Case file · Haunting
Elisa Lam and the Cecil Hotel
In February 2013 the body of Canadian student Elisa Lam was found in a water tank on the roof of the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. Lift footage of her acting strangely went viral and fuelled ghost theories about the hotel's dark history.
2013 CE · 34.04, -118.25 · status: explained
The account
The Cecil had a long record of suicides and was briefly home to serial killers Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger.
The sceptical view
The coroner ruled accidental drowning, with bipolar disorder a factor; she may have hidden in the tank during a psychotic episode.