Single list tight:

* hi 
* there
* fella 

Single list loose in "paragraph mode":

* hey 

* there

* partner 

Single list loose with multiple paragraphs in an item:

* How you doin'?

* this item contains multiple paragraphs.

  More than one that is.

  Three to be exact.

* And this one is just a bunch of lines.
  Spliced together as a single item.
  A single paragraph.

A single list that looks like multiple lists
separated by a blank line:

* list 1
* with three
* elements

* still list 1
* adding four
* more
* elements

* sic, this is still list 1
* now with
* even
* more
* elements

There's no way to actually get multiple consecutive lists in Markdown.
Neither Markdown.pl nor python-markdown allow it either.
In a mailing list thread a few years back, John Gruber
[suggested using double blank lines](https://web.archive.org/web/20181229032814/http://article.gmane.org:80/gmane.text.markdown.general/2554)
to separate consecutive lists but no implementation does it.
For now you need to separate consecutive lists with unindented text:

* list 1
* with three
* elements

Cough.

* list 2
* with
* four
* elements

Cough. Cough.

* list 3
* with
* even
* more
* elements