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Roosevelt Hotel –
HauntedHouses.com
Haunted
Place - Roosevelt Hotel
ADDRESS:
7000 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 466-7000
Roosevelt Hotel Web
Site
MAP
DESCRIPTION and HISTORY:
This 12 story luxury hotel for the rich and
famous, the biggest and brightest stars, was financed by Douglas
Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, and had its grand opening in 1927. A
ballroom, called The Blossom Room was the location of the first and
second Academy award banquets. The hotel had everything, including
a large pool, large banquet rooms, a penthouse library, luxury
suites, and an elegant decorum. The guests walk into a two story
lobby, decorated in a rich Spanish style, featuring hand-painted
wooden beams.
In 1984, The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
underwent a 12 million dollar restoration, renovation face lift to
restore it to its "original glory."
Afterwards, ghosts started to become very
active in the grand old hotel, ready to move back in with the eager
living, who wish to experience elegance and history.
MANIFESTATIONS:
While many guests of this grand hotel are
completely unaware of the ghostly clientele, and just enjoy this
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.
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Montgomery Clift had stayed in room 928 for three months in
1952, while filming From Here to Eternity. After the hotel was
renovated, and brought up to snuff, a strong presence was felt in
and around his old room, 928.
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His ghost has come back for an extended stay. His apparition has
been seen pacing the hallway of the 9th floor. He also practices
his trumpet in the hallway. Maids have felt something cold brush by
them. Other maids have felt a presence watching them, or felt a
presence walk beside them.
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People have had unusual experiences in Clift's old room, 928.
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.
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Psychic Peter James decided to spend the night in Clift's old
room, 928. 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 AM. He woke up, feeling 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
finally was able to go back to sleep.
He woke up a few hours later and saw a
shadowy apparition of a man sitting in a chair in the corner of the
room. This male apparition was the ghost of Clift Montgomery, who
just sat there and watched James for about 30 minutes. Without
warning, Montgomery arose and walked toward the bathroom,
disappearing. James got the distinct impression that Clift was
trapped here, unable to find peace.
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Carol Lombard's apparition has been seen on the 12th floor, in a
suite where she and Clark Gable used to stay.
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A mirror that used to be in suite 1200, sometimes reflects the
image of Marilyn Monroe, as a startled employee found out. When
this employee was dusting the 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
there. Yet, when she looked back into the mirror, the blonde was
still there. This mirror is on display in the lower elevator
foyer.
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Other reflections of deceased guests have been spotted in the
mirrors hanging in the hallways.
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Two ghosts are known to haunt the Blossom Room.
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A cold spot, about 30 inches in diameter, which was about 10
degrees cooler than the rest of the room is believed to be an
academy award nominee, from long ago. Psychics have felt the
presence of a man in a tuxedo, in a state of great anxiety.
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In 1990, a couple was strolling on the mezzanine, near the
Ballroom, heard piano music, so they walked onto the balcony
overlooking the empty Blossom Room. They saw a man, wearing a white
suit, standing beside the piano. They attempted to make contact
with him, but he didn't respond. When they walked nearer, he
dissolved into the air.
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Security guards have seen ghosts take a late night, early
morning swim in the pool. One such ghostly resident decided to do
so at 3 AM in the morning, to beat the crowds. While the security
cameras picked up his image in the pool, when a security guard went
down to investigate, he communicated through walkie-talkie that no
one was there. Waving his hands at the camera. However, on the
security camera, the guard was waving his hands right through the
apparition's head!
- A little 5 year old girl, who calls herself Caroline has been
spotted singing and skipping around the fountain in the lobby, in
the early morning hours. She was wearing jeans and a pink jacket,
with her hair pulled back into a pony tail. She looked solid and
lifelike, so the receptionist thought she was a real child. Imagine
her surprise when the child suddenly disappeared before her eyes.
In 1992, psychic Peter James, while investigating the hotel, in
a series of midnight sessions was first introduced to this little
girl apparition in the Academy Room, not far away from a very cold
spot, that James describes as a "tubular shaft," a doorway used by
the spirits to enter this world. She told him that her name was
Caroline, and that she was looking for her mother. He found her
again in the penthouse library, and she was crying, worried that
her mother may be hurt. James comforted her, and she
disappeared.
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Ghosts having fun! Guests have been locked out of their own
rooms, when their doors were mysteriously locked from the inside.
The switchboard in the lobby will get calls from empty rooms.
Phones are lifted off their receivers in empty rooms. 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. Talking heard in empty rooms and the
sounds of nonexistent children playing in the hallways have been
reported by other guests.
STILL HAUNTED?
Definitely!
The restless spirits that are the ghostly
guests of the hotel, are an amiable bunch, and welcomed by the
hotel staff. As they shared the pleasures of this hotel with other
guests while they were alive, they are good sports about sharing
the hotel with the living. They are enjoying their memories of
their time spent in this great hotel.
Photos © Tom Carr.
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