At the end of January this year, Netflix announced a new documentary titled “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at The Cecil Hotel” , will be coming soon. This documentary with 4 episodes is about the unfortunate events happened around The Cecil Hotel in the center of Los Angeles, USA. This hotel used to be known as the “most deadly hotel”. It was a hiding place for serial killers, and there have been many death count in the hotel. The most scandalous thing in the world is undoubtedly the terrible ” Death of Elisa Lam” at The Cecil Hotel.
On February 10th, the premiere of “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel” was finally out. Many netizens couldn’t wait to watch it during the holidays. They shared their thoughts on the Internet, saying that instead of revealing the truth about the “Death of Elisa Lam” straightaway, this show is showing you what kind of place Cecil Hotel is. At beginning of the first episode of the documentary, the narrator said: “Cecil is a very deceptive hotel. It looks beautiful on the outside, but the actual situation inside is completely opposite.” This sentence is indeed creepy, because other than Elisa Lam, there are many people who have disappeared, committed suicide, drugs overdosed, murder and all kinds of crazy events that you can think of, or can’t imagine, was happening here or likely to happen here. Therefore, many people are start to wondering if this hotel is haunted? Why are all bad things keep happening here one after another?
The content of this original documentary is mainly focused on Elisa Lam’s death. They brought in the police detective and coroner who was in charge of the case at the time, and also interviewed the general manager who worked at the hotel for ten years. They also discovered Elisa Lam’s maintenance staff, residents, etc., and replayed all the scene at the time like a rewind, and restored the events one by one. From when she checked in to the hotel to when she was reported missing. Everyone arrived at the scene and found that the room was not forcibly broken in, it was messy but no drugs were taken. Finally, the body was found in the water tank on the top floor of the hotel. In the film, Netflix also disclosed the handling of the hotel staff, the reports given by the police station and the coroner, etc., so that everyone has a deeper understanding of the case. However, you think you have seen the whole truth, but it doesn’t seem to be that simple?
In fact, although this documentary gave us many details that we did not know before, the final conclusion actually left many doubts. For example, after the death of Elisa Lam, a series of coincidences occurred near the hotel. The most impressive was the sudden outbreak of large-scale tuberculosis infection at the homeless area near the hotel. It is called “LAM-ELISA”, which is the reversal of the name Elisa Lam. Therefore, some people think that if this is really not a spiritual incident, there must be a truth hidden behind that can never be made public. There is even a theory saying that Elisa Lam was an agent sent by the local government because she was studying at The University of British Columbia, a research center known for tuberculosis studies. As for her weird behavior in the elevator before her death, it was not answered in the end as well.
Not only that, according to the police detective’s statement, they all agreed that based on the location of the water tank, it is impossible for anyone to carry her up without causing bruises or injuries on her body (the autopsy report showed that she did not have any injuries), plus Elisa Lam was a patient with Bipolar Disorder during her lifetime. The autopsy report also showed that she had not taken the medication on time for some time, so she ended up with an accident caused by her serious mental illness. Case closed! However, many local people’s opinions were also added to the documentary. Everyone thought that it didn’t make sense. “Just because she had no traces on her body? Murder cannot be ruled out! She might have been forced to jump into the water by pointing a gun at her, and then drowned.” Even the coroner’s report at the time showed signs of correction, making the investigation results unreliable.
In addition, many people believed that the documentary directly overturned all the testimonies released by the police. One moment they said that the top cover of the water tank was closed, and then they said the top cover of the water tank was opened the next minute. Many people feel that the hotel general manager is actually hiding something.
In fact, since the disappearance of Elisa Lam until the documentary was launched, there were too many rumors, murder, suicide, and supernatural incidents. It is no longer known which one is the truth, and the hotel was officially closed and rebuilt on January 1, 2017. If you are curious about the details, you can watch this 4 episodes documentary on Netflix~
