Tragic Fall at ‘Stranger Things’ Location – Father’s Heartbreak
The heartbreaking moment came when Leah Palmirotto, only 19, tragically fell to her death at a famed ‘Stranger Things’ filming location. The tragedy unraveled just before 1 am on a seemingly harmless exploration with her friends at the abandoned Briarcliff Building on Emory University’s campus. This
By Suvin Muthukumarana · Dec 22, 2025 · 2 min read
The heartbreaking moment came when Leah Palmirotto, only 19, tragically fell to her death at a famed ‘Stranger Things’ filming location. The tragedy unraveled just before 1 am on a seemingly harmless exploration with her friends at the abandoned Briarcliff Building on Emory University’s campus.
Leah Palmirotto, 19, has died after falling from the roof of an abandoned hospital building in Atlanta that was used as a filming location in Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things
This place, once a psychiatric hospital from the 1960s, was used in the show as the Hawkins National Laboratory. Though closed off, it’s believed the group managed entry by scaling a chain-link fence.
‘Going to these places are dangerous, being with people that you really don’t know, like we just kind of always had something in the back of our mind that something could happen,’ Leah’s father, Todd Palmirotto Jr, shared.
The five-story Briarcliff Building (pictured) was a psychiatric hospital built in the 1960s. It was acquired by Emory University in the 1990s and is one of 40 locations the university rents out to filmmakers and production companies
Many are in shock, as shared by her family friend, they describe her as doing what “normal 19-year-olds do” when the adventure ended tragically. Influencer comments have stressed the need for safety and community awareness on abandoned site explorations.
Reflect on the danger involved in these explorations, and always prioritize safety, especially when unfamiliar with the environment. Life is precious and irreplaceable.
