February 25th, 2021 Leah's Thoughts on the Elisa Lam Case and Conspiracy Talk

 Good day folks, I hope everyone is having a great week so far, and remember the weekend is just around the corner! In the meantime, I hope you are continuing to learn life through pop culture and getting some adventure in if you can. 

I don't know how many of you have been watching the Cecile Hotel doc on Netflix, but I have to say watch it. I have heard of the Hotel in the past, and as a Southern Californian for a while, I know I passed it on my travels once or twice. Of course, this Elisa Lam is not new, nor is it news to a lot of you, who I'm sure have read some of many theories and stories since it surfaced. I for one have always been creeped out by that elevator footage of Ms. Lam. I remember when I watched it the first time I was working at a Transitional shelter, overnights and at the front desk with one other person working upstairs. Needless to say, it creeped me out that night for sure. 

Now without getting into the documentary so much right now, let's go through some of the theories that have circulated over time:

Although the events happened at the Cecile, please note that Elisa was actually staying in the newer, revamped hostel part of the Hotel called Main Stay. 

One theory, and is, she was suffering a manic episode. According to her Tumblr posts, and family Elisa was suffering from Bipolar disorder. She would often go off her meds and suffer episodes and hallucinations. Much like is witnessed in the footage on the elevator.  During her episode or hallucination, Elisa managed to climb up the fire escape, and into the water tank on the roof. However, as much as this theory makes sense, even to law enforcement. I however have some questions like, why was the water tank open? How did it shut enough, after she fell in? 

So my theory, she was killed and dumped in the tank. Yes the theory of her falling in by herself makes sense in THEORY however I feel it is just lazy police work. I feel that she met up with someone in L.A. either around the city or in the hotel itself, and that person actually killed her. Listen Cecile is in the heart of skid row, any person or regular of the hotel could have done it. 

Here goes another Reddit theory: Elisa Lam had TB.

So according to Reddit, there was in TB outbreak during the time Lam was in Los Angeles. Which ok, makes sense, in a huge populated city like L.A. Not to mention the Elisa hadn't traveled much before this, and being a girl for Vancouver, which is another big city, probably wasn't exposed to a lot of diseases and illnesses, and due to the medications she was on, her immune system could have been suppressed resulting in Tuberculosis. Going into more whacky territory on this theory was that she was sent there by the government to spread TB as a part of biohazard terrorism. 

My thoughts: While this theory makes sense in THEORY ( minus the being planted by the government part) it is a long stretch, there was no evidence of her having been exposed or contracting the airborne illness. I am also not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure it would have taken a lot more time with TB to show extreme symptoms. 

Satanic Panic strikes again?: One other theory is that Elisa was killed by a heavy metal artist staying at the hotel. 

Heavy metal musician, Morbid was accused of killing Elisa, during a stay at the Cecile. Why? Well, he happened to write songs at the wrong time, and he looked the way he did. People also thought he was guilty because of a suicide attempt, not long after Elisa's body was found. However, the suicide attempt was probably due to all the harassment and hate mail Morbid received. 

Final thoughts: We can discuss and debate and list all the theories we want. The truth is there was a young woman who came to America and lost her life. At just 21 years old, her life was cut short. I have many things in common with Elisa for one, we are the same age. We are both Canadian, and we both wanted to see California. Fortunately, I survived and thrived in the west, where unfortunately suffered a totally different fate.