THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Monrovia's historic Aztec Hotel has a longstanding paranormal reputation involving female apparitions, a bloody-faced man, a ghostly child, cold spots and figures seemingly dressed for a 1920s gathering.
Opened in 1925 along an early alignment of Route 66, the Aztec Hotel is a rare surviving example of Mayan Revival architecture. Its unusual appearance and turbulent history eventually became intertwined with extensive ghost lore. Accounts collected by the Monrovia Historical Museum include a female spirit said to have been murdered by a jealous boyfriend, a bloody-faced male apparition, a young boy reportedly seen in the basement and an apparent gathering of figures dressed in 1920s clothing. Other visitors and paranormal researchers have described unexplained cold areas, apparitions and strange activity in the hotel's rooms, hallways and former ladies' room. The stories remain paranormal folklore and eyewitness claims rather than established historical fact.