Netflix’s Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel
Photo credit: Netflix
Netflix’s Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel: Elisa Lam(Lam Ho Yi 藍可兒) disappeared from the hotel in 2013. Her body was found nineteen days later in one of the hotel’s water tanks. Why? Because guests complained about the color and taste of the water. This is another documentary that works hard to uncover the truth.
The Cecil Hotel
Can a building or a place hold onto the evil that has resided in it? Or can a building actually be evil?
The argument for this occurring would be The Cecil Hotel.
Built in 1927, the hotel has been a magnet for suicides, murders, and serial killers(yes, killers, plural) from the start. The deaths were largely ignored outside of the city.
Then came the Elisa Lam case.
Elisa Lam
Elisa(Lam Ho Yi 藍可兒) was a young student from Canada. She came to the Cecil hotel, unaware of its dangerous location on Skid Row. Elisa booked a room for three days. Elisa never left. The last known footage of her alive was a strange security camera video.
The Elevator Footage
Internet sleuths poured over the footage released by the hotel, featured here:
Who or what was Alisa running from?
The Conspiracy Theories
Since LAPD was as baffled as the ME that performed the autopsy, the internet went wild. Why was the report never made public? Was it just a simple murder? Not according to the internet.
Theories range from Elisa being a living tuberculosis bioweapon to thin out the homeless, to a cover up by the LAPD, to a death metal singer killing her, to a killer wanting to reenact the plot of Dark Water.
Some of those internet sleuths who investigated really cared about Elisa. But many visited the crime scene for clicks, and I think that is abhorrent. I suppose many more will, thanks to this documentary.
The internet can come together and do great things, but the internet can also impede. The documentary shows both elements.
Was It Paranormal?
The hotel does have the distinction of being a magnet for horrible things. Did Elisa play a popular paranormal game, and actually summon something in Cecil’s haunted halls? Had Elisa been possessed by something that inhabits the hotel?
This short documentary covers some areas that the Netflix documentary doesn’t:
Elisa’s Mental Illness
Elisa took medicine for bipolar disorder, but is it that simple? New evidence in this documentary may show that Elisa stopped taking her meds, and she was behaving oddly. Not only this, but her behavior could have made her a target for the hotel’s more permanent, criminal element.
Elisa’s Legacy
The documentary reveals that many still read Elisa’s blogs, and comment. Elisa’s story doesn’t end at the Cecil. It hasn’t ended. She has become the face of mental illness to many, inspiring them to keep on, to live and hope. Hopefully, this has given her the ability to rest in peace.
What Is the Truth?
You’ll have to draw your own conclusions, but this excellent documentary will help you on your path.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is available now on Netflix.
