The Elevator Game
A Ritual You Should Never Try
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| The Elevator Game |
It sounds like a creepypasta: a secret ritual passed from forum to forum, whispered between thrill-seekers and ghost hunters. A game played in silence, alone, in an elevator—at night.
But what if it’s more than a game?
What if pressing those buttons really does open a door?
And what if what waits on the other side… isn’t human?
Welcome to The Elevator Game, one of the most viral and unsettling urban legends of the internet age.
What Is the Elevator Game?
The Elevator Game is a ritual said to transport the player to another dimension—one that's eerily similar to our own, but off in subtle, terrifying ways. Originating on Korean and Japanese forums before exploding into Reddit threads and YouTube videos, the game has become one of the most well-known examples of modern supernatural folklore.
Participants follow a precise sequence of elevator button presses in a building with at least ten stories. If performed correctly—between midnight and 3 a.m.—the elevator will take them to the “Otherworld.”
That’s when the real horror begins.
The Rules of the Elevator Game
There are several variations, but the most common version goes like this:
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Find a building with at least 10 floors and a working elevator. You must be alone.
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Get into the elevator on the first floor.
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Press the floors in this sequence: 4 → 2 → 6 → 2 → 10 → 5
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When you reach the fifth floor, a woman may enter the elevator.
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Do not look at her.
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Do not speak to her.
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Press the 1st floor. If the elevator instead rises to the 10th floor, the ritual has succeeded.
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When the doors open, you may choose to exit into the Otherworld.
According to legend, the Otherworld looks almost identical to our own—except it feels wrong. There are no people. No power. The sky may be dark or red. You may feel watched.
And if you speak to the woman? She may trap you there forever.
Where Did the Legend Begin?
The earliest known versions of the Elevator Game began circulating on 2ch (a Japanese message board) and Naver blogs in Korea in the early 2000s. But its true essence—its creeping dread and rigid, rule-bound horror—feels unmistakably Korean.
In Korean ghost stories, elevators are more than just mechanical transport—they're thresholds, haunted zones where spirits linger and reality frays. The ghostly woman who steps in on the fifth floor echoes a long tradition of pale-faced apparitions who wait in silence, testing your courage... or luring you to the other side. Korean YouTube creators and paranormal bloggers were among the first to give the game its chilling edge, fusing traditional folklore with modern ritual terror.
It gained Western popularity in the 2010s through:
• Reddit threads on r/NoSleep and r/ThreeKings
• YouTube horror creators filming themselves trying the game
• Viral TikToks recreating the ritual in dimly lit apartment complexes
Its simplicity made it spread like wildfire—anyone with access to a tall building could try it. But as stories grew darker and more vivid, people began to think twice.
Sightings, Stories, and Strange Results
So what actually happens when people try it?
Some report nothing at all—just a long, awkward ride in an elevator. Others swear they experienced:
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Floors that didn’t match reality
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Burnt or metallic smells
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Lights flickering or turning off completely
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Time slowing or stalling
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A presence—especially on the fifth floor
A few claim they exited onto a floor that looked like their own, but something felt wrong. One user wrote that when they tried to return, the elevator stopped responding to buttons. Another said they saw a figure standing at the end of a hallway, unmoving, before the lights blinked and they were “back.”
And then there’s the woman.
Dozens of players describe an emotionless female figure in outdated clothing, sometimes bloody, sometimes beautiful—always wrong. If you talk to her, they say, she becomes hostile.
A Chilling Real-World Connection: The Elisa Lam Case
The legend took a darker turn in 2013, when surveillance footage of Elisa Lam—a Canadian student staying at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles—surfaced online.
In the video, Elisa enters an elevator and:
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Presses a sequence of buttons
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Hides in the corner
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Peers out nervously
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Makes odd gestures
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Appears to be speaking to someone unseen
The elevator doors don’t close for an unnaturally long time. Then, she steps out and disappears from view.
Her body was found weeks later in the hotel’s rooftop water tank.
Though her death was officially ruled accidental, internet sleuths immediately linked it to the Elevator Game. The button-pushing. The strange behavior. The time of night.
Was she playing? Was she followed? Or had she opened something she shouldn’t have?
To this day, her case remains a touchstone for those who believe the game is more than fiction.
What (or Who) Is the Woman?
The woman who may enter on the fifth floor is one of the most chilling elements of the ritual.
Theories include:
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A ghost who died in an elevator accident
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A demon testing your resolve
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A reflection of your inner fears
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A trap or trickster—if you acknowledge her, you lose
Many liken her to figures like Resurrection Mary or Kuchisake-onna—female apparitions who appear normal at first glance but hide deadly secrets. She may even be a gatekeeper of sorts, ensuring only the prepared enter the Otherworld.
But the strongest advice remains the same: Don’t look. Don’t speak. Don’t react.
Psychological Interpretations
Folklorists and psychologists suggest the Elevator Game taps into several universal fears:
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Loss of control – You’re in a confined space with no escape.
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Fear of the unknown – What’s waiting when the doors open?
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Ritual anxiety – The idea that missteps bring dire consequences.
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Liminal spaces – Elevators are natural thresholds. The game makes them supernatural.
Playing the game may serve as a modern rite of passage—a way to confront and process those fears under the illusion of control.
The Otherworld: What Is It?
Descriptions of the Otherworld vary, but common traits include:
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Dim red or gray skies
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Total silence
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A feeling of being watched
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Electronics failing
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Hallways or architecture that shouldn’t exist
It’s sometimes compared to “liminal spaces,” or dreamlike zones between worlds—similar to The Backrooms or Silent Hill.
Some say the Otherworld isn’t a different location but a different layer of reality, where boundaries thin and other entities dwell.
And once you’ve entered… something might follow you home.
Pop Culture and the Elevator Game
The game has influenced horror media across multiple platforms:
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TV & Web: YouTube channels like Nuke’s Top 5 and Night Mind have covered real attempts.
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Games: Indie horror titles and mods simulate the rules of the game.
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Movies: While no major film is solely about the Elevator Game, films like The Night Shifter, The Taking of Deborah Logan, and Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin echo its ritual-based fear.
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Books: Indie authors (like you!) are incorporating it into chilling fiction.
The accessibility of the ritual—combined with the horror of the unknown—has made the Elevator Game a staple of digital-age folklore.
Why We Keep Pressing Those Buttons
At its core, the Elevator Game is about curiosity. It dares you to cross a line—to perform a simple ritual with complex consequences. It preys on the idea that the world isn’t as fixed as we believe.
And it reminds us that sometimes, you don’t have to go looking for danger—it’ll open the door for you.
So next time you’re alone in an elevator… and it stops on the fifth floor… and no one seems to get on…
Don’t look.
📖 Chapter 8 Teaser: Urban Legends and Tales of Terror
"The elevator is waiting. The game never ends."
The Blackwood Apartments had been feeding on the desperate and the curious for decades. Built in 1923, this art deco masterpiece hid a dark secret—people had been vanishing without a trace, all connected to one common thread: the elevator.
When Jenna and her friends discovered the rules of the Elevator Game on a paranormal forum, they thought it was just another urban legend. Press the buttons in the right sequence between midnight and 3 AM, they read, and the elevator becomes a gateway to another dimension.
But some games should never be played.
Now, trapped in an impossible corridor lined with mirrors that reflect horrors from other worlds, Jenna realizes the truth: the game began in 1923 with the disappearance of Margaret Whitmore, and it has been claiming players ever since.
The woman in the blue dress who waits on the fifth floor isn't just a ghost—she's a collector, gathering souls for a game that never ends.
* Have you tried the elevator game? If so, did anything unusual happen? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
Some urban legends are warnings.
Some are invitations.
And some… are both.
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