The Case of Elisa Lam
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| Photo of Elisa Lam, 21 Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ elisa-lam-canadian-tragedy-turned-american-horror-story-1.3295239 |
THE DISAPPEARANCE
Elisa Lam, 21, was the average girl from Vancouver,
Canada who in January of 2013, decided to take a trip to California. During her
trip she stayed at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. Some witnesses report
everything seemed to be going quite well for Elisa during her trip. However, on
the day when she was supposed to check out of the hotel, she never showed up.
That is when the police was notified about her disappearance and when the
mystery started to emerge.
THE VIDEO
A week into the search for the missing girl, police
released a video which gave this disappearance a whole new meaning. It was the
video footage of Elisa Lam filmed in an elevator of the Cecil Hotel at the
night of her disappearance. This video is one of the most bizarre videos that
could be found online. It showed the girl acting strangely and even paranoid in
an elevator; she was pressing buttons without obvious reasoning, communicating
with someone who is not seen as well as ducking in and out of the elevator as
if she is hiding from someone. The released video reached over three million
views in only ten days quickly turning it into a viral internet obsession of
many who wanted to know what caused this girl to act so bizarrely. To see the
infamous footage, click here. The video was not the only thing which captured
the interest of the internet. Strangely enough, Elisa’s Tumblr blog was updated
several times after her disappearance making this case even more suspicious.
THE RESOLUTION
As the interest in the case was rapidly rising, back
at the Cecil Hotel guests started complaining about the dark sour-tasting water
out of the hotel’s taps. In order to investigate the situation, a hotel
maintenance man went on the roof to inspect the water tank. What he discovered
was shocking at least. He found the dead body inside of the water tank. The police confirmed that it was the body of the
missing girl, Elisa Lam. Although the girl’s body was found, the case was not
closed instead it sparked even questions which are yet to be answered. It is
unknown how the girl managed to get to the roof top since it is protected by
alarmed door. Furthermore, in order for her to get into the water tank she
would have to climb up three-meter ladder and open the large water tank, get in
and close it behind her. It is still not completely known how she managed to
get into the water tank. Eventually, Elisa Lam’s death was ruled as accidental
leaving most of the mysteries unresolved.
STRANGE COINCIDENCES
However, the internet communities were not satisfied
with the resolution and did not rest on this case till this day due to the bizarre
coincidences surrounding this case. Firstly, at the time of Elisa Lam’s death,
the Centers for Disease Control dispatched a team to stem the largest outbreak of
tuberculosis in a decade on Skid Row. It only happens that the Cecil Hotel where
Elisa was staying was on the Skid Row, LA. The name for the test used to identify
the potential victims was LAM-ELISA. Some believed this was way too crazy to be
a coincidence.
Another really strange detail involves the 2005 movie “Dark
Water” whose plot is strangely similar to Elisa Lam’s case. In the movie guests
in a hotel start noticing a strange taste of the tap water only to find out the
reason for it is the girl’s dead body in hotel’s water tank.
Furthermore, internet quickly picked up on the Cecil
Hotel’s dark history and, apparently, Elisa Lam was not the only victim there. Trough
the times there have been numerous suicides, murders and disappearances as well
as serial killers staying at the mentioned hotel. Needless to say that many people
viewed this as not yet another bizarre coincidence. As far as this case goes,
there are just too many strange details for all of them to be coincidences.
WHAT HAPPENED?
As expected numerous different theories were spewed
out about what could have happened to Elisa Lam. One of the first was the one
stating Elisa might have been on drugs. That might explain her erratic behavior
but it does not explain how she managed to get through the alarmed door and
into the water tank. Moreover, during further analysis and autopsy, it was confirmed
that drugs were not found in her body.
Many taught this was obvious murder claiming that she
was hiding from the attacker in the elevator and was eventually murdered in the
water tank. However, autopsy showed no signs of trauma or struggle leaving us
back at the dead end.
Next theory suggests she might have suffered psychotic
episode. Allegedly, Elisa has been suffering from depression and bipolar
disorder which would explain her paranoid behavior in the elevator. It was
reported she was taking medication for the mentioned disorders. However, it
arises the same question of how did she get through the alarmed door and into
the water tank? Many say simplest explanation might be the most valid one.
Therefore, there is a possibility that some of the staff members accidentally left
the door open as well as the water tank. Some claim Cecil Hotel kept quiet
about this to avoid the blame. However since there seemed to be a lot of other really
strange coincidences, some people simply were not satisfied with this explanation.
As if there needed to be something more.
This is where the internet theories took place
claiming various different possibilities of Elisa Lam’s case. Some say she was
murdered by the government because she either knew something she was not
supposed to know or she was a secret guinea pig for the new anti-tuberculosis
drug. Others claim she was involved in a ritualistic play of fanatics who were recreating
the previously mentioned movie Dark Waters. The third claim the girl was
possessed by either a spirit of the hotel or something even darker. There have
been several psychics trying to figure out what happened to Elisa and all
seemed to have suffered extreme nausea and negativity while trying to connect to
her final days. Majority of them claim she had been surrounded by negative
entities during that time.
With so many people intrigued and interested in her
case, it is not a surprise so many theories already exist. The truth is no one
can surely say what happened in those final days of Elisa Lam’s life and it
will probably stay a mystery forever. However, Elisa Lam surely became famous
and more importantly she made us think and question our reality which can
change and switch in a second.
Thanks for a read!
SOURCES:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6681997/Unexplained-mystery-disappearance-and-death-of-Elisa-Lam.html
http://globalnews.ca/news/395438/timeline-the-mysterious-disappearance-of-elisa-lam/
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/how-girl-found-dead-in-water-tank-set-the-internet-on-fire/news-story/860db6d444f6a9eebb4422e180589984
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/20/elisa-lam-death-accidental_n_3474116.html?utm_hp_ref=elisa-lam
http://www.ghosttheory.com/2015/06/10/the-strange-unsolved-case-of-elisa-lam
One of the most bizarre coincidences in the case is this -
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt8lhNNk9So