'El Cortez Hotel, San Diego, CA' Stories  

El Cortez Hotel, San Diego, CA

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Julie (67.136.142.66) -

A real estate agent and myself are trying to find out about hauntings, ghosts or poltergeists seen or experieced at the El Cortez Hotel in San Diego, CA.

It seems the once jewel of the city became a diplaitated and condemned building in the 1980's. The area became an area of town were transitional homeless sheltars were set up on the Cortez Hill area.

It was revealed to me by residents of the newly redeveloped El Cortez (2002) that when the new construction was conducted there were several bodies found dead on several of the top floors. It had turned in a crack house, drug haven, and homeless retreat. Darkness and graffetti painted its interior, and the floors were so unstable that they could not investigate the top floors to find the horrible contents until it could be supported.

It seems to me there has been a cover up on the internet to remove all reference to these past events and findings by the real estate community that have big $$$$ invested in the project. Yet, people feel eerie presences and uneasiness through out the building.

Does anyone have any information for us ghost hunters?

Reply #1 dustin (63.176.159.94) -

I really couldn't find much on this on the internet. But I did find out they tried hiding the past in order to sell condos after renovation. Below I copy-pasted a bit from the article..

In order to sell it as this opulent property, they scrubbed every scary, ghostly, or hideous thing that ever happened off the Web. If any ghosts of the past haunt the halls of the El Cortez, the realtors have a muzzle on them.

Reply #2 walter (63.176.159.209) -

very nice article. i did not know those things.. interesting to read.

Reply #3 Frederich (63.176.159.153) -

Great informative article there dustin. This is how far businessmen will go to sell their business out, well it is a good strategy though... to cover and hide the truth. I somewhat feel that that is not the first time that someone in power has used this form of selling out.

Reply #4 Dale (63.176.159.55) -

Well, I believe that there are no such things as ghost... demons are doing such things. Even your beloved ancestors or deceased loved ones (once dead) will never come back again either to haunt or visit you. These ghosts and paranormal phenomena have been forewarned in the bible that there will be a great deception or watch out for deceivers who will trick you to believing such lies in order for you to loose faith in God and this is what these "Ghosts" incidents or "paranormal" news is doing, deceiving us to believe them rather than in God alone. Be prepared.

Reply #5 Max mickle from Austrelia (Contact Member) -

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Reply #6 Max mickle from Austrelia (Contact Member) -

Recently Mreenal Deshraj had a spine-chilling experience in a palace in Kolhapur where she was staying during the shoot of Shhh…Phir Koi Hai.

Since the show had an eerie theme, the place seemed ideal.

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Reply #7 Tonio (63.176.159.66) -

This is really hilarious. People using such ghost stories to attract visitors and potential customers to patronize their hotel services. This can be either good or bad for business. Well, by the looks of it, it looks like it is good for business especially to those who wanted to be frightened out of their wits.

Reply #8 Ederin (63.176.159.98) -

But as you see Tonio this is truly effective to those people who wanted to see something weird in their lives.

Reply #9 Gustave (63.176.159.120) -

This is actually a good way of marketing for business and publicity because it is innate to humans to explore their curiosity and to disprove such hauntings. I also believe that psychics or paranormal experts can be a good target market to such "claimed" ghost hauntings on hotels and apartments.

Reply #10 Dawn (63.176.159.207) -

There are things in this physical Earth that even Science could not explain. The paranormal, spirits, ghosts, hauntings, and demons are just some of them. The question here is whether they are authentic or not, and on a similar note, are the ghost hunters or paranormal specialist really capable of understanding the situation? The last thing anyone reads right now is being deceived and not getting their money's worth. Or it could all just be a public spectacle.

Reply #11 Mike MacDonald from San Diego, CA (Contact Member) -

I actually just moved into El Cortez about 3 months ago and was really curious about all the ghost stories I was hearing about it.

It is exceptionally hard to find any information on the internet about this property. I've gotten most of my info from people that live there now and some who used to hang out in the hotel when it was in ruin (during the 80's).

My girlfriend and I haven't experienced anything unusual yet but I won't be surprised if we do (I'm fairly in tune with that stuff).

Reply #12 Mike MacDonald from San Diego, CA (Contact Member) -

I forgot to mention that everyone that lives there believes that there is a cover-up going on in regards to info about the property online. You just can't find info about it on the net (bad info, that is).

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Reply #13 empirenine (70.167.183.79) -

This place gives me the willies. My friend Jorge and I were in SD last year and took some pics of the place. Its very lifeless from the outside.

Reply #14 Snarf (63.176.159.71) -

Whether or not this place is haunted, saying it is will attract customers by the boat load. For example, many people will stay the night in the so called haunted room where a former tenant had killed himself, hoping for a glimpse of his ghost.

Reply #15 Gareonne (63.176.159.36) -

If you have watched the movie "1408" (a nice horror flick starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson) based on one of Stephen King's horror novel is about a paranormal expert who takes interests in haunted hotels or anything with hauntings and writes them into an book. The main character hasn't ever experienced a ghost haunting himself which he truly experienced in the dreaded room called 1408, then again it is just a movie but a good example of the situation cited above that paranormal and ghost hauntings attracts customers.

Reply #16 Shik (63.176.159.166) -

I myself would not want to go and stay at a place that claims to have ghosts in them. The thought of ghosts watching you as you sleep during the night is so creepy. It is like experiencing one of Takashi Shimizu movie. It is so creepy.

But i think those people who like the thrill of knowing that something they can't see are with them as they sleep then i think they would go for those kind of places.

Reply #17 Diego (68.101.154.242) -

This is one of the stupidest threads that I have read on the Internet in 10 years! The El Cortez hotel was build in 1927 was restored to that period in 2000 and became apartments. At the end of 2004 it was converted to condos, which it remains today. We purchased a unit in 2004 and have lived here ever since. This is the first time I have ever heard of “ghosts” haunting the building and I can assure you if someone in the building thought there are ghosts here, I would have heard about it. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb!!!

Reply #18 isabel johnston (68.101.145.239) -

well, im 12 years old and i live in the el cortez. i am very intersted in the paramornal word since i was little. i have only hade one enconter here. as a kid i love to exspore this place so i was on the 12th floor and then i heard two very loud knots on the wall to my right side. then i disicied to test it out, so i said "if there is anybody here with me could you make that noise agian&it happened when i started to leaf as if it were trying to get my atention. this might be odd coming from a 12 year old girl, but i truly think this place is haunted, you might not belive me but thats fine with me i knoe what i heard.

Reply #19 Ara (63.176.159.51) - 01/09/10 21:52

I ownder why people love to see ghosts, aren't they got scared seeing one? If ever that I see even one little ghost, no matter how friendly he is, I think I will faint.

Reply #20 Marie (63.176.159.183) - 02/05/10 20:17

Hi there Ara, I know that ghosts are scary, imagine seeing something that are not normal and are out of the ordinary, it can either fascinate you or totally scare you out. But anyway, I have to say that ghosts cannot harm you, they are ghosts and so they are not able to do harm to you, all they can do is scare you..

hahaha.. Have a good day guys..

Reply #21 Sammy (109.111.97.246) - 03/05/10 21:44

Yeah, ghosts cannot harm you physically but can harm you psychologically. Some people who claims to see ghosts tends to collapse and have a hard time dealing with emotional and psychological disturbances. I would not want to see ghosts. It is kinda creepy and very very scary. But I would like to know if ghosts are for real. Do you think that ghosts are for real? Have a great day people.

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