The Elevator Video: What's your take?

[OCSlacker]

Does this hotel have a light up dispaly above the elevators that shows what floor the elevator is on? This could be a clue as to whether she was trying to trhow someone off as to which floor she was on.

The video below shows the outside of the elevator @5:01-5:04 on the 5th floor. If you look to the right side, just next to the lighted arrow, on the top of the elevator door, it shows the numbers of where the elevator is within the hotel on the display. It's very fast so you may have to stop the video and go frame by frame.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY2kiP8FVOY&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]Cecil hotel tour - YouTube[/ame]

 

[SplishSplash]

Fine, Just all my opinion, dropping it and I'll leave it to the experts.

 

[Qrious]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YO4QbaNDjI

I read a post on YouTube some time back that said every 3s of the actual video was converted to 4s for the police video. Now I'm not sure whether the poster meant that this was a deliberate conversion or he was just stating his observation.

The only reason I could think of why the police wanted the conversion is to slow down the video to make it easier for them to pick up tiny details which may be useful. It would also be easier for the public to pick up her features.

As for the 3 jump cuts, someone here explained it could be the video timing itself on and off when no motion was detected. Another possibility I could think of is to remove innocent parties from the video.

But why not cut off the video at the 2:30 mark after she left the scene? Was the extended video to show us that the elevator was functioning properly?

As for the blurred-out timer, I would not make much of it as someone here has explained that it could be due to "ghosting" from repeated usage of the recording tape. It is likely that the hotel was still using analogue tape recording, not digital.

Watching the corrected actual-time version of the video, I find Elisa's behavior even harder to explain. Her actions seem even stranger, in the sense that they seem more deliberate, less "subconscious". Her actions look almost too fast and sharp.

And I have a new realization. Like many here, I have thought she was talking when she was doing those hand motions, for her actions suggest very much that she was explaining something. But watch closely. I am very sure she wasn't saying anything when she did the four waving/petting motions. At that point we can see her face, and I do not see her mouth moving. I can see a smile at 1:58-59s but no other mouth movements after that.

Then when she turned and started the counting motions on her hands, her face is hidden from our view. It appears like she was talking but then it could also be that she was silent.

 

[paint]

it makes perfect sense to me now, as someone else has explained, that the petting motions are actually her showing someone that the motion sensor is not working and the door is obviously stuck. i thought her actions were extremely bizarre until that was pointed out.

you'll notice that before she starts counting on her fingers, she flips her hands towards the elevator - she is talking to someone about that elevator.

 

[Qrious]

it makes perfect sense to me now, as someone else has explained, that the petting motions are actually her showing someone that the motion sensor is not working and the door is obviously stuck. i thought her actions were extremely bizarre until that was pointed out.

you'll notice that before she starts counting on her fingers, she flips her hands towards the elevator - she is talking to someone about that elevator.

I don't see her talking when she was doing the petting motions. Everybody assumes she was saying something but I see no mouth movements at all. There was just that one smile she made before the petting motions.

Besides, how do you explain to someone that the motion sensor is not working and the door is obviously stuck by waving your hand in front of the sensor? That very act would have triggered the sensor and kept the door stuck open.

 

[noodled1]

How many old elevators or even new ones have motion sensors? Most only have that soft trigger on the door edge that you put your hand out to stop the door from closing when you're halfway in...lol

 

[paint]

those are good questions and i struggle with it. this is an evolving process with me and i'm more and more open to different theories as time goes by and i get smarter with a lot of people's help hahahahahah

there may be two different things going on here. i believe she is being followed initially, which is why she presses multiple buttons to try to confuse them. if she was waiting for someone, that wouldn't be necessary. the hold button is all she would need. she also decides to try to take control and confront this individual by hopping out unexpectedly. she's looking to the left at that point.

she ends up outside the elevator waiting for it to respond. i think there may be someone who comes out of the shower or bathroom to the right at this point. her manner is completely different now, and she may feel awkward and embarrassed for just standing there next to an open elevator for no reason. she begins indicating there's a problem with the elevator by motioning around the door - no words needed. this person asks what's wrong and then she speaks.

that's where i am now, subject to change.

 

[Perplexed 123]

I have conflicting thoughts about the pressing of the buttons in the elevator.

The first time she presses them - On one hand I think she is doing so as a safety precaution so someone following her will not know what floor she gets out on.

However, if this did not work the first time, why do it the second time? If she wanted to get out of there quickly, why not just press one button until the elevator closed and started moving, then press the other buttons while the elevator is moving? I just keeping thinking that's what I would do in that situation, although I wasn't in that situation so I suppose it's hard to tell how I would react.

It leads me to believe that she was waiting for someone and had pressed the all the buttons as a joke, i.e. when the person got in to the elevator it would stop on lots of different floors (something my nephew loves to do). The way she looks out the door (the first time) after pressing the buttons seems to me she was waiting for someone and had intended to jump out and surprise them/scare them also as a joke. When they didn't arrive, she steps out again to check where they are.

I'm not convinced that she is acting like she is on drugs, just playing around. I think there was someone else there she was talking to, I don't think she was talking to herself or to ghosts. JMO

 

[paint]

yes, playful could be how she met her demise - she let her guard down. maybe even got into the tank as a dare.

when the pedestrian crosswalk button doesn't seem to work when i'm out walking, i go back and angrily push it multiple times in frustration. this is what she seems to be doing.

i look at her face and she doesn't seem to be having fun to me.

 

[paint]

Besides, how do you explain to someone that the motion sensor is not working and the door is obviously stuck by waving your hand in front of the sensor? That very act would have triggered the sensor and kept the door stuck open.

you're right. perhaps her motions were simply for gaining attention to her predicament. it doesn't have to be logical.

 

[paint]

How many old elevators or even new ones have motion sensors? Most only have that soft trigger on the door edge that you put your hand out to stop the door from closing when you're halfway in...lol

you're right.

 

[findinganatta]

The theory you referred to doesn't go with the fact that she came from the video left direction but poked her head out to see in the opposite direction, and later faced that opposite direction when she talked.

I really don't ever see her talking. It's sort of taken as fact that she does, now that so many people have repeated it. But it's only her arm movements that are indicative of possible conversation, and in my opinion they are more indicative of her being alone and doing strange things... especially if you pay close attention to the way she shifts from one action to the next throughout the whole video. Taken in chunks, it's easy to see fear one moment, conversation the next, etc.

But taken as a sequence, it's as if her actions are guided by a lost, chaotic mind. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone else The sped-up (real-time) version gives me this impression even more than the original.

And in my opinion, the hand waving motions and hand wringing--or finger bending, not sure--do not look like the body language of a person who is talking, explaining, or being playful with someone else (or fearful). To me it looks like someone who is experiencing strange bodily feelings.

 

[TheRoger]

I believe this happened on the 15th floor as I have seen on this site a photo showing that the 14th floor button lights up red and not green like the others and is less visible in the video. Also the styles of lamps have been shown to be different on the 14 and 15. What ever happened to all that stuff which was examined in detail earlier on in these threads?

 

[jetsetsam]

I know that you have to be careful to not take things out of context, but when I look at this still from the video I see a young woman who is very afraid and feeling alone and vulnerable. I don't see fun or playing. Look at the hunched shoulders, her hands clasped tightly in front of her crotch. She is scared.

 

[findinganatta]

Does anyone else think the obscuring of the time stamp might have been done by the police in order to help their investigation... for instance, if someone came forward and claimed they had seen her or spoken with her during this time (either someone acting as a witness, providing an alibi, or confessing), the police could get a good idea of their honesty by asking what time it was, approximately. There are other reasons, too, but my point is that it's logically explainable outside of suspicious theories. Cops withhold info so often for such reasons. Sorry if this has been covered already, but I don't think I've seen it in most of the threads.

As for the slowing-down of the video... I really can't think of a logical explanation other than: a) they wanted to make sure people got a look at her appearance (although seems like still pics might be easier, except the video got a lot of attention unlike a still pic), or b) it was some kind of mistake version that was sent to the media, a version that the police or someone was using for investigation.

Otherwise, that aspect of the vid is just strange.

I know that you have to be careful to not take things out of context, but when I look at this still from the video I see a young woman who is very afraid and feeling alone and vulnerable. I don't see fun or playing. Look at the hunched shoulders, her hands clasped tightly in front of her crotch. She is scared.

View attachment 30737

I agree that she wasn't necessarily being playful or fun at that particular moment, but it's also really subjective what emotions she's expressing. If someone told me that was just a random video still of a girl messing around with someone, I wouldn't have any reason to question them based on her appearance. On top of that, even if she is afraid, it's hard to know if the fear is based on reality or not.

 

[TheRoger]

Also feel her actions show a building sense of tension. At first she seems a bit creeped but unsure, when she returns to the elevator she seems desperate and frantically pressing the buttons. During the 'talking/interacting' phase she has her hands to her head which is a classic body language for 'busted' watch any kid getting in trouble or an episode of cops, as soon as deniability is lost the hands go to the head.

 

[TheRoger]

I had a lengthy post on the general forum that explained my theory in great detail of the elevator video and actually made some sense but has for some reason not been moved over to this thread yet.

 

[jetsetsam]

Does anyone else think the obscuring of the time stamp might have been done by the police in order to help their investigation... for instance, if someone came forward and claimed they had seen her or spoken with her during this time (either someone acting as a witness, providing an alibi, or confessing), the police could get a good idea of their honesty by asking what time it was, approximately. There are other reasons, too, but my point is that it's logically explainable outside of suspicious theories. Cops withhold info so often for such reasons. Sorry if this has been covered already, but I don't think I've seen it in most of the threads.

As for the slowing-down of the video... I really can't think of a logical explanation other than: a) they wanted to make sure people got a look at her appearance (although seems like still pics might be easier, except the video got a lot of attention unlike a still pic), or b) it was some kind of mistake version that was sent to the media, a version that the police or someone was using for investigation.

Otherwise, that aspect of the vid is just strange.

I agree that she wasn't necessarily being playful or fun at that particular moment, but it's also really subjective what emotions she's expressing. If someone told me that was just a random video still of a girl messing around with someone, I wouldn't have any reason to question them based on her appearance. On top of that, even if she is afraid, it's hard to know if the fear is based on reality or not.

I agree with your last comment. Or based on the effects of drugs, prescription or otherwise.

 

[Conductor71]

I know that you have to be careful to not take things out of context, but when I look at this still from the video I see a young woman who is very afraid and feeling alone and vulnerable. I don't see fun or playing. Look at the hunched shoulders, her hands clasped tightly in front of her crotch. She is scared.

View attachment 30737

She also takes backward lunges into the elevator each time she steps out to look around. That says fear to me as well. Later on when she looks as if she was talking to someone, her movements are more relaxed and she turns around twice, this time exposing her back, to get in the elevator.

IF she was talking to someone we cannot just assume it is a perp.

 

[OCSlacker]

No offense, but I think you're being unrealistically rigid in your description of how people behave on different drugs. There are no definite rules about it. Yes, there are sets of behaviors that are common to particular drugs, but some people exhibit varying degrees of those behavior. I've taken most of the drugs you listed, and your descriptions don't necessarily reflect how I acted.

For instance, with ecstasy, LSD, and mushrooms, you can be somewhat aware in one moment, then completely lost in hallucinations the next, and then fade back into being aware of your surroundings for a little while. These drugs aren't predictable enough to know how all people will behave on them. Plus, a person's own personality has some influence on their drug behavior.

Personally, I think EL definitely looks like she could be tripping on ecstasy. Remember, she might have been attempting to control some of her behaviors because she was in the middle of a hotel (albeit somewhat in vain). Also, we might be seeing the beginning of her trip, before it fully kicked in. She could have become much more messed up afterwards.

All I know is that from the moment I first saw the video, before I heard anyone else's opinions (other than it was "creepy"), I immediately suspected drugs, and specifically hallucinogens/psychedelic drugs.

I agree, people do not all react in the same way with drugs. EL's tumblr account shows she was diagnosed with ADHD

http://nouvelle-nouveau.tumblr.com/post/22304102762/more-its-still-odd-to-me-that-people-are-so

I believe that Adderall was prescribed. Which when combined with a MDMA can be deadly.

I think I recall you writing that you have tried ecstasy, is that correct? Do you have ADHD or ADD? If so, how did it effect you?

I have ADHD and can tell you from experience it had the complete reverse effect that normal people have. I felt fine, calm, a little more focus, clarity as to what is going on around me at the moment,no paranoia, and made me sleepy. In other words it balanced me out if anything. I had no isues and didn't need to control my behavior in any way. I was more normal than ever because I didn't deal with distraction in the same manner. My girlfriend who does not have ADHD acted the complete opposite. We were in Vegas at the time,she actually annoyed me a bit but I just ended up going back to the room and going to bed. Since it is usually very difficult for me to shut my brain off, it was the best sleep ever. Aside from that it did nothing for me.

This is just my experience, but I hear this is common with people who have ADHD. Actually, I have yet to hear of people that have ADHD who don't react this way. If you or anyone else has had a different reaction I would really like to know more. Also, if anyone has taken Adderall and ecstasy, what, if anything,changed with the effects of the drug?