Sid Grauman did more than build his Chinese Theater. He also played a heavy hand in building the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which also premiered in 1927 and hosted the very first Academy Awards. Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford also financed the hotel, which towers 12 stories with 300 rooms. Notable guests of the past include film legends Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, as well as Marilyn Monroe (pictured) who actually lived on the property for two years and shot her first commercial there. Actor Montgomery Clift also lived at the hotel for three months, according to the Los Angeles Times, while shooting From Here to Eternity in 1953. Even in death, neither Monroe nor Clift seem able to leave the Roosevelt.

Haunted Rooms reports that Monroe’s spirit habitually haunts her old suite, #1200, and has appeared in the mirror there. As for Clift, the actor’s ghost brushes up against people, plays his trumpet, and paces the hallways like he did when rehearsing his lines. But there are more, including a five-year-child identified as “Caroline,” whom LA Curbed describes as wearing a blue dress. Carole Lombard’s ghost floats around the upper floor, while two unidentified spirits linger in the Blossom Room where the Academy Awards were held. Radisson Hotels purchased the Roosevelt in 1985, and in 1991 the hotel was added to LA’s Historic-Cultural Monument list.

Interestingly, the scene of one of Hollywood’s first murders had nothing to do with the movies. But there is plenty of mystery about the unsolved deaths of Ned Doheny and his secretary, Hugh Plunkett. The story, according to Little Things, goes that Doheny and his wife Lucy moved into Greystone Mansion in nearby Beverly Hills in 1928. All was well until February 1929 when Plunkett showed up in the dead of night, met up with his employer in a locked guestroom, and allegedly shot Doheny dead. Lucy called the family doctor. By the time the police were summoned hours later, Plunkett had shot himself too, but there was much confusion around the scene. The bodies, for instance, had been moved.

For over a year, the media followed the case. The authorities theorized that it was a case of murder-suicide, Patch reports, but there are some intriguing tidbits involving the deaths. According to the Indianapolis Times which covered the investigation, there was a scandal involving the dead men dating back to 1921. And, the press pretty much glossed over the alleged murder-suicide and other strange details according to Findagrave. The mystery remains unsolved. Only the ghosts of a man in a black suit, Lucy Doheny, and of course, Ned and his secretary, who have been seen roaming the halls at the historic mansion, know the truth.

Oooh, let’s talk about Alexander Pantages, the poor Greek boy who worked his way up to a millionaire playboy and whose dalliances included the famed actress Klondike Kate. Pantages’s wealth stemmed from the money he made in the Yukon Gold Rush and invested heavily in western theaters. These included the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, which opened in 1930. Just a year before, Pantages’s wife caused a car accident that left a man dead, and he was charged with the rape of a seventeen-year-old dancer. Pantages served time for that but was able to open his famous theater —only to lose it in 1932, according to Home Advisor. 

The same year Pantages lost his theater, a female patron allegedly died in the mezzanine during a performance, per Britannica, which theorizes the woman was an “aspiring singer.” Her singing has actually been heard when the theater is empty and even recorded during live performances. Then there is Howard Hughes, who bought the Pantages in 1949 and whose ghost still opens desk drawers and occasionally appears to visitors. Totally LA claims the millionaire’s ghost sightings began following a 1990 break-in. And although he hated cigarette smoke, the odor is often smelled just before Hughes appears. There is another ghost too: that of Alexander Pantages himself, who died in his sleep in 1936.

This little-known landmark is not so much haunted as it is haunting. And it’s still worth a look to see if any ghosts show up. Most shocking is its purpose: a secret ranch was constructed outside of Hollywood by Hitler fanatics just for the Nazi leader. Smithsonian Magazine says that upon becoming chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hitler’s henchmen sought to infiltrate Los Angeles and start doing away with Jews. Enter the “Silver Shirts,” a fan club headed by Winona and Norman Stephens. According to Time magazine, the couple purchased 50 acres near today’s Will Rogers State Historic Park and began constructing elaborate buildings for the ranch in hopes of making it one of Hitler’s headquarters.

According to LA Curbed, the plans included a palatial four-story mansion, spring-fed water, a power station, expansive gardens, and even a pool. But Hitler never visited the ranch and the project never came to full fruition. The place was abandoned sometime after 1948, at which time the Stephens were still relegated to living above a garage and threw in the towel. Gizmodo confirms that some structures were slated to be torn down, which they were in 2016. But enough graffiti-covered ruins remain yet to make the hike to see them worthwhile, and not surprisingly, the place exudes creepiness.

The first Ciro’s, according to Playground to the Stars, opened in 1934 on Hollywood Boulevard but failed. In 1940, Billy Wilkerson opened a new, successful Ciro’s on Sunset Boulevard which soon became one of the hottest dance clubs in town with such guests as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (pictured). But another owner, Herman Hover, lost the business in 1957. After serving as a rock club for a decade or so, the Comedy Store opened for business in 1972 and hosted such greats as Johnny Carson and Richard Pryor. Although none of the building’s ghosts are identifiable, plenty of spirits wander around the place today.

Britannica cites such instances as the sound of a piano and other prankish phenomena on the second floor. Candles blow out on their own and chairs slide across the stage by themselves and were once found piled on the stage just seconds after security guard Blake Clark passed by. Clark, who has seen a ghost or two, also said that once, as Sam Kinison rehearsed on stage, a buzz of voices began chanting “It’s him. It’s him. It’s him,” according to Haunted World. The website also theorizes that most of the spirits hail from the 1940s and ’50s when Hover’s guest list included members of the mob. Gangster Mickey Cohen and others purportedly tortured and killed men down in the basement, which is described as being haunted by “an evil entity.” Wear your Kevlar.