Mystery: After all, what could have happened to Elisa Lam?

You may recall the case of Elisa Lam, a 21-year-old Canadian girl who, in early 2013, was found dead inside one of the water tanks at her hotel. The fatality occurred at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, California, and investigating authorities classified the case as accidental drowning.

A necropsy performed on Lam's body revealed no sign of violence, and drug testing did not indicate the presence of drugs or alcohol. However, the strange circumstances surrounding the girl's drowning raised many suspicions, prompting the emergence of various conspiracy theories to explain the case.

Bizarre Behavior

Image Source: Reproduction / USA Today

The body was found by a hotel worker inside one of four water tanks - almost 2.5 meters high and 1.2 in diameter each - installed on the building's terrace. The boy went there to check what was wrong after some guests began to complain about lack of water pressure.

According to reports, although the water tanks are unlocked, the interior was difficult to access and no one can explain how Lam ended up inside one of them. In fact, it was necessary to cut the structure to remove the body. In addition, the hotel's elevator security camera recorded the moment the Canadian woman climbed onto the terrace, and the images revealed a very bizarre behavior. Check it out below:

As you can see, Lam enters the elevator and, realizing that it does not move, presses all the buttons. Then she begins to act very strange, as if scared and hiding from someone. Then the girl comes out of the elevator, starts gesturing like she's talking to someone, and disappears. Lam was traveling alone, and officials believe she suffered from bipolar disorder, something significant for the investigation.

Conspiracy theories

Elisa Lam and Elizabeth Short Image Source: Reproduction / Richard Schave

Lam stayed at the Cecil Hotel, known for offering cheap downtown accommodation to foreign tourists. However, in addition to the daily rates, the hotel also rented rooms for long periods, and gained a rather sinister reputation after harboring guests there as well as suspects and even serial killers such as Richard Ramirez, responsible for the death of 13 women, and Johann Unterweger, who we already talked about here at Mega Curioso.

In addition to these illustrious figures, Cecil has also been the scene of suicides, murders and accidental deaths, as well as a series of macabre coincidences. Some draw parallels between the hotel and Elizabeth Short, who was brutally murdered in 1947 and known as "Black Dahlia." Apparently, Short would have passed Cecil before disappearing, and the crime would be full of ritualistic aspects.

What's more, the conspirators also come the relationship between the hotel and the movie “Black Water”, whose main characters are called Dhalia and Cecilia, that is, their names would have been inspired by the nickname of Elizabeth Short and the name of the hotel. In the feature film, the two protagonists - mother and daughter - move into a haunted apartment, later discovering that a girl had drowned in a tank on the top floor of the building.

Mystery

Scene from the movie "Black Water" Image source: Reproduction / IMDb

Because of these and other coincidences - not to mention the oddities surrounding Lam's death - many people believe that although the authorities have reported the case as resolved, there are still many unanswered questions. Had the young woman really died accidentally? What about the hotel's history, would the building be haunted? Who was the Canadian hiding from? What did she talk to before she disappeared?

***

And you, the reader, had heard of this mysterious case? Do you believe the explanation given by the authorities is valid? What is your opinion about Elisa Lam's bizarre behavior inside the elevator? Be sure to make your guess in the comments.

* P Mega Curioso's editorial team thanks reader Janinni França, who sent us the suggestion to publish this article!

** Originally posted on 10/28/2013.