On January 26, 2013, 21-year-old Canadian tourist Elisa Lam checked into the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. On February 19th, Elisa Lam’s body was finally found naked and floating in a four foot-by-eight foot water tank on the roof the Cecil Hotel.
Elisa Lam body discovered in water tank
Her body was discovered after a couple reported that the water would come out black before normalizing and that it had a bad taste. But they didn’t complain at the time because they thought that was normal for LA.
Another interesting piece of information is from a statement from the hotel manager. Apparently when Elisa checked into the hotel, she was originally in a hostel-style shared room. She moved to her own private room due to complaints from her roommates of odd behavior. It turns out the last time she was seen was actually on surveillance footage from the hotel elevator.
That was the surveillance footage from the elevator. This is the last time she was seen. It appears she’s hiding. It also looks like someone was chasing her. But I feel you wouldn’t get out of the elevator if someone was chasing you. It almost looks like she’s talking to somebody?
Elisa Lam Theories
The video led to some serious theories. One such theory was that she was on hallucinogens or drunk. While Elisa was in fact bipolar – and reportedly took four different medications for that disorder, this theory was quickly rebuked by the fact that her toxicology report came back with nothing in her system that could have contributed to hear death.
Another theory was that she was actually murdered. However, the autopsy showed no signs of trauma on her body. So if evidence suggests that it wasn’t foul play and that it wasn’t drugs, many wonder what could have led Elisa to actually climb in the tank herself and that’s a good question because nobody knows even how she got up there. I mean, in fact, to get to the roof, Elisa would have to either A, climb up the fire escape, and there is three at the hotel, but you’d have to go out a window to do that.
Some believe the paranormal was involved in what happened
One lesser known believed theory is that it is a ghost. When you watch the video, it appears like Elisa’s talking to someone outside the elevator, which has led some on the internet to believe that she is talking to the ghost of serial killer Richard Ramirez, who was convicted of 13 murders and stayed in the Cecil Hotel from 1984-1985. It’s also worth noting that Ramirez was a known satanist.
And that’s really just the tip of the iceberg for the Cecil. It also played home to Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger in 1991, was the site of an unsolved murder in 1964, and was also, according to some, one of the last places the Black Dahlia was seen alive. And, to pile it on even more, there have been numerous accounts of people who have jumped to their death from the roof of the Cecil to the point where longtime residents refer to the hotel as The Suicide. If anything, that goes against the ghost theory because there’s already recorded history of it being easy for people to get up onto the roof, therefore, it must have been easy for her to get up onto the roof.
Authorities ultimately ruled Elisa’s death was an accidental drowning. The family actually filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the hotel, which was eventually dismissed. The real tragedy of all of this is to the family.
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