Stranger Things Season 5: Leah Palmirotto’s Fate — The Truth Behind the Death Controversy
Leah Palmirotto, 19, fell to her death while exploring the abandoned Emory University Briarcliff campus building made famous as Stranger Things' Hawkins National Laboratory during an early-hours visit with friends in Decatur, Georgia.
Awful news out of Georgia. A 19-year-old, Leah Palmirotto, died after a fall at the abandoned building fans know as the Hawkins National Laboratory from Stranger Things. It is a real, off-limits site on Emory University’s Briarcliff campus in Decatur, and police say she was there with friends in the early hours of December 19.
What happened at the Hawkins Lab location
The building is the old Georgia Mental Health Institute, a five-story structure that has been empty for years. Stranger Things shoots there for the Hawkins Lab exteriors, and The Vampire Diaries used it too. Despite fencing and no-trespassing signs, Leah and a group of friends got onto the property by climbing over the fence, according to Fox5Atlanta.
Around 1:30 a.m. on December 19, police were called about a fall. Officers found Leah at the base of the building and pronounced her dead at the scene. Emory University police and DeKalb County investigators are now piecing together how she fell. They have not publicly confirmed how many people were with her or the exact sequence of events.
What we know so far
- Leah Palmirotto, 19, entered the fenced, posted property with a group of friends on Emory’s Briarcliff campus in Decatur, Georgia.
- The building is the former Georgia Mental Health Institute, five stories tall, long abandoned, and used on Stranger Things as Hawkins National Laboratory; it has also appeared on The Vampire Diaries.
- Police received the call at about 1:30 a.m. on December 19, 2025, and found Leah at the base of the building; she was pronounced dead at the scene.
- Emory University police and DeKalb County investigators are investigating the cause; the exact number of companions has not been confirmed.
- Leah’s father says she had likely visited the site before and may have been there that night with people she did not know well.
- A GoFundMe organized by family friend Tom Cavanaugh has raised more than $2,500 to help with funeral and memorial expenses.
Leah’s family speaks out
Leah’s father, Todd Palmirotto Jr., told local station WAGA that his daughter was everything to him and that the family had always worried about the danger of that place, even if they did not imagine this outcome. He believes she had been to the site before and fears she might have been with people she did not know well that night.
'I am just hoping it was instant. I just hope she felt no pain.'
Friends and relatives are rallying around the family as they plan services.
A quick programming note on Stranger Things
Separate from this tragedy, Netflix just rolled out more of Stranger Things season 5:
Season 5, Volume 1 premiered November 26, 2025 with four episodes. Volume 2 landed on December 25. The finale is slated for December 31, 2025, playing in select theaters in the US and Canada and dropping on Netflix worldwide the same day. Volumes 1 and 2 are already streaming in the US.
If you are caught up: the gang is facing their biggest fight yet, the show digs into the truth behind the Upside Down, Will finally taps into Vecna’s power, and Max and Holly have their escape plan in motion.
One last thing
This is not a set you can visit. It is an abandoned, unsafe building on private property, and it is clearly marked that way. Please do not try to go in there.