Mysterious Case of Elisa Lam

[Harry D]

Hey CB,

I'm sure some of you might be aware of this rather unsettling case. Elisa Lam was a 21 year-old Canadian tourist staying in Los Angeles. She was travelling alone and had been in regular contact with her parents until the day she went missing. On February 19, 2013, almost three weeks after her initial disappearance, she was found dead inside a water tank on the roof of Hotel Cecil.

This rather creepy video is the last known footage of Elisa. She walks into the hotel elevator and apparently presses all the buttons. When the elevator doors don't close, she begins to act rather bizarrely. She starts to peek outside as if expecting or hiding from someone. She steps out of the elevator and performs some rather strange hand gestures and then walks away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TjVBpyTeZM

Some people have suggested that the video is nothing more than Elisa having an innocent game of hide n' seek, whereas others sense something more sinister. Her unusual behaviour has also been attributed to possible drug-taking or some kind of mental episode.

What do YOU think?

[Abby Normal]

Hey CB,

I'm sure some of you might be aware of this rather unsettling case. Elisa Lam was a 21 year-old Canadian tourist staying in Los Angeles. She was travelling alone and had been in regular contact with her parents until the day she went missing. On February 19, 2013, almost three weeks after her initial disappearance, she was found dead inside a water tank on the roof of Hotel Cecil.

This rather creepy video is the last known footage of Elisa. She walks into the hotel elevator and apparently presses all the buttons. When the elevator doors don't close, she begins to act rather bizarrely. She starts to peek outside as if expecting or hiding from someone. She steps out of the elevator and performs some rather strange hand gestures and then walks away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TjVBpyTeZM

Some people have suggested that the video is nothing more than Elisa having an innocent game of hide n' seek, whereas others sense something more sinister. Her unusual behaviour has also been attributed to possible drug-taking or some kind of mental episode.

What do YOU think?

Hi Harry
My take is that she was having some kind of mental breakdown (she was known to be bi polar).
I think the elevator images show IMHO that she was hallucinating being followed or chased by something and that in her effort to escape she climbed into the water tank and drowned accidentally or committed suicide.

Her death was officially ruled accidental drowning.

But your right. Very creepy video and a very creepy hotel. Bad vibes for sure in that place.

[Harry D]

Hi Harry
My take is that she was having some kind of mental breakdown (she was known to be bi polar).
I think the elevator images show IMHO that she was hallucinating being followed or chased by something and that in her effort to escape she climbed into the water tank and drowned accidentally or committed suicide.

Her death was officially ruled accidental drowning.

But your right. Very creepy video and a very creepy hotel. Bad vibes for sure in that place.

Hello Abby,

Did the police ever account for how Elisa was able to actually access the roof and seal herself inside the tank?

@2:28 is it me or could that be someone else's foot? At first I thought it was just her trailing foot but upon closer inspection the motion doesn't look right.

[Hatchett]

Hi Harry,

I found that video very disturbing. Was it ever explained why the lift wouldnt work whilst she was in there, and yet the door appears to open and close repeatedly without human direction after she has left it?

Best wishes.

[Sand87]

Yes, it's because whoever [didn't] kill her had some incredible powers. Whilst chasing a woman in a hotel in to an elevator he was able to play aboout with the doors. He could open and close them at will - for no real reason at all but to freak us all out.


Jeeez. Talk about being scared of the unknown and jumping to conclusions. She had a mental breakdown and killed herself on purpose or by accident and what you are seeing are the last minutes of someones life who is in the process of a mental breakdown.


OR

Do you have a theory- a guy- that can trap women in elevetors and mess with them?
Honestly, logic and common sense just does not exist these days.
If you have ever had the missfortune of seeing someone suffering either a breakdown, bi-polar episode or anything similar then you would know this is what is happening.
Those of you (not specficically on tis forum only but also on others) suggesting hiding from killers or ghosts or whatnot have not experienced enough of real life. Work, in fact, just visit a home for severely mentally disturbed people and you will see them act like that ALL day and that is the least of what they'll do.

The only question here is why she wasn't a little better supervised - I don't mean sectioned but at least had someone looking out for the classic signs of mild to severe disturbance which is what you are seeing in this video.

[Harry D]

Hello Sand87,

I don't believe in the paranormal stuff or that someone was manipulating the elevator. She clearly pressed a button or a combination of buttons on the panel to hold it.

While we might be able to observe that Lam was having a psychotic episode judging from her erratic behaviour, that doesn't automatically make this an open and shut case as you're suggesting. There's still the small matter of how she sealed herself inside the water tank.