1. Dead Body in the Hotel

Hotels are common settings for urban legends because, let’s face it, they’re creepy. You’re sharing a roof with strangers from all walks of life. Who knows who these people really are or what their intentions are?

So of course, we’re going to keep hearing creepy campfire stories about serial killers roaming hotel lobbies searching for their next prey, or of bodies tucked in the hotel walls. While most are just stories, some really happened.

 

Consider this story:

Sabrina Baugh and her husband were staying at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. But something was off. The water coming out of the shower head was black. The water from the faucet tasted funny. Nonetheless, these Brits thought that’s just how things were in LA.

They kept bathing, brushing, and drinking tap water for days. Then, a maintenance worker found the body of Elisa Lam in the hotel’s rooftop water tank.

Police investigating the college student’s “suspicious” death say her naked body most likely was decomposing for at least two weeks.

Although her death was officially ruled an accidental drowning by the LA county coroner, there are several theories surrounding her death.

In a now viral video released by detectives, Lam is seen entering the hotel’s elevator before cowering in the corner. She then leaps toward the opening doors and starts flipping her head in both directions as if someone was chasing her.

The Cecil has housed two serial killers, and it has been the setting of several murders and suicides. Lam’s death partly inspired the latest season of American Horror Story.