Bird Cage Theater

 

The Bird Cage Theatre was a theater in Tombstone, Arizona, United States. It operated intermittently from December 1881 to 1894. When the silver mines closed, the theatre was also closed in 1892. It was leased as a coffee shop starting in 1934.

History

The Bird Cage Theatre opened on December 26, 1881. Lottie and William "Billy" Hutchinson owned it. Hutchison, a variety performer, originally intended to present respectable family shows, like those he had seen in San Francisco, that drew large crowds. After the Theatre opened, they hosted a Ladies Night for the respectable women of Tombstone, who could attend for free. But the economics of Tombstone did not support their aspirations. They soon canceled the Ladies Night and began offering baser entertainment that appealed to the rough mining crowd.

The walls of the Bird Cage were riddled with gunshot holes from shooting by gunfighters of the American frontier. There were 12 balcony boxes where prostitutes worked.

Entertainment

One of the first acts at the Bird Cage was Mademoiselle De Granville (Alma Hayes), also known as the "Female Hercules" and "the woman with the iron jaw". She performed feats of strength, specializing in picking up heavy objects with her teeth. Other acts included the Irish comic duo Burns and Trayers (John H. Burns and Matthew Trayers); comic singer Irene Baker; Carrie Delmar, a serious opera singer; and comedian Nola Forest. Entertainment included masquerade balls featuring cross-dressing entertainers, like comedians David Waters and Will Curlew. Miners could drink and dance all night if they chose.

One of the prime entertainments at the Bird Cage theatre was Cornish wrestling competitions, with the results being regularly published in the UK.

Stage magic shows were also popular at the Bird Cage, with one magician saying he could catch bullets with his teeth and barely escaping with his life when someone who was not part of the show challenged him.

Closing

In March 1882, miners in the Grand Central Mine hit water at 620 feet (190 m). The flow wasn't at first large enough to stop work, but constant pumping with a 4-inch (100 mm) pump was soon insufficient. The silver ore deposits they sought were soon underwater. Hutchinson sold the Bird Cage to Hugh McCrum and John Stroufe. Bignon had managed the Theatre Comique in San Francisco and performed as a blackface minstrel and clog dancer. He refurbished the building and renamed it the Elite Theatre. He hired new acts. Bignon's wife, known as "Big Minnie", was 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 230 pounds (100 kg). She wore pink tights and sang, danced, and played the piano.

The large Cornish engines brought in by the mine owners kept the water pumped out of the mines for a few more years, but on May 26, 1886, the Grand Central Mine hoist and pumping plant burned. When the price of silver slid to 90 cents an ounce a few months later, the remaining mines laid off workers. Many residents of Tombstone left. The Bird Cage Theatre closed in 1892.

Haunting

The theater is reported to be haunted. It was featured in the paranormal investigation show Ghost Hunters in 2006. It was also featured in the Discovery Channel show Ghost Adventures on two separate investigations, once in 2009 and again in 2015.

In popular culture

The theatre is featured in the movie Tombstone, a 1993 American Western film, about the lives of Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday.

References

Tombstone Chamber of Commerce. "Bird Cage Theatre".

Agnew, Jeremy (2011). Entertainment in the Old West: Theater, Music, Circuses, Medicine Shows, Prizefighting and Other Popular Amusements. McFarland. pp. 113, 115. ISBN 978-0786486458. Retrieved May 28, 2015.

The gunfighters (2004). London: Time-Life. p. 23.

Jerry prepares for a return to Tombstone, West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, 10 June 1999, p. 30.

Desert Author (September 30, 2008). "Reverend Endicott Peabody: Tombstone's Quiet Hero". Retrieved May 22, 2011.

Ghost Hunters, Season 3, Episode 1, "Tombstone". Syfy. Retrieved March 14, 2013.

Richard Harrington (December 12, 1993). "'Tombstone' (R)". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2011.

Hoyle, Ben (January 21, 2017). "Tombstone still walking on the wild side after 136 years". The Times. Retrieved June 27, 2022.

External links

Wikivoyage logo

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Tombstone.

Official website

Bird Cage Theatre at Ghost Compendium

Catacombs of Paris

 

The Catacombs of Paris (French: Catacombes de Paris, pronunciation) are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people. Built to consolidate Paris's ancient stone quarries, they extend south from the Barrière d'Enfer ("Gate of Hell"), a former city gate. The ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the effects of the city's overflowing cemeteries. Preparation work began shortly after a 1774 series of basement wall collapses around the Holy Innocents' Cemetery added a sense of urgency to the cemetery-eliminating measure, and from 1788, nightly processions of covered wagons transferred remains from most of Paris's cemeteries to a mine shaft opened near the Rue de la Tombe-Issoire [fr].

The ossuary remained largely forgotten until it became a novelty-place for concerts and other private events in the early 19th century; after further renovations and the construction of access points around Place Denfert-Rochereau, it was opened to public visitation from 1874. Since 2013, the Catacombs have numbered among the fourteen City of Paris Museums managed by Paris Musées. Although the ossuary comprises only a small section of the underground mines of Paris, Parisians often refer to the entire tunnel network as the catacombs.

History

Paris's newest burial grounds were on the southern outskirts of the Roman-era Left Bank city. In ruins after the Western Roman Empire's 5th-century end and the ensuing Frankish invasions, this settlement was eventually abandoned for the marshy Right Bank: from the 4th century, the first known settlement there was on higher ground around a Saint-Étienne church and burial ground (behind the present Hôtel de Ville), and urban expansion on the Right Bank began in earnest after other ecclesiastical landowners filled in the marshlands from the late 10th century. Thus, instead of burying its dead away from inhabited areas as usual, the Paris Right Bank settlement began with cemeteries near its centre.

The most central of these cemeteries, a burial ground around the 5th-century Notre-Dame-des-Bois church, became the property of the Saint-Opportune parish after the original church was demolished by the 9th-century Norman invasions. When it became its own parish associated with the church of the "Saints Innocents" from 1130, this burial ground, filling the land between the present rue Saint-Denis, rue de la Ferronnerie, rue de la Lingerie and the rue Berger, had become the city's principal cemetery. By the end of the same century, Saints Innocents was neighbour to the principal Parisian marketplace Les Halles, and already filled to overflowing. To make room for more burials, the long-dead were exhumed and their bones packed into the roofs and walls of "charnier" galleries built inside the cemetery walls. By the end of the 18th century, the central burial ground was a two-metre-high (6.6-foot) mound of earth filled with centuries of Parisian dead, plus the remains from the Hôtel-Dieu hospital and the Morgue; other Parisian parishes had their own burial grounds, but the conditions in Saints Innocents were the worst.

A series of ineffective decrees limiting the use of the cemetery did little to remedy the situation, and it was not until the late 18th century that it was decided to create three new large-scale suburban burial grounds on the outskirts of the city, and to condemn all existing parish cemeteries within city limits.

Future ossuary: Paris's former mines

Much of the Left Bank area rests upon rich Lutetian limestone deposits. This stone built much of the city, but it was extracted in suburban locations away from any habitation. Because of the post 12th-century haphazard mining technique of digging wells down to the deposit and extracting it horizontally until depletion, many of these (often illicit) mines were uncharted, and when depleted, often abandoned and forgotten. Paris had annexed its suburbs many times over the centuries, and by the 18th century many of its arrondissements (administrative districts) were or included previously mined territories.

The undermined state of the Left Bank was known to architects as early as the 17th-century construction of the Val-de-Grâce hospital (most of its building expenses were due to its foundations), but a series of mine cave-ins beginning in 1774 with the collapse of a house along the "rue d'Enfer" (near today's crossing of the Avenue Denfert-Rochereau and the boulevard Saint-Michel) caused King Louis XVI to name a commission to investigate the state of the Parisian underground. This resulted in the creation of the inspection Générale des Carrières (General Inspection of Mines) service.

Ossuary creation

The need to eliminate Les Innocents gained urgency from May 31, 1780, when a basement wall in a property adjoining the cemetery collapsed under the weight of the mass grave behind it. The cemetery was closed to the public, and all intra muros (Latin: "within the [city] walls") burials were forbidden after 1780. The problem of what to do with the remains crowding intra muros cemeteries was still unresolved.

Mine consolidations were still occurring, and the underground around the site of the 1777 collapse[9] that had initiated the project had already become a series of stone and masonry inspection passageways that reinforced the streets above. The mine renovation and cemetery closures were both issues within the jurisdiction of the Police Prefect, Police Lieutenant-General Alexandre Lenoir, who had been directly involved in the creation of a mine inspection service. Lenoir endorsed the idea of moving Parisian dead to the subterranean passageways that were renovated in 1782. After deciding to further renovate the "Tombe-Issoire" passageways for their future role as an underground sepulchre, the idea became law in late 1785.

A well within a walled property above one of the principal subterranean passageways was dug to receive Les Innocents' unearthed remains, and the property itself was transformed into a sort of museum for all the headstones, sculptures and other artifacts recovered from the former cemetery. Beginning with an opening ceremony on 7 April the same year, the route between Les Innocents and the "Clos de la Tombe-Issoire" became a nightly procession of black cloth-covered wagons carrying the millions of Parisian dead. It would take two years to empty the majority of Paris's cemeteries.

Cemeteries whose remains were moved to the Catacombs include Saints-Innocents (the largest by far, with about 2 million buried over 600 years of operation), Saint-Étienne-des-Grès (one of the oldest), Madeleine Cemetery, Errancis Cemetery (used for the victims of the French Revolution), and Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux. In this way, the skeletal remains of several notable victims of the French Revolution were transferred to the Catacombs, including (the date is the date of death):

Charlotte Corday (18 July 1793)

22 Girondists (31 October 1793); among them Jacques Pierre Brissot and Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (6 November 1793), father of king Louis Philippe I

Madame Roland (8 November 1793)

Madame du Barry (8 December 1793)

Jacques Hébert (24 March 1794)

Georges Jacques Danton (April 5, 1794)

Camille Desmoulins (April 5, 1794)

Philippe Fabre d'Églantine (April 5, 1794)

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles (April 5, 1794)

Lucile Duplessis (April 13, 1794), widow of Camille Desmoulins

Marie Marguerite Françoise Hébert (April 13, 1794), widow of Jacques Hébert

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (May 8, 1794)

Madame Élisabeth (May 10, 1794), sister of kings Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X

François Hanriot (July 28, 1794)

Maximilien Robespierre (July 28, 1794)

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (July 28, 1794)

Georges Couthon (July 28, 1794)

Antoine Simon (July 28, 1794)

Renovation and ossuary decor

Wall made of bones

Catacombs in their first years were a disorganized bone repository, but Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, director of the Paris Mine Inspection Service (Inspection générale des carrières) from 1810, had renovations done that would transform the caverns into a visitable mausoleum. In addition to directing the stacking of skulls, femurs, and tibias into the patterns seen in the catacombs today, he used the cemetery decorations he could find (formerly stored on the Tombe-Issoire property; many had disappeared after the 1789 Revolution) to complement the walls of bones. A room dedicated to the display of the various minerals found under Paris was also created, in addition to another showing various skeletal deformities found during the catacombs' creation and renovation. He also added monumental tablets and archways bearing ominous warning inscriptions, and added stone tablets bearing descriptions or other comments about the nature of the ossuary, and to ensure the safety of eventual visitors, it was walled off from the rest of Paris's Left Bank's already-extensive tunnel network.

Modern

During World War II, Parisian members of the French Resistance used the tunnel system and established the headquarters from where Colonel Rol-Tanguy led the insurrection for the liberation of Paris in June 1944. The Wehrmacht established an underground bunker below Lycée Montaigne, a high school in the 6th arrondissement.

In 2004, police discovered a fully equipped movie theater in an area of the catacombs underneath the Trocadéro. It was equipped with a giant cinema screen, seats for the audience, projection equipment, film reels of recent thrillers and film noir classics, a fully stocked bar, and a complete restaurant with tables and chairs. The group les UX took responsibility for the installation.

The film As Above, So Below, released in 2014, was the first production that secured permission from the French government to film in the catacombs. They aimed to make no alterations to the environment with the exception of a piano and a car, which were hauled into the catacombs and set on fire.

In 2015, Airbnb paid €350,000 as part of a publicity stunt offering customers the chance to stay overnight in the Catacombs.

In August 2017, thieves broke into a cellar from the catacombs and stole more than €250,000 of wine.

In 2025, American desert rock band Queens of the Stone Age released an acoustic live performance entitled Alive in the Catacombs, recorded in 2024 while on the European leg of The End Is Nero World Tour. On the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, frontman Joshua Homme described how it took 18 years to secure permission to record in the catacombs. In 2026, architects, designers, technicians and masons undertook renovations, installing new lighting and ventilation systems, restoring the bone walls and preparing new audio guides. Some previously restricted sections were also made visible to visitors.

Deaths

Only one death has officially been confirmed in the Catacombs. In 1793, Philibert Aspairt, a doorkeeper for the Val-de-Grâce hospital, died in the catacombs. It is thought that he lost his light source and was left to die in the darkness. In 1804, 11 years later, his body was found, only a few meters from a staircase that led to an exit. He was only identified by his hospital key ring and the buttons on his jacket.

Visits

Entrance to the Catacombs

As one visits the catacombs, a sign above reads Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la Mort ("Stop! The empire of Death lies here"). The Catacombs of Paris became a curiosity for more privileged Parisians from their creation, with an early visitor being the Count of Artois (later Charles X of France) in 1787. Public visits began after its renovation into a proper ossuary and the 1814–1815 War. Initially, visitors were allowed only a few times a year with the permission of an authorized mines inspector, but later more frequently and permitted by any mine overseer. A flow of visitors degraded the ossuary to a point where the permission-only rule was restored from 1830, and the catacombs were closed completely from 1833 because of church opposition to exposing human remains to public display.

The catacombs were open again for four visits a year from 1850, and public demand caused the government to allow monthly visits from 1867, bi-weekly visits on the first and third Saturday of each month from 1874 (with an extra opening for the November 1 Toussaint holiday), and weekly visits during the 1878, 1889 (the most visitors yet that year), and 1900 World's Fair Expositions. Later, they opened for regular daily visits.

After an incident of vandalism, the catacombs were closed to the public during September 2009 and reopened on 19 December of the same year.

Disruption of surface structures

Because the catacombs are directly under the Paris streets, large foundations cannot be built above them, and cave-ins have destroyed buildings. For this reason, there are few tall buildings in this area.

References

Admin a écrit le (2019-02-18). "La fréquentation des musées et lieux de patrimoine en France, en 2018 (18/02/2019)". Club Innovation & Culture CLIC France (in French). Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2019-06-12.

"Catacombs A Timeless Journey". Les Catacombes de Paris [Catacombs of Paris]. Archived from the original on 2015-02-08. Retrieved 2015-01-05.

Willsher, Kim (19 October 2024). "'Bodies were dropped down quarry shafts': secrets of millions buried in Paris catacombs come to light". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2024.

"Les Catacombes de Paris". Unveiling the Hidden Secrets of Les Catacombes de Paris.

"The Catacombs of Paris: Underneath the city of light lies a chamber of darkness and death - CityMetric". www.citymetric.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-24. Retrieved 2018-08-24.

Geiling, Natasha. "Beneath Paris' City Streets, There's an Empire of Death Waiting for Tourists". Archived from the original on 2018-08-24. Retrieved 2018-08-24.

"Weird Wednesday: The mines of Paris". Archived from the original on 2020-07-29.

"intra muros". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-06. Retrieved 2015-01-06.

(in French) « Par commission du 27 avril 1777, M. Guillaumot, architecte du Roi, fut nommé au poste de contrôleur et inspecteur général en chef des Carrières. Signe du destin, une nouvelle maison s'effondra le jour même dans les carrières de la rue d'Enfer ! » Histoire de l'IGC Archived 2018-10-05 at the Wayback Machine.

"Paris Catacombs Visitor Information". Archived from the original on 2012-08-06. Retrieved 2011-02-25.

Dark Historical Sites: Image. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 4 October 2023.

"Plunge into the heart of the Catacombes de Paris - Paris tourist office". Archived from the original on 2015-08-27. Retrieved 2015-12-07.

Beyern, B., Guide des tombes d'hommes célèbres, Le Cherche Midi, 2008, 377 p. ISBN 978-2749113500

"The Catacombs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-09-22. Retrieved 2018-08-24.

Meltzer, Hannah (2016-12-10). "Hidden villages, spooky tunnels and clever monkeys: 10 things you didn't know about Paris". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2023-03-28.

"Catacombs of Paris – Fascinating and Scary at the Same Time". DocumentaryTube. 2021-06-29. Retrieved 2023-03-28.

"La Mexicaine De Perforation". Urban-Resources. 2004. Archived from the original on June 10, 2005. Retrieved August 23, 2004.

"Filming in the Paris Catacombs for As Above, So Below". Motion Picture Association. August 13, 2014. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2023.

"Paris catacombs: Airbnb stay in 'world's largest grave'". BBC News. October 15, 2015. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.

"Thieves bore into cellar from Paris catacombs to steal €250,000 of wine". The Guardian. August 30, 2017. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.

"Queens of the Stone Age - 'Alive In The Catacombs'". Matador Records. 2025-05-13. Retrieved 2026-05-14.

McDonald, Brendan (2025-06-05). "Episode 1649 - Josh Homme". WTF with Marc Maron Podcast. Retrieved 2026-05-14.

Castelain, Ana (2026-04-07). "Can a Renovation Breathe New Life Into Paris's Home for the Dead?" The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-08-16.

"Grave of Philibert Aspairt". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2024-03-25.

References to the entryway sign:

BBC (2011). Revolutionary Paris: filthy cities. Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Film). Event occurs at 39:47. OCLC 835887472 – via Films On Demand.

Steves, Rick (2004). Rick Steves' Europe: Highlights of Paris—Eiffel and Monet to crème brulée. Back Door Productions. Event occurs at 17:57. ISBN 1598800671. OCLC 122353902 – via Films On Demand.

"Paris catacombs Vandalized, closed for repair". www.gadling.com. 2009-09-22. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2011-02-09.

Michaels, Sean (21 April 2011). "Unlocking the Mystery of Paris' Most Secret Underground Society (combined)". Archived from the original on 2018-08-25. Retrieved 2018-08-24.

Further reading

Quigley, Christine (2001) Skulls and skeletons: human bone collections and accumulations. McFarland, Jefferson, NC, US. pp. 22–29

Riordan, Rick (2008) The 39 Clues Book 1: The Maze of Bones. Scholastic Inc. pp. 169–176

External links

Wikimedia Commons logo

Wikimedia Commons has media related to the Catacombs of Paris.

Official website

Paris Musées

Google Street View navigation of the Catacombs

Marie Leveau's Cottage

 

Laveau's historic cottage once stood at 1020–1022 St. Ann Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.

History of the Cottage

Original Location: 1020–1022 St. Ann St., New Orleans, LA 70116

Significance: The original Creole cottage on this site was home to Marie Laveau's grandmother, Catherine Henry, and her mother, Marguerite Darcantel.

Marie Laveau grew up there, raised her own children and family between 1839 and 1895, and used the space as a sanctuary to help those in need, including orphans and local vendors.

Current Status: The original structure was demolished in 1903, and a later cottage was constructed on the property around 1905.

Today, the site is a private residence with a commemorative plaque detailing its history, though visitors frequently stop by to leave offerings and pay respects to the Voodoo Queen.

Related Locations to Visit

Original Spot / Voodoo Studio: Located at 1022 St Ann St., where historical tours and ongoing local legacy work take place nearby.

Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo: Located at 628 Bourbon St., New Orleans, LA 70130, a popular gift shop and spiritual space featuring an altar dedicated to Marie Laveau, books, talismans, and psychic readings.

Cecil Hotel

 

The Cecil Hotel is an affordable housing complex in Downtown Los Angeles. It opened on December 20, 1924, as a hotel, but declined during the Great Depression and subsequent decades. In 2011, the hotel was renamed the Stay On Main. The 14-floor hotel has 700 guest rooms and a checkered history, with many suicides and accidental or unnatural deaths occurring there. Renovations started in 2017 were halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the hotel's temporary closure. On December 13, 2021, the Cecil Hotel was reinaugurated as an affordable housing complex.

A 2023 Los Angeles Times article described and photographed the run-down conditions inside the Cecil Hotel, which included black mold and vermin infestations, water leakages, graffiti, vandalism, and unsanitary communal amenities. Many of its low-income residents, including former Skid Row homeless persons, require ongoing medical, mental health and substance abuse treatment.

In 2024, the owners of the Hotel Cecil, Simon Baron Properties, listed the property for sale.

History

The Cecil was built in 1924 by three hoteliers—William Banks Hanner, Charles L. Dix and Robert H. Schops—as a destination for business travelers and tourists. Designed by Loy Lester Smith in the Beaux Arts (or Art déco) style and constructed by W. W. Paden; the hotel cost $1.5 million to complete and boasted an opulent marble lobby with stained-glass windows, potted palms, and alabaster statuary. The three hoteliers invested about $2.5 million in the enterprise, with the knowledge that several similar hotels had been established elsewhere downtown, but within five years of its opening, the United States sank into the Great Depression. Although the hotel flourished as a fashionable destination throughout the 1940s, the decades beyond saw the hotel decline, as the nearby area known as Skid Row became increasingly populated with transients. As many as 10,000 homeless people lived within a four-mile (6 km) radius.

In 1987, the Cecil Hotel featured prominently in the recordings of U2's music video "Where The Streets Have No Name", with many of the building's historical features visible.

In 2008, a portion of the hotel was refurbished after new owners took over from there.

In 2011, part of the Cecil Hotel was rebranded as "Stay on Main", with separate reception areas during the day, but with shared facilities and its official website remained thececilhotel.com.

In 2014, the hotel was sold to New York City hotelier Richard Born for $30 million, after which another New York-based firm, Simon Baron Development, acquired a 99-year ground lease on the property. In 2016, Matt Baron, president of Simon Baron, said he was committed to the preservation of architecturally or historically significant components of the building, such as the hotel's grand lobby, but his company planned to completely redevelop the interior and fix the "hodgepodge" work that had been done in more recent years. The hotel closed in 2017 for the renovation, but the work was suspended indefinitely when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

In February 2017, the Los Angeles City Council voted to deem the Cecil a Historic-Cultural Monument, because it is representative of an early 20th-century American hotel and because of the historic significance of its architect's body of work.

On December 13, 2021, the Cecil Hotel reopened as an affordable housing complex operated by the Skid Row Housing Trust. The facility will provide affordable living accommodations for 600 low-income residents.

In April 2022, the historic Cecil Hotel room rate advertisement painted on its southern façade was illegally white-washed. Although it is unclear whether the owners, the lessees, or the sub-lessees were responsible for the removal of the protected landmark's signage, it was likely removed to make way for a new mural or billboard. It was reported that artist Matthew Garcia was commissioned to paint a mural on the building. Additionally, an artist's rendering of billboards designed by Found Design for Simon Baron Development and organized by media developer Kevani, in which the project is entitled "The Frames," has been in circulation. Kevani's website indicates that the billboards are "coming soon." The original advertisement had been on the building since at least 1927. It originally read "HOTEL CECIL LOW MONTHLY WEEKLY RATES 700 ROOMS" with monthly later changed to daily. The remains of the first letters can still be seen and this is why the current word "daily" is aligned on the right side unlike the other rows.

Reputation for violence, suicide, and murder

In 1931 a guest, W. K. Norton, died in his room after taking poison capsules. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, more suicides at the Cecil occurred. In 2008, two long-time residents referred to the Cecil as "The Suicide", and it became a popular nickname in social media years later.

Cecil became a notorious rendezvous spot for adulterous couples, drug activity, and a common ground for prostitutes.

In 1964, a retired telephone operator named "Pigeon Goldie" Osgood who had been a well-known and well-liked long-term resident at the hotel was found dead in her room. She had been raped, stabbed, beaten and her room ransacked. Jacques B. Ehlinger was charged with Osgood's murder because he was seen covered in blood roaming the streets close to the hotel, but was later cleared as a suspect. Her murder remains unsolved.

In the 1980s, the hotel was the temporary residence of serial killer Richard Ramirez, nicknamed the "Night Stalker". Ramirez was a regular presence in the Skid Row area. According to a hotel clerk who had known him, Ramirez stayed at the Cecil for a few weeks. According to KPCC, he reportedly committed fourteen murders while resident there. On August 30, 1985, a group of Los Angeles residents spotted him in the street and prevented him from escaping until police arrived to arrest him. In 1989, Ramirez was convicted of 13 murders and sentenced to death, although he would ultimately die of cancer in 2013. Another serial killer, Austrian Jack Unterweger, stayed at the Cecil in 1991, possibly because he sought to copy Ramirez's crimes. While there, he strangled and killed at least three prostitutes, crimes he was convicted of in Austria.

In 2013, the Cecil (by then re-branded as the "Stay on Main" although still maintaining the original Hotel Cecil signs and painted advertisements on its exterior) became the focus of renewed attention when surveillance footage of a young Canadian student, Elisa Lam, behaving erratically in the hotel's elevator, was disseminated widely in international media. The video depicts Lam repeatedly pressing the elevator's buttons, walking in and out of the elevator and possibly attempting to hide from someone. It was recorded shortly before her disappearance. After 19 days, her naked body was discovered in a water supply cistern on the hotel roof, following complaints from guests of odd-tasting water and low pressure. How she got into the water tank long remained a mystery. The floor Lam stayed on was one of the floors that did not have security footage, which left uncertainty as to whether her death was a homicide until Lam’s sister had revealed to detectives that Lam had a history of not taking her medication. Among her possessions left at the hotel were several prescription medications, seemingly untouched. Lam had previously been diagnosed with an extreme form of bipolar disorder and was known for displaying similar psychotic behavior in the past, also claimed by her friends to act strange at times when her medications were not taken. Police ruled that her erratic behavior on the elevator was caused by a paranoid hallucination, as she had climbed into the tank herself, believing that she was in danger. Police then speculate that perhaps when she entered the tank, the water level was high enough that she could have gotten herself out; but as guests and residents used the tap water, the level could have decreased leaving her trapped in the tank, without a way to get herself out. They also speculate she undressed while in the tank, attempting to remove the clothing weighing her down. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled her death accidental due to drowning, with bipolar disorder being a significant factor.

References

Whitcomb, Dan (February 20, 2013). "Body found in LA hotel water tank may be missing Canadian tourist". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on February 22, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2013.

"Hotel Cecil could finally reopen in late 2021". Curbed Los Angeles. September 3, 2019. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2020.

"It takes a village to house the homeless. Residents say the Cecil Hotel is failing to provide". Los Angeles Times. August 24, 2023.

"Once a den of prostitution and drugs, the Cecil Hotel in downtown L.A. is set to undergo a $100-million renovation". Los Angeles Times. June 1, 2016. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved October 20, 2017.

Dean Boerner (September 4, 2019). "Smaller Apartments Are Doing Big Things For Developers NationalMultifamily September 4, 2019". Bisnow. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2019. The Cecil, also known as The Stay on Main, sits just off Seventh and Main streets. Built in 1924, it holds 299 hotel rooms and 301 single-room occupancy residences.

"L.A.'s infamous Cecil Hotel up for sale after transformation to house homeless people". Los Angeles Times. March 9, 2024. Retrieved April 10, 2024.

Rowan Kelleher, Suzanne (February 28, 2021). "What Netflix Fans Need To Know About The Cecil Hotel's Rumored Reopening". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 4, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.

Donahue, Sarah (April 3, 2021). "No opening date in sight for the Cecil Hotel". Downtown Los Angeles. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.

"The Cecil Hotel Featured in Creepy Netflix Doc Will Reopen As Affordable Housing". Los Angeles Magazine. City News Service. December 13, 2021. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.

"It takes a village to house the homeless. Residents say the Cecil Hotel is failing to provide". Los Angeles Times. August 24, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2024.

Hourie, Ilya; Bautista, Christian (March 5, 2024). "LA's Infamous Cecil Hotel Goes Up for Sale". The Real Deal. Retrieved April 10, 2024.

"Clipped From The Los Angeles Times". The Los Angeles Times. December 20, 1924. p. 4. Archived from the original on April 1, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2021.

Keeler's Hotel Weekly, Vol. XVIII, No. 6, February 7, 1925.

"Historic 'colonial' Art Deco style Cecil Hotel runned[sic] by Sofitel". agefotostock.

"A Los Angeles-i halálhotel sztorija ennél jobb feldolgozást érdemelt volna". telex. February 12, 2021.

Keeler's Hotel Weekly, or Vol. XVIII, No. 6, February 7, 1925, page 7.

Condé Nast Traveler article (14 December 2012)

Eakin, Marah (March 27, 2022). "U2 Took Over Downtown L.A. for 'Where The Streets Have No Name'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved January 26, 2025.

Wallace-King, Donna (October 29, 2014). "True tales of terror to keep you up at night". KSLA News. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.

Finch, Jenna (April 22, 2020). "The Deadliest LA Hotel: What They Didn't Tell Me About Stay on Main". Travel Dudes. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021.

"The 'American Horror Story Hotel' exists in real life, here's where to find it". Fox News. January 15, 2016. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.

Rylah, Juliet Bennett (May 31, 2016). "Article". LAist.

Ocampo, Joshua (February 13, 2021). "Here's What We Know About the Dark Past of the Cecil Hotel". www.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.

Barragan, Bianca (September 3, 2019). "Downtown LA's creepy Hotel Cecil set to finally reopen in 2021". Curbed LA. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2020.

"Downtown LA's notorious Hotel Cecil named historic-cultural monument". MyNewsLA.com. February 28, 2017. Archived from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.

"Cecil Hotel's Historic Room Rate Sign Gets White-Washed, Angering Preservationists". L.A. TACO. April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.

"LA Conservationists are Mad as Hell - Muralist Commissioned to Repaint the Historic Cecil Hotel - Speaks! | Downtown Los Angeles Weekly | the Spirit of DTLA". dtlaweekly.com. April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.

"Digital Billboards - Los Angeles, CA". Kevani. Retrieved April 24, 2022.

"Billboards Los Angeles, CA". BULLETIN. Retrieved January 9, 2023.

Meares, Hadley (September 29, 2015). "'The Suicide': The Hotel Cecil and the Mean Streets of L.A.'s Notorious Skid Row". KCET. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.

Bloomekatz, Ari B. (January 25, 2008). "Change checks into skid row hotel". The Los Angeles Times. p. A-16.

"Bird Lover Slain, but Friends Remember". Los Angeles Times. June 6, 1964. p. 15. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.

Duke, Alan (February 23, 2013). "Hotel with corpse in water tank has notorious past". CNN. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.

"L.A. Hotel Where Body Was Found In Water Tank Has 'Long, Dark History'". NPR. February 21, 2013. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.

"Night Stalker Richard Ramirez and the Cecil Hotel: Here's Everything You Need to Know". MovieMaker Magazine. February 17, 2021. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.

"The Real-Life Inspirations Behind American Horror Story: Hotel". Patriot Ledger. October 20, 2015. Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2019.

Swann, Jennifer (October 27, 2015). "Elisa Lam Drowned in a Water Tank Three Years Ago, but the Obsession with Her Death Lives On". Vice. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021.

"The True Story of What Happened to Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel". MSN. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2021.

Mikkelson, David (August 14, 2016). "The Strange Death of Elisa Lam". Snopes. Archived from the original on April 1, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021.

External links

1939 photo of Cecil Hotel

Nancy Spungen

 

Nancy Laura Spungen (/ˈspʌŋɡən/; February 27, 1958 – October 12, 1978) was the American girlfriend of English musician Sid Vicious and a figure of the 1970s punk rock scene.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Spungen was an emotionally disturbed child who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 15. After being expelled from college, she moved to New York City and became a stripper.

Known for being a groupie, she flew to London in December 1976 at the height of the punk rock movement, where she became involved with Vicious, the bassist for the Sex Pistols. Their relationship was tumultuous, characterized by domestic violence, substance abuse, and heroin addiction. Media labeled Spungen "Nauseating Nancy" for her outrageous and frequently antisocial behavior.

After John Lydon left the band and Vicious was made a focal point of subsequent band activities, the couple moved to New York City and checked into the Hotel Chelsea, where they spent much of their time using drugs, especially heroin.

In October 1978, Spungen was found dead in the bathroom of the couple's room at the Hotel Chelsea from a single stab wound to her abdomen. Vicious was charged with her second-degree murder but died of a heroin overdose while on bail in February 1979, before the case could be brought to trial. Various authors and filmmakers have speculated about Vicious' role in Spungen's death, and the possibility that she was killed by a drug dealer who frequently visited their room.

Early life and education

Spungen was born on February 27, 1958, at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, to Franklin "Frank" (1934–2010) and Deborah Spungen (1937–2024). The Spungens were a middle-class Jewish family that resided in Lower Moreland Township, a Philadelphia suburb. Spungen's father was a traveling salesman and her mother later owned an organic food store called The Earth Shop in nearby Jenkintown. Her maternal family originally emigrated to the United States from Zhmerynka, Ukraine, following the pogroms during the Russian Civil War in the 1910s.

At the time of her birth, a newborn Spungen nearly died of oxygen deprivation after being choked by her umbilical cord during delivery; it was determined that she had not suffered any serious brain-damaging oxygen loss. However, it was then noted that her skin was jaundiced and that she showed symptoms of severe cyanosis, forcing the newborn to undergo immediate blood transfusions. Her parents were not able to see her or hold her at this point, preventing potential bonding-time. Instead, she was strapped restrained to a hospital bed and treated by medical staff, who ultimately saved her life. She was released from the hospital eight days after birth.

Spungen proved to be a difficult baby, throwing crying fits and temper tantrums late into childhood. At three months old, she was prescribed a liquid barbiturate by a pediatrician, something typically given to patients experiencing seizures. The medication was ineffective, and her violent behavior persisted. In 1983, Spungen's mother said, "I know it's normal for babies to cry, but Nancy did nothing but scream." Although she excelled academically, she had few friends during her elementary school years.

As a child, Spungen exhibited violent behavior toward her younger sister Susan, but was very caring toward her younger brother David. Susan, who later became a noted author and food stylist, said she had "mixed memories" of her sister: "We were happy as kids and we played together and I looked up to [Nancy]. I was 10 or 11 when she went to boarding school and then she wasn't home a lot."

Spungen allegedly threatened to kill a babysitter with scissors and attempted to batter a psychiatrist who had accused her of acting out for attention. At age 11, Spungen was expelled from public school after missing class over two weeks. Weary of her erratic behavior, her parents enrolled her at Devereux Glenholme School in Washington, Connecticut, and, later, at Devereux Manor High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. In January 1972, she ran away from Devereux Manor and attempted suicide by slitting her wrists with scissors. At age 15, her psychiatrist diagnosed her with schizophrenia.

Spungen graduated from Lakeside High School in 1974, two weeks after she was accepted to the University of Colorado Boulder. She began attending the university at age 16. Five months into her freshman year, she was arrested for attempting to purchase marijuana from an undercover police officer. After she was arrested a second time for storing stolen property in her dorm room, CU Boulder expelled her. Spungen's father traveled to Boulder and accepted a plea bargain on her behalf, under which she agreed to be banished from the state of Colorado.

Relationship with Sid Vicious

Spungen left home at age 17 and moved to New York City, where she supported herself via prostitution, amateur music journalism, and working at clothing stores. In her free time, she became a groupie and followed rock bands, including Aerosmith, Bad Company, the New York Dolls, and the Ramones.

In December 1976, Spungen flew to London with The Heartbreakers and met the Sex Pistols, which later included bassist Sid Vicious. Vicious and Spungen first met the night she arrived in London. After being rejected by John Lydon, Nancy and Sid started a relationship, moving in together in March 1977.

Over their 19-month relationship from March 1977 to October 1978, Spungen and Vicious developed heroin addictions; Vicious was already using multiple drugs prior to meeting Spungen. Tabloids dubbed Spungen "Nauseating Nancy" for her frequent public outbursts.

In January 1978, following the breakup of the Sex Pistols, Spungen and Vicious relocated to New York City, where they lived in Room 100 at the Hotel Chelsea, where they were registered as "Mr. and Mrs. John Simon Ritchie", Vicious' real name.

Death

On October 12, 1978, Spungen's body was found under the wash basin in the bathroom of their room at the Hotel Chelsea. She had suffered a stab wound to the abdomen. Vicious owned the knife that inflicted the injury, a Jaguar Wilderness K-11 with a five-inch (13 cm) blade. Press misreported the murder weapon as a different knife owned by Vicious, a "007" hunting knife.

Vicious shared conflicting stories of the night Spungen died. He was immediately arrested, charged with second-degree murder, and released on $50,000 bail. Four months after Spungen's death, Vicious died of a heroin overdose prior to his trial taking place. The New York City Police Department closed the case after Vicious' death.

Spungen is buried in the King David Memorial Park, a traditional Jewish cemetery in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania.

There are various theories about the cause of Spungen's death. Some of them do not implicate Vicious in her murder. One such theory is that two drug dealers visited their room that night and conducted a robbery. Certain items, including a substantial amount of money, were claimed to be missing from the room.

In his book Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk, Phil Strongman accuses actor and stand-up comic Rockets Redglare of killing Spungen; Redglare delivered drugs to the couple's room the night of Spungen's death. Throughout his life, Redglare (who died in 2001) steadfastly denied any involvement in the killing to the press, but allegedly confessed to the killing within his circle of friends.

In popular culture

In 1979, "Horror Business", a 1979 song by the American punk rock band the Misfits, was inspired by Spungen's murder. The song's lyrics include lines, such as: "You don't go in the bathroom with me" and "I'll put a knife right in you." Prior to Vicious's death, the Misfits were rumored to back Vicious on his proposed debut solo album. Misfits bassist Jerry Only attended a dinner gathering at the apartment of Michelle Robison, Vicious's new girlfriend, the night Vicious died.

In 1982, the poet Thom Gunn published a poem about Spungen, entitled "The Victim." It appeared in his volume, The Passages of Joy.

In 1983, Spungen's mother Deborah wrote a memoir, And I Don't Want to Live This Life. Its title is taken from a poem Vicious wrote.

In 1986, the film Sid and Nancy, directed by Alex Cox, was released, portraying the life of Vicious, played by Gary Oldman, and his relationship with Spungen, played by Chloe Webb. Critics praised Webb's performance as Spungen. In the film, Cox also put forth the theory that Spungen and Vicious had a suicide pact.

In the 2000 song, "Butterfly" by Crazy Town. the lyrics reference Sid and Nancy.

The 2006 anime Nana references Sid and Nancy's relationship and its punk/rock aesthetics, particularly when it comes to two main characters.

In 2007, Veronica Schanoes's story "Rats" appeared at the 2007 Interstitial Arts Foundation anthology, Interfictions. The story is a punk rock fairytale inspired by Spungen's life. Schanoes said, "I wrote 'Rats' because I was angry with the way the recent coffee-table histories of punk seem to have no problem demonizing a dead, mentally ill, teenage girl."

In 2010, a documentary film Who Killed Nancy?, directed by Alan G. Parker, was released, and includes interviews with Vicious and Spungen's associates, including John Holmstrom, Don Letts, Glen Matlock, and Howie Pyro.

In 2013, Spungen was portrayed by Tamsin Egerton in episode 4, series 1 of the British sketch comedy show Psychobitches. She appears among the famous women from history and fiction who are interviewed by a therapist played by Rebecca Front.

In 2022, Pistol, a miniseries, was released, with Vicious portrayed by Louis Partridge. The miniseries depicts Vicious as waking up in a confused state the morning after Spungen's death with apparently vague recollections of an altercation the previous night. He is then horrified to find Spungen, played by Emma Appleton, dead in the bathroom. This version appears to accept Vicious's account that he had no memory of how Spungen had been injured.

The Weezer song “We Might as Well Be Strangers,” featuring Wednesday from the band’s 2026 self-titled album (commonly known as the Gold Album), references Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen in the lyric, “I was Nancy, you were Vicious.”

References

"Mother of murder victim to speak about latest book in West Mt. Airy", chestnuthilllocal.com. Accessed October 17, 2025.

Spungen (1983), p. 32.

"Deborah "Deb" Spungen Obituary 2024".

"Nancy and Sid: A punk mystery story". The Independent. October 11, 2003.

Schoemer, Karen (October 17, 2008). "The Day Punk Died". New York.

Spungen (1983), p. 139.

"Food Stylist Susan Spungen Could Always Find Her Grandmother in the Kitchen". Jewish Food Society. December 14, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2024.

Spungen (1983), pp. 33–34.

Orr, Deborah (October 12, 2003). "Nancy and Sid: A punk mystery story". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 18, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

Spungen (1983), p. 45.

Spungen (1983), p. 68.

Spungen (1983).

McMahon, Barbara (July 25, 2013). "Susan Spungen: the woman who taught Meryl Streep how to flip omelettes". The Times. Retrieved March 11, 2024.

Wakeman, Jessica (October 12, 2017). "Flashback: Nancy Spungen Found Dead at Chelsea Hotel". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

Spungen (1983), p. 193.

Spungen (1983), p. 200.

Spungen (1983), p. 192.

Spungen (1983), p. 194.

"16 Truly Disturbing Moments That Made Punk Rocker Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols Live up to His Name".

"My New York: Sid & Nancy". July 25, 2010.

Bardach, Ann (October 28, 1978). "The Not So Lonesome Death of Nancy Spungen". The SoHo Weekly News.

Bruno, Anthony (July 2006). "Punk Rock Romeo and Juliet: Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen". Crime Library. Archived from the original on July 1, 2006. Retrieved December 24, 2017.

"Sex Pistols Vicious on Murder Charge". BBC. October 12, 1978.

"Sid Vicious dies from drugs overdose". BBC. February 2, 1979.

Allen, Liam (February 2, 2009). "Did Sid Kill Nancy?". BBC News.

Hershkovits, David; Vinson, Lesley (October 19–25, 1978). "He Said He Was Going to Kill". Soho News Weekly.

Simpson, Aislinn (January 20, 2009). "Documentary claims Sex Pistols singer Sid Vicious did not kill girlfriend Nancy Spungen". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

"Sid and Nancy: a Punk Rock Murder Mystery". Crime + Investigation. October 10, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

Greene 2013, p. 30.

Lariviere, Aaron (October 31, 2012). "The 10 Best Misfits Songs". Stereogum. Retrieved September 14, 2019.

"The 100 Sleaziest Moments In Rock". Spin. 16 (10). SPIN Media LLC: 101. October 2000. ISSN 0886-3032.

Ebert, Roger (October 25, 1986). "Review: Sid and Nancy". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 24, 2017.

Hayes, Britt (April 21, 2016). "Requiem For A Blonde: A Tribute To The Most Hated Half Of Sid and Nancy". Birth, Movies, Death. Retrieved December 24, 2017.

"Nana (manga)", Wikipedia, December 2, 2024, retrieved December 6, 2024

Mondor, Colleen (July 2007). "Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing". Bookslut. Retrieved December 25, 2017.

Scheck, Frank (October 14, 2010). "Who Killed Nancy – Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 25, 2017.

Sources

Spungen, Deborah (1983). And I Don't Want to Live This Life. New York City: Random House Inc. ISBN 978-0394533728.

Greene, James Jr. (2013). This Music Leaves Stains: The Complete Story of the Misfits. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9781589798922. OCLC 859433639.

External links

Nancy Spungen at IMDb

Nancy Spungen at Find a Grave