Creepiest Urban Legends

The Elevator Game

The Elevator Game or "The Elevator to Another World" is not for the faint of heart. Originating in Korea and Japan, it's essentially a step-by-step ritual that is believed by some to blur the lines of reality.

Not surprisingly, the popularity of the Elevator Game has been powerfully influenced by online accounts of it. And, as too often happens, it has become even more widely known as the alleged cause of a tragedy: the death of Elisa Lam.

How to Play:

There are many steps to playing and surviving the Elevator Game, and it's very important to follow all of them precisely and in the exact order for it to work. In this game, you will need at least one player and an elevator in a building with a minimum of 10 floors. Here's how to play:

Step 1: Enter the elevator, alone or with another player. No outsider can enter the elevator with you, nor can you leave at any point. If you do exit the elevator, you must start over.

Step 2: Ride the elevator from floor to floor in a specific sequence: up to the 4th floor; down to the 2nd floor; up to the 6th floor; back down to the 2nd floor; up to the 10th floor; and then down to the 5th floor. Remember not to get off at any of the floors.

Step 3: When you get to the 5th floor, if you encounter a mysterious woman, DO NOT look at her and do not answer or interact with her in any way. The consequences of engaging with her are said to include the possibility of never returning to the real world.

Step 4: Now, push the button to descend from the 5th floor to the 1st floor. Here's where things could get crazy: If the elevator operates normally and takes you to the 1st floor, exit immediately and do not look back or talk to anyone. But if, instead of taking you from the 5th to the 1st floor, the elevator begins to go up then you're about to enter the "other world."

How to Return:

The way home has several steps, all of which players say you must follow exactly, lest you get stuck in that other world.

Step 1: Find and get on the same elevator you rode before. Finding it might be a problem but you have to keep searching until you find it because there's no other way back.

Step 2: Once you enter the elevator again, move from floor to floor in exactly the same sequence you did originally: 4-2-6-2-10-5. 

Step 3: Upon reaching the 5th floor, press the button to the 1st floor. 

Step 4: If the elevator starts ascending again, quickly press the button for any other floor before you reach the 10th floor or simply press the emergency button.

The Mysterious case of Elisa Lam:

Elisa was staying at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, but her parents became concerned when they didn't hear from her on the day she was supposed to check out. They notified the authorities, and an investigation ensued. Police couldn't find any trace of Elisa, except for an eerie video of her behaving erratically in the hotel's elevator.

In the video, Lam is seen stepping into and out of the elevator several times, seemingly talking to someone who wasn't there, frantically pushing many of the elevator buttons, making gestures with her hands, and looking around in a paranoid fashion. Through all of this, the elevator stayed in place and its doors never closed. 

Elisa's body was later discovered in a water tank on the hotel's roof. To this day nobody knows what exactly happened. Was she experiencing some kind of psychotic episode? Was there someone nearby but not captured by the security camera? Or Was Elisa playing the Elevator Game?