So Supernatural - DARK WEB: The Elevator Game

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

First found on Korean and Japanese forums around 2011, the Elevator Game was said to be a paranormal ritual game that could transport you to alternate dimensions. That if you followed a series of explicit instructions, traveling to different floors in a particular order, the doors would open to a world similar to our own, yet very different… The problem is, if you don’t follow the rules correctly, you may be trapped there forever.  For a full list of sources, please visit: sosupernaturalpodcast.com/dark-web-the-elevator-gameSo Supernatural is an audiochuck and Crime House production. Find us on social!Instagram: @sosupernatualpodTwitter: @_sosupernaturalFacebook: /sosupernaturalpod

In 1905, Albert Einstein first proposed his theory of relativity. Part of the idea was that we as humans don't just experience the world in three dimensions height, length, and width. We also experience a fourth dimension, space-time. When it came to understanding the world around us, this was a game-changer. It suddenly made things like time travel seem entirely possible. But it also laid the groundwork for another scientific probability. Wormholes. Or rather, portals to other places in space and time, maybe even alternate dimensions.

The key was how to access them. Now I'm not a physicist, so I have no idea what it would take to build a machine like this. But if the internet is to be believed, we might not need some fancy new tech. All you need is a good old-fashioned elevator, a 10-story building, and a whole lot of courage. The rumors started in Korea or maybe Japan back in 2011 that if you followed a series of steps, the elevator would open up to another world, one that looked like our own, but felt very, very different.

While some say it's nothing more than a paranormal ritual game, those who've played it claim it actually works. And if you weren't careful, it's possible that you may never make it home. I'm Ashley Flowers, and today on So Supernatural, we're playing the elevator game. Welcome back to another episode of So Supernatural. I'm Yvette Gentile. And I'm her sister Rasha Pecorero. And today's topic is a true modern-day urban legend, one that's taken paranormal sites by storm.

The Elevator Game. It's kind of like Bloody Mary or Candyman, except it's a slightly higher tech version that involves a detailed set of instructions. And if you follow them correctly, you can take an elevator to another world, known as the Shadow Side. to another world known as the Shadow Side. So basically it's a paranormal ritual game that can transform an ordinary elevator into, I don't know, a sort of a vehicle, right? One that can travel through space and time, crossing over into alternate universes.

At least that's what the posts say. We don't know who wrote the rules down or when they did it, but the very first directions on how to play the elevator game began circulating online around 2011 or so. Though one internet sleuth says there's a post about the game as early as 2008. All the earliest versions were written in either Korean or Japanese. 少し日本語ですか? I only speak a little Japanese is basically what I just said. But anyway, that means the game might have originated in either Korea or Japan, but no one knows for sure.

So it started off as just a few odd posts here and there, but eventually it was showing up in major horror-themed blogs and discussion boards, including in English. Then people started going into these forums to say that they had played it for themselves. And it was terrifying. As for what the game entails, well, there are a few different versions of the rules, but the gist is always pretty much the same. To play, you must be in a building with at least 10 floors and, of course, an elevator.

And you have to play alone or, in some versions of the rules, with a maximum of one other person. You and your buddy need to be the only people in the elevator. If anyone gets on or off at any point in the game, you have to quit immediately. As in, you gotta go straight back to the lobby, walk out of the building, and don't look back. If you don't follow those rules, awful things will happen. Except nobody's entirely clear on what those bad things are.

But supposedly, that's because the people who break the rules never return. Allegedly, they're trapped in the other universe forever. As for what's in that universe, there's only one way to find out. You have to play for yourself. Okay, here are the rules. You start on the ground floor, then take the elevator up to the fourth floor. When you get there, don't get out. Instead, you push the button for the second floor. And once you get to the second floor, again, do not get out. Instead, hit the button for the second floor. And once you get to the second floor, again, do not get out. Instead, hit the button for the sixth, and when the doors open, the same rules apply. Stay on and hit the button for the second. When you get there, same thing, but hit the button for the tenth.

And then when you arrive, head for the fifth. You have to go in this exact order, otherwise they say the game won't work. When you get to the fifth floor though, something weird will happen. Some say that's when a woman gets into the elevator with you. Now, I know we just said the game is over if any other person joins you, but this woman is the exception because she's not human.

No one's entirely sure what she is, but everyone agrees she's dangerous. In fact, you shouldn't even acknowledge her. Do not talk to her. Don't even look at her. If you do, she can trap you in that other universe for eternity. Which is especially scary because this woman will supposedly try and trick you into chatting with her. She might ask you where you're headed or what you're doing there, but you should never ever answer. Not if you want to make it home alive. Instead, you should stay silent and keep the game going by pushing the button to the first floor. If you've played exactly right, however, the elevator will appear to ascend to the 10th floor.

But this time, when the doors open, you'll be in another world. It might look like you're in the same building, but if you pay close attention, you'll see signs that you are not in Kansas anymore, Toto. For example, you might notice that the floor seems completely empty. Other than you and your companion, of course, no one ever encounters other people there except for that woman from the fifth floor. In fact, if you step off the elevator on the 10th floor, she might keep trying to talk to you.

All the rules say it's best to keep ignoring her and that would be so hard for me. Once you step off the elevators and the doors close, she will eventually go away. But that doesn't mean your journey is over. By the way, if you try to record footage on the 10th floor or even check your phone while you're there, you may find that your stuff doesn't work. Your battery might be dead, cameras won't turn on. And that's how you know you're in the shadow side. Online posts call it another dimension or an alternate universe.

But beyond that, no one seems to understand how this other world even works. Some people have reported seeing a window there, though. And when they've looked out, they find a world with a dark, empty landscape. There are no other visible buildings or roads, just an eerie red cross glowing in the distance. And a lot of people have claimed to make it all the way to the shadow side,

just to panic and immediately want to go home. Like, can you blame them? No, not at all. But going home is harder than you might think, because the steps to return to our world are just as complicated as the ones you followed to get there. First of all, you need to use the exact same elevator that you used to get to the 10th floor,

which is tricky because on the shadow side, space supposedly has a way of warping and shifting. You may only wander just a few steps away from the elevator when you get there, but when you try to go back, you find yourself walking for hours without ever getting closer to it. Some visitors also say it's extremely easy to get lost and turned around in the shadow side. Okay, but let's say you do make it back to the correct elevator. From there, the only way to return to our world is to visit particular floors in a particular order, right?

Right. I mean, in some websites say you have to hit each floor in the same order you did on your way up. Otherwise, they say you have to go in reverse. I'm already confused. Again, the same. This is a lot. I even saw one that says you can go straight down to the first floor,

as long as you never actually stepped out of the elevator on the 10th. And the point is, nobody is in agreement on how to get back, which is frickin' terrifying, because everyone says that if you don't do the ritual exactly right, you'll end up trapped on the shadow side. And even if you do make it back, it's said that ghosts can follow you into our world, haunting you until you die. After the elevator game began appearing online in 2011, there were plenty of people looking

to try it out for themselves. And the stories, at least of those who made it back to reality, are just as chilling as you might expect. Listen to what allegedly happened to one Reddit user named Sammy. In 2018, Sammy posted that they played the elevator game in their own 11-story apartment building. Now, Sammy didn't believe in the supernatural, and they really didn't expect anything to happen, right?

But they followed all of the rules and did everything right. And nothing happened. Or at least that's what they thought at first. But when they went to bed that night, they couldn't sleep. Same thing, like the following night. And that's when they heard an animal-like shriek in the hall outside their apartment. They opened the door and they saw a trail of wet, unfamiliar footsteps leading from their front door all the way back to their elevator. And that was all it took for Sammy to become a believer in the elevator game.

They were certain they'd opened up some gateway to another dimension. So just like you and I would do, Rosh, they burned some sage in their apartment and they slept with a crucifix under their pillow. I don't know if I'd do the crucifix, but I would definitely do the sage. I would be wearing my cross around my neck. You would, for certain. They even had a priest come and bless their house,

and none of it helped. Sammy kept waking up night after night to find these same footprints in the hallway. Eventually they got a new job and moved just to get away from whatever the heck was haunting them. Stories like that are enough to make me never ever ever want to mess with the elevator game. It seems like even if you do everything exactly right, you could still have to deal with some pretty freaky possibilities.

For example, take what happened to a YouTube creator named Marlon Chan. In 2020, he posted a video of his attempted journey to another world. In it, he follows those very detailed instructions that we laid out earlier, except he has two companions with him. Their names are Jonathan and Drew, and they're helping Marlin record. So at first the game is uneventful, until they get to the fifth floor, which is where the mysterious woman is supposed to join the players. Sure enough, on the fifth floor, two people step onto the elevator, one of whom is a woman.

Now none of the elevator game rules say that the woman is supposed to have a male companion. So just to be safe, Marlon and his friends head down to the first floor and start the game over again. After a few more failed attempts, a security guard actually ends up kicking them out of the building. So, they end up coming back another time. When they end up trying again, Marlin's buddy Jonathan takes the elevator ride alone. And shockingly, a few really strange things do happen.

Multiple times, Jonathan goes from the lobby to the 4th floor to the 2nd, just like he's supposed to. Then, while he's on the 2nd floor, he hits the button for the 6th. But instead of going to the 6th floor, the elevator descends back to the lobby. He can't help but notice that this happens three times in a row, which makes three sixes. And 666 isn't exactly a good omen. Meanwhile, though, Jonathan is recording himself alone in the elevator, while Marlon and Drew wait in the lobby and film from their end. Inside the elevator, Jonathan shows that he's following all of the instructions to a T. He doesn't get interrupted, he doesn't miss the sixth floor again,

and he doesn't see the woman on the fifth floor either. So, thinking he failed, Jonathan goes back to the lobby, and when the doors open, he sees his friends. And he tells him, y'all it didn't work. He did everything right but nothing happened except his friends are all like, what are you talking about? You see, while they were waiting for Jonathan to finish playing the game, they saw the elevator doors open at one point, and Jonathan wasn't on board. When he makes it back, they ask him if he's stepped off on one of the floors and sent the empty elevator back down, but he says no, he was on the elevator the entire time. They show him the footage of the empty elevator, and Jonathan still says this is freaking impossible.

He never stepped outside of it. His camera malfunctioned at one point during his trip, so he couldn't prove where he went. But, as we all know, right, talking about all the supernatural, electronics don't seem to work in the shadow side. So maybe he did cross over to another dimension, and either he forgot about it or didn't want to tell his friends about where he went. Now, sure, the whole video totally could have been staged. Jonathan could have stepped off for a few minutes to freak out his friends or to guarantee

that the video, of course, would go viral on YouTube. There's a lot that could have happened here, but there's one story that The Elevator Game was attached to that I think is worth exploring in some depth. A story that made headlines all over the world. The mysterious death of Elisa Lam. But to fully understand how the elevator game played a role, we have to start at the top of Elisa's story and travel back to 2013.

That year, 21-year-old Elisa is looking for an adventure. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Elisa decides to take a solo trip to California that January. The idea is for her to start in San Diego, head north to Los Angeles, and end the vacation in Santa Cruz before returning home. There's just one catch. Elisa, like a lot of people, is on a budget, and California is very expensive. Which is why on January 28th, she checks into a cheaper spot she found called the CISO Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. And we know a little something something about the CISO Hotel. We do.

We actually did a show, I forget the year. 2019 I think is when it came out. Yeah, and the show was called Mission Declassified. And the director, producer. And was called Mission Declassified. And the director, producer, and the host, and the host, and his name was Christoph Putzl. And he said that we were originally supposed to film in the Cecil Hotel. And we were like, thank God that is not happening because that is one of the last spots that Elizabeth Short, you know, aka the Black Dahlia, was last spotted. Allegedly. Allegedly. Yeah. So we were like,

no. Right. Don't want that energy. No. But he proceeded to tell us about a story we had never heard before. He told us about Elisa Lam on that day that we were filming the show. And both of us hadn't even heard about that and were so heartbroken about it. Yeah, Alisa picked the CESA Hotel because it was very cheap. But it isn't just cheap. It's a little rough and tumble, you know, let's just be clear. It's been around for almost 100 years now,

and to be fair, when it was built in 1924, it was pretty fancy and upscale. I mean, then the Great Depression hit and the Cecil just went downhill. Eventually it became an affordable housing complex, home to many previously unhoused individuals. Historically, it's also known for playing host to a few serial killers, like Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger. The hotel is also in an area called Skid Row, and it is one of the poorest neighborhoods

in the United States. So as you might imagine, it's not exactly the safest place for a young woman traveling alone, especially one who's not familiar with the city. And many think the hotel's location has something to do with what comes next. Because on February 1st, 2013, Elisa Lam goes missing. Her family notices right away because she usually talks to them every single day. But that afternoon, they can't get a hold of her, so they call the police, who soon learn that Elisa never checked out of the Cecil Hotel.

Even though her plan had been to leave that day, February 1st, from there, the police launch a massive investigation. They talk to eyewitnesses and they pull all the security footage, hoping to build a timeline around Elisa's disappearance. And as far as they can tell, she was alive and well on the 31st. She went sightseeing, she visited a very well-known LA bookstore, chatted with a receptionist at the Cecil, and then the next day, it's like she just vanished.

There's no signs of foul play in her room, no body, no ransom notes, nothing. All the police find is security camera footage that shows Elisa walking around the Cecil on the day she went missing, January 31st. The video clip is about four minutes long. So if you've seen this video clip, it's actually quite disturbing. The footage is from inside an empty elevator. The door swings open and that's when you see Alisa walking in. She leans towards the buttons and it looks like she's having a bit of a hard time reading them and needs to find the right one.

But instead of selecting her floor or the lobby, she hits four buttons in a row. Then she steps toward the back wall of the elevator, almost like she's making room for someone else to come inside with her. Only, no one else gets in. And you know how sometimes when you're rushing to catch an elevator it shuts right in front of you? You don't always have a whole lot of time to make it inside before the door closes? Well, in the security footage, the elevator doors do nothing for the first full two minutes. Which is totally weird. And Elisa seems to get that too.

Because she pokes her head out the doors to look around. There's no one visible. Definitely not someone there holding the call button. So looking at the video, there's no obvious reason for it to be sitting there. But still, the elevator's not going anywhere. And that's when Elisa steps out of the elevator back into the hallway, but you can still see her on camera. She takes one step to the left, brings her feet together,

and takes another step back, and brings her feet together again. And then she repeats the move. Like, if you watch this video, it's almost like she's dancing. And the whole time, the elevator is still just sitting there. It's not going to the next floor, the doors aren't closing. It's really freaky, y'all.

And finally, Elisa gets back into the elevator, and she hits a bunch more buttons until the whole panel lights up. And then things just get even more chilling. Elisa steps out of the elevator again and starts gesturing with her hands. It's hard to tell, but it almost looks like she's having a fully animated conversation with someone in the hall. Except there's no one else on screen. Eventually, Elisa wanders out of the frame altogether. with someone in the hall, except there's no one else on screen. Eventually, Elisa wanders out of the frame altogether.

This happens at about the two and a half minute mark into the surveillance clip. For the final 90 seconds or so, the video just shows that empty elevator. The panel is still lit up with all of the floors Elisa selected. The doors are still open. And it's still not moving.

At least not until the end of the four minute video, when the doors finally slide closed and the car moves. But Elisa is no longer inside. Now, the LAPD eventually releases the security footage of Elisa, which ends up going viral, because as people watch it, it reminds them of something else they've seen on the web. The Elevator Game. If you remember, the game first started appearing online in 2011, and soon it was everywhere.

Alisa's disappearance happens in early 2013. And for some, that doesn't seem like a coincidence, which is why online conspiracy theorists are quick to think, maybe Elisa played the game on the night that she disappeared. And here's how they justify it. The Siso Hotel has 15 floors. The elevator game calls for a building with at least 10 to play, right? And when Elisa hits a bunch of different buttons for a bunch of different floors, it's possible she was trying to follow the instructions. I mean, you're technically supposed to get to one floor before hitting the button for the next. But given how, as we said before, how confusing and contradictory the instructions are,

it's not hard to imagine she could have gotten the details wrong. Yeah. And then there's the moment in the security footage when she seems to be talking to empty air. Like she's moving her hands around like she's having a conversation with someone. And some people wonder if Alisa was actually seeing someone

who didn't appear on camera. Maybe that mysterious woman who's said to appear on the fifth floor. But the strangest detail of all is the elevator itself. Again, Alisa kept hitting buttons and then stepping on and off the elevator itself. Again, Elisa kept hitting buttons and then stepping on and off the elevator, but the doors never shut and the elevator didn't move. For four minutes. It's a long time.

That's a long time. There had to be an explanation and some people think it could be a supernatural one. Which is why, in niche corners of the internet, rumors started flying. Maybe Elisa went missing playing the elevator game. But those theories get a lot more complicated when 20 days later, Elisa Lam is found in a place no one ever expected. After Elisa Lam went missing on January 31, 2013, there was only one big clue to her disappearance

– a four-minute-long security video from an elevator. But even with such little information to work off of, the police were dedicated to finding Elisa. I mean, y'all, we could spend a whole episode talking about this investigation because there are so many twists and turns. But instead, let's just jump ahead to February 19th, which is about two and a half weeks after her disappearance. Alisa still hasn't been found, and the police still have no idea what happened to her.

But the employees at the Cecil have a new problem. Guests and tenants keep complaining that the water coming from their sinks and showers is discolored. Actually, it's black. So a maintenance worker heads onto the roof, which is where they keep their water tanks. They're in these big concrete cylinders. And when the worker makes it to the tanks, he sees that one of them is open. The hatch door on the top isn't closed, which is, first of all, unsanitary, but also very weird.

So, he takes a look inside, and that's when he sees a woman floating in the tank. It's the body of Alisa Lam. And here's what's super strange. No one really knows how she even got up there. That rooftop is not easy to access for guests. There's not even an elevator that goes up that far. The Cecil does have an interior staircase that goes all the way to the roof, but it's supposed to be closed to the public. If someone goes up those stairs and opens the door to get to the roof, an alarm will

go off. There is one other way to reach the water tank, though. You have to climb the fire escape to the top floor. Then, you have to go up this rickety old ladder that's mounted on the side of the building. There are no guardrails and nothing to catch you if you were to slip and fall. All to say, it would be an incredibly terrifying thing for a 21-year-old young woman to attempt on her own. But, okay, let's imagine that Elisa got to the roof somehow.

It would still have been very difficult for her to get inside that water tank. You just have to imagine this huge concrete cylinder, 10 feet tall and six feet wide, and it has a metal hatch on the lid. But it's, I mean, you got to think about it, right? A metal hatch, that is going to be heavy, probably about 20 pounds. And Elisa is only five foot four,

and she weighs about 115 pounds. So the idea that this petite woman could have gotten onto the roof without anyone noticing, lug this bulky covering off the water tank, climb inside, and then she dies there? It's sort of mind-boggling to the police and anyone hearing about the case. The state of Alisa's body raises even more questions. First of all, when she's found,

she's completely nude. Her clothes are also in the tank with her towards the bottom. And her autopsy said that there's no sign of violence. As in, no gunshot wounds, no stab wounds, no evidence that anyone attacked her or choked her. There's also no sign of sexual assault. By all appearances, she was physically fine, until for some reason, she ended up in this water tank. Where, the autopsy states she drowned.

Lots of people figure there has to be some other factor at play. I mean, the official story makes no sense. And before long, some wild theories start circulating. People say that Alisa was murdered, and maybe the police or other officials are covering up the real cause of death. I mean, it's some pretty wild stuff. But there's a good amount of people online who are saying Elisa died playing the elevator game. There are a lot of problems with this theory, though. For starters, we don't know if Elisa ever even heard of the elevator game before. She certainly never told anyone that she

planned to play it on January 31st. And again, the way she behaved in the surveillance video didn't even match the rules of the game. She wasn't selecting the right floors in the right order. She didn't wait to reach each floor before she chose the next one. Plus, the video was recorded on the 14th floor, while the rules say you're supposed to begin playing on the ground level. All to say, the elevator game theory just doesn't hold up to any scrutiny, but for reasons that are a lot more complicated than what I just listed. but for reasons that are a lot more complicated than what I just listed. Instead, the police believe Elisa's cause of death was actually related to a mental health episode.

Yeah, that's right. Elisa had severe bipolar disorder, and she was actually on a treatment plan which involved medication. But whenever she ignored the doctor's advice and went off her medication, Elisa would hallucinate and have symptoms of paranoia. And police found she wasn't using her meds correctly during her stay at the Cecil. Instead, she was either taking smaller doses than she was supposed to, or taking them less frequently than she should have been. opposed to or taking them less frequently than she should have been. This was clear from her autopsy results and from the fact that she had more pills in her room than she should have, given the date of her last refill.

So the theory goes that while Alisa was in Los Angeles, she went off her medication or maybe took too little of it. Then her symptoms began flaring. Her odd behavior in the security footage wasn't a sign she was playing a game. Instead it was evidence she wasn't thinking clearly. Medical experts say her erratic conduct was consistent with paranoid hallucinations. If she actually believes someone was trying to hurt or kill her, she might have stepped into the elevator and hit a bunch of buttons to get away.

In fact, it's very possible one of the buttons she hit was the Hold Elevator button, which would have stopped the elevator from closing its doors for two minutes each time she pressed it. It's also worth mentioning that the elevator footage that's publicly available isn't entirely accurate. It's hard to tell unless you're really looking closely, but there are parts of the four-minute clip that are sped up or slowed down and a few disguised cuts.

For what it's worth, that's still a little suspicious in my opinion, because it seems like the footage has been tampered with. Supposedly, the tapes went straight from the hotel's employees to the police and from there to the internet. So lots of people wondered who actually edited that clip and why. To me, it sounds like someone was trying to cover up something. To this day though, nobody knows who messed with the video or why. We do know that after Elisa left the elevator, she might have wandered around the hotel until

she made her way onto the roof. And here's where her story gets really heartbreaking. In the past, when Elisa had experienced really bad paranoia and hallucinations, her instinct had always been to hide under her bed. Something about small enclosed spaces made her feel safe and secure. So maybe when she made her way onto the roof and saw those big concrete water tanks, maybe they looked like the perfect hiding place to her. She could have pulled the lid off and climbed inside to escape whatever she thought was

following her. And without a ladder inside, Elisa might have gotten stuck with no way to climb out. Equally as sad is that after her death, misinformation flew. Because that is the nature of the internet. Everyone has a theory and anyone can share their thoughts, and very little of that is verified. And that could be true for the elevator game as well. It's impossible to know who made its rules and posted them on the web for the first time. It could have been a practical joke or a spooky story that just took off when people mistakenly believed that it was true. I mean, you can't deny it makes

for a compelling narrative. But at the same time, we're talking about a young girl's life. Sure, the elevator game is a great way to freak everyone out. But I think this legend, especially with how it pertains to Elisa's legacy, proves something. We never know what people are truly going through, and it's easy to look for wild explanations, sometimes even in the supernatural,

to sort of mask the reality that life can be cruel and harsh for so many of us. And maybe the idea that there's some way to escape to another world is easier than facing the complete unknown of death. But that's not to say there aren't other worlds out there, equally as mysterious as our own. This is So Supernatural, an audio Chuck original produced by Crime House. You can connect with us on Instagram at So SupernaturalPod and visit our website at SoSupernaturalPodcast.com.

Join Yvette and me next Friday for an all new episode. So what do you think Chuck? Do you approve? No!