The Elevator Game
Gateway to a creepy alternate dimension
Riding an empty elevator alone at 3 am is not an activity reserved exclusively for sleepwalkers. If you believe in the legend inspiring The Elevator Game, taking a solitary ride at an hour when most people are sleeping will open a door for you to visit a disturbing new world.
The Elevator Game Origins
Social media has given rise to a new generation of urban legends spread like wildfire through the likes of Reddit and YouTube. The Elevator Game is one such legend.
The Elevator Game is said to have originated in South Korea. Accounts of the legend were shared online as early as 2014. Some stories were from people who insisted they witnessed frightening and disorienting images from another parallel world after playing the game. Other stories recounted unfortunate souls who vanished without a trace or were endlessly haunted by otherworldly beings after failing to obey rules governing the game.
Playing the Game
If you accept the risks and choose to play The Elevator Game, you need to be inside a building with at least 10 floors. Playing at 3 am isn’t required, but it is preferrable to minimize risk of disruption. You need to ride alone and must terminate the game if anyone (other than the mysterious woman) boards the elevator before you reach your final destination.
Follow these steps to enter the other world:
Get on the elevator alone. If anyone else enters the elevator (besides the mysterious woman) at any point, you'll need to start over once they depart.
Ride the elevator in the following sequence:
Fourth floor
Second floor
Sixth floor
Second floor
Tenth floor
Fifth floor
First floor
Do not exit the elevator before reaching your final destination.
When you reach the fifth floor, a mysterious young woman will reportedly enter the elevator. You must not speak to her or look at her under any circumstances. She will try to spark a conversation or ask for help. Ignore her at all costs.
The Other World
Once you press the button for the first floor, one of two things will happen.
If the elevator descends, it means you’ve been denied entrance to the other world. At this point, you must exit at the first floor without looking back or speaking and try the game again at a future time.
If the elevator ascends, then you will be taken to the creepy parallel world. When the doors open at the tenth floor, you will find the entire building shrouded in darkness. You’ll find no signs of other life beyond yourself. Outside the windows, you’ll see a red cross in the distance.
Venturing outside the elevator can leave you disoriented. Phones and other electronic devices often malfunction in the other realm. You must stay focused and remember which elevator you took, so you are able to return home.
If you choose to stay in the elevator, returning to your world is as simple as pressing the button for the first floor. You made need to press it multiple times to get it to work properly.
If you exit the elevator, you will need to return in the same elevator that brought you to the alternate dimension or else you become trapped in that realm. Follow the same floor sequence you used to get to this point. (Some variations of the legends say you need to punch in the floor numbers in reverse order.)
When you reach the fifth floor again, do not let the elevator return you to the tenth floor. Press a button to any other floor to stop it and proceed to the first floor again. Check your surroundings when you’ve returned to the first floor and make sure everything is back to normal before exiting the elevator for good. You will have to repeat the floor sequence if even the smallest details seem out of place.
Once you’re assured you’re back to your world, exit the elevator. Do not look back or speak. Leave the building and return home as soon as possible.
The Mysterious Woman
Ignoring the young woman who hitches a ride with you is emphasized repeatedly in The Elevator Game legend. Do not answer her questions. Say nothing to her. Do not make eye contact. Simply acknowledging her presence can put you at risk.
If you speak to the woman or look at her, the legend warns that she will be revealed to be a ghost or demonic being who can abduct you or follow you home and endlessly torment you. This part of the lore obviously sprang from a deep-rooted cultural fear of talking to strangers.
Holy crap this is spoooooky!
Ha, never heard of this, but it reminds me of a modern version of legends like the ones that give instructions to access faerie in Celtic lore, or hades in Greek myths, and then warn of what to not do once there (eat the food, drink the water, touch the ground, etc.)