved while alive. This is especially true of spirits who were troubled in life, and are now restless as spirits. They try to remember their good times there.

After the first major 1984 restoration/renovation face-lift of The Roosevelt Hotel, spirits started to become very active, ready to move back in with the eager living guests, who wish to experience elegance and history. They look for the peace and memories of enjoyment they had at this hotel.

One such happy guest is Carol Lombard.

haunted-hollywood-hotel

MANIFESTATIONS:

While many guests of this grand hotel are completely unaware of the ghostly clientele and just enjoy the glorious touch of Hollywood, there are quite a few unseen entities happily residing here, unable to find peace needed to go to the other side.

Entity of Montgomery Clift – His restless spirit has come back for an extended stay.

He has been active in his old room, 928, and in the hallway outside his room.

His physical appearance has been seen by witnesses.

His apparition has been seen pacing the hallway of the 9th floor.

He also practices his trumpet in the hallway.

He has also appeared in his old room.

His unseen presence has been felt and experienced, in and around room 928.

Maids have felt something cold brush by them.

Other maids have felt a presence watching them, or felt a presence walking beside them.

Some people who have spent the night in his old room, 928, have had experiences; sometimes the full sports package of paranormal experiences.

While her husband slept in the bed, a wife lay in bed reading. Someone gently patted her shoulder. Thinking it was her husband, she turned to say goodnight, but was startled to see him still asleep.

Psychic Peter James decided to spend the night in Montgomery’s old room. As he stood in the hallway outside the door, he felt a lot of angry vibes coming from the room. He went to sleep in the bed around 2:00 AM.

He woke up, and felt like an unseen presence was lying on top of him, so he couldn’t move. He managed to take a deep breath, and move his arm back, lifting the weight off him. He was finally able to go back to sleep. I wonder why Peter didn’t bolt for the door, like an average person would? Perhaps, Montgomery was trying to communicate his frustration in a real way; how peace eludes him, even here.

Peter woke up a few hours later and saw a shadowy apparition of Clift Montgomery sitting in a chair in the corner of his room, just sitting there and watching Peter for about 30 minutes. Then, this entity walked toward the bathroom and disappeared.

hollywood-hotelroosevelt-hotelEntity of Marilyn Monroe – She stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel during a happy time when her modeling career was taking off. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is one of the places that she visits to try to find some peace.

She is still enjoying her old suite 1200, gladly sharing her space with the living. She still likes to take comfort in her beauty and appeal; two things the negative influences in her childhood couldn’t take from her.

Guests and staff have seen her in mirrors around the hotel. A mirror that used to be in Marilyn’s old suite 1200, is notorious for reflecting this spirit, as one employee of the hotel found out.

When this employee was dusting this mirror, which was at the time hanging in the manager’s office, she saw the reflection of a sad, blonde woman. Turning around to talk to her, the employee found no one living was there. Yet, when she looked back into the mirror, the blonde was still there. The mirror is sometimes on display in the lower elevator foyer.

hollywood-ghostsEntity of a Five year old Little Girl – Caroline

In the early morning hours, she has appeared in the main lobby area, looking like a real child. She wears jeans with a pink jacket and had her hair tied up in a pony tail. She likes to skip around the lobby, singing. Imagine the surprise when she disappeared right before the receptionist, who thought she was alive!

In 1992, psychic Peter James first encountered her in the Academy Room, where she told him her name and that she was looking for her mother. During a second investigation, Peter found her again in the Penthouse Library; crying, worried that her mother may be hurt. He comforted her, and she disappeared.

Two Male spirits in The Blossom Ballroom

A male entity, dressed in a tux, radiates anxiety in The Blossom Ballroom. He isn’t always seen, but there is a cold spot about 30 inches in diameter, which was about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the room. Psychics report that he was in attendance at one of the Academy Awards banquets and was nominated for an award. Perhaps he is trying to work through his disappointment in not winning, as he can’t let go of this world just yet.

A male entity who entertains the living in The Blossom Ballroom

Guests have heard the piano in the Blossom Room being played while strolling on the mezzanine, near the Blossom Ballroom. When they look over the balcony, they see a man wearing a white suit at the piano who disappears when noticed by the living.

Entities Enjoying Themselves

Security guards have seen what they thought was a person swimming in the pool on security cameras both very late at night, and in the wee hours of the morning, when the pool is closed for the living guests. When a guard went to get this person out of the pool, there is no one visible there.

This pool-side guard communicated on his walkie-talkie to report this, and waved his hands at the camera. However, on the security camera, the other guard saw that the other poolside guard was waving his hands through the apparition’s head. The apparition had obediently gotten out of the pool and was standing right next to the poolside guard.

Besides the Entity of Marilyn Monroe, other entities enjoy looking at themselves in the mirrors at The Roosevelt Hotel.

The Roosevelt Hotel spirit-people get their chuckles at the expense of the other guests, from time to time.

Guests have been locked out of their own rooms, when their doors were mysteriously locked from the inside.

A maid was pushed into a closet by an unseen presence.

Attempts to film the known haunted places in the hotel have been foiled by unexplainable electrical failure, etc.

Entities often stay in empty rooms.

The switchboard will get calls from empty rooms, perhaps wanting service.

Phones are lifted off their receivers in empty rooms.

Disembodied voices are heard coming from empty rooms, and the sounds of nonexistent children playing in the hallways have been reported by other guests.

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PARANORMAL FINDINGS:

From the distinct impression of his experience that he got from the spirit of Montgomery, Psychic Peter James has come to the conclusion that this restless spirit person was stuck here, unable to find the peace he was seeking here. He is still frustrated at being so close to a film come-back, actually clean and sober enough to act once again, but died from abusing drugs and alcohol.

Psychic Peter James had two personal communications with Caroline and Montgomery Clift. He also found a very cold spot near the Academy Room, that he called a “tubular shaft,” a doorway used by visiting spirit people who love The Roosevelt Hotel.

Lisa of Contact Research Investigation Specialists [CRIS] recorded an EVP in Marilyn’s old suite, “Help Me!” They conducted a paranormal investigation with Para-psychologist, Dr. Barry Taft.

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hollywood-ghost-hauntingsroosevelt-hotel

Photos © Tom Carr.

STILL HAUNTED?

Definitely so!

Other restless spirits stay for other reasons. Peter James got the distinct impression that Clift was trapped here, unable to find the peace he seeks. Caroline is on a quest to find her mother. Marilyn Monroe seeks the peace of an earlier time in her life, before she made some bad choices that eventually took her life too soon. Other former guests, like Carol Lombard enjoy their memories of staying here. Strong emotions keep other spirits here.

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