Elisa Lam was a Canadian tourist going on a solo trip to the California coast. On her journey, she stayed at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The Cecil Hotels seem to have a grim history, with multiple suicides and accidental deaths occurring there. It was also a place where many of its residents were struggling with mental health, drug abuse, and homelessness. Elisa Lam had been known to struggle with mental health, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression. In the past, she has suffered episodes of hallucinations and delusion as a result of not taking her prescribed medication, even being consequently hospitalized once before. During her stay at the Cecil Hotel, she was moved out from her roommate’s hotel room and into her own after two days of staying, as her roommates complained of her strange behavior. Furthermore, she would leave notes to her roommates telling them to “go home” and to “go away” and would lock herself in her room. She even had to be escorted out by security whilst attending a viewing of a talk show, due to her erratic behavior becoming distracting to others.
Elisa Lam disappeared when she was scheduled to check out of the Cecil Hotel on January 31st, 2013. After her disappearance, the other residents began to complain about the water, some reporting it was black or tasted unusual. After another week had passed with no sign of Elisa Lam, on February 13, the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) released a surveillance video taken from the hotel’s elevator. This infamous recording of Elisa Lam was the last known sighting before her disappearance and consisted of very odd behavior being displayed by her. Throughout the video, Elisa Lam would repeatedly peek her head out from the door and look around, then quickly go back inside and stand in the corner of the elevator. She appears very paranoid, acting as if she is attempting to hide from something. Just eight days later after this video was released to the public, Elisa Lam was finally found. A hotel maintenance worker had found Elisa Lam’s lifeless body floating in one of the water tanks on the hotel’s roof.
What really happened to Elisa Lam? Some speculate that she was murdered, others going as far as to theorize ghosts and possessions being involved. However, neither of these are likely the case. A more plausible theory is that Elisa Lam suffered from a psychotic episode due to her bipolar disorder, causing her to become overly paranoid and believe that she was in danger, where she then climbed into the water tank in an attempt to escape a perceived threat. This is supported by the fact that after her body was discovered and autopsy reports were done, there seemed to be no evidence of physical trauma or sexual assault, with the absence of prescribed medications indicating that she had recently stopped taking her medication. Furthermore, her scent trail ended near the hotel’s fire escape, a place that is easily accessible to the roof. In the end, Elisa Lam’s death was concluded as accidental drowning.