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7 questions we still have about Elisa Lam's death after watching 'Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A viral <keyword id="6762469" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="TikTok">TikTok</keyword> video with over 1 million likes has resurfaced the story of Elisa Lam's mysterious 2013 death.</li><li>Lam, 21 at the time of her death, was found dead in a water tank on top of the Cecil Hotel, which is now known as the Stay at Home hotel. </li><li>Her death has been a cultural fixation since 2013, due in part to viral footage of Lam in an elevator in the hotel as well as the fact that the case remains unsolved.</li></ul><p>A TikTok with nearly 6 million views has resurfaced the questions around Canadian student Elisa Lam's still-mysterious 2013 death at Los Angeles' Cecil Hotel (now known as the Stay on Main hotel), and Google trends data appears to show that interest in the case has risen amid other references of the case in pop <keyword id="24504" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="culture">culture</keyword>.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rfLSVIA0L0">Video of Lam in an elevator</a> prior to her presumed death as well as the mysterious circumstances in which her body was discovered have drawn many to the story, making it one of the most viral <keyword id="1605263" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="true-crime">true crime</keyword> stories of the past decade.</p><h2>Elisa Lam was found dead in a water tank on top of the hotel formerly known as the Cecil in Los Angeles</h2><p>Elisa Lam, 21 at the time of her death, was staying at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, checking in on January 26, 2013. She was last spotted on January 31, 2013. Lam's parents reported her missing in early February, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/20/us/california-hotel-water-corpse/index.html">CNN reported</a>, and her body was found inside a water tank on the hotel's roof on February 19 after a maintenance man investigated it following complaints of low water pressure.</p><p>Medical examiners <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/20/us/california-water-tank-death/index.html">concluded later that year that Lam was the victim of an accidental drowning</a>; Los Angeles robbery-homicide detectives originally treated the case as a suspicious death, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/20/us/california-water-tank-death/index.html">CNN reported</a>, given that the water tank was covered and the door to the roof locked. </p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rfLSVIA0L0">A video of Lam in an elevator on the last day she was seen</a> came under significant scrutiny. In it, Lam pushes multiple buttons upon entry, scans the area outside the elevator, and steps in and out of it, at one point appearing to hide in the corner. Towards the end of the footage, she steps outside the elevator, gesticulates for a brief period of time, and appears to walk away.</p><h2>A viral TikTok reexamined her death</h2><p>The video, from user @saraa.aa_, has amassed over 6 million views and approximately 1.1 million likes in the two days since it was posted, and begins with the caption, "A death that still doesn't sit right with me." Set to a slowed- and pitched-down version of Gotye's 2011 single "Somebody That I Used To Know," @saraa.aa_ then proceeds to show the hotel water tanks in which Lam's body was found as well as the famous elevator footage associated with her death.</p> <p>Comments on the video reveal others' similar reservations regarding the circumstances surrounding Lam's death. </p><p>"I REFUSE to believe she got in those tanks by herself. There's NO way. She def saw something she wasn't supposed to. It looked like she was hiding," one comment with over 90,000 likes reads.</p><p>Other recent TikTok videos have examined Lam's death. <a href="https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJqQcubt/">One from @davedisci,</a> posted four days ago, has amassed approximately 44,600 likes. Another from December 3, <a href="https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJqCeKsf/">posted by @qtchalamet</a>, has amassed over 2,500 likes. Other videos, some which date to more than a year ago, also speak about Lam's death. </p><h2>Lam's death has been a cultural fixation since 2013</h2><p>Given the elevator footage and the fact that the medical examiners officially ruled her the victim of an accidental drowning, many have taken it upon themselves to consider the circumstances of her death. <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3bkmg3/elisa-lam-drowned-in-a-water-tank-two-years-ago-but-the-obsession-with-her-death-lives-on-511">As Vice reported in 2015</a>, the unsolved nature of the case has drawn internet sleuths who have pored over <a href="https://nouvelle-nouveau.tumblr.com/">Lam's Tumblr blog</a> (on which she posted about art and fashion as well as mental health). </p><p>Lam's death also appears to have been an inspiration for 2015's "American Horror Story: Hotel," <a href="https://ew.com/article/2015/08/07/american-horror-story-hotel-lady-gaga/">per comments showrunner Ryan Murphy made to EW</a> ahead of the season's premiere. BuzzFeed Unsolved <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48jBi86ih5Q">did an episode on Lam's death in 2016</a>, prodding at the reputation the hotel - at that point called the Stay at Home hotel - had for being haunted.</p><p>The fixation continues in 2020. A book titled <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gone-Midnight-Mysterious-Death-Elisa/dp/0806540052">"Gone at Midnight: The Tragic True Story Being The Unsolved Internet Sensation,"</a> written by Jake Anderson, was released in February and explored various possibilities surrounding Lam's death. Now, a new season of "Ghost Adventures" on Discovery+ (a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/02/discovery-to-launch-streaming-service-in-january-for-4point99-per-month.html#:~:text=Discovery%20will%20launch%20its%20streaming,free%2C%20depending%20on%20their%20plan.">streaming service set to launch in January</a>) will<a href="https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/ghost-adventures-cecil-hotel-discovery-elisa-lam/"> investigate the Cecil Hotel.</a></p><p>Google Trends data appears to show an uptick of interest in the term "Elisa Lam" in recent days.</p> <p>Whether that's due to @saraa.aa_'s viral TikTok, the upcoming "Ghost Adventures" season, or other internet ephemera, it's clear that there's still interest in the circumstances surrounding Lam's death.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elisa-lams-death-ruled-accidental-2013-6">Mysterious Death Of Woman Found Dead In LA Hotel Water Tower Ruled Accidental</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-horror-story-fun-facts-2018-10">13 surprising things you never knew about 'American Horror Story'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/la-officials-issued-a-do-not-drink-order-after-a-dead-body-turned-up-in-a-hotel-water-tank-2013-2">Dead Body Turns Up In Hotel Water Tank In Los Angeles</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/us-cold-cases-true-crime-2018-4">The most notorious unsolved crime in every state</a></li></ul>

A viral TikTok is resurfacing the mysterious death of Elisa Lam, whose body was found in a hotel water tank

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The infamous Cecil Hotel is the focus of a new <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword> true-crime series, premiering February 10. </li><li>The show focuses on the disappearance of Elisa Lam, whose body was found in the hotel's water tank.</li><li>But numerous other deaths and tragedies have taken place at the Cecil throughout the years. </li></ul><p>The Cecil Hotel is undoubtedly one of Los Angeles' most notorious landmarks. </p><p>Located in the heart of the city's downtown, a few blocks away from Skid Row (a neighborhood with a large population of homeless people), the Cecil was built in the 1920s. </p><p>Following the onset of the Great Depression a few years later, however, the hotel fell into decline. With its cheap rooms (available for daily or monthly stays) and proximity to Skid Row, the hotel earned a reputation in later years as a haven for drug addicts, sex workers, serial killers, and down-and-out people in Los Angeles. And in the years since, many untimely deaths have occurred at the hotel.</p><p>Netflix's new series ,"<keyword id="39494" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Crime">Crime</keyword> Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel," examines one of these deaths, which involved Canadian college student Elisa Lam, whose body was later found in one of the hotel's water tanks. </p><p>Lam's death was heartbreaking and unusual, but she's not the only tragedy the hotel has seen. Ahead of the show's February 10 premiere, here are nine chilling facts about the Cecil Hotel. </p><div type="image" title="cecil hotel black dahlia_edited 1" height="900" width="1200" msid="80790090" hostid="261"></div><h2>Elizabeth Short, also known as the 'Black Dahlia,' was rumored to have visited the Cecil before her grisly 1947 murder</h2><p>The 22-year-old's body was found in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles several days after she went missing. </p><p>Because of the graphic nature of the crime (Short's corpse was bisected at the waist and severely mutilated, with cuts carved into both sides of her mouth up to her ears), the murder caused a media frenzy and a nationwide search for the killer. </p><p>After Short's death, numerous reports claiming the <a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/cecil-hotel-los-angeles">aspiring actress had been seen at the Cecil Hotel before her murder</a> have proliferated.</p><p>However, these reports have been <a href="https://ladailymirror.com/2014/01/29/black-dahlia-and-the-cecil-hotel-another-good-story-ruined/">disputed by some</a>, and Short's case remains unsolved to this day. </p><h2>Numerous people have died by suicide at the Cecil over the years</h2><p>The Cecil also saw numerous suicides shortly after it was built. In 1934, an Army Sergeant <a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/cecil-hotel-los-angeles">died by suicide with a straight razor, and in 1937, a member of the Marine Corps leapt from the top of the building</a>. </p><p>During the 1950s, many died by suicide while staying at the hotel, primarily by jumping from the building's windows. </p><p>Helen Gurnee, 50, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/us/california-horror-hotel/index.html">died by suicide in that manner in 1954, followed by 50-year-old actress Julia Moore and 27-year-old Pauline Otton in 1962</a>. Otton's suicide caused the death of 65-year-old bystander George Gianni, who was walking underneath the hotel when she jumped. </p><div type="image" title="cecil hotel 2013" height="2582" width="3443" msid="80790091" hostid="261"></div><h2>A teenage mom murdered her baby there after an unexpected birth</h2><p>Dorothy Jean Purcell was 19 when she unwittingly gave birth to a baby boy while staying at the hotel with her 38-year-old companion. </p><p>Purcell reportedly didn't know she was pregnant, and, thinking her newborn hadn't survived the birth, <a href="https://screenrant.com/american-horror-story-season-5-cecil-hotel-true-story/">threw him out of the hotel's window</a>. She was <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20114286/purcell-baby-tossed-out-window/">subsequently arrested</a>, but later <a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/cecil-hotel-los-angeles">admitted to a hospital for psychiatric treatment</a>. </p><h2>An eccentric local woman was found sexually assaulted and murdered at the hotel in 1964</h2><p>The murder of "Pigeon Goldie" Osgood rocked the community after she was found <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/us/california-horror-hotel/index.html">strangled, stabbed, and sexually assaulted in her room at the Cecil in 1964</a>. </p><p>Osgood was known throughout the neighborhood for feeding the pigeons at Pershing Square nearby, which is how she earned her nickname.</p><p>Her case <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/us/california-horror-hotel/index.html">remains unsolved</a>. </p><div type="image" title="richard ramirez" height="1487" width="1983" msid="80790096" hostid="261"></div><h2>Richard Ramirez famously stayed at the hotel during the height of his killing spree</h2><p>Over the span of several months in 1984 through 1985, Ramirez sexually assaulted and murdered dozens of people -<a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-night-stalker-documentary-richard-ramirez-what-to-know-2021-1"> eventually earning the moniker "The Night Stalker" </a>as his late-night crimes terrorized much of Los Angeles. </p><p>Before his capture and arrest in August 1985, Ramirez was staying in a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/us/california-horror-hotel/index.html">room on the top floor of the Cecil for $14 a night</a>.</p><p>After killing a victim, he <a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/cecil-hotel-los-angeles">reportedly returned to the hotel,</a> tossed his bloody clothing into the dumpster behind the hotel, and made his way up to his room naked. </p><p>Given the Cecil's colorful array of guests and residents, Ramirez's bizarre behavior largely went unnoticed. </p><div type="image" title="jack unterweger 1992" height="1195" width="1593" msid="80790097" hostid="261"></div><h2>Another serial killer, Austrian Jack Unterweger, also frequented the Cecil</h2><p>Unterweger was suspected of killing nearly a dozen women, primarily sex workers, in both Austria and the United States from 1990 to 1991.</p><p>His American killing spree <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/08/03/killer-prose/796b8f84-0ee1-437e-9cd6-6496cbecbbe6/?noredirect=on">reportedly began after he traveled to Los Angeles to write about sex work and crime for an Austrian magazine</a>. </p><p>While he was in California, three sex workers were strangled with their own bras - much like Unterweger's Austrian victims.</p><p>Unterweger himself stayed at the Cecil during his trip to Los Angeles, in what <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/us/california-horror-hotel/index.html">some suspect was a macabre tribute to his fellow serial killer, Ramirez</a>. </p><p>The native Austrian was later <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/08/03/killer-prose/796b8f84-0ee1-437e-9cd6-6496cbecbbe6/?noredirect=on">apprehended in Miami after fleeing law enforcement</a> in both Europe and the United States.</p><p>In 1994, he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/08/03/killer-prose/796b8f84-0ee1-437e-9cd6-6496cbecbbe6/?noredirect=on">committed suicide in an Austrian prison after being found guilty of nine murders, including the three in Los Angeles</a>. </p><div type="image" title="elisa lam hotel cecil missing poster" height="2199" width="2932" msid="80790099" hostid="261"></div><h2>Canadian student Elisa Lam's body was found in a water tank on the hotel's roof, after she'd been missing for several weeks</h2><p>The 21-year-old had traveled to Los Angeles from her native British Columbia, and had stayed at the Cecil Hotel before going missing on January 31, 2013. </p><p>Lam's disappearance sparked an investigation by law enforcement in early February 2013.</p><p>During the investigation, it came to light that Lam had been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. After not making any progress for several weeks, the Los Angeles Police Department released the now-infamous footage of Lam in the hotel's elevator, behaving erratically and eerily appearing as if she was hiding from someone. </p><p>Lam's body was later discovered in the hotel water tank on February 19 after guests at the Cecil had complained of low water pressure and strange-tasting water.</p><p>Despite numerous theories about her disappearance and how she came to be in the tank, authorities ultimately ruled her death an accidental drowning. </p><h2>The Discovery channel show 'Ghost Adventures' recently dedicated an episode to the Cecil</h2><p>Many believe that the hotel is a hotbed for paranormal activity, given the numbers of suicides, murders, and accidental deaths that have occurred there over the years.</p><p>And in a special episode that aired January 4, "Ghost Adventures" took a closer look at the Cecil's disturbing past. </p><p>During the episode, a group of paranormal investigators - led by host Zak Bagans - <a href="https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/ghost-adventures/articles/ghost-adventures-cecil-hotel">explore the Cecil, including the roof where Lam's body was found, and the room where Ramirez reportedly stayed</a>.</p><p>As they delve further into the Cecil's sordid and tragic history, the crew come to believe that the Cecil is filled with paranormal activity, leading to unusual audio and video recordings. They also investigate whether or not Ramirez, who was reportedly a Satanist, may have caused a demonic infestation at the hotel. </p><p>The investigators ultimately conclude that dark energy of the Cecil's past has continued to spread throughout the hotel. </p><div type="image" title="sarah paulson ahs hotel" height="946" width="1263" msid="80790101" hostid="261"></div><h2>The Cecil's reputation is so notorious that an entire season of 'American Horror Story' was based on the hotel's dark history</h2><p>The fifth season of the hit series, which had the subtitle "Hotel," premiered in 2015 and starred Lady Gaga along with Ryan Murphy mainstays Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Evan Peters, and Angela Bassett.</p><p>It took place at the fictional Hotel Cortez, but it was apparently based on the Cecil Hotel.</p><p>While the show focuses on two bloodthirsty vampires and the demonic ghosts, who call the Cortez home, suicides, drug overdoses, and murders are also incorporated into the plot - a clear reference to the real-life tragedies at the Cecil Hotel. </p>

9 chilling facts about the Cecil Hotel, an infamous Los Angeles landmark that inspired Netflix's newest show

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7 questions we still have about Elisa Lam's death after watching 'Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel'

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A viral TikTok is resurfacing the mysterious death of Elisa Lam, whose body was found in a hotel water tank

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9 chilling facts about the Cecil Hotel, an infamous Los Angeles landmark that inspired Netflix's newest show

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