Does Marilyn Monroe Haunt This Hollywood Hotel? We Spent an Eerie Night There to Find Out

I’ve always been a fan of old Hollywood. And I happen to have a passion for the paranormal. Lucky for me, some of the best ghost stories in LA revolve around the famous Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

For four years I have been traveling the country with two of my mom’s closest friends, sisters Liz Beedle and Emily Penke, to check out locations known to be haunted. Now known as Ghost Moms on social media, we were already on a quick trip to LA to stay at The Queen Mary in Long Beach. What’s another sleepless night in another hotel from which guests may never have checked out?

Mezzanine of the hotel.

Courtesy of Ghost Moms

Located on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (just across the street from the theater known as Grauman’s Chinese), the 12-story hotel opened its doors in May 1927 and quickly became a star hotbed, even hosting the first two Academy Awards a year later.

Entering its huge lobby feels like stepping back in time. Although the hotel has been renovated, the decor is still distinctly vintage and gives off an eerie energy. We requested room 928, which is said to be haunted by four-time Academy Award nominee Montgomery Clift, who booked the room for several months while he prepared for his role as a trumpet-playing soldier in the classic film From here to eternity.

Room 928 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Courtesy of Ghost Moms

Guests believe that the ghost of Clift, who battled his own demons including alcohol, drugs and depression and suffered a disfiguring car accident, still roams the hotel, and the sounds of trumpets have been heard echoing through the halls.

Liz actually stayed at the hotel in 2014 on a girls’ trip, happened to be in the room right next to 928. Early one morning, they all heard a loud male voice through that wall clearly saying, “Put it down! Put it down! I’m going to call the police!” They even went downstairs and spoke to the security guard who checked with the front desk, but 928 was empty.

The Blossom Ballroom where the appearance of Marilyn Monroe was seen dancing.

Courtesy of Ghost Moms

After settling into our room, we made our way to the hotel’s 60s-style Tropicana pool, which was packed on a Sunday afternoon. We looked for a second-floor suite named after Marilyn Monroe with a wrap-around balcony overlooking the pool. When her career began, the star stayed at a hotel during the 1940s and posed for her first print ad on a diving board.

We tried it: I spent the night in a real ‘haunted house’ (and yes, I think it’s haunted)

As the story goes, the hotel staff gave Monroe an ornate full-size mirror for her room. After her death, the mirror was moved to the manager’s office. One day, the housewife, who was dusting the mirror, saw the reflection of a dark blonde woman behind her. She turned to ask the lady if she could help, but no one was there.

Emily, Liz and Julie on the roof of the hotel.

Ghosts tempt

The mirror has since been moved to the hotel’s mezzanine hallway, and guests continue to report seeing a vision of Monroe standing behind them in the photographs.

We went back to our room before dinner and put out some paranormal gear. We placed a call bell on the table that rings whenever it detects a fluctuation in electromagnetic energy. We started asking questions out loud to both Clift and Monroe. And then the bell rang.

Hotel night club.

Courtesy of Ghost Moms

Even in daylight, it’s really creepy when something activates a piece of equipment for no apparent reason. We’ve definitely gotten braver the more we do this, but it’s still an unnerving feeling. It is also slightly addictive. Once something happens that you can’t explain, you really you want to experience it again.

While reading about the hotel’s haunted history, we also learned about a ghost named Caroline, who may have drowned in the pool. The young girl asked the guests if they had seen her mother or father, and she ran around the corner and disappeared.

We turned on an app that scans radio frequencies (spirits are believed to be able to speak through white noise) and tried to talk to her. I asked her if she wanted anything and we heard a clear little girl’s voice say, “talk.”

After midnight we made our way around the hotel and were met by an incredibly generous security manager who took us to areas not normally accessible to visitors, including the Blossom Ballroom, the nightclub, the Gable & Lombard Penthouse and the roof under the hotel’s iconic sign.

In the ballroom, where Monroe’s apparition was spotted dancing, we placed a double-sided motion detector in the middle of the floor. Within minutes, both sides flashed, picking up movements we couldn’t see with our own eyes.

Courtesy of Ghost Moms

It was a little before 3am when we finally got back to our room. Although there were no horn sounds, we heard male voices that didn’t seem to come from the hallway or any adjacent rooms. Calling it dinner, we decided it might be more than anything else lingering at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

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Source: HIS Education