The vanishing at the Cecil Hotel Elisa Lam

[Tootshoots]

Just out today in Netflix. I am halfway through but plan to be finished by tonight. Thought I'd set up a thread here to discuss. I am so intrigued by this case!

Oh weird! Just watched an episode about this case on Discovery+ and heard a podcast about it years ago. Lots of weird stuff at the Cecil. Wonder what more can be said about the Elisa Lam case? Might watch if there’s something new found out, or is it just Netflix’s own retelling of the case? Is it a whole series??

Just watching the second episode now!

Is this the girl in the lift?

I've just googled we may watch but surely she was on some kind of drugs

I thought this was all cleared up now (as far as it can be)?

I don't want to say what the believed events are in case I spoil it!

Needless to say it's the more plausible explanation...

Horrifying outcome, poor, poor girl.

I can’t even watch the cctv of this case without getting the heebeejeebies. The way she moves her arms, she looks like she’s possessed

Watching it ATM, OP.

Oooooh I have always been fascinated by this case. The video footage of her in the lifts is haunting.

The footage is dodgy as fuck, the place was more or less heaving with criminals, it has 600 rooms and it took 19 days to find her. Of course there was no evidence left The post mortem guy even said there was no evidence of her drowning.

I’m not a CT by any means but come on, LAPD at its finest here.

There's nothing spooky, mysterious or paranormal about this case. Anyone who is into true crime knows that.

Elisa was acutely mentally ill and died from accidental drowning.

Her family have asked that she be allowed to rest in peace but as long as shitty sensationalist docs like this are being made, that isn't going happen. A really tasteless and cynical effort to cash in on the current Netflix true crime trend.

I was going to watch this. Are they going with the possessed/supernatural angle because if so I won't bother. She had mental health problems and died, there is no mystery. Is it just covering the Elisa lam case? I'm more interested in the history of the hotel and the criminals that have stayed there.

@PLAYJAJADINGDONG exactly!

Obviously it wasn’t a ghost or anything like that, but it’s very easy to shift it onto her MH so the LAPD doesn’t have yet another unsolved murder on their files.

@Eyjafjallajokulldottir if you want to hear about the criminals who frequented the Cecil then the series on Discovery+ might interest you. Some dodgy re-enactments though if you can get past that!

I've enjoyed some of the true crime stuff on Netflix, but 2 episodes in and this one really feels like they're just stretching it far too much....

I'd read about the case already so fairly familiar with most of the details, it's got a bit of interesting stuff about The Cecil, Skid Row etc but there is so much nonsense-overly-dramatised-padding just to drag out as many episodes as they can....

And the British couple who went on a cheap holiday to LA without even knowing where they would be staying then surprised they end up in an awful hotel 🙈🤣

Just finished. I wont say anything to spoil it for anyone still watching but the final episode wrapped it up nicely for me. I've always had the Same opinion on what happened and that hasn't changed after watching this.

She had bipolar disorder and was on a cocktail of drugs. I don’t think there’s much more to it than that.

Or what, do you really think she was possessed or something? Come on!

@Tootshoots

Just finished. I wont say anything to spoil it for anyone still watching but the final episode wrapped it up nicely for me. I've always had the Same opinion on what happened and that hasn't changed after watching this.

Just finishing now. I felt much the same. My opinion on what happened has stayed the same, and actually pretty much concrete for me now, after watching this.

I was dying for them to go back to the maintenance man to ask about the lid! That clinched it for me

Watching it now. Those coincidences, especially the Google maps that goes to her burial place were weird though.

Yes! That was very strange. I didn't really get the Tuberculosis link, I need to go back and rewatch that. Also that movie with very similar events! Wow

@PolarnOPirate thanks I'll check it out.

I've watched the first two episodes and as other posters say, they're really dragging it out. Also, why didn't the LAPD check the water tanks when they did the initial search of the roof? Maybe I'm just looking at it with hindsight and its not standard procedure. The bits about skid row are interesting though, and shocking.

DH and I watched three episodes this evening. Poor, poor Elisa

I had heard about the case before and always assumed drugs and/or mental illness were the cause, but learning how dodgy the hotel was makes me wonder about foul play, and DH is convinced this is the case, but we've not finished it yet.

I agree it does feel overly stretched out/padded out, I thought the same about the Night Stalker series on Netflix too.

Watched 1&2 this evening and will finish tomorrow.
Poor girl, just so sad for her.
I always bought into the bipolar attack idea, but the Cecil was a truly awful place so now, with the other info and lack of evidence in general, I’m really not convinced.
I hadn’t realised that the Nightstalker lived in the Cecil too. Nasty place.
I found the hotel manager remarkably cold about the goings on there, I guess maybe you need to have a tough skin to work somewhere like that for 10 years though. The idea of ‘splitting’ the hotel to improve the image and then be able to charge more, so damn corporate!
I might be back for more when I’ve finished.
RIP Elisa, however it came about.