9 chilling facts about the Cecil Hotel, an infamous Los Angeles landmark that inspired Netflix’s newest show

• The infamous Cecil Hotel is the focus of a new Netflix true-crime series, premiering February 10. 
• The show focuses on the disappearance of Elisa Lam, whose body was found in the hotel’s water tank.
• But numerous other deaths and tragedies have taken place at the Cecil throughout the years. 
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The Cecil Hotel is undoubtedly one of Los Angeles’ most notorious landmarks. 

Located in the heart of the city’s downtown, a few blocks away from Skid Row (a neighborhood with a large population of homeless people), the Cecil was built in the 1920s. 

Following the onset of the Great Depression a few years later, however, the hotel fell into decline. With its cheap rooms (available for daily or monthly stays) and proximity to Skid Row, the hotel earned a reputation in later years as a haven for drug addicts, sex workers, serial killers, and down-and-out people in Los Angeles. And in the years since, many untimely deaths have occurred at the hotel.

Netflix’s new series ,”Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel,” examines one of these deaths, which involved Canadian college student Elisa Lam, whose body was later found in one of the hotel’s water tanks. 

Lam’s death was heartbreaking and unusual, but she’s not the only tragedy the hotel has seen. Ahead of the show’s February 10 premiere, here are nine chilling facts about the Cecil Hotel. 

Elizabeth Short, also known as the 'Black Dahlia,' was rumored to have visited the Cecil before her grisly 1947 murder

The 22-year-old's body was found in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles several days after she went missing. 

Because of the graphic nature of the crime (Short's corpse was bisected at the waist and severely mutilated, with cuts carved into both sides of her mouth up to her ears), the murder caused a media frenzy and a nationwide search for the killer. 

After Short's death, numerous reports claiming the aspiring actress had been seen at the Cecil Hotel before her murder have proliferated.

However, these reports have been disputed by some, and Short's case remains unsolved to this day. 

Numerous people have died by suicide at the Cecil over the years

The Cecil also saw numerous suicides shortly after it was built. In 1934, an Army Sergeant died by suicide with a straight razor, and in 1937, a member of the Marine Corps leapt from the top of the building. 

During the 1950s, many died by suicide while staying at the hotel, primarily by jumping from the building's windows. 

Helen Gurnee, 50, died by suicide in that manner in 1954, followed by 50-year-old actress Julia Moore and 27-year-old Pauline Otton in 1962. Otton's suicide caused the death of 65-year-old bystander George Gianni, who was walking underneath the hotel when she jumped. 

A teenage mom murdered her baby there after an unexpected birth

Dorothy Jean Purcell was 19 when she unwittingly gave birth to a baby boy while staying at the hotel with her 38-year-old companion. 

Purcell reportedly didn't know she was pregnant, and, thinking her newborn hadn't survived the birth, threw him out of the hotel's window. She was subsequently arrested, but later admitted to a hospital for psychiatric treatment. 

An eccentric local woman was found sexually assaulted and murdered at the hotel in 1964

The murder of "Pigeon Goldie" Osgood rocked the community after she was found strangled, stabbed, and sexually assaulted in her room at the Cecil in 1964. 

Osgood was known throughout the neighborhood for feeding the pigeons at Pershing Square nearby, which is how she earned her nickname.

Her case remains unsolved. 

Richard Ramirez famously stayed at the hotel during the height of his killing spree

Over the span of several months in 1984 through 1985, Ramirez sexually assaulted and murdered dozens of people - eventually earning the moniker "The Night Stalker" as his late-night crimes terrorized much of Los Angeles. 

Before his capture and arrest in August 1985, Ramirez was staying in a room on the top floor of the Cecil for $14 a night.

After killing a victim, he reportedly returned to the hotel, tossed his bloody clothing into the dumpster behind the hotel, and made his way up to his room naked. 

Given the Cecil's colorful array of guests and residents, Ramirez's bizarre behavior largely went unnoticed. 

Another serial killer, Austrian Jack Unterweger, also frequented the Cecil

Unterweger was suspected of killing nearly a dozen women, primarily sex workers, in both Austria and the United States from 1990 to 1991.

His American killing spree reportedly began after he traveled to Los Angeles to write about sex work and crime for an Austrian magazine. 

While he was in California, three sex workers were strangled with their own bras - much like Unterweger's Austrian victims.

Unterweger himself stayed at the Cecil during his trip to Los Angeles, in what some suspect was a macabre tribute to his fellow serial killer, Ramirez. 

The native Austrian was later apprehended in Miami after fleeing law enforcement in both Europe and the United States.

In 1994, he committed suicide in an Austrian prison after being found guilty of nine murders, including the three in Los Angeles. 

Canadian student Elisa Lam's body was found in a water tank on the hotel's roof, after she'd been missing for several weeks

The 21-year-old had traveled to Los Angeles from her native British Columbia, and had stayed at the Cecil Hotel before going missing on January 31, 2013. 

Lam's disappearance sparked an investigation by law enforcement in early February 2013.

During the investigation, it came to light that Lam had been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. After not making any progress for several weeks, the Los Angeles Police Department released the now-infamous footage of Lam in the hotel's elevator, behaving erratically and eerily appearing as if she was hiding from someone. 

Lam's body was later discovered in the hotel water tank on February 19 after guests at the Cecil had complained of low water pressure and strange-tasting water.

Despite numerous theories about her disappearance and how she came to be in the tank, authorities ultimately ruled her death an accidental drowning. 

The Discovery channel show 'Ghost Adventures' recently dedicated an episode to the Cecil

Many believe that the hotel is a hotbed for paranormal activity, given the numbers of suicides, murders, and accidental deaths that have occurred there over the years.

And in a special episode that aired January 4, "Ghost Adventures" took a closer look at the Cecil's disturbing past. 

During the episode, a group of paranormal investigators - led by host Zak Bagans - explore the Cecil, including the roof where Lam's body was found, and the room where Ramirez reportedly stayed.

As they delve further into the Cecil's sordid and tragic history, the crew come to believe that the Cecil is filled with paranormal activity, leading to unusual audio and video recordings. They also investigate whether or not Ramirez, who was reportedly a Satanist, may have caused a demonic infestation at the hotel. 

The investigators ultimately conclude that dark energy of the Cecil's past has continued to spread throughout the hotel. 

The Cecil's reputation is so notorious that an entire season of 'American Horror Story' was based on the hotel's dark history

The fifth season of the hit series, which had the subtitle "Hotel," premiered in 2015 and starred Lady Gaga along with Ryan Murphy mainstays Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Evan Peters, and Angela Bassett.

It took place at the fictional Hotel Cortez, but it was apparently based on the Cecil Hotel.

While the show focuses on two bloodthirsty vampires and the demonic ghosts, who call the Cortez home, suicides, drug overdoses, and murders are also incorporated into the plot - a clear reference to the real-life tragedies at the Cecil Hotel.