AdminBack in the early months of 2013, the world was spellbound by the very mysterious case of Elisa Lam, a 21-year-old Canadian student who met a most tragic demise under the most bizarre of circumstances at the ancient Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The strange events surrounding her disappearance and subsequent discovery would draw international attention to the hotel, and would be a microcosm of its dark and enigmatic past, fueling a storm of theories, speculation and investigation.
The Dark And Haunting History Of The Cecil Hotel
One cannot even attempt to unravel the eerie case of Elisa Lam without reviewing the dark and haunting history of the Cecil Hotel. Nestled in downtown Los Angeles, the Cecil Hotel opened its doors in 1927, boasting glorious accommodations and a fantastic location within walking distance of the lively city center. However, over the years, the hotel would gain a more sinister distinction, one in which it would become synonymous, due to its history of crime, tragedy and human sorrow.
The Cecil Hotel’s very name evokes a reminder of decades of infamy, the notoriety intertwining a series of suicides, murders and other criminal activities. Richard Ramirez, serial killer, also known as the “Night Stalker,” and Austrian journalist-turned-killer Jack Unterweger each claimed this residence during their heinous sprees. The hotel’s dark history resulted in a reputation as a hotbed for crime, a hub for the desperate and downtrodden of city streets.
The Disappearance of Elisa Lam: A Mystery Unfolds
In January 2013, Elisa Lam began her solo adventure from her Vancouver, Canada home to California’s El Dorado. The aspiring writer and University of British Columbia student sought a change of scenery for the morning that would open the door to her bowl, in Los Angeles’ vibrant cityscape. Her travels brought her to the Cecil Hotel, a historic site and low-cost accommodation known for its character and afforedable rooms.
Lam’s time at the Cecil Hotel was about to take an even darker, more tragic turn: On January 31, 2013, staff at the hotel discovered Lam’s lifeless body floating inside one of the hotel’s rooftop water tanks, after guests complained of low water pressure and discolored water. Her shocking death sent ripple effects of panic and fear throughout the city, and a media firestorm erupted as authorities desperately worked to get to the bottom of what had happened to her.
The Haunting Elevator Video: Clues or Red Herrings?
In the Elisa Lam case, few pieces of evidence resonated with an air of dread and sorrow more than the surveillance footage captured by the hotel’s security cameras in the hours and days leading up to her disappearance. The now-infamous video shows Lam acting in a bizarre, erratic fashion as she steps in and out of the hotel’s elevator, interacting with someone or something that the camera does not capture, pushing multiple buttons and looking anxiously outside into the hallway, as if she is being pursued by an unseen entity herself.
Otherworldly explanations aside, the video soon became the subject of intense scrutiny and debate, with armchair detectives and amateur sleuths analyzing every pixel of the video for signs and symbols that could be hidden within. Some believed that she was experiencing a psychotic break, explaining her behavior as a trip caused by illicit substances. Others still suggested that she may have been targeted by a long-dead predator who still walks the hallways of the Cecil Hotel today.
It was left to investigators to piece together the grim events that led to Elisa Lam’s untimely death. After conducting a thorough examination of the evidence and interviewing hotel staff, guests, and witnesses, it became clear that several questions remained unanswered and that the circumstances surrounding Lam’s demise would remain shrouded in mystery.
An autopsy of Lam’s body turned up no signs of trauma or foul play, leading authorities to conclude that she had died as the result of an accidental drowning. An analysis of Lam’s toxicology reports showed that she had taken several prescription medications, but little else was known about the specifics of her disappearance or how she was able gain entrance to the rooftop water tanks. Neither of these questions have been answered to this day.
The Legacy of Elisa Lam and the Cecil Hotel
The tragic death of Elisa Lam put the spotlight back on the Cecil Hotel, bringing with it all of the unsolved mysteries and ghostly tales that had been the source of dread for guests for decades. In the years since her passing, the Cecil Hotel has received a new name – Stay on Main – and undergone heavy renovations and a thorough rebranding effort, designed to erase its troubled past in the hopes that it might attract a new generation of guests.
Nevertheless, as the years have gone by, the Cecil Hotel remains a visceral reminder of the unseemly underbelly of a city known for its sunshine. While the people of Los Angeles have desperately tried to banish the memories of a young girl who left her life at the corner of Sixth and Main almost six years ago, both Elisa Lam and the Scarlet Letter “C” give us something to think about during the long, dark night.
So, in the end, it is a ghost story, a tale of the enigmatic nature of human experience and those mysteries that are etched in the shadows of even the ordinary. The question still looms large: What happened to Elisa Lam and the Hotel Cecil? Perhaps a better version is whether we truly want to know the answer, or do those ghosts serve as reminders of the secrets we keep?
