A night with the dead celebrities in a haunted hotel

I spent a night in a renowned haunted Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel at Hollywood Boulevard last night and experienced the most irking experience of my life. First, I had a nightmare, and I could sense a strong negative emotional response from my mind. Awakened in a state of distress in the middle of night, in my hypnagogic state, I began to experience a strange sensation in my head. I sensed an evil presence; it was sitting on my chest and trying to strangulate me. Worse, I could hear some strange sounds. As I woke up in the morning, I was thinking about Marilyn Monroe. I could feel as if she was present in the mirror in front of me. Suddenly, lights went dim, and I heard faint voices of children chuckling. I got very scared, picked my hand bag and quickly left the room. As I was walking down the dark corridor, a tall man greeted me and passed by me. As I turned back in two seconds, the man had simply vanished. Did I just see an unearthly phantom? I froze, and decided to leave the Hotel immediately.

It was really early in the morning when I fled from my room. Thus the Hollywood Boulevard was literally empty. To come out of this spooky experience, I decided to spend some time in the nearby Coffee Shop. As I was drinking my coffee, I stared at the Hotel Roosevelt from outside. The hotel, indeed, looked like a Hollywood haunt.

Opened in 1927, apparently, the first Academy Award ceremony was held in this Hotel. The renowned Blossom Ballroom of this Hotel is allegedly haunted. Even today, the hotel looks much as it possibly did in the 1920s. In fact, the moment you enter the hotel, you experience an unusual uncanny feeling. Perhaps the dark corridor, old-fashioned letterbox, old staircases, and outmoded chandelier in the lobby – everything takes you back to the 20s.

History also brings many untold stories of those celebrities who possibly spent days in this Hotel and who possibly met with a tragic ending. Even though the Hotel has nothing to do with the death of these celebrities, many allege that, their spirits are still straying around the area. Even the Wikipedia indicates that the Hotel is haunted and talks about the incidences of people seeing the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. In fact, National Geographic, has also printed that Hollywood town itself is filled with celebrity ghosts, particularly mentioning about this Hotel.

I spent more than an hour in the Coffee Shop thinking deeply about what I just experienced. I was not ready to believe that I had just encountered the Hollywood ghosts. Hence I tried to figure out the answers for every ghostly experience that I faced.

First, let me start with my strange dream. Right before sleeping, I had read several articles about the Hotel being haunted. I actually fell asleep feeling scared and disturbed. Thus, in my dream, I saw myself to be disturbed, helpless and sad. Regarding the evil presence who was sitting on my chest and trying to strangulate me, I googled about this feeling, and I learnt that Science calls it the Old Hag Syndrome. As bizarre as it sounds, apparently, this experience is neither uncommon nor paranormal. It generally happens when the mind is awake but the body is still asleep. Because I was already scared that I might be haunted, I was subconsciously imagining that somebody was watching me while I was asleep. This was disturbing me, thus I felt heaviness on my chest.

In the morning, I felt the presence of Marilyn Monroe. This could be because when you walk around the Hollywood Boulevard, you see Marilyn Monroe everywhere. Be it the wax statue in front of the Madame Tussauds (which is right in front of the Hotel), any restaurant in the Boulvard or even a regular grocery store, Marilyn is everywhere. And let us be honest, we all are fascinated with her life as well as her death. And when you are in a place which is supposedly haunted by her, you have no choice, but to feel her presence.

I later found that the dimming of the light was due to the switchboard that the Hotel uses. I also found that the room next to ours had a mother and her two girls, thus I could hear children giggling. The rooms are so closely connected, you can practically hear everything. Perhaps that explains all sort of strange noises I heard in the night. And lastly, the man who vanished in the corridor. I went back to the same corridor to inspect and noticed a small left turn meant only for staffs. He possibly turned left, instead of going straight in the corridor. Thus, when I turned back, he was not there.

Did I get back to the hotel room? Not for another three hours. I was too scared to enter, thus I decided to roam around the street. Suddenly I realized that I had already pre-paid $400 for my room for two nights, and there was no way the Hotel would refund my money just because I saw some random ghosts. Thus, I decided to enjoy the room rather than indulging the stupid figment of my imagination. That is when I decided to get back to the room. After all, money is more important than ghosts. In fact, I am writing this blog in the same Hotel room, and right now, I do not feel haunted. My grandmother used to say that ghosts haunt weak minds only, and perhaps because I have now overcome my fear, I totally feel relaxed in this haunted room right now.

Whatever said and done, I will never forget this ethereal experience, and I am happy that I enjoyed the true essence of Hotel Roosevelt- a ghostly experience. I imagined, I felt, I fled, I overcame my fear and I returned. I did it all. And I think it was worthwhile.

So friends, if you want such an uncanny experience, stay in Hotel Roosevelt, read a lot of ghost stories, read about how the Hotel is haunted, stay scared, use your imagination and enjoy the ghostly ride.

Here is the scariest article about the Hotel

Have fun!