She Was Found Floating In A Water Tank On The Roof Of The Cecil Hotel, An Establishment Infamous For Its Dark Past
At the start of 2013, one of the most shocking stories of the year unraveled after the body of college student Elisa Lam was found floating in one of the water tanks on the roof of the Cecil Hotel in California, a hotel famous for its dark history.
If you don’t know Elisa’s tragic and bizarre story, here’s what you need to know.
The year she mysteriously died, Elisa Lam was a bright 21-year-old Canadian student who attended the University of British Columbia. At the time, Elisa was traveling the U.S. and exploring the California coast.
In late January, Elisa checked in to the Stay on Main hotel, which had previously been converted from the Cecil Hotel and has had its fair share of bizarre guest deaths and ghost stories. Elisa allegedly stayed in a room with roommates at first, but due to strange behavior on her part, she was eventually moved into a single room.
The last anyone had seen Elisa was on January 31st, 2013, the same day she also stopped making her daily calls to her parents, which she had been doing every day prior. The staff at the hotel noticed Elisa didn’t check out of her room on time, and her parents grew more concerned when they couldn’t get a hold of her.
Elisa’s parents contacted the Los Angeles Police Department to report her missing and flew to California to search for her. The police searched the hotel with dogs but found no sign of Elisa.
By the time February rolled around, guests at the hotel began noticing issues with the water. The water pressure was never consistent; sometimes, it would run black for a while before returning to clear. Guests who drank tap water at the hotel reported an awful, strange taste.
On February 13th, police released elevator security footage from the hotel on January 31st, which showed Elisa exhibiting some strange behavior. She made unusual gestures and looked like she was talking to someone off-camera. Elisa jumped in and out of the elevator and eventually walked away, disappearing from view. It ended up being the only footage of her last known sighting.
Complaints about the hotel’s water supply continued as the days progressed, so on February 19th, a hotel maintenance worker went to the roof of the Cecil Hotel and opened one of the 1,000-gallon water tanks. Inside, he shockingly found Elisa’s lifeless body floating in it. Her clothes were in the tank with her, but she was undressed.
schankz – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
After Elisa was found, it was extremely unclear how she had gotten onto the roof or into the water tank. There was no evidence of physical trauma on her body, and there were no signs that she had been assaulted or purposefully tried to take her life.
Three days after her body was found, the Los Angeles coroner’s office ruled her death as an accidental drowning.
Elisa allegedly had bipolar disorder, and toxicology reports revealed she wasn’t taking her proper dosage of medication to control it leading up to her death.
Police believed Elisa may have somehow gotten up onto the roof and accidentally fell into or jumped into the water tank with no way of getting out.
Her family attempted to sue the hotel for negligence, but a judge ruled her death an unforeseeable accident, and the lawsuit was dismissed in 2015.
Guests who were impacted by Elisa’s tragic death and the water issues have stated just how shaken they’ve been by the situation, and her death has been the subject of several documentaries and films.
Elisa’s case was closed after her death was officially ruled as accidental. However, people still have many questions regarding the circumstances, and some have theories that something supernatural or foul play was involved. Regardless, her death was devastating and made an impact on the world.
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