There are mysteries that are so eerie and strange that they boggle the mind for days on end. The case of Elisa Lam is one of them. In February 2013, this 21-year-old student from Vancouver, Canada, was found dead inside the Cecil Hotel’s rooftop water tank in Los Angeles. The L.A. County Department of Coroner ruled the death “accidental due to drowning” and said no traces of drugs or alcohol were found during the autopsy. However, there is much more to the story than what is implied by police reports. The first piece of evidence that needs to be considered is an elevator surveillance tape that recorded Elisa’s behavior only a few moments before she lost her life.
The four-minute video posted on YouTube shows Elisa pressing all of the elevator buttons and waiting for it to move. Seeing that the elevator doors are not closing, starts behaving extremely bizarrely. Here’s the video.
At first, Elisa enters the elevator and apparently presses all of its buttons. She then waits for something to happen but, for some reason, the elevator door doesn’t shut. She starts to look around, as if she is expecting (or hiding from) someone. At 1:57, her arms and hands start moving in a very strange matter (almost not human) as she appears to be talking to someone, something … or nothing at all. She then walks away. The elevator door then shuts and appears to start working again.
Right after the events of the video, Elisa apparently gained access to the rooftop of the hotel, climbed to its water tank and, somehow, ended up drowning in it. Her body was found two weeks after her death, after hotel guests complained about the water’s taste and color. Incredible.
Seeing the surveillance footage, most people would conclude that she was under the influence of drugs. However, Elisa did not have a history of drug use and her autopsy concluded that no drugs were involved. When one looks at the context and the circumstances of this death, things become even more mysterious.
Built in the 1920s to cater to “businessmen to come into town and spend a night or two”, Cecil Hotel was quickly upstaged by more glamorous hotels. Located near the infamous Skid Row area, the hotel began renting rooms on a long-term basis for cheap prices, a policy that attracted a shiftier crowd. The hotel’s reputation quickly went from “shifty” to “morbid” when it became notorious for numerous suicides and murders, as well as lodging famous serial killers.
Now on death row, Richard Ramirez, labeled “the Nightstalker”, was living at the Cecil Hotel in 1985, in a top floor room. He was charged 14 dollars a night. In a building filled with transients, he remained unnoticed as he stalked and killed his 13 female victims. Richard Schave, said “He was dumping his bloody clothes in the Dumpster, at the end of his evening and returned via the back entrance.”
Jack Unterweger, was a journalist covering crime in Los Angeles for an Austrian magazine in 1991. “We believe he was living at the Cecil Hotel in homage to Ramirez,” Schave said. He is blamed with killing three prostitutes in Los Angeles, while being a guest at the Cecil.
In the 50’s and 60’s the Cecil was known as a place that people would go to jump out of one of the hotel’s windows to commit suicide.
Helen Gurnee, in her 50s, leaped from a seventh floor window, landing on the Cecil Hotel marquee, on October 22, 1954.
Julia Moore jumped from her eighth floor room window, on February 11, 1962.
Pauline Otton, 27, jumped from a ninth floor window after an argument with her estranged husband, on October 12, 1962. Otton landed on George Gianinni, 65, who was walking on the side walk, 90 feet below. Both were killed instantly.
There was also a murder of one of the residents. “Pigeon Goldie” Osgood, a retired telephone operator, known for protecting and feeding pigeons in a nearby park, was found dead in his ransacked room on June 4, 1964. He had been stabbed, strangled, and raped. The crime still remains unsolved.
Elisa Lam’s case is yet another sordid addition to the hotel’s history and can lead us to ask: “What the hell is wrong with that place”?
The story of Elisa Lam is eerily similar to the 2005 horror movie Dark Water. Dahlia, the main protagonist of the movie moves into an apartment building with her young daughter Cecilia. Both of these names are relevant. Black Dahlia is the nickname given to Elizabeth Short, a woman who was the victim of a gruesome murder in 1947 – one that appeared to be particularly ritualistic. The case was never solved. According to LA Observed, it is rumored that Black Dahlia was at Cecil Hotel right before she lost her life.
In the movie, the daughter’s name, Cecilia, is, obviously, quite similar to the name Cecil Hotel. After moving into her apartment, Dahlia notices dark water leaking from the ceiling in her bathroom. She ultimately discovers that a young girl named Natasha Rimsky drowned in the building’s rooftop water tank, which caused the water to turn black. The owner of the apartment building knew about this fact but refused to take action. Elisa Lam’s body was in the water tank for over two weeks, causing hotel guests to complain about foul tasting “black water”.
The ending of the movie is also eerily relevant: The apartment buildings elevator malfunctions and the ghost of Cecilia’s mother braids her hair. Is Elisa Lam’s death one of those ritualistic murders that are synchronistically mirrored in a Hollywood movie?
Shortly after the discovery of Elisa Lam’s body, a deadly outbreak of tuberculosis occurred in Skid Row, near Cecil Hotel. You probably won’t believe the name of the test kit used in these kinds of situations: LAM-ELISA. That is hardcore synchronicity.
In one theory making the rounds on the internet, Elisa Lam never existed. According to the website Godlike Productions, known for its championing of lunatic fringe theories, "The LAPD put out the video, because her Facebook pictures didn't look like her. It wasn't her. Look up whoiselisalam.org. Look at the Illuminati card Eliza. Her FB page was started by military."
LA authorities ruled in June 2013 that Elisa Lam’s death was accidental and that she was “probably bi-polar”. That being said, some questions remain unanswered. How did Elisa, who was obviously not in her right mind, end up in the hotel’s water tank, an area that is difficult to access? Here’s a news report describing the water tank area.
As the reporter states in the video, the rooftop area is protected by an alarm system and the water tank is difficult to reach. How did Elisa reach that area? Also, how did she close the water tank lid?
As is usually the case for strange deaths, authorities have been incredibly secretive and non-transparent during this investigation. What truly happened here? Why are there so many strange coincidences? Why was Elisa Lam acting so strange in the elevator? Was there a ritualistic aspect to this death? Why is the Cecil Hotel a hotbed for these kinds of stories? Is there some paranormal stuff going on there involving dark entities? The mystery appears to be whole and authorities do not seem to be wanting to probe further.
A YouTube user recently claimed that the Elisa Lam CCTV footage had been slowed down and possibly edited. He makes a case that the tape was tampered with and that we have not yet seen the full extent of Elisa Lam’s final video appearance.
Obviously, more investigation would have to be conducted to confirm whether or not the video was actually slowed down and edited. The timestamp jump certainly does seem suspicious. But then again, everything in a conspiracy theory must, by definition, seem suspicious.
Comments
Netti· 3 weeks ago
its clearly ritual murder. God save us all from this evil.
Kathleen· 3 weeks ago
Habitual, grave sin opens one to the influence of the demonic.
The influence of the demonic is not limited to green pea soup spitting full possession. There are various degrees and types of diabolical influence.
Influence or infestation of these various types can impact entire families, over multiple generations, or buildings.
Lafite· 3 weeks ago
First of all, she pushed all floor buttons for the ghosts. As to the elevator door remaining open, it’s because there were too many ghosts in the elevator leading to the door not closing because it was overloaded, and her being squeezed to a corner of the elevator proves this point. Hopping and gesticulating by the door was her discussing the situation with the ghosts, asking some of the ghosts to get out of the elevator to reduce the weight. From this we can see, there will always be things that man’s science is unable to explain, or there really is another dimension. This is purely one’s point of view, if you don’t like it, don’t read it.
Patricia· 3 weeks ago
I don't know as I saw the elevator and the I sworn I saw the devil.if you look well and if you could see his horns inside the elevator its so weird that girl .something somebody possessed that girl's body.
Skegeeace· 3 weeks ago
Totally unnerving. Perhaps she was a ritual sacrifice infected with TB and dumped into the water tanks to contaminate others. Surely, it would spread all over the place- especially among the poor with their low-immunity from malnutrition and lack of access to health care/vaccination. (Skid Row is traditionally home to the poor, right?) And her NAME...being the reverse of the name of the TB testing kits?! If that's true, I definitely smell satan worshipers. They do lots of things in reverse for their black magick rituals.
People, your only defense is Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If you're not under their protection, then you're susceptible to evil attacks. Some aren't that extreme, but this one clearly was.
Kim· 3 weeks ago
The way she moved her hands reminded me of the way my bearded dragon "waves" her arms. Same wrist-down, flat palm, fingers-up shape. That was the first thing I thought of. I don't think that is relevant at all, but it startled me how much she resembled a reptile with those movements.
Jordan· 3 weeks ago
When she pressed all the buttons, she obviously hit the "Door Hold" button as well. She doesn't have her glasses on. Come on people...
Dylan Barrett· 3 weeks ago
I wonder if the hotel staff are in on it, the fact that it seems as if the person doing security could see her on camera and probably hear her and held the doors for staff to get there.... the staff knew not to walk in front of the cameras..... there is no mention of why she was there or who she was with..... or why no one mentioned the taste or colour of the water on the news report..... if her clothes were off were they piled on the ground, thrown about the roof, missing entirely.... I wonder if some of the other deaths were of people who found out that staff might be running some secret underground stuff to keep them in business.... I woman staying there hears a lady scream finds out staff are helping elitist people commit ritualistic murders.... lady gets thrown out the window....... the whole thing is written up by crooked cops and payed off coroners as a suicide..... Elisa Lam was probably drugged and prepped for a ritualistic murder till she escaped and staff needed to keep things under control without getting caught........
Syrus· 3 weeks ago
Last time a lightning bolt struck one of the Illuminati's messengers while he was en route with their world domination plans, which were immediately found by the local authorities and that directly led to the group's official dissolution. I wonder what more it could take this time to really shut the Cabal down. I don't like these people.
aggelos· 3 weeks ago
Drowning is also used in ritual sacrifices, ie whitney houston...
Yaz· 3 weeks ago
I'm surprised that everyone has failed to see the most creepy part of the entire video!!!
2:57: the elevator door closes (and seems to work fine)
3:13: the elevator opens on a DIFFERENT FLOOR!!!, the wallpaper is different!
It seems like perhaps "something" in the elevator perhaps went UP a few floors, to possibly complete the sacrifice!!
Notice that it took almost 20 seconds, which means that the elevator either went far down or far up. It most probably is far up. I bet that if the elevator had gone down it would be at the reception floor - not likely after an incident like that. It was going UP!
And also, no one had pressed the elevator button, since no person was present on the other floor. That means that something inside the elevator pressed on something, perhaps what floor "something" wanted to get to.
Is it just me or is there a dark entity in the center of the entire video??
max· 3 weeks ago
I'm sorry but I am far more disturbed that people were drinking cadaver juice for weeks than the actually mystery of her death. That is vile.
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p.s. Hey. A silent reader of this blog who wishes to be known to one and all as LJX3 has brought the very weird death of Elisa Lam to bear on us today. It's a fascinating thing if you don't already know about it. Please solve the mystery or join the head scratchers as you see fit, thanks, and thanks largely and gratefully to our kind guest-host. Otherwise, I'm back from Berlin. The trip was terrific. It looks like the porn film project is a go. We'll see, but I hope to be able to make some kind of official announcement type of thing in the next few weeks. ** Wednesday ** Bill, Hi, B. The trip was great, very quick, but accomplished, I guess, and we saw some art and fun stuff. I just saw the email about your friend. Is he here now? Uh, I'll write to you, and hopefully we can meet up. Thanks! ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you, sir. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh. Oh, that's interesting. I'm most interested in things that scare me to some degree, but compel me just as much, so ... Like-minds or like-nervous systems? ** Steevee, That sounds like a solid theory to me. ** Dan, Hey! Yes, I was away and out of touch, but we're in touch now, and it looks like everything's getting solved and done, cool. Thank you so much! ** Bill Porter, Hi, Bill. Uh, no, I don't think I saw 'The American'. Cool sounding credits thing. I bet I'll get my chance on my next long plane trip, if nothing else. Plane in-flight movie itineraries love Clooney. How are you? What's going on? ** Etc etc etc, Hey, man. I'll save my 'great to talk to you' for the appropriate later weekend comment response. You know, I still haven't read 'IB', which has been staring at me from my book pile for ages, and I haven't seen 'The Canyons' either 'cos, I don't know, I just don't seem to be able to find an impetus to watch it. I'm with you on the 'Zero' to 'Lunar Park' straight flush. ** Jeffrey Coleman, Wow, hi, Jeff! Really great to see you! There was a tunnel or a drain pipe or something near the house where I grew up where I used to drug with friends too. Interesting. When I read what you wrote, I got a feeling of possible tunnel interest's origin bell ringing in my head. Anyway, yeah, how are you? I'd love to know. Take care. ** Thursday ** David Ehrenstein, Nice pix, thanks! ** Matty B, Hi, Matty! Believe it or not, you'll be finally getting a thing in an email from me today. You're painting again! That's awesome news! You gonna share what you're working on somewhere at some point, I hope? ** Brendan, A house? Serious. In East Hollywood? Nice. Where? How was Vegas? I was there a few weeks back. Stayed at the Bellagio. Did the rides atop the Stratosphere (or rather watched Zac do them due to my huge heights fear), did the Neon Museum, did 'Dig This!', did food, did walking, did the Turrells at that mall/hotel, blah blah. Miami, cool. What are you showing? No clue on the next LA trip at the moment. I was just there, albeit briefly, for Halloween spooky house exploring. Probably not for a while. When's your next Paris trip? ** Friday ** David Ehrenstein, Thanks for commenting. It would have been weird and sad and a first if the comments arena was totally empty that day. ** Saturday ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Oh, sweet about the card. So incredibly well worth the wait. Thank you! ** Sypha, Hi, James. Yeah, I thought I would surprise you. That was pts 1 &a 2 combined, yes. True, so many terrific artist possibilities for the cover art. Have you narrowed down the candidates at all? No, I don't think you ever told me that story about Rigby and Philip Best. That's pretty cool that Best knows about my blog. Share that pic if you can and don't mind. And thank you once again for the awesome post. ** Grant maierhofer, Hi Grant! Thanks a lot for your email. I just found it this morning. New Death Grips album is fantastic. They are so, so smart and interesting, those guys. The McQueen film isn't over here yet, but I'll see it, for sure. Fugazi! You have a favorite LP of theirs? I think mine would be 'In On the Kill Taker'. I haven't read 'YBARA' in ages, but I really, really liked it when I did. So him and yet so not the him we've come to know and complicatedly love. I'm good, great, really busy, but in the best way. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. ** Rewritedept, Hi, Chris. Nice to see you. It's been a while. Sweet and congrats on the new computer. I was in Berlin. It was both successful as far as the intended mission went and fun besides. I need to get Body/Head. I'm so behind. Meetings? Like what kind? Yeah, talk soon, I hope. ** Creative Massacre, I don't think I've ever seen even a whole episode of 'Dr. Who' in any of its incarnations, which is weird since tons of people I know, like you, seem very into it. 'Geocaching', ... no. I don't know it. How do you play? GPS game ... how does that work? Is it an app or something? Sounds kind of quite cool. Take care, M! ** Steevee, Hey. Wait, how is McQueen the von Trier of the UK? Hm. Yeah, how? I like McQueen's stuff mostly, which means mostly his visual art, but you know how I feel about von Trier. I just read something about Penny Penny somewhere that made me in intrigued. In The Wire, probably. Huh, I'll check it out. Thanks much for the tip. ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T! The trip was swell, thanks. I did hear the new Xiu Xiu. I like it a bunch. Very curious about the new album, for sure. What do you know or think about his 'quitting music' thing? ** Bill, Hi, B. Yeah, the trip was mostly about trying to nail down whether the porn film has a producer and a course of action, etc., and it looks like it does. Otherwise, mm, walked around, saw a big Anish Kapoor show, went to the Bless private sale, went to the Hamburger Bahnhof museum, ate quite good Mexican food, did one of the 'Berlin Underground' tours of the old bunker system, and this and that. Very nice. ** Etc etc etc, Hey, Casey. It was really great to talk yesterday, for sure. Thanks a bunch. Yeah, at some point I hope I'll feel ready to see if I can salvage anything from the failed George Miles novel. The wound is still a little too fresh right now. The impetus to write the Cycle for George was, no surprise, very complicated and big. I feel like it would be impossible to nail down without too much thinking and talking for the p.s. context. In fact, one of the reasons I'd wanted to write the filed GM novel was to try to explain that at length. It was both a hugely emotional decision to do the Cycle for him and a strategic one because putting him or his resemblance/essence at the center of the novels controlled my emotions and priorities and so on. The direct novel for/about George that I tried to write failed for so many, many reasons. I chose the wrong strategy to begin with, and I was so emotionally overwrought by writing it that I didn't realize my mistake until extremely too late. I couldn't find a way to convey him or our relationship. I always write from confusion and through confusion and about confusion, but that project was too confusing, and I could never find a way around how, since he's dead, and since no else has ever written about him, I would end up owning his memory, a thing that makes me extremely uncomfortable. I don't know. A lot of reasons why it didn't work. Too many reasons. That was the problem. Thank you a lot for wanting to know, man. Do send the bite-size piece when you can and like, thank you! ** Misanthrope, Hi, George. The trip was great, yeah, thanks. Very cool about the XboxOne's timely surprise arrival, and that you're obviously having a great time with LPS. Oh, shit, about the medication price increase thing. That's insane! Wtf?! Well, awesome, to say the least, that your doc found you a solution. Whoa, man. ** Okay. We're caught up. Please spend your local time poring over the post today, and thank you, everyone. And I will see you tomorrow.