www.bbc.com Open in urlscan Pro
151.101.128.81  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

LET US KNOW YOU AGREE TO COOKIES

We use cookies to give you the best online experience. Please let us know if you
agree to all of these cookies.

Yes, I agree

No, take me to settings

BBC Homepage
 * Skip to content
 * Accessibility Help

 * Sign in


 * Home
 * News
 * Sport
 * Reel
 * Worklife
 * Travel
 * Future
 * More menu

More menu
Search BBC
 * Home
 * News
 * Sport
 * Reel
 * Worklife
 * Travel
 * Future
 * Culture
 * Music
 * TV
 * Weather
 * Sounds

Close menu
BBC News
Menu
 * Home
 * War in Ukraine
 * Climate
 * Video
 * World
 * UK
 * Business
 * Tech
 * Science
 * Entertainment & Arts

More
 * Health
 * World News TV
 * In Pictures
 * BBC Verify
 * Newsbeat

 * Newsbeat




ELISA LAM: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN THE CECIL HOTEL

Published
11 February 2021

Share
close panel
Share page
Copy link
About sharing
Image source, Netflix / LAPD
By Michael Baggs
Newsbeat reporter


A viral video. Online sleuths. An internet mystery. We've been here before,
right?

We have indeed. If you watched Netflix's Don't F*** With Cats in 2019, then some
of their new show The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel might sound familiar to you.

But this documentary series, and the story of Elisa Lam, is something very
different.

Elisa was a 21-year-old Canadian student who disappeared in 2013 at the Cecil
Hotel in downtown Los Angeles while she was travelling across the US.

A video of Elisa, filmed in a hotel elevator before she vanished, went viral
when it was released by LA police during their investigation.

The elevator doors didn't close. She appeared to be speaking with someone
unseen. Her movements were strange. She jumped in and out of the elevator. Then,
she vanished.


Image source, Netflix
Image caption,
CCTV footage from the Cecil Hotel was used to try and trace Elisa's final
moments

Elisa's body was found in a water tank on the hotel's roof 19 days after she was
first reported missing.

Some people said the video was evidence of supernatural activity - and there are
still conspiracy theories about Elisa's disappearance to this day.

And that's one of the reasons director Joe Berlinger wanted to make this series.

"This story has been told before, but I think it's been done very irresponsibly
in the past," Joe tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

"For the average viewer it's another compelling story you watch and then move on
to the next.

"But for who this happened to, it's the worst moment in their life. It's a real
tragedy for that person and that family."




'WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE GHOST STORIES'

The circumstantial evidence in the Elisa Lam case is compelling.

The video, the similarities to the plot of horror movie Dark Water and even
suggested links to a tuberculosis test called Lam-Elisa are all part of what's
driven the conspiracy theories and ghost stories that are still popular online
today.

"We certainly need to talk about the ghost stories and contextualize them," Joe
says.

"It's not like you can avoid it, because that's a big part of the story."

Those ghost stories were partly driven by the findings of 'web-sleuths' who were
working to piece together Elisa's final moments at the same time as the LA
police department.

Several feature in this series, showing the "tunnel-vision" of people if they
only focus on coincidences and conspiracies.



Joe says that sometimes, web-sleuths can do "wonderful things" but in Elisa's
case, "their actions were a little misguided".

Image source, Netflix

Elisa's family don't feature, other than in archive news footage, but they knew
Joe was retelling the story.

"I think they just were wanting to move on," he says.

"If you look at the other tellings of the story, you'd see she's the victim of
some horrible, evil presence that took control of her.

"Those kinds of narratives, I think, are incredibly disrespectful and probably
why the family just didn't want to deal with another show that was going to
exaggerate the circumstances of the tragedy."

The LA police, coroner and manager of the Cecil Hotel at the time do, however,
speak for the first time about what happened.


'I HAVEN'T WATCHED THE OTHER DOCUMENTARIES'

The hotel manager was Amy Price - and it wasn't the first time she'd been asked
to speak about this.

"Usually, I just roll my eyes and think, 'oh, here's another one'," she tells
Newsbeat.

"There have been so many pieces done on this and to be honest, I haven't watched
any of them."

This one, she says, "felt right".

Image source, Netflix
Image caption,
Amy was the manager of the Cecil Hotel at the time of Elisa's disappearance

The Cecil Hotel, at the time of Elisa's disappearance, wasn't a typical hotel.

Set in the heart of downtown LA, which has a massive homelessness problem, some
floors were for visitors like Elisa, while others were short or long-term
accommodation for people who lived in this "skid row" area.

After Elisa's disappearance, fingers were pointed at residents and the hotel
staff, which Amy says was "stressful and heartbreaking."

"From the beginning, when Elisa went missing, I just had a bad feeling about it.

"She was traveling alone and I really thought that she must have gotten mixed up
with the wrong crowd and that wouldn't be hard to do in downtown Los Angeles."

This YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript
or try a different browser.View original content on YouTube
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content
may contain adverts.
Skip youtube video by Netflix

Allow YouTube content?

This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your
permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other
technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy
policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and
continue’.

Accept and continue
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content
may contain adverts.
End of youtube video by Netflix

Before Elisa's death, the hotel already had a bad reputation. It was a place
with a history of suicides, overdoses and a place where several high-profile
serial killers had stayed.

It was even the inspiration for American Horror Story: Hotel, which starred Lady
Gaga as a vampire living in a penthouse.

But for Amy, before Elisa's disappearance, it wasn't a bad place at all.

"There's a lot of darkness that people like to revisit, like Richard Ramirez,
Jack Unterweger and of course, Elisa Lam, but I mean, it wasn't awful to work
there," she says.

"We had a great team, we were running a business, and I enjoyed it."


'HUMANS BEHIND THE FOLKLORE'

And Joe was committed to telling the story of people like Amy, as much as he was
telling Elisa's.

"My reputation for being responsible probably helped convince Amy to talk, and I
think her perspective is really essential," he says.

"There are real human beings behind the folklore.

"These were people who were doing the best they can, with limited resources, to
run a hotel as best they could in a crummy neighbourhood."

Amy's out of the hotel business now and is working as a jewellery designer - and
also writing a book about her own experiences at the Cecil Hotel.

"I want to share my story," she says.

"But this isn't a horror story or anything like that. This is a story about
struggle."

The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is on Netflix now.




Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.


RELATED TOPICS

 * Los Angeles
 * Netflix
 * Mental health
 * United States


MORE ON THIS STORY

 * Who were the Central Park Five?
   
   Published
   12 June 2019
   
   

 * Who was Ted Bundy and what did he do?
   
   Published
   3 May 2019
   
   

 * Social media is like 'a crime scene'
   
   Published
   26 July 2019
   
   

 * It's 'inconceivable' my brother killed himself
   
   Published
   17 December 2018
   
   





TOP STORIES

 * Live. 
   
   Retaliation against Hamas has only just begun, says Israel's Netanyahu

 * 'Nobody could help us' - Shock and anger in Israel's Ashkelon
   
   Published
   19 hours ago

 * Over 1,000 dead as Afghans dig for quake survivors
   
   Published
   19 minutes ago





FEATURES

 * How India's first deaf lawyer made history in top court
   
   

 * Five female MCs who changed hip-hop
   
   

 * The scandalous life of a 'dashing and unreliable' king
   
   
 * 

 * 'I feel hopeless': Living in a country on the brink
   
   

 * The 'white gold' rush dividing communities
   
   

 * Biden cannot escape Trump's shadow in border crisis
   
   

 * The inspiring youth orchestra that built itself from nothing
   
   

 * Why Europe is watching Poland's election
   
   

 * Cities under siege as Mali slides towards chaos
   
   




ELSEWHERE ON THE BBC

 * Why do people love living in Canada?
   
   

 * The return of a divisive lingerie brand
   
   

 * New maps of Earth's lost continent
   
   




MOST READ

 1.  1
     260 bodies recovered from 'horror movie' festival scene
 2.  2
     'My wife and children have been kidnapped by Hamas'
 3.  3
     What is happening in Israel, and why now?
 4.  4
     'Nobody could help us' - Shock and anger in Israel's Ashkelon
 5.  5
     Nobel prize for work on why women earn less
 6.  6
     US moves warships closer to Israel after Hamas attack
 7.  7
     How Hamas staged lightning assault no-one thought possible
 8.  8
     Coldplay and ex-manager locked in court battle
 9.  9
     Coin hoard could be linked to Massacre of Glencoe
 10. 10
     Local election results a blow to German coalition





BBC NEWS SERVICES

 * On your mobile
 * On smart speakers
 * Get news alerts
 * Contact BBC News

 * Home
 * News
 * Sport
 * Reel
 * Worklife
 * Travel
 * Future
 * Culture
 * Music
 * TV
 * Weather
 * Sounds

 * Terms of Use
 * About the BBC
 * Privacy Policy
 * Cookies
 * Accessibility Help
 * Parental Guidance
 * Contact the BBC
 * Get Personalised Newsletters
 * Why you can trust the BBC
 * Advertise with us
 * Do not share or sell my info

© 2023 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read
about our approach to external linking.