In 2013, a young woman named Elisa Lam checked into the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, and never checked out. Her mysterious disappearance and the viral elevator footage that followed turned a private mentalhealth crisis into a global guessing game.

In this episode, we unpack how Elisa’s story became one of the internet’s first true-crime obsessions ,and what that says about our collective relationship with mystery, voyeurism, and mental health. We trace the Cecil’s dark history, from the glamor of old-Hollywood travelers to its tragic ties to serial killers, and explore how an online army of “sleuths” blurred the line between empathy and exploitation.

TW: This episode contains conversations around mental health struggles, suicide, and rape.

Created and produced by Tess Bellomo & Claire Donald

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