The Darkest Secrets Inside The Las Vegas Strip

It Has The Highest Suicide Rate In The Whole Of The US

Image Source / WikipediaThe Sunset Strip is supposed to be happy party central where most people would go to forget their worries. So it might be devastating to learn that there's actually a high suicide rate - in fact, the highest suicide rate in the whole of the United States. There have actually been official studies which show that people who visit Las Vegas are twice as likely to commit suicide than if they stay at home instead.

And There's Actually Dedicated Cleaning Staff In Hotels For Blood

Image Source / RedditIt gets even darker. The suicide rate is so high - with deaths expected - that hotels even employ specialized cleaners to bring in if the worst happens to clean up blood from hotel rooms. A big factor in the high suicide rate can be the expected high losses made at casinos, if people go too far and see no way out.

The Strip Covers Up Suicides To Make Sure It Doesn't Lose Money

Image Source / Reddit

Las Vegas is so concerned with making money that when suicides do happen, they move the body so that authorities don't find it in one of their hotel rooms. If this was to happen, a quarantine of the room has to go on for two weeks - which is a potential of two weeks loss of money for the room. So the body is moved to somewhere else in the hotel where no quarantine would be needed.

Las Vegas Hotels Bill The Family Of The Deceased If Property Is Damaged After Suicide

Image Source / RedditIf a person commits suicide in a Las Vegas hotel room in a way that causes damage, such as a suicide bullet making a hole in the wall or in some furniture, or anything damaged due to what's happened, the family of the dead person will get a bill to cover the damages that they're expected to pay. How's that for compassionate!

Heavy Rains Often Make Dead Bodies Wash Up

Image Source / Las Vegas Review-JournalDead bodies have been known to wash up actually outside one of the hotels in Vegas in particular, the Linq Hotel, during very heavy rains. This is because The Linq is placed at the site where the 'Flamingo Wash' - a channel of water - comes across the Strip. It's been known that the bodies of dead homeless people or other victims have floated into the parking garage of the casino.

Not All Suicides Happen In Hotel Rooms - And It Can Be Gruesome

Image Source / RedditNot all suicides happen in the privacy of hotel rooms with no one to see but the specialist cleaning crew that comes. Because of the layout of Las Vegas and its hotels and casinos, many suicides happen with people jumping off hotel balconies and high parking garages. The worst of all has to be the Luxor hotel, where people who jump actually land into the casino or reception area.

Desperate People Usually Visit Las Vegas As Their Last Stop In Life

Image Source / RedditLas Vegas is a popular spot for people not just looking for a fun-filled weekend trip - it's a serious stop for desperate people looking to change their life around when they're short on cash. Las Vegas is really a tragic place when you think about the amount of people you might pass in the streets or casinos, playing as a last attempt to win money before seeing suicide as the only option.

Journalists Aren't Allow To Publish Any Information About Deaths

Image Source / RedditJournalists can actually get blacklisted by hotel companies in Las Vegas, which is reason enough not to cross them. One way of getting blacklisted can be to publish articles or death announcements about suicides or natural deaths that happen in hotels. If blacklisted, journalists will have no chance of finding work in a place where hotels and casinos basically run the show. So they don't do it.

There's An Entire Community Of People Living Under The Strip

Image Source / Deseret NewsEver wonder what could be happening beneath your feet? You might not have been paying attention when there's so much going on on the surface. But beneath your feet, there's a darker community living their lives: within the 200+ miles of flood tunnels under the strip, there's a homeless community made up of over 1000 people.

And This Community Is A Scary Place To Live

Image Source / RedditThis homeless community may be furnished with belongings like beds and chairs, but it's far from a peaceful sanctuary for people on the streets. Not only do they have to contend with drug use and dangerous weapons, there's also a high risk of death from disease and even poisonous spiders hiding in the shadows.

It's Dangerously Close To A Nuclear Testing Facility

Image Source / WikipediaOnly 100 kilometres from the strip is a nuclear test site - and at this site, there have been more than 100 nuclear tests that happened in the 50s and 60s. Scarily enough, this turned the strip into a place of 'atomic tourism', where tourists were attracted by the nuclear experiments and got to experience things like nuclear-themed bars and viewing roofs where people could watch the blasts in the distance.

It's Even Thought People's Health Might Have Been Impacted By The Nuclear Tests

Image Source / Smithsonian Magazine

Because the testing facility was so close to the people living in, or visiting, Las Vegas, it was thought their health might have been negatively impacted because of the atomic testing. Apparently the tests were supposed to be scheduled around the time that the radioactive result would be blown in the opposite direction - but it wasn't guaranteed...

Las Vegas Once Had Racist Laws

Image Source / UNLVLas Vegas was once known as the 'Mississippi of the West' due to racial segregation laws that were similar to the controversial laws in Mississippi in the late 19th century. These laws in the Strip included that African-Americans had to be separated and made to live on the West side - which was the dark and dank end compared to the bright lights of the main Strip.

Even Black Celebrities Were Treated Awfully Due To The Laws

Image Source / PinterestLegendary performers like Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr were made to stay in the West side of the city, too. They also had to use the back entrances of casinos and buildings, while Sammy Davis Jr wasn't even allowed to stay in the same hotel as the rest of the Rat Pack. The racial segregation laws were eventually scrapped.

Sex Trafficking Is A Thing

Image Source / RedditLas Vegas is well known for being a sexy - and sex-filled - place, but what you might not have known is that sex trafficking is actually a problem. While the place is filled with what seems to be carefree entertainment with strip clubs and call girls, it's much darker than that. Sex trafficking of adults in Las Vegas has been known to happen.

Worse: Child Sex Trafficking Is A Thing

Image Source / GlobalGivingWhat isn't so well known about Las Vegas is that child sex trafficking as well as adult sex trafficking happens, too. While child sex trafficking is a heartbreaking problem all over the world, it's believed that there have been over 2000 children trafficked for sex in Las Vegas alone.

The Way Tourists Behave Is Actually Disgusting

Image Source / RedditWe all know that if you're going to Vegas you're going for a wild ride, and there's nothing wrong with partying, dancing and living it up. But all of that still comes with common decency, which apparently most tourists don't have. The average tourist has smeared poop across hotel room walls, peed in the middle of the road, or even got violent in a casino when they hadn't won.

Casinos Are Purposefully Made To Make You Feel Trapped In A Loop

Image Source / RedditCasinos put a lot of effort into their layouts with the sole purpose of trying to stop people from leaving, getting confused if they try to and also lose sense of time in the hope they'll spend more money. Casinos are laid out so that finding the exits is difficult, with doors usually being out of sight and no windows or clocks to be seen.

There Are Extremely Dangerous Neighborhoods

Image Source / RedditLas Vegas is a dangerous place when not directly on the Strip - which means if you venture off into certain rough areas of the city, you could be putting yourself at risk - deathly risk. North Las Vegas was actually ranked in the top ten list of most dangerous neighborhoods in the US - a crime rate over 100% the national average.

And It Has A High Murder Rate

Image Source / WikipediaLas Vegas has a murder rate that's double that of Los Angeles, but it's not only murder - there's a high rate of very violent crime, including assault and sexual assault. Tourist areas in the most popular parts of the Strip are usually safe, it's just wandering off the beaten track that you have to worry about.

Casino Owners' Children Are Often Held Ransom

Image Source / RedditIf you're targeting some of the richest people in the US - the casino owners, naturally - then their children might seem like fair game for kidnap and blackmail. And that's exactly what happens. Criminals who want to make serious cash may target the kids of casino owners to hold them ransom, which has happened with both Bellagio and Horseshoe Casino owners.

Sin City Schools Function Like High-Security Prisons

Image Source / Wikipedia

This isn't just how a boarding school kid would say 'gah this school is like a prison' either - this is about seriously depressing environments and prison-like design. Schools in Las Vegas can often be plain block buildings with no windows at all, and overcrowded with far too many students. They can either be way too hot or far too cold, too. Not a nice place to be.

It Has A Huge Ghost Population

Image Source / Yahoo FinanceWhen you think of haunted places, you might never have thought of the bright lights of Las Vegas's Sunset Strip. But it might not be surprising when you think about the high rates of crime, suicides and murder. But yep - Las Vegas is supposed to be very active with ghosts and paranormal activity.

And The Stories Behind Some Of The Ghosts Are Grim

Image Source / TwitterOne of the casinos in Las Vegas is said to be haunted by a dead mother and child, and three other people who were murdered in the kitchen of the hotel. Some of the ghosts in other places are said to whisper in the ears of tourists. The ghost of a mobster is also said to be present in one of the casinos, and another casino is said to be haunted by several performers who died. There's also a Haunted Museum in Vegas.

The Heart Attack Grill Is Built On The Idea Of Eating In Excess

Image Source / Reddit

The morbid idea behind this particular restaurant in Vegas, which might seem all fun and games on the outside, actually encourages you to be as gluttonous as possible - and as fat as possible. The clue's in the name, really. To make it more tragic, someone eating at the grill actually did suffer a heart attack after eating a burger there.

You're Rewarded If You're Overweight - And Punished If You Can't Finish The Food

Image Source / RedditTo make it worse, not only are obese people eating at this restaurant praised, but they actually get to eat all they want for free if they're over a certain weight. That means more likely to eat more heart-attack-inducing food, and more likely to get even more fat. Not only that, but if you dine there and can't finish all your food or you've had enough, you get 'spanked' by the waitresses as punishment.

There Was Once A Ban On Feeding The Homeless

Image Source / RedditActively making a law that you're not allowed to give food to people in need is probably one of the most darkest things in this city. The most disturbing thing about this was that it wasn't just passersby trying to give out a sandwich or cup of coffee - it was actually a ban on charities being allowed to set up food kitchens, too. Luckily, the ban was eventually lifted.

Mobsters Still Operate Within Casinos

Image Source / Reddit

It's no huge secret that the Mafia would have had a big hand in the success of Las Vegas, and big gangster names like Bugsy Siegel weren't ignorant of the fact that there was lots of money to be made. You might have thought mobsters related to casino activities were in the past, though. But, actually, they do still have a hand in casino stuff, on a more behind-the-scenes basis.

It Was Actually Linked To 9/11

Image Source / RedditOne of the conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 is that Las Vegas was linked to the New York attacks. This was because apparently some of the plane hijackers had been in Las Vegas in the days leading up to the attacks. Some believe it was because they were meeting with a government contact. A total of four men were known to be in Vegas before the attacks, and these 4 men were specifically the pilots of the hijacked planes.

If Your Casino Chair Is Wet, Someone Before You Probably Peed On It

Image Source / RedditOne disgusting fact about Vegas is that a lot of casino goers don't even bother to go to the toilet, and pee themselves right there on the chair. If a customer complains about a wet seat, the staff - knowing it's probably urine - will probably say that it's a spilled drink and offer to replace your chair. But they do try their best to clean the seats in time - with industrial-strength cleaning devices!