"Up and Then Down"

[The Killa]

Here is an interesting story. It was discussed recently in an article printed by The New Yorker titled "Up and Then Down" regarding elevator lore.

 

A man, simply wanting to take a cigarette break, gets trapped in a small elevator as the ride becomes stuck.

 

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/04...fact_paumgarten

 

 

The longest smoke break of Nicholas White’s life began at around eleven o’clock on a Friday night in October, 1999. White, a thirty-four-year-old production manager at Business Week, working late on a special supplement, had just watched the Braves beat the Mets on a television in the office pantry. Now he wanted a cigarette. He told a colleague he’d be right back and, leaving behind his jacket, headed downstairs.

 

The magazine’s offices were on the forty-third floor of the McGraw-Hill Building, an unadorned tower added to Rockefeller Center in 1972. When White finished his cigarette, he returned to the lobby and, waved along by a janitor buffing the terrazzo floors, got into Car No. 30 and pressed the button marked 43. The car accelerated. It was an express elevator, with no stops below the thirty-ninth floor, and the building was deserted. But after a moment White felt a jolt. The lights went out and immediately flashed on again. And then the elevator stopped.

 

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.

 

Here is the YouTube video

 

 

 

Nicholas White was stuck in a small elevator for 40 hours. Not 1, 2, or 3 hours. Nearly 2 days. It's hard to imagine what the experience would be like. It is true isolation.

 

I don't know about you guys, but I'm never taking the elevator again. F*ck.

[wutangblade]

lol 40 hours? Damn. Poor guy

[Rhoda]

Damn, that's a long time to spend in such a small space. If I had my iPod with me though, I'd be sound, just watch a couple of films and listen to the entire NIN discography. He's awesome, simply for spending so much time in a lift. I'd buy him a drink.

[Trows]

If I had my iPod with me though, I'd be sound

And hope the batteries don't run out after the first 3 hours.

[YourNeighborhoodKiller]

This is exactly why people need to buy a PSP.

 

[Runey]

This is exactly why people need to buy a PSP.

 

So, where are you gonna charge the batteries after playing 5 hours?

[YourNeighborhoodKiller]

This is exactly why people need to buy a PSP.

 

So, where are you gonna charge the batteries after playing 5 hours?

Make the five hours last a life time.

[Runey]

This is exactly why people need to buy a PSP.

 

So, where are you gonna charge the batteries after playing 5 hours?

Make the five hours last a life time.

Indeed.

 

 

I wouldn't imagine being in that small room for that long, unbearable....

 

I imagine it got stuffy as well.

[YourNeighborhoodKiller]

What I'm wondering is, according to the video. It didn't look like he was sleeping much right?

 

I mean, he could of killed a lot of time by sleeping maybe eight to ten hours?

 

Doesn't a normal human die without drinking water for three days? If so, he should be glad they got there in time or else he'd be dead.

[Spectre95]

Did he even take a piss or sh*t when he was in there?

[Rhoda]

Did he even take a piss or sh*t when he was in there?

I never thought of that. Corner toilet anyone? I didn't watch the video, does it show him taking a leak or anything?

[The Killa]

I think he did in a corner around the 2:15 mark or so.

[Runey]

If he did, imagine the smell in there....keep in mind how small the space is.

 

[YourNeighborhoodKiller]

Did he even take a piss or sh*t when he was in there?

I never thought of that. Corner toilet anyone? I didn't watch the video, does it show him taking a leak or anything?

No. He probably pissed/sh*t himself. Knowing he was on camera. He didn't want to embarrass himself.

[Rhoda]

I'd at least disconnect the camera for a period of time, I wouldn't want the world to know how I defecate thanks to YouTube. Then again, that would be the last thing on my mind. F*ck the reputation, it's life and death, I'd go through the roof.

[externalgovt]

That was remarkable and moving. I had a look on youtube, it's an interview with him. Pretty cool have a look.

 

I've only been trapped for a few hours, like this guy, it was the weekend. I was like 11 and my mum had to go in on a saturday and brought me along, we got trapped and the only reason we got out was cause another lady decided to go in that day. Lucky us.

[H4milton]

Ohh my God, 40hrs

[Hodgey.]

Damn how bad would it of sucked to be him, thats why i always take the stairs no matter where i am or were im goin. I just have a phobia about bein tapped like that.

[externalgovt]

Damn how bad would it of sucked to be him, thats why i always take the stairs no matter where i am or were im goin. I just have a phobia about bein tapped like that.

Me too and claustrophobia makes it ten times worse

 

But yeah in the interview he said he still uses elevators, he has to since he lives in Manhattan.

 

Must take alot of guts to keep using them.

[ryuclan]

Damn how bad would it of sucked to be him, thats why i always take the stairs no matter where i am or were im goin. I just have a phobia about bein tapped like that.

Me too and claustrophobia makes it ten times worse

 

But yeah in the interview he said he still uses elevators, he has to since he lives in Manhattan.

 

Must take alot of guts to keep using them.

I imagine he probably climbed the stairs for a week maybe, but after that he probably got tired of it, and said f*ck it I mean it's what, the 40th floor?

[OH NO]

I was working in a bar a few years ago and got trapped for 10 minutes in a similar sized lift..didnt realise i was claustrophobic at all until then. I didnt freak out or anything, just felt slightly panicky. Didnt help that the lift stank of cleaning chemicals and the like. f*ck 40 hrs.

 

 

Topic brought to mind this story..

 

 

 

Police reported on Monday, that a man in Frankfurt, Germany is recovering after he fell 25 feet down an elevator shaft early Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. CEST (UTC+2), and survived. According to authorities, the only reason why the man is alive is because he landed on top of a woman who had fallen down the same shaft just one day earlier.

 

 

Authorities say that although the woman sustained additional injuries from Wilhelms’ fall, he likely saved her life.

 

 

Link

 

 

 

[ryuclan]

I was working in a bar a few years ago and got trapped for 10 minutes in a similar sized lift..didnt realise i was claustrophobic at all until then. I didnt freak out or anything, just felt slightly panicky. Didnt help that the lift stank of cleaning chemicals and the like. f*ck 40 hrs.

 

 

Topic brought to mind this story..

 

 

 

Police reported on Monday, that a man in Frankfurt, Germany is recovering after he fell 25 feet down an elevator shaft early Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. CEST (UTC+2), and survived. According to authorities, the only reason why the man is alive is because he landed on top of a woman who had fallen down the same shaft just one day earlier.

 

 

Authorities say that although the woman sustained additional injuries from Wilhelms’ fall, he likely saved her life.

 

 

Link

Man, do you know how weird that would be.

 

*slips and falls, then lands on soft object*

 

"What the hell is this?"

 

"Could you get offa me, I'm dyin down here."

 

"Oh, sorry, wait how the hell did you get down here?"

 

 

So that means she was down there for about a day right?

[Mike Tequeli]

With the cameras on him he wouldn't even be able to jack it to pass the time.

[1066ant]

 

Police reported on Monday, that a man in Frankfurt, Germany is recovering after he fell 25 feet down an elevator shaft early Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. CEST (UTC+2), and survived. According to authorities, the only reason why the man is alive is because he landed on top of a woman who had fallen down the same shaft just one day earlier.

I think there is a health and saftey issue there!

 

How could the guy not be found for 2 days?

[johnson.]

If you notice inside the elevators they show what floor they are on. The elevator he was trapped in was showing '--' while it seems all the elevators had an 'L'. The last hour he was in there the thing was lit up as an 'L'.