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Ever been stuck in an elevator?

Doctor Q

Doctor Q

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Original poster
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
40,421
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Los Angeles
Have you ever been trapped in an elevator? For how long? What happened?

I had my first such experience yesterday, but it was very brief.

Somebody outside the elevator tried to stop the doors from closing at the last second, perhaps risking their fingers. The doors stopped a couple of inches apart and wouldn't budge. I was the only one inside and no button would get the doors to open or close. But someone outside alerted security and they did something to unstick it within a minute.

My saga was too short to be newsworthy, and not nearly as interesting or public as being stuck in the New York Apple Store.

Anybody have a good stuck-elevator story?
 
I was on an elevator on a "ferry" boat crossing the North Sea about 9 years ago. I got on the elevator on the 4th floor headed up. At about the 6th floor, the elevator suddenly jerked, the lights went out, and then just fell to the bottom. I didn't realize elevators could actually do this, but it was a pretty quick fall. It may not have been freefall, but it was damn close.

Ever seen "Titanic"? That's what it felt like. The lights kept blinking on and off, there was a deathly silence, and the elevator car was bouncing back and forth with the rocking of the boat, making a bunch of grating metal sounds (which I guess is not deathly silent). It was entirely freaky, and with my worst fear being death by drowning, I was not happy with this predicament! I pressed the emergency call button, and they said they would send somebody. Seven minutes or so went by, then they came on again and said someone would be there shortly. Well, a few minutes after that, I heard someone trying to open the doors to the elevator, but he couldn't get them open. He kept saying "Now hold on a minute." After about five more minutes jerking around with the door, he got them to open, and I found out I was 2 feet BELOW the bottom floor!

It was enough to scare the crap out of me and make me go nowhere near that elevator again. If I recall it kind of hurt a leg too.
 
Only if there are Apple products in said elevator.

Otherwise I've come within minutes of being stuck in one while a coworker was.
 
powerdave said:
It has never happened to me, but this poor fellow spent 41 hours stuck in an elevator
Up and then down
Click to expand...
Wow! for what happened to that poor fellow.

And wow! for how The New Yorker can use so many words to tell you anything.
Me: "What time is it?"

The New Yorker: "The word 'clock' was first used in the 14th century and derives from the word 'clocca', which means bell in Latin. ..."​
I notice that both the Apple Store incident and the one you mention happened in New York. I suggest that the city be evacuated as a precaution against further elevator strandings.
 
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Almost.

It was my first time in Germany, and we summoned the elevator in our upscale hotel after a long night in downtown Munich. When the doors opened, we could only see the top-half of the people inside. ...Yeah, the car stopped between floors one and two. :eek: ...We didn't wait to see how long they were stuck there, but it was at least a minute or two.

We took the stairs for the remainder of the trip. :eek:
 
Never in an elevator but I did get stuck in an inclinator at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. 6 people were stuck for a little more than an hour. The hotel comped the hell out of us the rest of the stay. "D
 
Twice, different hotels. Both times, I was rescued thru the doors and had to sorta climb cause the elevator went down level, but never really made it.

Oh both of them were over in less than 7 min.
 
Yup. Just got into an elevator that apparently wasn't working very well. Doors shut; it moved about 18 inches, then stopped. We just rang for help, then sat down and waited. It took the doorman 20 min to find the super and a crowbar, and we were free. Worst that happened was I was late for the meeting that was the whole reason for being in the building.

Really kind of a boring story, sadly enough. :rolleyes:

The elevator you were in didn't have a call button?
 
Yep, I was stuck in an elevator for about 20 minutes earlier this year when it got stuck between floors. Sadly it didn't have an emergency exit so I didn't get to climb up the elevator shaft :(
 
A buddy and I got stuck in one our freshman year in college. We lived in a 9 story dorm and I lived on the 8th floor. We got stuck between the 5th and 6th floor. We were counting the time before we got out and it was only 44 minutes before maintenance/fire department came. Thank god for having my phone on me, as we were coming back from the gym. I'm a pretty big guy, something like 230 back then and had to jump up and fit through a 2 foot opening on the 6th floor. Oh, that was a fun night. But...we did have a "stuck on the elevator party" that night, because when you're at W.V.U. that's all the excuse you need to drink.
 
I always have dreams that I'm in an elevator and it's going crazy.. It's really scary, I don't think I'd like to be stuck in an elevator in real life, though!
 
I once got stuck in an elevator just prior to an exam I was supposed to be sitting, I was stuck in their for about 45 mins, when I pressed the alarm button the speaker made the familiar tones along with the announcement "you have dialled incorrectly" shortly afterwards the lights went out.

I sat there for a fair while occasionally making as much noise as I could until the elevator moved down and let me out, I ended up sitting the exam with half the time yet still did fairly well at it, the school didn't seem to care a whole lot.

It was very unsettling to feel helpless with a non-functional alarm.
 
I have. It was a service elevator in the Horticulture Greenhouses at Purdue University. One of those elevators that you opened the door then slid back the cage door to get in the elevator. The elevator wouldn't move if the cage door wasn't closed and you had to hold the button (either inside or outside the elevator) to get it to move.

Well, I was moving filled canisters of deionized water up from the basement one weekend and decided I didn't want to make three trips, so I stacked them in the cage. I pushed the up button, the elevator lurched up a foot or so and stopped. I called security on the phone, but somehow the elevator reset and returned to the basement before they got there. I was only stuck for about 10 minutes. I unloaded a few of the canisters, went upstairs and called the elevator from there. I never road in that elevator again!!!
 
I got stuck in an elevator at the St. Louis Arch for about 30 minutes a few years ago. It’s a bizarre experience anyway since they cram five people in the “trams” and you’re moving diagonally.

Of course, it was in the middle of July and it was hot as hell in there.

I did it once and I’m glad I did, but I will never go back up to the top.

As a kid, I also got my shoe laces caught in the escalator at the airport. It took my shoe off before it finally broke the lace. To this day, I always double check my shoe laces before I go up or down one.
 

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Never stuck on an elevator per se. I have been on some that stopped momentarily a few times. But nothing like a complete stop.

On a different note, this escalator video is funny.

I feel for the guy who was stuck for 41 hours.
 
jaw04005 said:
I got stuck in an elevator at the St. Louis Arch for about 30 minutes a few years ago. It’s a bizarre experience anyway since they cram five people in the “trams” and you’re moving diagonally.

Of course, it was in the middle of July and it was hot as hell in there.

I did it once and I’m glad I did, but I will never go back up to the top.
Click to expand...

lol I think I remember hearing about that on the news.
 
yg17 said:
lol I think I remember hearing about that on the news.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Apparently, they had a power failure a few years ago and people were stuck for hours. I wasn’t on THAT one, thank God. :D

We had power when ours got stuck, but there’s no air conditioning in those trams so if they quit moving it’s like sitting in an oven.
 
sushi said:
On a different note, this escalator video is funny.
Click to expand...
SNL did a skit on the same topic, including rescue attempts with ropes.

I was once stuck on a chair lift at a ski resort. One of the coldest days I can remember. Maybe the gears froze. I certainly felt like I was freezing to death hanging up there in the wind for I don't know how long, perhaps 15 to 30 minutes.

I was stuck twice on Disneyland rides. Once was on the Matterhorn bobsleds, once on the PeopleMover. See my post about it in the Archive.

I was also stuck for hours on a plane, on the ground, as they repeatedly tried to fix some problem so we could take off. Eventually they did and we did, but it was after our meal and movie.

I'd sum up my feelings during these incidents as follows:
  • Briefly stuck in an elevator: no panic, interesting at the time, not much of a story
  • Chair lift: no panic, reaaaaaaaaly cold
  • Bobsleds: a split second of panic, a good story to tell my friends
  • PeopleMover: no panic, fun to be "behind the scenes"
  • Airplane: no panic, highly annoying and boring
Who will be the first to get stuck in an elevator in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai?
 
Yes...in my dreams...I'm not alone...
Um, that may have been something I read in Forum.
 
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