The Cecil Hotel back in the news

UPDATE FEB. 2020: The documentary, “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel,” premieres on Netflix on Feb. 10. I was interviewed for the project. Check out the trailer below.

Read my new blog post on my father’s terrifying experience at the Cecil Hotel.

UPDATE JUNE 2013: News sources are reporting that the death of Elisa Lam has been ruled accidental with bipolar disease being a “significant condition.” This ruling still does not answer the main question on most people’s minds, which is how Elisa Lam ended up on the roof of the hotel (a reportedly secure area only accessible to staff) and how she ended up in the water tank where it has been ruled she accidentally drowned. If no foul play was involved, was there negligence in security by the hotel? Did Elisa Lam have a mental health crisis? So far the police haven’t indicated that the hotel has done anything wrong. It appears we may never really know what caused Elisa Lam to end up on the roof where she tragically died.

My previous post about my father’s encounter with a ghost at the Cecil Hotel started receiving a lot of hits this past week. I soon realized there was a news report of a missing college student named Elisa Lam from Canada and her last known whereabouts were at the Cecil Hotel (also referred to as Hotel Cecil). Furthermore, there is video of her acting strangely in the elevator of the hotel.

A retro image of the Cecil Hotel. Photo: Crow’s Nest postcards, ebay.com

I hoped, along with everyone else, that there would be a happy ending to this story. But whether it is curse or merely coincidence, the Cecil Hotel is now the scene of another tragic death. Over the coming days, perhaps we will learn more about how Elisa Lam, 21, ended up dead in one of the hotel’s water tanks located on the roof. My condolences go out to her family and friends.

Right or wrong, the Cecil Hotel has earned quite the garish reputation over the years. The hotel has seen strange deaths over the years and served as a temporary home to serial killer Richard Ramirez. My father’s frightening experience in a room at the Cecil Hotel shook him up every time he retold the story. Of course, there have been thousands of uneventful stays at this hotel as well. I’m an open-minded skeptic when it comes to buildings with bad atmospheres.

I know Dad would have followed this case closely and would have been very saddened by the unfortunate outcome.