Unpacking The Eerie
Unpacking the Eerie is a passion project that merges the intersections of our dark curiosities with our deeply held values. Each episode we’ll dig past the surface of morbid fascination, scavenging for unasked questions surrounding the stories that creep the hell out of us. We hope that when you listen, you’ll experience the feels, the enjoyment, the horror and interludes of comedic relief that we do. - 2 politicized social workers based in the PNW and in India.
Visit our website at www.unpackingtheeerie.com | Follow us on instagram @unpackingtheeerie & Facebook at Facebook.com/unpackingtheeerie.
Music Credit: Creepy Mood by Oleg Fedak
Unpacking The Eerie
4. A Lethal Location Pt. 1: Accident, Cover Up or Cult?
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TOPIC: Cecil Hotel//Elisa Lam
This Halloweek, we begin to explore the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, CA and the very mysterious death of Elisa Lam. This disturbing case was deemed an accident, but was it? Unpack the eerie with us this week as we dig deep into the life of Elisa Lam, the suspicious circumstances that surrounded her untimely death in February 2013 and the location where it took place: a site that has seen a shocking number of unnatural deaths since its grand opening in the 1920s.
This is the first episode in a series about the Cecil Hotel.
CW: ableism, suicide, sexual, physical and racial violence, mental illness
Sources:
Articles/Blogposts/Websites
- https://www.countryliving.com/life/travel/a45235/creepy-history-cecil-hotel-los-angeles/
- https://allthatsinteresting.com/cecil-hotel-los-angeles
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Hotel_(Los_Angeles)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_and_violence_at_the_Cecil_Hotel
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongva (Learn more about indigenous LA here)
- http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi06e.hp
- https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/chinese-massacre-1871
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/yvezpv/hospitals-are-dumping-mentally-ill-patients-in-los-angeles-skid-row
- https://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2587-6-morbid-facts-about-people-dying-in-hotel-rooms.html
- https://medium.com/@jddean/the-serial-killers-who-haunted-the-cecil-hotel-5586e6f7d2d1
- https://abc13.com/archive/9412802/ |
Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!
NOTE FOR SPOTIFY LISTENERS: Starting 03/01/2026 we will no longer be on Spotify. Not only has Spotify had a poor track record with pay transparency and just compensation for artists, the CEO recently invested $700 million in AI military warfare technology. Articles and alternatives to Spotify for podcasts and more can be found here.
We’ll also be moving minisodes and parts of our series episodes so that they are only available on Patreon. If you’re interested and able, the lowest tier is $2/month. This helps us maintain hosting fees and the bare basics of keeping our podcast active. Appreciate your support!
Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak
P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!
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