'Ghost' Picture Taken at Infamous LA Hotel

Photo courtesy of ABC7 Los Angeles

The local Los Angeles station, KABC-TV 7, reported on Monday that a Riverside resident with a penchant for scary movies captured what he thinks may be a ghost at the infamous Hotel Cecil. Koston Alderete took the photo which shows a ghostly figure outside a fourth floor window. But what made him randomly take a pic of a hotel window? He claims, "When I looked at that window, it just looked kind of creepy to me, and then I showed my friend, and he kind of freaked out. It just creeps me out still."

Why is the Hotel Cecil so infamous? It has ties to some notorious crimes including the fact that "The Black Dahlia," Elizabeth Short and "The Night Stalker," Richard Ramirez once lived there for a brief time. It has been reported that Short may have been in the hotel right before her brutal murder.

Also, in the 1950s and 60s, the hotel used to draw in people who sadly were down on their luck and wanted to end their lives. The Cecil had the unfortunate reputation as a place where people would kill themselves by jumping out upper-floor windows and has earned a spot on the LA "Hotel Horrors and Main Street Vice" tour. What is the mysterious pull of the Cecil? Or is it just a coincidence?

Last year's discover of Elisa Lam, a missing tourist found dead in a rooftop water tank, has been compared to the 2005 film, "Dark Water" and has been said to read like a real-life "American Horror Story." The Black Dahlia murder was also an inspiration for the 2012 film, "The Black Dahlia Haunting." So could this photo be of one of the souls who took their lives or of one of the murder victims with tied to the hotel? There's certainly a lot of violent death surrounding the establishment. We recommended doing your own research on the Cecil and its dark, paranormally-charged past...and present.

-Larissa Mrykalo