Elisa Lam Wiki
Elisa Lam Biography
Elisa Lam was a young woman who died mysteriously at the Cecil Hotel in 2013 in Los Angeles. Her tragic death became food for conspiracy theories and internet detectives after police released images of her behaving strangely in an elevator in hopes of piecing together what happened to Lam.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel delves into her death, the theories surrounding her disappearance, and speculations about paranormal activity at the Cecil Hotel. The first season launched on Netflix on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.
You can view the elevator surveillance video here or later in this post.
Lam’s Body Was Found in a Tank That Supplied Water to the Cecil Hotel & Her Death Was Ruled Accidental
Lam, 21, was on a solo trip when he checked into the Stay on Main in the Los Angeles slum, a budget hostel that shares an elevator with Hotel Cecil. She was last seen alive on January 31, 2013, and was reported missing. On February 19, 2013, her body was found naked in a water tank on the roof of Hotel Cecil, 20 days after she was unable to leave her room and the police opened their investigation. Her body was found when a hotel employee was sent to check the water tanks. Some guests reported low water pressure and cloudy water, Esquire reported.
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Lam’s death was accidental caused by drowning and cited bipolar disorder as a significant contributing factor. In the Netflix documentary, the coroner said that she had not been taking all of her prescription drugs in the days leading up to her death.
However, the web detectives questioned how she died after the elevator surveillance footage was released. They asked how she was able to climb onto the locked roof and climb a ladder to enter the tank, which was closed with a 20-pound hatch. Internet detectives also questioned the striking similarities to the 2005 film “Dark Water.” Another conspiracy centered on an outbreak of tuberculosis in Skid Row at the time. The government administered tuberculosis test was called “Lam-Elisa”.
Tales of Crime detailed another strange detail.
“The last known person who saw Elisa Lam was Katie Orphan, the manager of The Last Book Store. If she performs a whois lookup on Katie’s website, she will see that she has purchased the domain’s privacy; however, she gives him a zip code address: V5G 4S2, ”the website read. “By typing the zip code into Google Maps, she will arrive at a city in Canada, at the exact location where Elisa Lam’s funeral took place.”
Lam Was Recorded on Surveillance Footage at the Cecil Hotel Shortly Before Her Mysterious Death & Disappearance
The Los Angeles Police Department released a video of Lam in an elevator at the Cecil Hotel, after he was reported missing and before his body was found in a water tank. The video spurred conspiracy theories about her disappearance. In the two-minute 26-second video, she is seen wearing the same clothing found inside the tank, along with her naked body of hers: a red hoodie, black shorts, and sandals.
“Surveillance video of Elisa Lam, 21, the Canadian woman found dead in the water tank on the roof of the Hotel Cecil, shows her acting strangely in the elevator of the Los Angeles hotel,” says the description of the YouTube video, posted by CBS. News.
The video shows Lam entering the elevator and pressing various buttons. The door does not close and she repeatedly peeks in and out of the elevator. At one point, she appears to be hiding behind the metal wall of the elevator. She eventually pushes more buttons in the elevator. At another point, she steps out of the elevator and moves her arms in strange movements. The video ends with Lam out of the elevator. The elevator doors did not close during the video.
“It’s like she’s trying to get away from something, but she couldn’t, poor girl,” wrote one person in the comments on the YouTube video.
Lam’s Tumblr Account Remains Active & Was Used by LAPD in Their Investigation Into Her Death
Lam was very active on Tumblr, and almost a decade after her death, her account remains active. You can still read Lam’s blog, nouvelle-nouveau, today. Lam posted frequently, often with more than a dozen posts a day.
On January 29, 2013, Lam wrote about her arrival in Los Angeles.
“I have come to Laland … and there is an eyesore of a building next to where I am staying,” she wrote. “When I say monstrosity, I tell you it’s eye-catching, but again it was built in 1928, hence the art deco theme, so yeah, it’s classy, but since it’s Los Angeles, it broke. Pretty sure this is where Baz Lurhmann needs to film the Great Gatsby. ”
In her Tumblr account bio of hers, she quoted author Chuck Palahniuk’s diary.
“You are always haunted by the thought that you are wasting your life,” she wrote.
Lam Was Close With Her Sister, Sarah, & Her Parents Filed a Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against the Cecil Hotel
Lam was close to her family and her sister, Sarah, The Cinemaholic reported. She called her family every day as part of her routine. She was reported missing on February 1, 2021 and she was last seen alive on January 31, 2021. She had not responded to any messages and she did not call home.
Lam’s parents, David and Yinna Lam, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hotel Cecil, which was ultimately dismissed by a Los Angeles Supreme Court judge, who ruled that the hotel could not have foreseen the circumstances that led to the his death, the news outlet reported. The lawsuit stated that the hotel should be required to “inspect and look for hazards in the hotel that present an unreasonable risk of danger to (Lam) and other hotel guests.”
Lam lived with her parents in Vancouver, British Columbia, and she lived with her parents while she attended college. Cinemaholic reported that Elisa Lam and Sarah Lam were close, and the sisters shared a love of fashion.
Zak Bagans of Ghost Adventures Was Inspired to Conduct a Paranormal Investigation at the Cecil Hotel After the Elevator Footage Surfaced & Questioned the Ruling in Lam’s Death
Bagans spoke about his paranormal investigation at the Cecil Hotel in an exclusive interview with Heavy. He said it was the elevator footage that made him decide to investigate the hotel at Ghost Adventures, and said Lam’s death has “haunted” him.
“The images of Elisa Lam’s elevator and the tragic and mysterious circumstances of her death have haunted me for years. In a place like that with so much dark history, serial killers, devil worship, murders and suicides, you can’t help but theorize that she may have been affected by an invisible dark force, “Bagans told Heavy.
She questioned the circumstances surrounding her death and the finding that her death was accidental due to drowning. The facts didn’t add up for him, he told Heavy.
“What strikes me the most is her behavior in the elevator, and how she ended up in a water tank with so many questions about how she could have even climbed on that roof with the access door closed and alarmed. They decided that her death was accidental, but how could he have closed the tank’s heavy metal lid after she supposedly jumped out? Why did her clothes have sand particles in it, showing that they fell to the ground … why was he going to pick them up and throw them into the tank? If he was having a manic episode because of her bipolar disorder, how could he have taken such a calculated trip to end up in the rooftop tank? he said.
