Los Angeles' Cecil Hotel. The historic budget hotel located in Downtown LA serves as the focus of Netflix's recent documentary, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Hotel Cecil. Opened in 1924, the building served as the inspiration for one of American Horror Story's most sadistic settings: the Hotel Cortez. The horror anthology series not only touched on heinous crimes committed on the property but also theorized why the hotel attracts so much violence.
The Vanishing at the Hotel Cecil dives deep into the darkness clouding the site's history connected to rampant violence, suicides, and murder. Originally constructed to act as a destination for tourists and business travelers, the Cecil Hotel eventually became a site of crime when the area around the building increasingly declined. Aside from connections to the Black Dahlia and the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, the Hotel Cecil is the location linked to the disappearance of 21-year-old Vancouver native Elisa Lam. Her vanishing, and the hotel's haunted history, is the focus of Netflix's documentary.
As the inspiration for the setting in American Horror Story: Hotel, the Cecil Hotel's crime-ridden history was put on full display. Aside from the continuous death taking place on-site, the TV series dove deep into the presence of ghosts and malevolent spirits trapped in the building. To add more to the fictional approach surrounding the Hotel Cortez, American Horror Story explained that the building was constructed by a serial killer, James Patrick March, to hide his victims' bodies on the property. Vampires, witches, and other creatures were then added to the mix in true American Horror Story fashion. However, the series also indicated that the Hotel Cortez was a Hellmouth, a theory that could subsequently shed light on the Cecil Hotel's crime-filled history.
How The Cecil Hotel Connects To AHS's Hellmouth Theory
Hellmouths are essentially portals to Hell that act as a conduit for spirits. Those portals are thought to emerge when death and tragic events continuously plague a specific location. Spirits then become trapped on the property, charging the Hellmouth with their energy. Additionally, there's a belief that Hellmouths act as a magnet for future crime and violence. In American Horror Story: Apocalypse, Supreme witch Cordelia Goode confirmed that the Hotel Cortez was a Hellmouth, claiming she was powerless within its walls when attempting to rescue fellow witch, Queenie.
While there have been multiple Hellmouths presented in American Horror Story, the notion of their existence could hint at what's truly going on at the Cecil Hotel. Believers of spirits and portals would acknowledge the similarities of the real Downtown LA hotel and its TV counterpart. Death and crime are undoubtedly drawn to the Cecil Hotel despite attempts at rebranding and renovation. The disappearance at the center of Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Hotel Cecil took place less than a decade ago, insinuating something is still affecting visitors of the location. Could the Cecil Hotel indeed be a site of a Hellmouth, or does the 19-floor building just have a coincidental connection to death? That will ultimately be up to the viewer to decide.