Ok I might be just going crazy but don’t you think it’s odd that Elisa is going to a prestigious college must be rich but staying at such a poor hotel I think she might be meeting someone there or soemthing but that’s not go important. Anyways don’t you think it’s possible that her killler could be deaf in the elevestor footage there wierd hand movements couldn’t you think it’s sighn language hmm seems kindave odd
@@Kaleb_Rich Elisa Lam was studying at UBC - University of British Columbia, in Canada. She was a Canadian, as am i. Our tuition fees are around 5-6K per year - nothing extravagant or "prestigious".
@@meowdee oh I see thank you for informing me but don’t you think it’s still kinda odd thst in the elevator footage she was making odd hand movements couldn’t you think it could sighn language
The thing that disturbs me the most about this case, other than a young woman's tragic death, is that the hotel's guests were showering and drinking water that contained putrefied remains of a human being.
My best friend is a clinical psychologist, I showed her the video of Elisa and she straight up said “strictly, just going by the video, to me, she looks like she’s clearly having an episode where she’s breaking with reality. It’s sad because she was probably really confused and scared”.
@@mrpersianality6363 nah it just means I listen to professional opinions from people who dedicated their lives to studying mental illness. While you, for instance, probably get your “facts” from your “intuition”, conjured up, no doubt, by the 2 last braincells you have left . 🤔🥸
@@mrpersianality6363she's just echoing her friend's thoughts on Lam's actions in the video they saw. Analysing someone's actions before death is not even close to examining a crime scene afterwards. Learn the difference first or stop yapping.
Considering a person videoed themselves getting on that same roof with no problems just 2 weeks after her death, the hotel should have been held at least partially responsible for lack of proper locks and roof exit alarms.
Nope, a hotel is not a nursery. And even if it was a nursery, it would not be a slam dunk case I think. In your version of reality there would be no staircases or car roads with foot paths next to them. Everyone would be locked in padded rooms, or strapped to gurneys, to keep them safe. You'd only ever be fed through a tube or IV. And so on. Luckily that is not how things are.
@@noth606this is incredibly hyperbolic. It’s a hotel that has regular suicides and crimes occurring. It should not be that easy to get to the roof. And I’m not claiming to know anything about plumbing, but having the hatches open seems unsanitary
@@amandaking9527 Eh, it has to be easy to get to the roof, it is mandated by fire safety regulations. There is always a balance that has to be found, and the ability to save people in case of a fire does not outweigh the desire to stop suicidal people from accessing the roof of this particular building. They would just find something else to jump off of, and hundreds of people would die in fires because they can't access the roof to be evacuated from. Do you really seriously think no one has thought of this at all??? The mind boggles. Stuff is not the way it is at random, there are reasons why almost everything is the way it is, someone or usually a group of very knowledgeable people have sat down and discussed what makes sense and what doesn't, and which is the right balance to strike when making regulations for how things have to be according to building code etc. Regarding the hatches I'm not sure what all the reasons behind them being open are but part of it is to relieve pressure, if there is a fire there is a pressure build up in the system and it WILL go out somewhere, so rather than having taps and heating pipes burst flinging metal around where people are supposed to be, they have an open vent where people aren't supposed to be and where the pressure would naturally go anyway since it is the top of the system.
@@noth606 the other doors allow for easy access to the roof in case of an emergency but have alarms on them and/or are locked a majority of the time. The window should have had an alarm or be locked. If there really is as much tragedy at this hotel as is mentioned in this video, I think there should be more safety measures in place to prevent them as much as possible. Or in this case, I’m guessing there’s not a lot of effort put into minimizing these events because of the location and the demographic of people that end up being killed there. Skid row is notoriously poor and where there’s necessity there’s usually crime. Obviously the hatch is there for a reason. I’m not saying the hatches shouldn’t exist, I’m saying they should be closed. Even if Elisa lam never ended up there, it could cause issues to leave them open. A bird could easily fall in and drown, contaminating the water. I’m not really interested in continuing a conversation if you think I’m literally incompetent because I disagree with you.
I chose this video expecting it to be clickbait. Surprisingly, I was wrong. I'll admit, I was skeptical for the first part, as it seemed that you were intentionally skimming over important details. But you came back to all of them throughout the whole video - the reason she was moved to another room, her history of not taking her meds correctly, her history of having had a paranoid episode that resulted in her seeking a hiding place, the extent of her mental health issues. The facts about the lid. You did very well in covering this case in a LOGICAL manner.
Hi, I'm Chinese and I suffer from BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder). It is not the same as Bipolar, but both do share some symptoms, and both use mood stabilizers as medication (edit: I'm actually on both Lamotrigine and Quetiapine, along with an anti-depressant). I think everyone knows by now mental illness is a HUGE taboo in Asia. This could have caused her to get diagnosed much later (as my symptoms were initially seen as laziness for example). I've never been hospitalized, but I have been very close several times. I also do not suffer from hallucinations. The problem with mood disorders, is the sudden shift from everything being okay to everything not being okay, in fact everything is hell right now, actual hell, because you can't get out of it until it blows over. When that happens, it essentially becomes a manic episode, or simply a full on mental breakdown. When you are manic, you literally have no control over yourself. Yes, you are you, and yes, you are doing these things, but they are not things you would do if you did not suffer from this condition. You will do things unbecoming of you, and they can be terrible things for you and the people around you. Becoming manic is awful, to say the least. This is why, even if she was excited and looking forward to what occurs next, her distress would cause it immediately change it to the opposite I also had issues with college, and I can tell you any form of stress (especially stemming from disappointment of yourself) can cause one of these episodes to happen often, and cause the situation to become very volatile. While being away from home and going on a long spirit search isn't the worst, you are completely out of your element. You have no home to return to, at least it isn't a home with your family who (hopefully) love and accept you. That can cause a lot of stress, and it can make you feel essentially insane. Everything is so chaotic, does it even matter if you are ("LA is crazy but so am I")? It did not help she was put into a room by herself. Feeling outcasted can cause loathing towards that party (at least for BPD it does, and it turns usually into a blind hatred). Hence the notes on their beds. Being alone in the room probably did not help. Now while I do not suffer from hallucinations myself, I could imagine those appearing heavily due to her distress. All of this could have caused her odd behavior in the elevator. As for climbing into the water tank, and having her clothes be next to her, well. First, while I cannot say this was a not alive attempt, I can argue that it may have been something similar. If I am right, and she felt out of control, outcasted, and paranoid, then those would all be reasons to simply, not be here. It hurts so much, after all. And, I can say through unfortunate experience, that I know this can occur. She may not have wanted it to happen, but she had no control. As for her clothes being next to her, well, for some weird reason, it makes sense to me. There's no reason to it, I guess it's just a "why not?" Anyways, take this all with a mountainous grain of salt, as I am not an expert. One can say this entire comment was self-projection, but either way, I felt it worthwhile to share.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. My sister who's since passed away was on several medications. It was hard to even get a proper diagnosis for her back in the day and to exacerbate her condition she had to be constantly monitored to make sure she was taking the right dosage. I remember her having episodes where she was very paranoid and would run away from home. If this young lady thought someone may be after her this may have her seeking a hiding place. It was the kind of thing my sister would do. Sadly we'll never know. Even with constant company my sister did not make it. Thank God you're able and willing to share your story. God bless you and take care❤
I think she might have just freaked out by the elevator door not closing. The elevator door at my workplace acts strange sometimes, and I sure get a bit uneasy whenever that happens. My colleagues flat out stop using the elevator for a while. It seems very plausible to me that someone in a psychologically vulnerable and agitated state starts going somewhat paranoid when the elevator keeps its doors open like that, as if someone (perhaps a murderous ghost!) was in front of it. Inevitable, even.
Yes, the extent of her hallucinations could be extreme and may be she entered the tank thinking it was some safe corner where she could hide and only realized her mistake after jumping into it.
I KNOW I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THAT.... SHE WANTED TO GO SIGHTSEEING. .. FOUND THE OTHER ELEVATOR UP TO THE ROOF.😊. SOMEHOW GOT OUT OF THE DOOR.. KNOWING THAT HOTEL IT WAS EASY TO GET OUT LOL SHE GOT LOCKED OUT UP THERE.. DEHYDRATED I'M HOT FOR ME IN THE HOT SUN... NEEDED WATER HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO GET IT... OF COURSE IF YOU FIND A LIZARD FLOATING IN WATER DEAD HE'S PROBABLY THIRSTY.... I'M SURE SHE TOOK HER CLOTHES OFF CUZ IT WAS HOT AS HELL IN THERE... BETTER THEORY THAN THE POLICE HAD COME UP WITH.
God it's refreshing to see someone who doesn't try to claim that a person experiencing a manic episode would have acted perfectly logically because some other person with hindsight and no active psychosis would have. It's one of the most frustrating things I see in a vast majority of mystery videos.
Yeah quite a few mysteries can be explained with mental illness episodes but the lack of awareness and stigma causes many people not to consider them as an option and even jumping to supernatural explanations. I heard a story about a guy who was missing for a week in the mountains all because of a fugue state which if he was not found would of easily been another mystery explained as aliens or some nonsense.
I’ve watched so many videos on the Elisa Lam case and I think you’re the only, if not, one of the few to actually give some background of her and not just straight into the surveillance footage and theories. Great video!
I agree. She climbed in on her own during a manic episode. Like you said, it's futile to try to understand the actions or motives of someone who isn't mentally stable. It's a tragic accident.
As someone who has experienced work-induced mental instability that left me in the hospital for quite some time... mental instability is simply nowhere near good enough of an explanation. You may feel intense irrational fear, time may feel like it's slowed down, etc... But in no way would any mental instability cause her to do what they claimed she did.
@@sweetnumbmenta instability it's not anything accurate. She was horever bipolar and had a serious case. The mental instability of someone severely bipolar includes delusions. Psychotic thoughts. Delirium among many others.
I stayed at the Cecil back in 2017, well it had changed its name to Stay on Main. I was totally unaware of Elisa Lam or any of the other events that happened there, was genuinely just looking for somewhere affordable to stay for a few days and booked it online. Safe to say I was shocked a few years later when the Netflix doc came out and I realised I’d probably been in the exact same elevator as Elisa! 😂
I always saw clips of her disappearance on reddit occasionally but I never knew it was in Los Angeles. That's when I was like what, I live less than a mile from there.
You can tell who is and who isnt familiar with the scope of what bipolar (especially improperly managed bipolar) can look like by how skeptical they are with the idea that she did all this herself. If youve known someone with severe and/or untreated bipolar and if youve seen them in the middle of psychosis, youll know absolutely nothing in this story stands out as unlikely or outlandish. Anyone with the stance "its too strange, theres no way she got herself in there" has clearly never seen anyone in the middle of a psychotic manic episode. They will do the most hard to believe things with such conviction. Its exactly as Vuldar says, that you cannot imagine what the nature of their reality is like for them in the middle of active psychosis. You cannot apply the logic and reasoning of standard mental capacity onto someone in the middle of mania. We cannot be this in denial of mental illness you guys, we cant raise awareness of these conditions and simultaneously act like its implausible for someone to have them. It would do everyone a service in the world for us to become more familiar with telltale signs of under or untreated mental illness and it would save a lot of lives in the process. Sometimes the effects of the unwell psyche are scarier and more heartbreaking than any boogeyman or murderer.
Idk if I should be adding this here but... my cousin ran from their house and went to the hospital by herself alone. she has schizophrenia and she does it several times walking all alonee. Im very astonished as to how she event went there lol. Like wth. she also does frequently have seizure moments which I have no idea what was it at that time.. sheesh , she also speaks to my with out of reality conversations with very nonsense and details that doesn't sound realistic but I just kinda went with it 😂 Everyone around me told me that I should correct her for being like that but it was her reality.. but uhh Idk. I really dont have any awareness whatsoever
Also as someone who used to regularly “sleepwalk” in an Ambeian induced zombie state, the elevator footage was extremely telling. I’ve watched my security cameras footage of my previous night’s exploits and her behavior was nearly identical to mine. Most notably when she gets her face really close to the elevator buttons as she’s pressing them. I did the exact same thing with every light switch it flipped.
I have Bipolar2 disorder and I can tell you that, while hallucinations aren’t common, when I am in an episode, it’s overwhelming and you want to do anything to escape that feeling. If Elisa was hallucinating and feeling overwhelmed/ scared/ confused, her actions don’t surprise me in the least. They actually make a lot of sense. Then again, I’m not looking at this from a sensationalized perspective, desperately wanting this tragedy to be something sinister. If you know the disorder, this all makes sense. Some of you just don’t care to educate yourselves because it’s more entertaining for you to think she died under “mysterious” circumstances. When it’s pretty clear what happened.
Since most everyone here is being honest, and speculative.. One of my friends suffered from extreme mania. Their episodes were only made more intense by the antidepressant creating serotonin syndrome (which we did not know at the time). Sadly, when their medicine was misplaced, an episode came rearing its ugly head. My friend had a "wet and messy" fetish. WAM (or Sploshing in the UK) is where one engages in enjoyment of being covered in anything from food like chocolate or honey to mud and water. I bring this up because my friend had a near death experience while doing a more extreme act that involved a mud puddle and zip ties. Luckily, my friend survived. However it changed her in a major way. I can't blame their feelings regarding the matter. Anyway, my point is if my friend was found with themselves in a state of undress, and mobility partially hindered, many would question what happened! The psychosis definitely had something to do with the more impulsive, and manic episode without having a friend around despite my understanding. I have lost contact and always drew the similarities in the case. I can't help but wonder how my friend is and see so much of the same almost whacky (yet so endearing and beautiful ❤️) way about them that I almost see in miss L. I'm only suggesting this possibility because I was so close to someone misunderstood and suffering despite seemingly full of life regardless of the depression that wasn't openly discussed. I mean absolutely no disrespect at all, and I am not judging anybody. I only wish for one's own safety. Thank you.
I have Bipolar2 disorder and I can tell you that, while hallucinations are not common, when I am in an episode, it’s overwhelming and you want to do anything to escape that feeling. If Elisa was hallucinating and feeling overwhelmed/ scared/ confused, her actions don’t surprise me in the least. They actually make a lot of sense. Then again, I’m not looking at this from a sensationalized perspective, desperately wanting this tragedy to be something sinister. If you know the disorder, this all makes sense. Some of you just don’t care to educate yourselves because it’s more entertaining for you to think she died under “mysterious” circumstances. When it’s pretty clear what happened.
My theory is: She went up alone during a manic episode, after that she must have realized that she couldn't get out of there and took off her clothes in an attempt to not die from hypothermia, she ended up drowning and the body sank, that was the reason that no No one noticed the body when they saw the water tank lid open, someone closed it. After a few days, when hotel guests began to complain about the water, they sent an employee to check the water tank and found a body floating...
Yes, that could also be a possibility. Due to no inner fixtures in the Tank, once she was inside, it was almost impossible to getout which makes it even more tragic.
I agree but I think she got stuck up there knew she was going to she was getting dehydrated and overheated from the Sun needed water... She made a big mistake getting stuck up there and then had no other alternative but to get in there and get water... She probably found out quickly she had no other choices. Sad because nobody was going to look for her up on a roof... I don't know when the helicopter was released for the search do you!? 😊
@@Joy-r6q there are youtubers going up there still after her parents sued, those doors aren't locked or alarmed. Just seems unlikely she got locked up there.
By far the best and deepest coverage into the case I have seen, especially showing how easy it actually was to access to water tanks on the roof and going into detail on the actual hatch. This was the first time I heard she was in a sharded room at first but had to be relocated to another room for her erratic behaviour in contrast to how the staff and book store owner viewed her which gives further credit to the tragedy just having been a freak accident during a sudden episode instead of having involved foul play by someone else.
such an underrated channel. found you randomly tonight, watched another one of your videos & now this one. the visuals are so good & add so much rather than just a slide show of photos. & your narration is amazing along with the detail of each story. great work. i hope you gain many more subscribers!
I'm bipolar myself and I did somethings people would never do, not even a firefighter nor police officers. If we're in a breakout we will 100% what "makes sense" in our mind.
I'm honestly shocked that more people don't understand that about manic episodes. Maybe it's because I grew up in and outta psych wards but that was one of the first things I learned about them.
@@lilyw.719I don't think it's really downplaying considering the rest of the comments, have you considered that not everyone speak English as their first language and may insert a word or two that's not exactly right to use in a sentence?
I once left my home in a near blizzard and hid under a dried up tree for awhile. Nothing could have convinced me that I wasn't in danger. I was sick. So I hid in this old fallen tree under the trunk. Until I came to my senses .
I agree. As someone who has bipolar, and is even on some of the medications she was on, the behaviors described and shown gave me the immediate thought of psychosis. I've experienced psychosis before, one such episode for me included seeing monsters in people faces that were going to jump out at me, a fear of mirrors that housed alternate dimensions, and the feeling that every inanimate object wanted to kill me. Luckily for me, this fear made it impossible for me to leave my bed because I couldn't even manage to get a finger off the edge of it without being filled with the immediate fear that something would get me (we're all good now. Got my meds adjusted and I'm doing super well and super stable!). Her behaviors in the elevator, especially the frantic gestures outside and seemingly nothing, and the fear that carried through her actions aligns with what I have experienced as someone with bipolar. Fearful gestures, the feelings of paranoia that you're danger or others around you are in danger and/or dangerous aren't uncommon. Additionally, feeling the need to flee/taking an unconventional route isn't uncommon. I ended up totalling my car during a manic episode, where I was filled with the need to go west. When experiencing mania, no idea feels like it could ever be wrong. Her feeling to get away led her to escape to the roof. I believe because she felt she could go out a regular route because of paranoia, and then sought a place to hide on the roof. She saw the water tank, and saw it as a place of refuge and entered it. However she would've gotten trapped there. Her clothes could've been removed before or after entering, as it could feel entirely logical that if you're going into water and want to tread water to hide, you should take off your clothes, but you can't hide them in plain sight. Not taking her meds properly is seriously bad idea for someone struggling with bipolar. The withdrawal effects are terrible, and could even spur on such an event. From what was described, it sounds to me as someone experiencing an episode of psychosis induced by mania
Maybe her clothes were off because she was raped and he didn't want any evidence. I believe someone who worked there had been watching her and waited until early in the morning when there was hardly anyone around and grabbed her and put her in a container and took her to the roof!
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Hey I just would like to inform the crowd who have not suffered from bipolar disorder, that mania is USUALLY a long term event whereas PSYCHOSIS is something that is sudden. It induces extreme paranoia and frantic movements, strange walking patterns, and degraded speech. She also admitted to relapsing and being bipolar while taking drugs is one of the top ways to get a drug induced psychosis. I believe she was actively having a psychotic episode and did something that to most people would be nonsensical. (Coming from a bipolar person who has experienced drug-induced psychosis)
I have never met anyone with this kind of issue and am struggling to imagine the situation. Could you share what Elisa might have though about during that episode? If this is too much to ask, please ignore the question.
@@AmataJo A common thought is that someone is watching them, they are being chased/stalked. That the authorities are coming after them. So, all the behaviour falls in line. Acting scared and hiding.
Aside from the whole body thing, the hotel should be sued just for leaving the hatches open like that. Insects like mosquitos are gonna lay their eggs in there, birds, rats or other smaller animals that could potentially reach the rooftop can fall in there and decompose. And guests are showering and drinking that water. That's so bad!
Well done. I used to inspect confined spaces just like these water tanks and suspected a similar scenario when I first heard this story years ago. While I do have male upper body strength, I’m a small guy. I’ve never had to struggle with the hatches. What I did not know before today was the toxicology data. I think you nailed it.
What if she went up there cuz the elevators wouldn't let her down to sightsee.... Got stuck😊 couldn't get herself back down... She got hot overheated being out there so long she needed water... She had to go up to the tank to get the water.... She had a feeling she would die either way she had to get in the tank and die of heat exhaustion or dehydration... Thoughts on this,??? I don't think it was anybody like a killer.
I don't think I'd ever be the same if I drank and showered with someone's death water. Ewww that's so gross! God man, that's the worst part for me, besides the sad death of the girl
Living in China for almost 20 years, my take is this would be an immigrated Chinese (Hong Kong) family I would guess escaping the 1997 Chinese take over of Hong Kong. Pressure on these kids to be successful from their parents was and is brutal. No doubt could cause mental stress and all the rest of it. Rest in peace
Yeah. Living with the parental definition of success along with fighting a debilitating mental illness can be rather overwhelming at times. Jennifer Pan's case comes to mind.
I’ve seen this covered a bunch of times but yours was the best. Some people want the involvement of foul play, ghosts or aliens because it makes this tragedy seem a little less senseless. In the end though the simplest explanation is that she was having a psychotic break and got into the tank herself. It’s sad but there’s nothing about the tank that makes it impossible for somebody determined to climb in.
Watching the Netflix documentary right now and am struck by how confident , or naive this young woman was about putting herself in vulnerable situations travelling by herself. Maybe she had lived such a restricted life growing up she naturally felt a need to push the limits of experiencing the world. Her online diaries practically scream for attention/friendship. By her own admission, she shared too much of herself online, thus probably the same taking in the sights and sounds of Los Angeles.
Definitely naive! I’m a 6’1” 185lb man that’s survived a year long stay in prison and you have me hella F-ed up if you think that I’ll be going on a trip to LA completely alone, yet alone staying on skid row.
Funny joke. But I really can’t accept that nothing fishy is going on here. It feels like everyone is trying way too hard to explain this away as nothing but a mental breakdown. It just feels weird, doesn’t sit right with me
@@austins.2495because everyone on the planet now has been either over diagnosed or self diagnosed as mentally ill, and to them it seems wild that someone genuinely ill would do something completely inexplicable. But wow, turns out when someone is actually crazy, the outcomes can be crazy!
I work at a baseball stadium. The elevators have a visual and weighted censor. Sometimes you have to stand back so the doors shut. You can have the doors open forever by the censor thinking you’re in the way of the doors trying to shut.
@@aliceneal8666 in many hotels the elevators stay open longer so you can get your suitcases out. Also, along with all the other buttons she pushes the door open button at least twice.
She was an explorative person, hence the reason for the country spanning trip in the first place. Honestly seeing that external staircase might seem like a cool thing to climb for some nice rooftop city views away from people. Perhaps she saw the ladder next to the water tanks and fancied climbing on top for even nicer view. The hatch was open and in the darkness on the roof she slipped into the tank after climbing on top.
People with bipolar can develop psychosis, where they’re not in touch with reality and have hallucinations or delusions. Given that she wasn’t always consistent with her medication and had similar episodes in the past, I’d say she was experiencing psychosis rather than a manic episode. It’s sad that she suffered so much, and died in such a tragic way.
I was on a similar medication regiment for my bipolar. When my doc added bupropion things went really badly and I only noticed the change recently. I started having debilitating anxiety attacks. I would get muscle tremors randomly and I couldn’t get them to stop no matter what I did. I started acting out in weird ways that made no sense to me or anyone around me. I transitioned off bupropion about a month ago and all the adverse symptoms completely stopped. I think an imbalance of medications, especially what she was prescribed, along with inconsistent administration could absolutely cause a manic and unpredictable state. I had a weird temperature regulation issue as well. Random scenario: if she was also having a temperature regulation issue, I wouldn’t doubt that she tried to enter the water to cool off then slipped. Another scenario: if she was truly having visual and possibly auditory hallucinations, it is possible that she thought someone was trying to find her, or hurt her. She could have tried to hide on the roof, then in the tank to get away from whatever she saw. I’m not a psychiatrist, but I could see myself experiencing and acting similarly if I was unregulated with my meds.
I am a mental health professional, and I've heard from a lot of my patients that they *really* don't like bupropion, because of the side effects you've described, as well as stuttering, insomnia, loss of appetite, and nausea. It's also got some unpleasant withdrawl symptoms, though not as bad as some antidepressants. (I'm looking at you, venlafaxine!) Were I a psychiatrist rather than a lowly therapist, with what I've seen of the downsides of so many medications, I would only prescribe these drugs in the most necessary situations, and only for short term use, except in the case of psychotic disorders or the most treatment resistant depression and anxiety. Ms. Lam was on a lot of medications, some of which are pretty powerful. At least some of her unusual behaviour could be attributed to medication interactions or withdrawl, as she didn't seem to be taking her meds regularly. I've met too many patients who have been overprescribed, and ended up worse off for it. I wonder if this might have been a factor in Elisa Lam's tragic demise?
Another thing to keep in mind about 'the lad being too heavy', is that if she was having a manic episode and/or hallucinations, believing she was being followed, she was likely in fight or flight mode. She'd have a lot of adrenaline running through her system, which famously makes people capable of physical feats they normally wouldn't be. Even if it was insanely heavy, she might have managed if she was in a state of panic.
The video of her with the elevator doors is exactly what I do when my OCD is particularly bad - I have to repeat a certain action (ie, triggering a door) a certain number of times, and then repeat the whole process if I miss up.
I have adhd and your videos with the animation is PERFECT for me to follow. The pace.. it’s fantastic. Love your content. Just found your channel. Subscribed and gonna binge the other videos 😊
Yep..she went radio rental... psychotic break...entered the tank voluntarily... possibly even fell in by mistake..but she was wholly responsible. Good video!
I really wish a book would be made of all her social media posts. She made some really inspiring comments on social media that helped others suffer from mental illness. The money from the book should go to her family. Her life meant something in the short 21 years she was alive. She should be remembered for more than the tragic event at that hotel. R.I.P Elisa.
I have a friend that takes medication. She had accidentally 'double dosed' herself, not realizing she had already taken her medication. Nothing she was saying or doing was making any sense at all to a 'normal' person. What amazed me was her fixation on ideas that made absolutely no sense at all. I was helping her move furniture from an office to her house. She was insistent that we avoid certain streets at any cost. It would not surprise me if Elisa thought it would be a good idea to use the water tank as her own private pool, or isolation tank. Unable to get out she unfortunately drowned. Sometime afterward, maybe when people were complaining about the water a maintenance man went up saw the lid was open and closed it without seeing the body, it could have been floating out of view, or just the angle in which he positioned himself to close it. Maybe he didn't say anything because he was afraid that either him or one of his coworkers left it open by mistake not even thinking that a guest had opened it and climbed in.
_"It would not surprise me if Elisa thought it would be a good idea to use the water tank as her own private pool, or isolation tank."_ That's what I was thinking. She either wanted to swim in a "pool," or she was trying to temporarily hide from some hallucination.
One thing you forgot to mention about people with bipolar is that, during manic episodes, they also have very poor impulse control. Maybe she wasn’t necessarily scared, but wanted to have an adventure. She talked about it all the time on her blog, after all. So, she explores the hotel, finds the window leading onto the stairs, then finds the tanks and decides she wants to swim in one (since she sees the hatch open). She climbs in, but quickly realizes that she can’t get out, and drowns. It doesn’t really explain the clothes, but maybe she hallucinated that someone was coming after her, so she jumps in the tank to hide, is unable to get out, and drowns.
Thank You ! Glad you enjoyed it. I am trying to improve a lot of things in my workflow. Being a single person, have too many variables but in 2024, frequency will be better with better quality.
@@VuldarYTOh please take your time Your content is truly amazing I can only imagine how long all the scripting , rendering, voiceovers, editing...... might take. I look forward to watch all the great videos coming up. Keep doing what you do. Much love and appreciation.
Some comments about Jack Uterweiler at the end. A policeman mispoke about the lid being closed also the locks were added after this event. The maintenance man testified the lid was open. Elisa was not petite she was above average height this is on the autopsy report. Other than jumping down from the white buiding next to the tanks that does have a ladder the tanks themselves had horizontal and vertical pipes. At Elisa's height she would have only had to step on one to get to the top of the tank. This place is a dump the camera was low quality and the doors weren't alarmed or the alarms didn't work. You think they would fix this after the court trail but there are still plenty of youtubers going up there now and filming. Elisa pushed the door open button at least twice. In hotels there is sometimes a delay so you can get your bags out. With as many buttons as she pushed including door open, no wonder the doors didn't close. Lastly, more or less, Jack Uterwieler was a murderer in a foreign country. He wrote a book and people were so interested they thought he was reformed and they let him out. He went to "investigate" the cecil and richard ramerez, since he was a well known author and the police even drove him around to show him the spots richard ramarez liked, so he liked them too and started right up. When he was returned to his own country they found out he didn't exactly leave the prison around there and become reformed either and found a trail of other bodies. So that wasn't a coincidence.
Yeah fr "It would've been impossible for her to climb a ladder and open a hatch" ???? How incapable do you think petite women are? Never mind that she wasn't even that.
i don’t have bipolar, though i do have severe anxiety disorder with many OCD-like traits. i’m 20 right now and in my freshman year of college, i had to drop a couple of courses before dropping out altogether due to my mental health. it was genuinely the worst time i had ever had and ruined my mental state. it took me a long time to recover and now i’m attending community college instead. the quote about her “wasting her life” really hit home because that’s exactly how i felt. the disappointment, the shame, the guilt. i can’t imagine how that affected her with a preexisting mental disorder :/ this case is genuinely so depressing. i just can’t believe that she was left to be alone in such a new place. i know there’s no one to blame here and she was an adult but ugh. man.
After having analyzed all the facts on this case, nobody killed her. I think unfortunately this already unstable girl landed herself in one of the worst places possible for someone already dealing with mental health issues. I truly believe she might’ve dabbled in some drugs and just had a terrible trip that ultimately led to her demise. One crucial piece of this case that I’ve seen no one speak on is the man that found her body, everyone says “how did she hop into that tank and then close the lid” she didn’t. The man who found her clearly stated that as soon as he climbed up the water tank and looked inside he immediately saw her. The tank was open. She didn’t close it behind her.
She likely _stopped_ taking the drugs she needed. She had a history of medication noncompliance. With no one traveling with her to ensure she took her medication regularly as prescribed, she likely stopped. She probably felt like she didn't need them as she was doing so well and was trying to 'start over'. It's a sad reality that many with schizoaffecive disorders stop taking the very medication that is making them stable when they begin to feel better. Leading to withdrawal and often immediate worsening of symptoms.
The least amount of assumptions are mostly true, and this is a perfect example. Elisa Lam's story is a tragedy that should remind us to do our due diligence to prevent these things.
Thank you for this very well-done video and for your explanation of her medications and how that may have affected her mindset. One thing I read when I was reading about this case was her sister said that she would sometimes go swimming in strange places by herself. Maybe she went up on the roof and was intrigued by the large water tanks and saw one was open, and she had the idea to get in. It sounds so far-fetched that someone would do that, but the strange behavior in the elevator makes it probable that she would behave strangely on the roof as well. Then once inside, she couldn't get out. Like you said, she wrigggled out of her clothes to keep them from hindering her in the water. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos :)
The one theory I still like to believe happened is this; She was underdosing, ever since she was escorted out she was probably panicking and thinking someone was following her to kill her or take her, out of pure desperation thought that she needed to hide somewhere they couldn't find her, so she went through a window up to the roof, saw there was nowhere to hide but inside the tanks and proceeded to do so. After climbing in and shutting the lid while going down, she felt safe, after a while she probably realized that she couldn't get out causing her to take off her clothes as a last ditch effort to throw them against the lid to try opening it but failed and eventually got tired and drowned.
I believe in my opinion that bupropion could have been the biggest factor. I am bipolar myself and when I took that medication it gave me a paranoid psychotic episode which had never happened to me before or since. I have never been psychotic or paranoid in any way but when I took it I thought I was in WWIII and that the world was ending. And everything seemed so real.
Just found this video and I really like it, you did an amazing job with the details of the case (some of them I didn't know about) and I agree with your conclusion. One thing you didn't talk about was the size of the hole in the water tank, people say it was too small even for Elisa and to recover her body the forensics had to open a hole on the side of the water tank that was twice the size of the hatch one.
I have to applaud your extensive narrative as well as the overall formation of this video. I love the idea of romanizing such events with ghostly or otherwise unknown deviants at play. However, my analytical and pragmatic mind does enjoy the thorough process of addressing so much. You also did not say anything to taint this poor woman's name. I grew to really dislike blatant accusations at her disorder. I guess it hits home and touches a proverbial nerve. Again, great job! I'm going to binge your content later. Thank you.
@@VuldarYT you are very welcome. I know it is speculative.. however, I had a friend who almost drowned in a quagmire engaging in fetish play. It would be considered as wet and messy and Sploshing. In fact, I could absolutely see her doing something similar. I never read anyone consider such a theory. I commented on this to someone else in the comment section by the way. I absolutely love how in depth you are discussing merely factual information. I know how SSRI medications can cause serotonin syndrome, and know first hand how mania can make a person be extremely rash and spontaneous. I just wanted to bring it up because you obviously have a keen analytical mind.
First time I’m realizing I’m on 3 of the 5 medications prescribed to Elisa, and have been on another one in the past, despite having followed this case since it first happened. The similarities between myself and Elisa are actually quite frightening. I agree her death was an accident resulting from a manic episode that induced hallucinations, due to the presence of bupropion in her system and the absence of quetiapine. I hope she is resting in peace. I wish I could have been her friend.
Did anyone get sick from the contaminated water? As a child a toad died in the water tank on our school camp. A bunch of kids got really sick, I didn't get sick but had severe hallucinations.
You included details I wasn’t aware of in this case Several tidbits that made the video almost like a new mystery Very methodical yet interesting take on this I will be subscribing and watching your other videos Excellent job my friend
30:58 as a comparison: A gallon of water ≈ 8 pounds A gallon of paint ≈ 10 pounds So, to lift the door without any mechanical assistance, it would be like lifting a five gallon bucket of paint and a one gallon can. However, *_with_* mechanical assistance, like the hinge, it's now down to 30 pounds of force or three gallon paint cans. I've seen many people lift that with ease. 🤷🏽♂️ Basically: if you can lift a five gallon bucket of paint off the ground at all, then you have the strength to open that hatch. ....now, combine that with a manic episode....
She may have removed her clothes because she was eventually suffering from the symptoms of Hypothermia in the water tank… where the body seems to heat up, and so sufferers undress to cool themselves down.
I think if she was in a psychotic state she could easily summon the strength to lift that lid, and she probably just wanted to go swimming in the tank.
@nathanmartin8875 True, also to corroborate that, few of the well known symptoms of Mania are : 1. Having an abnormally high level of activity or energy 2. Having inflated self-esteem, thinking you’re invincible. 3. Displaying purposeless movements, such as pacing around your home or office or fidgeting 4. Showing impulsive behavior that can lead to poor choices It's not that difficult to connect the dots in this unfortunate tragedy.
I read she was taking Venlafaxine. I also read she quit taking her medications. I've been on Venlafaxine and forgot to take it for a period of 3 days. (I had run out.) The withdrawal was very unpleasant. I was extremely hot and sweat poured off me. (Maybe why she was found in the water tank). I also had auditory hallucinations. Sounds of non-existent people and animals. My heart racing like mad. Tears for no reason. Now this is just one of the medications she was on. I have no idea what kind of withdrawal the other meds may have had on this girl. It took me 2 years to get off that medication, by a 1/4 of a pill every month.
This! I gasped when I heard that she was taking venlafaxine! I'm currently trying to come off of it because if I accidentally forget to take it, in just one day the most horrible and unpleasant withdrawal symptoms start
The only thing that weirds me out about this case is the similarities with the movie Dark Water. The girl venturing to the roof despite the door being locked and drowning in the tank, the main ghost scene happening in the elevator, the little girl's name being the female version of Cecil (they called her Ceci, short for Cecilia), the mother's name Dahlia (like the Black Dahlia of the Cecil Hotel), the dark water being the indicator that something had happened... A lot of people thought the movie was based on Elisa Lam's death, but she died years after the movie came out. So strange.
After Lam died, a tuberculosis outbreak plagued Los Angeles, especially among the homeless community in Skid Row by the Cecil Hotel. The test for the tuberculosis was literally her name, but backwards: LAM-ELISA, which stood for Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Conspiracy theorists immediately speculated that Lam was effectively a biological weapon of sorts. They discovered that she was a student from the University of British Columbia, which has a reputable tuberculosis research center. This particular theory has disturbing eugenic undertones that posits Lam was sent to control the homeless population. According to this theory, Lam died because she either knew too much or planned to expose whoever sent her.
I agree with your theory, it sounds logical. I closely know a few people with severe bipolar disorder. When taking medication that is so finely tuned to the individuals brain chemistry it is extremely important that the medication is taken regularly and in the prescribed dosage. I have experienced a situation where a person stopped taking two of the drugs mentioned in this video on their own accord without consulting a doctor which resulted in a manic episode where the person in question didn’t sleep for days, spent all their money and was extremely agitated by the most mundane things. They cannot think rationally in such a situation and perform all sorts of things that a person who is mentally stable would never do. The worst part is that they don’t think that they are doing anything wrong as the happiness they feel in such a situation outweighs any risk or second thought.
I pass by there all the time for college. it's a place of poverty and depression. go more north west towards Pershing and it gets better, since it's a place of affluence. go more south east, and you end up at skid row, and we all know what that is like. the Cecil Hotel's area is just a barrier between elegance and despondency.
I'm surprised how many of these comments still fixate on the elevator, as if that was the start of all of her problems. Based on the evidence in this video, it sounds like she was unintentionally setting herself up for a manic episode. That elevator footage has just been lodged in the internet's consciousness for over 10 years, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that that is still the piece from this case that people cling onto. I don't think in the grand scheme of things the elevator really did anything to Elisa, it was just a place she was in when her episode began to kick into high gear, it seems, and we happen to have the footage that the police released. Still a tragic story.
I don't really understand the fuss everyone is making with the elevator... You can clearly see the doors starting to close until she presses the hold button, when they open again and stay open. She even presses the button again a bit later. She was sadly having an episode and got stressed by the doors not closing... That is all
I have Bipolar 1, and while you can maybe interpret some manic tendencies with her, the past hallucinations etc seem to me to point to some other conditions happening along side. Just my opinion; I only heard about this case today and have been deep diving. Great vid thanks! And can you imagine knowing you drank that?
The antipsychotic she is prescribed is also prescribed for non antipsychotic patients as a rescue medication for anxiety attacks and can be taken when needed instead of every day. She could have been prescribed this in a similar manner
Yep, bipolar can do this when it gets bad enough. I've seen a bipolar guy riding a boat with his friends, one moment acting completely normal and socializing, and suddenly threw himself out from the boat after a short toilet break, claiming he wants to die. He didn't of course, his friends got him, but it was just so mind boggling what had happened that day. The guy went back to normal soon after and apologized. He's been "normal" since then, presumably he properly took his meds now.
I will never forget this case. Not because of the awful circumstances, but the videos of her acting weird.. I wonder if she was tripping... That would make sense..
There's another case about some people in a mountain, and there I learned that one symptom of hypothermia makes people think they're actually hot… so they undress themselves in the middle of ice itself! In this case, I would suggest the maniac episode triggered this… explaining why she looked for water, and why she would undress despite being in water already.
Theorie: Elisa wurde verfolgt.Deshalb drückte sie verschiedene Knöpfe im Fahrstuhl.So weiß der Verfolger nicht, in welchem Stockwerk sie wohnt. Aus Panik drückte sie vielleicht einen Knopf, der das Schließen der Tür verzögerte. ODER: Jemand drückte von außen und verhinderte das Schließen der Tür! Derjenige wußte vom Kamerasystem im Fahrstuhl. Eventuell ein Mitarbeiter? So wäre auch ein Teil der fehlenden Aufnahme im Video zu erklären.Das Hotel hat wohl keinen guten Ruf, will nicht noch mehr Ärger... Nachträgliches Schließen der Tanks, wegen der Versicherung.... Oder nur Halluzinationen ..keine Ahnung, wie weit sie bei einem Mädchen gehen? Nackt ausziehen, schweren Deckel heben...in einen Tank klettern ? Das ist extrem abwegig und gruselig.
I too suffer from the manic and depressive symptoms of bipolar I and for the majority of the time I can hide them from most people with the help of medication. But there are a couple of times a year when, and I love the way people who understand,, refer to them as episodes, when the meds aren’t enough and my behaviour can change to psychotic and plain irrational. During these times I am unpredictable and can act in ways that are dangerous to myself and others. Hospital s generally the only way to get the help required as rational thinking is just absent. With my experience and looking at the facts of Elisa’s circumstances and history, I see no reason to doubt she suffered an acute episode and did something most people find unbelievable. I just want to say her actions are completely understandable if you suffer from this illness, especially if you add schizophrenia into the mix. I feel for her and her family, but I see nothing sinister in what occurred, just a poor girl caught in the grip of a mental blow up, which has cost numerous people their lives every day around the world. Awareness is hard as people who have no knowledge of this scourge of an illness cannot entertain that people can act so oddly, so it must be sinister. Sometimes the truth is staring you in the face.
I have schizophrenia and I can tell you that hallucinations can be so strong that it can make people completely lose touch with reality. They can seem so realistic to someone in pyschosis. I have had bad pyschotic episodes where I would be too paranoid to do anything, thinking my food was always posion and that society was trying to assassinate me. My theory is that she was in pyschosis and paranoid about an entity after her, and that she could have hallucinationed an entity (which she was talking to by the elevator). Perhaps she heard voices. Maybe going to the water tower was her only 'escape' from this imaginary entity. Hiding in the water tank could have been her trying to protect herself. After going in the water tank, the latch shut, and she was unable to get out. I think she wanted to live but was scared. She tried taking off her clothes so she could float better.
Welcome back. Glad you've done this odd case. The visuals are excellent as always and your voice is perfect for this kind of content.
As always, Thank You very much for the feedback, hope you enjoy it 🙂
Ok I might be just going crazy but don’t you think it’s odd that Elisa is going to a prestigious college must be rich but staying at such a poor hotel I think she might be meeting someone there or soemthing but that’s not go important. Anyways don’t you think it’s possible that her killler could be deaf in the elevestor footage there wierd hand movements couldn’t you think it’s sighn language hmm seems kindave odd
@@Kaleb_Rich s
@@Kaleb_Rich Elisa Lam was studying at UBC - University of British Columbia, in Canada. She was a Canadian, as am i. Our tuition fees are around 5-6K per year - nothing extravagant or "prestigious".
@@meowdee oh I see thank you for informing me but don’t you think it’s still kinda odd thst in the elevator footage she was making odd hand movements couldn’t you think it could sighn language
The thing that disturbs me the most about this case, other than a young woman's tragic death, is that the hotel's guests were showering and drinking water that contained putrefied remains of a human being.
Thats by far the worst part. They were drinking and showering in her decomposing "juices" 🤢
We all drink decomposing things like germs 🦠
@@breadtoasted2269 Yeah but not dead body juice, at least most of the time.
Just adds to the disturbing lore of the hotel
Tasty
My best friend is a clinical psychologist, I showed her the video of Elisa and she straight up said “strictly, just going by the video, to me, she looks like she’s clearly having an episode where she’s breaking with reality. It’s sad because she was probably really confused and scared”.
I mean u dont have to be a rocket scientist to tell she is clearly mentally distrubed and not in touch with reality
@@rileybear836 what an intellect. Knowing a clinical psychologist makes you a forensic psychiatrist 🤡😂
@@mrpersianality6363 nah it just means I listen to professional opinions from people who dedicated their lives to studying mental illness. While you, for instance, probably get your “facts” from your “intuition”, conjured up, no doubt, by the 2 last braincells you have left . 🤔🥸
@@mrpersianality6363she's just echoing her friend's thoughts on Lam's actions in the video they saw. Analysing someone's actions before death is not even close to examining a crime scene afterwards. Learn the difference first or stop yapping.
@@La_Pascualita nah the clown is acting like an expert. And you can't make a psychological evaluation because your friend is one. You stop yapping
Considering a person videoed themselves getting on that same roof with no problems just 2 weeks after her death, the hotel should have been held at least partially responsible for lack of proper locks and roof exit alarms.
And the tank hatches were open
Nope, a hotel is not a nursery. And even if it was a nursery, it would not be a slam dunk case I think. In your version of reality there would be no staircases or car roads with foot paths next to them. Everyone would be locked in padded rooms, or strapped to gurneys, to keep them safe. You'd only ever be fed through a tube or IV. And so on. Luckily that is not how things are.
@@noth606this is incredibly hyperbolic. It’s a hotel that has regular suicides and crimes occurring. It should not be that easy to get to the roof. And I’m not claiming to know anything about plumbing, but having the hatches open seems unsanitary
@@amandaking9527 Eh, it has to be easy to get to the roof, it is mandated by fire safety regulations. There is always a balance that has to be found, and the ability to save people in case of a fire does not outweigh the desire to stop suicidal people from accessing the roof of this particular building. They would just find something else to jump off of, and hundreds of people would die in fires because they can't access the roof to be evacuated from.
Do you really seriously think no one has thought of this at all??? The mind boggles. Stuff is not the way it is at random, there are reasons why almost everything is the way it is, someone or usually a group of very knowledgeable people have sat down and discussed what makes sense and what doesn't, and which is the right balance to strike when making regulations for how things have to be according to building code etc.
Regarding the hatches I'm not sure what all the reasons behind them being open are but part of it is to relieve pressure, if there is a fire there is a pressure build up in the system and it WILL go out somewhere, so rather than having taps and heating pipes burst flinging metal around where people are supposed to be, they have an open vent where people aren't supposed to be and where the pressure would naturally go anyway since it is the top of the system.
@@noth606 the other doors allow for easy access to the roof in case of an emergency but have alarms on them and/or are locked a majority of the time. The window should have had an alarm or be locked.
If there really is as much tragedy at this hotel as is mentioned in this video, I think there should be more safety measures in place to prevent them as much as possible. Or in this case, I’m guessing there’s not a lot of effort put into minimizing these events because of the location and the demographic of people that end up being killed there. Skid row is notoriously poor and where there’s necessity there’s usually crime.
Obviously the hatch is there for a reason. I’m not saying the hatches shouldn’t exist, I’m saying they should be closed. Even if Elisa lam never ended up there, it could cause issues to leave them open. A bird could easily fall in and drown, contaminating the water.
I’m not really interested in continuing a conversation if you think I’m literally incompetent because I disagree with you.
I chose this video expecting it to be clickbait. Surprisingly, I was wrong. I'll admit, I was skeptical for the first part, as it seemed that you were intentionally skimming over important details. But you came back to all of them throughout the whole video - the reason she was moved to another room, her history of not taking her meds correctly, her history of having had a paranoid episode that resulted in her seeking a hiding place, the extent of her mental health issues. The facts about the lid. You did very well in covering this case in a LOGICAL manner.
Thank You, do check out my latest uploads as well!
Agreed. Refreshing to see a vid about this case that doesn't treat is as a creepypasta
Starting with a general overview and then going into details. Well done.
one of the very few videos that actually looks for a realistic answer instead of ironically, engaging in delusion. great work, love this channel!!!
Hi, I'm Chinese and I suffer from BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder). It is not the same as Bipolar, but both do share some symptoms, and both use mood stabilizers as medication (edit: I'm actually on both Lamotrigine and Quetiapine, along with an anti-depressant). I think everyone knows by now mental illness is a HUGE taboo in Asia. This could have caused her to get diagnosed much later (as my symptoms were initially seen as laziness for example). I've never been hospitalized, but I have been very close several times. I also do not suffer from hallucinations.
The problem with mood disorders, is the sudden shift from everything being okay to everything not being okay, in fact everything is hell right now, actual hell, because you can't get out of it until it blows over. When that happens, it essentially becomes a manic episode, or simply a full on mental breakdown. When you are manic, you literally have no control over yourself. Yes, you are you, and yes, you are doing these things, but they are not things you would do if you did not suffer from this condition. You will do things unbecoming of you, and they can be terrible things for you and the people around you. Becoming manic is awful, to say the least. This is why, even if she was excited and looking forward to what occurs next, her distress would cause it immediately change it to the opposite
I also had issues with college, and I can tell you any form of stress (especially stemming from disappointment of yourself) can cause one of these episodes to happen often, and cause the situation to become very volatile. While being away from home and going on a long spirit search isn't the worst, you are completely out of your element. You have no home to return to, at least it isn't a home with your family who (hopefully) love and accept you. That can cause a lot of stress, and it can make you feel essentially insane. Everything is so chaotic, does it even matter if you are ("LA is crazy but so am I")? It did not help she was put into a room by herself. Feeling outcasted can cause loathing towards that party (at least for BPD it does, and it turns usually into a blind hatred). Hence the notes on their beds. Being alone in the room probably did not help. Now while I do not suffer from hallucinations myself, I could imagine those appearing heavily due to her distress. All of this could have caused her odd behavior in the elevator.
As for climbing into the water tank, and having her clothes be next to her, well. First, while I cannot say this was a not alive attempt, I can argue that it may have been something similar. If I am right, and she felt out of control, outcasted, and paranoid, then those would all be reasons to simply, not be here. It hurts so much, after all. And, I can say through unfortunate experience, that I know this can occur. She may not have wanted it to happen, but she had no control. As for her clothes being next to her, well, for some weird reason, it makes sense to me. There's no reason to it, I guess it's just a "why not?"
Anyways, take this all with a mountainous grain of salt, as I am not an expert. One can say this entire comment was self-projection, but either way, I felt it worthwhile to share.
Wow this was a lot longer than I expected. Sorry!
Thank you for sharing your perspective. My sister who's since passed away was on several medications. It was hard to even get a proper diagnosis for her back in the day and to exacerbate her condition she had to be constantly monitored to make sure she was taking the right dosage. I remember her having episodes where she was very paranoid and would run away from home. If this young lady thought someone may be after her this may have her seeking a hiding place. It was the kind of thing my sister would do. Sadly we'll never know. Even with constant company my sister did not make it. Thank God you're able and willing to share your story. God bless you and take care❤
Yappa yappa stop the yap cuh
@@greed750why so emotional 😢 you need someone to hear your thoughts and feelings ?
@@greed750 nah i aint cuh, you didn't need to read it cuh
I think she might have just freaked out by the elevator door not closing. The elevator door at my workplace acts strange sometimes, and I sure get a bit uneasy whenever that happens. My colleagues flat out stop using the elevator for a while. It seems very plausible to me that someone in a psychologically vulnerable and agitated state starts going somewhat paranoid when the elevator keeps its doors open like that, as if someone (perhaps a murderous ghost!) was in front of it. Inevitable, even.
Yes, the extent of her hallucinations could be extreme and may be she entered the tank thinking it was some safe corner where she could hide and only realized her mistake after jumping into it.
hmm, I definitely think something else is going on there.
I KNOW I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THAT.... SHE WANTED TO GO SIGHTSEEING. .. FOUND THE OTHER ELEVATOR UP TO THE ROOF.😊. SOMEHOW GOT OUT OF THE DOOR.. KNOWING THAT HOTEL IT WAS EASY TO GET OUT LOL
SHE GOT LOCKED OUT UP THERE.. DEHYDRATED I'M HOT FOR ME IN THE HOT SUN... NEEDED WATER HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO GET IT... OF COURSE IF YOU FIND A LIZARD FLOATING IN WATER DEAD HE'S PROBABLY THIRSTY.... I'M SURE SHE TOOK HER CLOTHES OFF CUZ IT WAS HOT AS HELL IN THERE... BETTER THEORY THAN THE POLICE HAD COME UP WITH.
@@RowanGekeler ghost
How she end up naked though?
God it's refreshing to see someone who doesn't try to claim that a person experiencing a manic episode would have acted perfectly logically because some other person with hindsight and no active psychosis would have. It's one of the most frustrating things I see in a vast majority of mystery videos.
Yeah quite a few mysteries can be explained with mental illness episodes but the lack of awareness and stigma causes many people not to consider them as an option and even jumping to supernatural explanations.
I heard a story about a guy who was missing for a week in the mountains all because of a fugue state which if he was not found would of easily been another mystery explained as aliens or some nonsense.
I’ve watched so many videos on the Elisa Lam case and I think you’re the only, if not, one of the few to actually give some background of her and not just straight into the surveillance footage and theories. Great video!
I agree. She climbed in on her own during a manic episode. Like you said, it's futile to try to understand the actions or motives of someone who isn't mentally stable. It's a tragic accident.
As someone who has experienced work-induced mental instability that left me in the hospital for quite some time... mental instability is simply nowhere near good enough of an explanation. You may feel intense irrational fear, time may feel like it's slowed down, etc... But in no way would any mental instability cause her to do what they claimed she did.
My late mother was bipolar, and was once found 10 miles from home looking for my deceased great aunt. Scary times😢
@lisapinfold506 sorry to hear about your loss. May her soul Rest In Peace.
To me someone real or imagined was chasing her and she desperately got in the tank to hide not realizing she wouldn’t be able to get out.
@@sweetnumbmenta instability it's not anything accurate. She was horever bipolar and had a serious case. The mental instability of someone severely bipolar includes delusions. Psychotic thoughts. Delirium among many others.
I stayed at the Cecil back in 2017, well it had changed its name to Stay on Main. I was totally unaware of Elisa Lam or any of the other events that happened there, was genuinely just looking for somewhere affordable to stay for a few days and booked it online. Safe to say I was shocked a few years later when the Netflix doc came out and I realised I’d probably been in the exact same elevator as Elisa! 😂
I always saw clips of her disappearance on reddit occasionally but I never knew it was in Los Angeles. That's when I was like what, I live less than a mile from there.
You can tell who is and who isnt familiar with the scope of what bipolar (especially improperly managed bipolar) can look like by how skeptical they are with the idea that she did all this herself. If youve known someone with severe and/or untreated bipolar and if youve seen them in the middle of psychosis, youll know absolutely nothing in this story stands out as unlikely or outlandish. Anyone with the stance "its too strange, theres no way she got herself in there" has clearly never seen anyone in the middle of a psychotic manic episode. They will do the most hard to believe things with such conviction. Its exactly as Vuldar says, that you cannot imagine what the nature of their reality is like for them in the middle of active psychosis. You cannot apply the logic and reasoning of standard mental capacity onto someone in the middle of mania. We cannot be this in denial of mental illness you guys, we cant raise awareness of these conditions and simultaneously act like its implausible for someone to have them. It would do everyone a service in the world for us to become more familiar with telltale signs of under or untreated mental illness and it would save a lot of lives in the process. Sometimes the effects of the unwell psyche are scarier and more heartbreaking than any boogeyman or murderer.
Idk if I should be adding this here but... my cousin ran from their house and went to the hospital by herself alone. she has schizophrenia and she does it several times walking all alonee. Im very astonished as to how she event went there lol. Like wth. she also does frequently have seizure moments which I have no idea what was it at that time.. sheesh , she also speaks to my with out of reality conversations with very nonsense and details that doesn't sound realistic but I just kinda went with it 😂 Everyone around me told me that I should correct her for being like that but it was her reality.. but uhh Idk. I really dont have any awareness whatsoever
god, i'm so glad that i only have the great value version of bipolar
Also as someone who used to regularly “sleepwalk” in an Ambeian induced zombie state, the elevator footage was extremely telling. I’ve watched my security cameras footage of my previous night’s exploits and her behavior was nearly identical to mine. Most notably when she gets her face really close to the elevator buttons as she’s pressing them. I did the exact same thing with every light switch it flipped.
I have Bipolar2 disorder and I can tell you that, while hallucinations aren’t common, when I am in an episode, it’s overwhelming and you want to do anything to escape that feeling. If Elisa was hallucinating and feeling overwhelmed/ scared/ confused, her actions don’t surprise me in the least. They actually make a lot of sense.
Then again, I’m not looking at this from a sensationalized perspective, desperately wanting this tragedy to be something sinister. If you know the disorder, this all makes sense. Some of you just don’t care to educate yourselves because it’s more entertaining for you to think she died under “mysterious” circumstances. When it’s pretty clear what happened.
Since most everyone here is being honest, and speculative..
One of my friends suffered from extreme mania. Their episodes were only made more intense by the antidepressant creating serotonin syndrome (which we did not know at the time). Sadly, when their medicine was misplaced, an episode came rearing its ugly head.
My friend had a "wet and messy" fetish. WAM (or Sploshing in the UK) is where one engages in enjoyment of being covered in anything from food like chocolate or honey to mud and water. I bring this up because my friend had a near death experience while doing a more extreme act that involved a mud puddle and zip ties. Luckily, my friend survived. However it changed her in a major way. I can't blame their feelings regarding the matter.
Anyway, my point is if my friend was found with themselves in a state of undress, and mobility partially hindered, many would question what happened!
The psychosis definitely had something to do with the more impulsive, and manic episode without having a friend around despite my understanding.
I have lost contact and always drew the similarities in the case. I can't help but wonder how my friend is and see so much of the same almost whacky (yet so endearing and beautiful ❤️) way about them that I almost see in miss L.
I'm only suggesting this possibility because I was so close to someone misunderstood and suffering despite seemingly full of life regardless of the depression that wasn't openly discussed.
I mean absolutely no disrespect at all, and I am not judging anybody. I only wish for one's own safety. Thank you.
I have Bipolar2 disorder and I can tell you that, while hallucinations are not common, when I am in an episode, it’s overwhelming and you want to do anything to escape that feeling. If Elisa was hallucinating and feeling overwhelmed/ scared/ confused, her actions don’t surprise me in the least. They actually make a lot of sense.
Then again, I’m not looking at this from a sensationalized perspective, desperately wanting this tragedy to be something sinister. If you know the disorder, this all makes sense. Some of you just don’t care to educate yourselves because it’s more entertaining for you to think she died under “mysterious” circumstances. When it’s pretty clear what happened.
My theory is:
She went up alone during a manic episode, after that she must have realized that she couldn't get out of there and took off her clothes in an attempt to not die from hypothermia, she ended up drowning and the body sank, that was the reason that no
No one noticed the body when they saw the water tank lid open, someone closed it. After a few days, when hotel guests began to complain about the water, they sent an employee to check the water tank and found a body floating...
Yes, that could also be a possibility. Due to no inner fixtures in the Tank, once she was inside, it was almost impossible to getout which makes it even more tragic.
the lid wasn't closed. One policeman misspoke. This is in court testimony you can find on the internet.
@@orange222... True, I covered the statement of the Maintenance Worker who found her body in the video as well.
I agree but I think she got stuck up there knew she was going to she was getting dehydrated and overheated from the Sun needed water... She made a big mistake getting stuck up there and then had no other alternative but to get in there and get water... She probably found out quickly she had no other choices. Sad because nobody was going to look for her up on a roof... I don't know when the helicopter was released for the search do you!? 😊
@@Joy-r6q there are youtubers going up there still after her parents sued, those doors aren't locked or alarmed. Just seems unlikely she got locked up there.
By far the best and deepest coverage into the case I have seen, especially showing how easy it actually was to access to water tanks on the roof and going into detail on the actual hatch. This was the first time I heard she was in a sharded room at first but had to be relocated to another room for her erratic behaviour in contrast to how the staff and book store owner viewed her which gives further credit to the tragedy just having been a freak accident during a sudden episode instead of having involved foul play by someone else.
that is some high quality editing and script, def one of the best video on this case
such an underrated channel. found you randomly tonight, watched another one of your videos & now this one. the visuals are so good & add so much rather than just a slide show of photos. & your narration is amazing along with the detail of each story. great work. i hope you gain many more subscribers!
You're the Best & Thank You so much for the nice feedback!
I'm bipolar myself and I did somethings people would never do, not even a firefighter nor police officers. If we're in a breakout we will 100% what "makes sense" in our mind.
I'm honestly shocked that more people don't understand that about manic episodes. Maybe it's because I grew up in and outta psych wards but that was one of the first things I learned about them.
You have psychotic episodes, not "breakouts."
Don't downplay it.
@@lilyw.719I don't think it's really downplaying considering the rest of the comments, have you considered that not everyone speak English as their first language and may insert a word or two that's not exactly right to use in a sentence?
I hope you stay safe
I once left my home in a near blizzard and hid under a dried up tree for awhile. Nothing could have convinced me that I wasn't in danger. I was sick. So I hid in this old fallen tree under the trunk. Until I came to my senses .
I agree. As someone who has bipolar, and is even on some of the medications she was on, the behaviors described and shown gave me the immediate thought of psychosis. I've experienced psychosis before, one such episode for me included seeing monsters in people faces that were going to jump out at me, a fear of mirrors that housed alternate dimensions, and the feeling that every inanimate object wanted to kill me. Luckily for me, this fear made it impossible for me to leave my bed because I couldn't even manage to get a finger off the edge of it without being filled with the immediate fear that something would get me (we're all good now. Got my meds adjusted and I'm doing super well and super stable!).
Her behaviors in the elevator, especially the frantic gestures outside and seemingly nothing, and the fear that carried through her actions aligns with what I have experienced as someone with bipolar. Fearful gestures, the feelings of paranoia that you're danger or others around you are in danger and/or dangerous aren't uncommon. Additionally, feeling the need to flee/taking an unconventional route isn't uncommon. I ended up totalling my car during a manic episode, where I was filled with the need to go west.
When experiencing mania, no idea feels like it could ever be wrong. Her feeling to get away led her to escape to the roof. I believe because she felt she could go out a regular route because of paranoia, and then sought a place to hide on the roof. She saw the water tank, and saw it as a place of refuge and entered it. However she would've gotten trapped there. Her clothes could've been removed before or after entering, as it could feel entirely logical that if you're going into water and want to tread water to hide, you should take off your clothes, but you can't hide them in plain sight.
Not taking her meds properly is seriously bad idea for someone struggling with bipolar. The withdrawal effects are terrible, and could even spur on such an event. From what was described, it sounds to me as someone experiencing an episode of psychosis induced by mania
Maybe her clothes were off because she was raped and he didn't want any evidence. I believe someone who worked there had been watching her and waited until early in the morning when there was hardly anyone around and grabbed her and put her in a container and took her to the roof!
@@cathyhetzel7692right, and do you have any actual proof of that or is this just wild speculation to make this tragedy more interesting for you.
I’m surprised your channel doesn’t have a million subscribers! The quality of your content is top notch. It’s definitely one of the best out there on TH-cam! A hidden gem for sure!! 👊🔥🔥🔥
Hey I just would like to inform the crowd who have not suffered from bipolar disorder, that mania is USUALLY a long term event whereas PSYCHOSIS is something that is sudden. It induces extreme paranoia and frantic movements, strange walking patterns, and degraded speech. She also admitted to relapsing and being bipolar while taking drugs is one of the top ways to get a drug induced psychosis. I believe she was actively having a psychotic episode and did something that to most people would be nonsensical. (Coming from a bipolar person who has experienced drug-induced psychosis)
I have never met anyone with this kind of issue and am struggling to imagine the situation. Could you share what Elisa might have though about during that episode? If this is too much to ask, please ignore the question.
@@AmataJo A common thought is that someone is watching them, they are being chased/stalked. That the authorities are coming after them. So, all the behaviour falls in line. Acting scared and hiding.
@@16aerosmith13 That's terrifying.
Aside from the whole body thing, the hotel should be sued just for leaving the hatches open like that. Insects like mosquitos are gonna lay their eggs in there, birds, rats or other smaller animals that could potentially reach the rooftop can fall in there and decompose. And guests are showering and drinking that water. That's so bad!
Well done. I used to inspect confined spaces just like these water tanks and suspected a similar scenario when I first heard this story years ago. While I do have male upper body strength, I’m a small guy. I’ve never had to struggle with the hatches. What I did not know before today was the toxicology data. I think you nailed it.
I’m getting strong Lemmino vibes from your narration and graphics. Very well covered, you’ve got my subscription!
Wow, thank you!
Lemminos so good
I agree with you, absolutely.
Yours is the best,and most logical video about this case I've seen.
And I've watched many.
Thank you for posting!
Wow, thank you!
What if she went up there cuz the elevators wouldn't let her down to sightsee.... Got stuck😊 couldn't get herself back down... She got hot overheated being out there so long she needed water... She had to go up to the tank to get the water.... She had a feeling she would die either way she had to get in the tank and die of heat exhaustion or dehydration... Thoughts on this,??? I don't think it was anybody like a killer.
@@Joy-r6qhot and overheated a january/february night in LA? Come on man.... 😐
I don't think I'd ever be the same if I drank and showered with someone's death water. Ewww that's so gross! God man, that's the worst part for me, besides the sad death of the girl
I saw the British couple interviewed. How they described it I was gagging at the thought.
The water you drink every day has more nasty stuff than you know… same with the food you eat. Things aren’t as clean as you think they are
@@austins.2495ahhh... No
This clarifies the case better than any other video I've ever seen about it.
Living in China for almost 20 years, my take is this would be an immigrated Chinese (Hong Kong) family I would guess escaping the 1997 Chinese take over of Hong Kong. Pressure on these kids to be successful from their parents was and is brutal. No doubt could cause mental stress and all the rest of it. Rest in peace
Yeah. Living with the parental definition of success along with fighting a debilitating mental illness can be rather overwhelming at times.
Jennifer Pan's case comes to mind.
They would be better off staying in China
I’ve seen this covered a bunch of times but yours was the best. Some people want the involvement of foul play, ghosts or aliens because it makes this tragedy seem a little less senseless. In the end though the simplest explanation is that she was having a psychotic break and got into the tank herself. It’s sad but there’s nothing about the tank that makes it impossible for somebody determined to climb in.
Glad you enjoyed it, do check out my latest uploads as well!
Ghosts/Aliens are not real
@@JulieRushworth True but I went to college with the Tooth Fairy.
@@willo7734Tooth fairy?
@@JulieRushworthDemons are real though
Watching the Netflix documentary right now and am struck by how confident , or naive this young woman was about putting herself in vulnerable situations travelling by herself. Maybe she had lived such a restricted life growing up she naturally felt a need to push the limits of experiencing the world. Her online diaries practically scream for attention/friendship. By her own admission, she shared too much of herself online, thus probably the same taking in the sights and sounds of Los Angeles.
Definitely naive! I’m a 6’1” 185lb man that’s survived a year long stay in prison and you have me hella F-ed up if you think that I’ll be going on a trip to LA completely alone, yet alone staying on skid row.
Why do you watch TH-cam and Netflix at the same time...
It's called multi-tasking (LOL!). Some of us are wired that way.
@@sportshistorybuff319😂👏
That's kind of a symptom of mania though, no? Doing reckless things and not really knowing your limits?
Nah bro. Your conclusion is entirely too rational and grounded in reality. It was DEFINITELY alien ghosts from the planet Batshit.
Of course! Exactly what I was thinking. This is a massive cover up to protect the aliens. Huge conspiracy!! 😊
Funny joke. But I really can’t accept that nothing fishy is going on here. It feels like everyone is trying way too hard to explain this away as nothing but a mental breakdown. It just feels weird, doesn’t sit right with me
@@austins.2495because everyone on the planet now has been either over diagnosed or self diagnosed as mentally ill, and to them it seems wild that someone genuinely ill would do something completely inexplicable.
But wow, turns out when someone is actually crazy, the outcomes can be crazy!
I work at a baseball stadium. The elevators have a visual and weighted censor.
Sometimes you have to stand back so the doors shut.
You can have the doors open forever by the censor thinking you’re in the way of the doors trying to shut.
She did stand back from the doors. She tried different areas this in the show the entire footage either. She didn’t stand next to the sensors.
thats interesting. Never considered that.
@@aliceneal8666 in many hotels the elevators stay open longer so you can get your suitcases out. Also, along with all the other buttons she pushes the door open button at least twice.
She was an explorative person, hence the reason for the country spanning trip in the first place. Honestly seeing that external staircase might seem like a cool thing to climb for some nice rooftop city views away from people. Perhaps she saw the ladder next to the water tanks and fancied climbing on top for even nicer view. The hatch was open and in the darkness on the roof she slipped into the tank after climbing on top.
but she took off her clothes before going in
Finally, someone who actually puts effort in there work.
People with bipolar can develop psychosis, where they’re not in touch with reality and have hallucinations or delusions. Given that she wasn’t always consistent with her medication and had similar episodes in the past, I’d say she was experiencing psychosis rather than a manic episode. It’s sad that she suffered so much, and died in such a tragic way.
I'd say the medicine caused her to have a psychotic episode.
Both can be experienced simultaneously
I was on a similar medication regiment for my bipolar. When my doc added bupropion things went really badly and I only noticed the change recently. I started having debilitating anxiety attacks. I would get muscle tremors randomly and I couldn’t get them to stop no matter what I did. I started acting out in weird ways that made no sense to me or anyone around me. I transitioned off bupropion about a month ago and all the adverse symptoms completely stopped.
I think an imbalance of medications, especially what she was prescribed, along with inconsistent administration could absolutely cause a manic and unpredictable state. I had a weird temperature regulation issue as well.
Random scenario: if she was also having a temperature regulation issue, I wouldn’t doubt that she tried to enter the water to cool off then slipped.
Another scenario: if she was truly having visual and possibly auditory hallucinations, it is possible that she thought someone was trying to find her, or hurt her. She could have tried to hide on the roof, then in the tank to get away from whatever she saw.
I’m not a psychiatrist, but I could see myself experiencing and acting similarly if I was unregulated with my meds.
Thank You for Sharing!
I am a mental health professional, and I've heard from a lot of my patients that they *really* don't like bupropion, because of the side effects you've described, as well as stuttering, insomnia, loss of appetite, and nausea. It's also got some unpleasant withdrawl symptoms, though not as bad as some antidepressants. (I'm looking at you, venlafaxine!) Were I a psychiatrist rather than a lowly therapist, with what I've seen of the downsides of so many medications, I would only prescribe these drugs in the most necessary situations, and only for short term use, except in the case of psychotic disorders or the most treatment resistant depression and anxiety. Ms. Lam was on a lot of medications, some of which are pretty powerful. At least some of her unusual behaviour could be attributed to medication interactions or withdrawl, as she didn't seem to be taking her meds regularly. I've met too many patients who have been overprescribed, and ended up worse off for it. I wonder if this might have been a factor in Elisa Lam's tragic demise?
Another thing to keep in mind about 'the lad being too heavy', is that if she was having a manic episode and/or hallucinations, believing she was being followed, she was likely in fight or flight mode. She'd have a lot of adrenaline running through her system, which famously makes people capable of physical feats they normally wouldn't be. Even if it was insanely heavy, she might have managed if she was in a state of panic.
The video of her with the elevator doors is exactly what I do when my OCD is particularly bad - I have to repeat a certain action (ie, triggering a door) a certain number of times, and then repeat the whole process if I miss up.
You will soon be a really popular youtuber mark my words man it's coming. Sending love. Love your work.
I have adhd and your videos with the animation is PERFECT for me to follow. The pace.. it’s fantastic. Love your content. Just found your channel. Subscribed and gonna binge the other videos 😊
Glad You enjoyed it and welcome onboard!
Amazing video, great explanation, yet I have that extra sense that makes me even try to investigate this further and on my own
Glad you enjoyed it!
Yep..she went radio rental... psychotic break...entered the tank voluntarily... possibly even fell in by mistake..but she was wholly responsible. Good video!
I really wish a book would be made of all her social media posts. She made some really inspiring comments on social media that helped others suffer from mental illness. The money from the book should go to her family. Her life meant something in the short 21 years she was alive. She should be remembered for more than the tragic event at that hotel. R.I.P Elisa.
Your videos are so good 😊. I enjoy how logically and clearly you narrate , also , very helpful visuals . Thank you
Glad You enjoyed the video !
Love your Avi :) or whatever you would call that these days haha
I've seen other videos on the topic before, but yours is the best. Well done!
Glad you think so!
I have a friend that takes medication. She had accidentally 'double dosed' herself, not realizing she had already taken her medication. Nothing she was saying or doing was making any sense at all to a 'normal' person. What amazed me was her fixation on ideas that made absolutely no sense at all. I was helping her move furniture from an office to her house. She was insistent that we avoid certain streets at any cost.
It would not surprise me if Elisa thought it would be a good idea to use the water tank as her own private pool, or isolation tank. Unable to get out she unfortunately drowned. Sometime afterward, maybe when people were complaining about the water a maintenance man went up saw the lid was open and closed it without seeing the body, it could have been floating out of view, or just the angle in which he positioned himself to close it. Maybe he didn't say anything because he was afraid that either him or one of his coworkers left it open by mistake not even thinking that a guest had opened it and climbed in.
_"It would not surprise me if Elisa thought it would be a good idea to use the water tank as her own private pool, or isolation tank."_
That's what I was thinking. She either wanted to swim in a "pool," or she was trying to temporarily hide from some hallucination.
I've known about this case for years but I love how much detail you've put in this video! It's a thoroughly disturbing case!
Glad you enjoyed it!
One thing you forgot to mention about people with bipolar is that, during manic episodes, they also have very poor impulse control. Maybe she wasn’t necessarily scared, but wanted to have an adventure. She talked about it all the time on her blog, after all. So, she explores the hotel, finds the window leading onto the stairs, then finds the tanks and decides she wants to swim in one (since she sees the hatch open). She climbs in, but quickly realizes that she can’t get out, and drowns. It doesn’t really explain the clothes, but maybe she hallucinated that someone was coming after her, so she jumps in the tank to hide, is unable to get out, and drowns.
I cant wait to see where this channel is going to.....keep it up
Thank You and welcome onboard!
Man finally you came I was waiting like crazy....Amazing video as always 🖤
Thank You ! Glad you enjoyed it. I am trying to improve a lot of things in my workflow. Being a single person, have too many variables but in 2024, frequency will be better with better quality.
@@VuldarYTOh please take your time Your content is truly amazing I can only imagine how long all the scripting , rendering, voiceovers, editing...... might take. I look forward to watch all the great videos coming up. Keep doing what you do. Much love and appreciation.
Phrasing
Some comments about Jack Uterweiler at the end. A policeman mispoke about the lid being closed also the locks were added after this event. The maintenance man testified the lid was open. Elisa was not petite she was above average height this is on the autopsy report. Other than jumping down from the white buiding next to the tanks that does have a ladder the tanks themselves had horizontal and vertical pipes. At Elisa's height she would have only had to step on one to get to the top of the tank. This place is a dump the camera was low quality and the doors weren't alarmed or the alarms didn't work. You think they would fix this after the court trail but there are still plenty of youtubers going up there now and filming. Elisa pushed the door open button at least twice. In hotels there is sometimes a delay so you can get your bags out. With as many buttons as she pushed including door open, no wonder the doors didn't close. Lastly, more or less, Jack Uterwieler was a murderer in a foreign country. He wrote a book and people were so interested they thought he was reformed and they let him out. He went to "investigate" the cecil and richard ramerez, since he was a well known author and the police even drove him around to show him the spots richard ramarez liked, so he liked them too and started right up. When he was returned to his own country they found out he didn't exactly leave the prison around there and become reformed either and found a trail of other bodies. So that wasn't a coincidence.
Yeah fr "It would've been impossible for her to climb a ladder and open a hatch" ????
How incapable do you think petite women are? Never mind that she wasn't even that.
It's Jack Unterweger!
@@nexaentertainment2764I'm thinking she had an adrenaline rush in her manic episode.
He told police he was press. He said he was writing a paper on prostitution and the police took him to where the majority of the prostitutes worked.
i don’t have bipolar, though i do have severe anxiety disorder with many OCD-like traits. i’m 20 right now and in my freshman year of college, i had to drop a couple of courses before dropping out altogether due to my mental health. it was genuinely the worst time i had ever had and ruined my mental state. it took me a long time to recover and now i’m attending community college instead. the quote about her “wasting her life” really hit home because that’s exactly how i felt. the disappointment, the shame, the guilt. i can’t imagine how that affected her with a preexisting mental disorder :/ this case is genuinely so depressing.
i just can’t believe that she was left to be alone in such a new place. i know there’s no one to blame here and she was an adult but ugh. man.
why is it hard for people to conceive that she didn't open the lid entirely and it just shut when she let go of it
After having analyzed all the facts on this case, nobody killed her. I think unfortunately this already unstable girl landed herself in one of the worst places possible for someone already dealing with mental health issues. I truly believe she might’ve dabbled in some drugs and just had a terrible trip that ultimately led to her demise. One crucial piece of this case that I’ve seen no one speak on is the man that found her body, everyone says “how did she hop into that tank and then close the lid” she didn’t. The man who found her clearly stated that as soon as he climbed up the water tank and looked inside he immediately saw her. The tank was open. She didn’t close it behind her.
She likely _stopped_ taking the drugs she needed. She had a history of medication noncompliance. With no one traveling with her to ensure she took her medication regularly as prescribed, she likely stopped. She probably felt like she didn't need them as she was doing so well and was trying to 'start over'. It's a sad reality that many with schizoaffecive disorders stop taking the very medication that is making them stable when they begin to feel better. Leading to withdrawal and often immediate worsening of symptoms.
The least amount of assumptions are mostly true, and this is a perfect example. Elisa Lam's story is a tragedy that should remind us to do our due diligence to prevent these things.
Thank you for this very well-done video and for your explanation of her medications and how that may have affected her mindset. One thing I read when I was reading about this case was her sister said that she would sometimes go swimming in strange places by herself. Maybe she went up on the roof and was intrigued by the large water tanks and saw one was open, and she had the idea to get in. It sounds so far-fetched that someone would do that, but the strange behavior in the elevator makes it probable that she would behave strangely on the roof as well. Then once inside, she couldn't get out. Like you said, she wrigggled out of her clothes to keep them from hindering her in the water. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos :)
Agreed & Thank You, do check out my latest uploads as well !
The one theory I still like to believe happened is this;
She was underdosing, ever since she was escorted out she was probably panicking and thinking someone was following her to kill her or take her, out of pure desperation thought that she needed to hide somewhere they couldn't find her, so she went through a window up to the roof, saw there was nowhere to hide but inside the tanks and proceeded to do so. After climbing in and shutting the lid while going down, she felt safe, after a while she probably realized that she couldn't get out causing her to take off her clothes as a last ditch effort to throw them against the lid to try opening it but failed and eventually got tired and drowned.
Gosh, your graphics are something else! 👏☺
Agree with your deduction, seems to be a sad tragic accident unfortunately 😔
Very well made video. You, so, need more subscribers! I can't wait to watch more of your stuff.
I believe in my opinion that bupropion could have been the biggest factor. I am bipolar myself and when I took that medication it gave me a paranoid psychotic episode which had never happened to me before or since. I have never been psychotic or paranoid in any way but when I took it I thought I was in WWIII and that the world was ending. And everything seemed so real.
The scariest part about this is how the human brain can malfunction so much and sometimes there's nothing you can do about it.
Just found this video and I really like it, you did an amazing job with the details of the case (some of them I didn't know about) and I agree with your conclusion. One thing you didn't talk about was the size of the hole in the water tank, people say it was too small even for Elisa and to recover her body the forensics had to open a hole on the side of the water tank that was twice the size of the hatch one.
I have to applaud your extensive narrative as well as the overall formation of this video. I love the idea of romanizing such events with ghostly or otherwise unknown deviants at play. However, my analytical and pragmatic mind does enjoy the thorough process of addressing so much.
You also did not say anything to taint this poor woman's name. I grew to really dislike blatant accusations at her disorder. I guess it hits home and touches a proverbial nerve.
Again, great job! I'm going to binge your content later. Thank you.
Thank You
@@VuldarYT you are very welcome. I know it is speculative.. however, I had a friend who almost drowned in a quagmire engaging in fetish play. It would be considered as wet and messy and Sploshing. In fact, I could absolutely see her doing something similar. I never read anyone consider such a theory.
I commented on this to someone else in the comment section by the way.
I absolutely love how in depth you are discussing merely factual information. I know how SSRI medications can cause serotonin syndrome, and know first hand how mania can make a person be extremely rash and spontaneous.
I just wanted to bring it up because you obviously have a keen analytical mind.
Your analysis is spot on.
Thank You, do check my latest uploads as well!
First time I’m realizing I’m on 3 of the 5 medications prescribed to Elisa, and have been on another one in the past, despite having followed this case since it first happened. The similarities between myself and Elisa are actually quite frightening. I agree her death was an accident resulting from a manic episode that induced hallucinations, due to the presence of bupropion in her system and the absence of quetiapine. I hope she is resting in peace. I wish I could have been her friend.
Superb video. the visuals are an added bonus too. thanks VULDAR :D
Thank You, do check out my other videos as well!
Way ahead of you! Great stuff! Subscribed too! 👌💪🏽
love the buzzfeed unsolved music. great video!
Did anyone get sick from the contaminated water? As a child a toad died in the water tank on our school camp. A bunch of kids got really sick, I didn't get sick but had severe hallucinations.
You included details I wasn’t aware of in this case
Several tidbits that made the video almost like a new mystery
Very methodical yet interesting take on this
I will be subscribing and watching your other videos
Excellent job my friend
Thank You !
The worst part is that people were drinking her decomposing body "juice" 🤢🤧🤮
I don't know dude, her death seems to be little worse ngl
30:58 as a comparison:
A gallon of water ≈ 8 pounds
A gallon of paint ≈ 10 pounds
So, to lift the door without any mechanical assistance, it would be like lifting a five gallon bucket of paint and a one gallon can.
However, *_with_* mechanical assistance, like the hinge, it's now down to 30 pounds of force or three gallon paint cans.
I've seen many people lift that with ease. 🤷🏽♂️
Basically: if you can lift a five gallon bucket of paint off the ground at all, then you have the strength to open that hatch.
....now, combine that with a manic episode....
What? How did i just now find out about this channel!? I love content like this, new subscriber!
Thank You, do checkout my other uploads as well!
Dude how do you not have at least 100k subs? You are so good
She may have removed her clothes because she was eventually suffering from the symptoms of Hypothermia in the water tank… where the body seems to heat up, and so sufferers undress to cool themselves down.
You’ve slipped under my radar and I’m both disappointed and excited.
Exceptionally well made videos - just subbed 👍
I have no idea why the algorithm bought me here, but for once it did a good thing. Now go spread it to the world algorithm gods. ❤
Thank You !
I think if she was in a psychotic state she could easily summon the strength to lift that lid, and she probably just wanted to go swimming in the tank.
@nathanmartin8875 True, also to corroborate that, few of the well known symptoms of Mania are :
1. Having an abnormally high level of activity or energy
2. Having inflated self-esteem, thinking you’re invincible.
3. Displaying purposeless movements, such as pacing around your home or office or fidgeting
4. Showing impulsive behavior that can lead to poor choices
It's not that difficult to connect the dots in this unfortunate tragedy.
I read she was taking Venlafaxine. I also read she quit taking her medications. I've been on Venlafaxine and forgot to take it for a period of 3 days. (I had run out.) The withdrawal was very unpleasant. I was extremely hot and sweat poured off me. (Maybe why she was found in the water tank). I also had auditory hallucinations. Sounds of non-existent people and animals. My heart racing like mad. Tears for no reason. Now this is just one of the medications she was on. I have no idea what kind of withdrawal the other meds may have had on this girl. It took me 2 years to get off that medication, by a 1/4 of a pill every month.
This! I gasped when I heard that she was taking venlafaxine! I'm currently trying to come off of it because if I accidentally forget to take it, in just one day the most horrible and unpleasant withdrawal symptoms start
The only thing that weirds me out about this case is the similarities with the movie Dark Water. The girl venturing to the roof despite the door being locked and drowning in the tank, the main ghost scene happening in the elevator, the little girl's name being the female version of Cecil (they called her Ceci, short for Cecilia), the mother's name Dahlia (like the Black Dahlia of the Cecil Hotel), the dark water being the indicator that something had happened... A lot of people thought the movie was based on Elisa Lam's death, but she died years after the movie came out. So strange.
I reckon that's so bizare
After Lam died, a tuberculosis outbreak plagued Los Angeles, especially among the homeless community in Skid Row by the Cecil Hotel. The test for the tuberculosis was literally her name, but backwards: LAM-ELISA, which stood for Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Conspiracy theorists immediately speculated that Lam was effectively a biological weapon of sorts. They discovered that she was a student from the University of British Columbia, which has a reputable tuberculosis research center. This particular theory has disturbing eugenic undertones that posits Lam was sent to control the homeless population. According to this theory, Lam died because she either knew too much or planned to expose whoever sent her.
@ElwynnForest that too is like wth??
Love the video. Had to subscribe to the channel. Thanks for the hard work.
Thank You, do checkout my other uploads as well!
I agree with your theory, it sounds logical. I closely know a few people with severe bipolar disorder. When taking medication that is so finely tuned to the individuals brain chemistry it is extremely important that the medication is taken regularly and in the prescribed dosage. I have experienced a situation where a person stopped taking two of the drugs mentioned in this video on their own accord without consulting a doctor which resulted in a manic episode where the person in question didn’t sleep for days, spent all their money and was extremely agitated by the most mundane things. They cannot think rationally in such a situation and perform all sorts of things that a person who is mentally stable would never do. The worst part is that they don’t think that they are doing anything wrong as the happiness they feel in such a situation outweighs any risk or second thought.
Visually stunning video.
Thank You. Do checkout my other videos as well !
@@VuldarYT new sub. 😊 I sure will
Every time your videos get recommended to me I get jumps scared by your subscriber count because how are you so underrated??
I really like the style and matter of fact you are with the little evidence that has surfaced
Thank You and Glad You enjoyed it. Do check out my other videos as well.
I pass by there all the time for college. it's a place of poverty and depression. go more north west towards Pershing and it gets better, since it's a place of affluence. go more south east, and you end up at skid row, and we all know what that is like. the Cecil Hotel's area is just a barrier between elegance and despondency.
I'm surprised how many of these comments still fixate on the elevator, as if that was the start of all of her problems. Based on the evidence in this video, it sounds like she was unintentionally setting herself up for a manic episode. That elevator footage has just been lodged in the internet's consciousness for over 10 years, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that that is still the piece from this case that people cling onto. I don't think in the grand scheme of things the elevator really did anything to Elisa, it was just a place she was in when her episode began to kick into high gear, it seems, and we happen to have the footage that the police released. Still a tragic story.
سعيدة بالعثور على قناتك🌟
بالتوفيق🌿
I don't really understand the fuss everyone is making with the elevator...
You can clearly see the doors starting to close until she presses the hold button, when they open again and stay open. She even presses the button again a bit later.
She was sadly having an episode and got stressed by the doors not closing...
That is all
This channel deserves one million suscribers, yet today it reached ten tousend
Legend, Mega Thanks Mate!
I have Bipolar 1, and while you can maybe interpret some manic tendencies with her, the past hallucinations etc seem to me to point to some other conditions happening along side. Just my opinion; I only heard about this case today and have been deep diving. Great vid thanks!
And can you imagine knowing you drank that?
Huge trauma for those who did
Omg you deserve WAY more followers
The antipsychotic she is prescribed is also prescribed for non antipsychotic patients as a rescue medication for anxiety attacks and can be taken when needed instead of every day. She could have been prescribed this in a similar manner
Yep, bipolar can do this when it gets bad enough. I've seen a bipolar guy riding a boat with his friends, one moment acting completely normal and socializing, and suddenly threw himself out from the boat after a short toilet break, claiming he wants to die. He didn't of course, his friends got him, but it was just so mind boggling what had happened that day. The guy went back to normal soon after and apologized. He's been "normal" since then, presumably he properly took his meds now.
I will never forget this case. Not because of the awful circumstances, but the videos of her acting weird.. I wonder if she was tripping... That would make sense..
There's another case about some people in a mountain, and there I learned that one symptom of hypothermia makes people think they're actually hot… so they undress themselves in the middle of ice itself!
In this case, I would suggest the maniac episode triggered this… explaining why she looked for water, and why she would undress despite being in water already.
Theorie: Elisa wurde verfolgt.Deshalb drückte sie verschiedene Knöpfe im Fahrstuhl.So weiß der Verfolger nicht, in welchem Stockwerk sie wohnt. Aus Panik drückte sie vielleicht einen Knopf, der das Schließen der Tür verzögerte. ODER: Jemand drückte von außen und verhinderte das Schließen der Tür! Derjenige wußte vom Kamerasystem im Fahrstuhl. Eventuell ein Mitarbeiter? So wäre auch ein Teil der fehlenden Aufnahme im Video zu erklären.Das Hotel hat wohl keinen guten Ruf, will nicht noch mehr Ärger... Nachträgliches Schließen der Tanks, wegen der Versicherung....
Oder nur Halluzinationen ..keine Ahnung, wie weit sie bei einem Mädchen gehen? Nackt ausziehen, schweren Deckel heben...in einen Tank klettern ? Das ist extrem abwegig und gruselig.
She would leave little notes to her roommate telling them to go away lol
I too suffer from the manic and depressive symptoms of bipolar I and for the majority of the time I can hide them from most people with the help of medication. But there are a couple of times a year when, and I love the way people who understand,, refer to them as episodes, when the meds aren’t enough and my behaviour can change to psychotic and plain irrational. During these times I am unpredictable and can act in ways that are dangerous to myself and others. Hospital s generally the only way to get the help required as rational thinking is just absent. With my experience and looking at the facts of Elisa’s circumstances and history, I see no reason to doubt she suffered an acute episode and did something most people find unbelievable. I just want to say her actions are completely understandable if you suffer from this illness, especially if you add schizophrenia into the mix. I feel for her and her family, but I see nothing sinister in what occurred, just a poor girl caught in the grip of a mental blow up, which has cost numerous people their lives every day around the world. Awareness is hard as people who have no knowledge of this scourge of an illness cannot entertain that people can act so oddly, so it must be sinister. Sometimes the truth is staring you in the face.
In my country common folks would've called it "ghosts" or some spooky incident! I wish people were more aware of these things.
I have schizophrenia and I can tell you that hallucinations can be so strong that it can make people completely lose touch with reality. They can seem so realistic to someone in pyschosis.
I have had bad pyschotic episodes where I would be too paranoid to do anything, thinking my food was always posion and that society was trying to assassinate me.
My theory is that she was in pyschosis and paranoid about an entity after her, and that she could have hallucinationed an entity (which she was talking to by the elevator). Perhaps she heard voices. Maybe going to the water tower was her only 'escape' from this imaginary entity. Hiding in the water tank could have been her trying to protect herself. After going in the water tank, the latch shut, and she was unable to get out.
I think she wanted to live but was scared. She tried taking off her clothes so she could float better.