Video of guy stuck on elevator for 41 hours!

[photon]

The control panel made a beep, and White waited a moment, expecting a voice to offer information or instructions. None came. He pressed the intercom button, but there was no response. He hit it again, and then began pacing around the elevator. After a time, he pressed the emergency button, setting off an alarm bell, mounted on the roof of the elevator car, but he could tell that its range was limited. Still, he rang it a few more times and eventually pulled the button out, so that the alarm was continuous. Some time passed, although he was not sure how much, because he had no watch or cell phone. He occupied himself with thoughts of remaining calm and decided that he’d better not do anything drastic, because, whatever the malfunction, he thought it unwise to jostle the car, and because he wanted to be (as he thought, chuckling to himself) a model trapped employee. He hoped, once someone came to get him, to appear calm and collected. He did not want to be scolded for endangering himself or harming company property. Nor did he want to be caught smoking, should the doors suddenly open, so he didn’t touch his cigarettes. He still had three, plus two Rolaids, which he worried might dehydrate him, so he left them alone. As the emergency bell rang and rang, he began to fear that it might somehow—electricity? friction? heat?—start a fire. Recently, there had been a small fire in the building, rendering the elevators unusable. The Business Week staff had walked down forty-three stories. He also began hearing unlikely oscillations in the ringing: aural hallucinations. Before long, he began to contemplate death.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/vide...0421_elevators

The article: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...urrentPage=all

Pretty interesting stuff. How he reacted to the ordeal basically wrecked his life, which wasn't what I was expecting at all.

[Ozy_Flame]

Reminds me of the Sims 2, when you box people into an unescapable room with no door or windows. They go bonkers.

[FlamesInYourEyes]

That is crazy, I don't understand how no one would have heard him. Talk about a claustrophobics worst nightmare!

[simmer2]

Crazy, I can't even imagine what that must have been like.

I was stuck on an elevator with 17 other people one time for about 50 minutes. We were coming home from the bar and were all quite drunk. A lot of the girls started getting claustrophobic and thankfully they got us out when they did. I can't even imagine 41 hours.

[stang]

I wonder if he knew the camera was there...

[jam26]

I was stuck in a rickety old elevator for 25 mins or so a few weeks ago. I began to panic a bit when there was no sign of help coming. I was in there alone with an ice bucket and two beers.

It was an old hotel and I worried there may be a fire. All I could think about was what a stupid way that would have been to die....getting ice for my beer...and taking the elevator in a two-storey hotel!

[REDVAN]

What if you had to go to the bathroom? That'd be awesome.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

What if you had to go to the bathroom? That'd be awesome.

He did piss down the elevator shaft with hope that it'd attract attention. I wonder if dropping a spike would have attracted a little more attention.

[Dan02]

I was stuck in a elevator alone for a couple hours once, fortunately i was just on my way from the store so i had grocerys to dine on, of course in second thought that wasn't the greatest idea because near the end i was holding back a pretty big dump.

[Flames_Gimp]

god..the thought of being trapped as long as him is making me sick to my stomach. I hope he sued their asses.

[Muta]

Isn't there usually a panel in elevator roofing that one can crawl out of and somehow draw attention that way? Or, atleast get a little breathing room...

Maybe I watch too many action movies.

[fredr123]

Myself and a coworker were stuck in one of our office elevators for a little over 90 minutes a few months ago. We were trapped with three CGAs from another floor. We tried using the emergency intercom but all we got was a recording. We left a message (our call was important to them) but never got a message back.

Eventually we were able to get hold of someone from our office on our cell phone who called building security who called the elevator company who sent someone over to spring us. The elevator company received no calls from the messaging service at any time and there was heck to pay.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

god..the thought of being trapped as long as him is making me sick to my stomach. I hope he sued their asses.

He did... in the end his response to the situation screwed him over and pretty much ruined his life.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Muta

Isn't there usually a panel in elevator roofing that one can crawl out of and somehow draw attention that way? Or, atleast get a little breathing room...

Maybe I watch too many action movies.

it was locked. And he was on an express elevator, which had no stops until well above (or below) where he was stuck.

[Flashpoint]

Why didn't he just make a "Help!" sign on one of his cigarette packages and put it in front of the camera? Even if he didn't have a pen, he could have written it in blood or something.

Even blurry, it should have attracted attention. Then again, if he was laying on the floor of the elevator and nobody noticed, maybe not. Poor bugger. I think he got what he deserved for getting litigious though.

I have to say, this part made me laugh:

n most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn’t work. It is there mainly to make you think it works. (It does work if, say, a fireman needs to take control. But you need a key, and a fire, to do that.) Once you know this, it can be illuminating to watch people compulsively press the door-close button. That the door eventually closes reinforces their belief in the button’s power. It’s a little like prayer.

Back in University I used to count how long it took for the doors to close. It was the same time whether nobody pushed the "door closed" button, or some little type A person was hammering away on it. Always gave me a chuckle to see people who figured that extra couple seconds was going to make a difference.

[Kidder]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Reminds me of the Sims 2, when you box people into an unescapable room with no door or windows. They go bonkers.

Then you set off a firecracker... muah ha ha (this was Sims 1, they probably made it harder to kill your Sim people in Sims 2).

What an interesting video and article. obviously not a cool experience for White. I like how often he prys open the doors to check the situation. Yup, still a cinderblock wall. I wonder if the thought he might have already died ever crossed his mind. That's a pretty good realization of hell.

On a subsequent note... I will never take an elevator again!

[Daradon]

Wow amazing story! Also spliced with 'everything you ever wanted to know about elevators but were afraid to ask', it seems, which was also interesting.

I would have thought the lawsuit would have garnered him more than 6 figures given that people had the chance to find him but didn't. Of course, it was the weekend. Not that I'm a sue happy kinda guy, quite the opposite, but it does sound like a pretty scary experience and he was only another day away from dying from thirst.

Guess it's all in how he approached it, said he stayed away from work to try and get the most from the lawsuit, and that's how he lost his friends and job.

Wow, crazy read. Video is kinda creepy.

[kdogg]

I guess never take an elevator without a cell phone.
________
Sunset Boulevard Residence 2 Condo

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Muta

Isn't there usually a panel in elevator roofing that one can crawl out of and somehow draw attention that way? Or, atleast get a little breathing room...

Maybe I watch too many action movies.

They are screwed shut from the outside so a fireman can get to the people in the elevator, but they can't get out on their own. Staying inside the elevator is apparently the safest place to be.

Those damn action movies though -- that's the first thing I thought of too. "Why didn't he just go through the hatch"?

I never really thought about it before, but imagine all the jackass style stunts (and subsequent dead bodies on top of elevators) people would pull if they were able to get on top of an elevator.

As for the video, I found it particularly odd that he as lying/sleeping face down for hours on that carpet. Isn't that kind of hard on the old snoot?

[Daradon]

^^^ It did appear he used/tried several other positions. I imagine certain bones like the hip got sore and he just changed positions. I know I can't lay one way very long, even on a very comfy bed.