So Supernatural · Audiochuck | Crime House

DARK WEB: The Elevator Game

·37 min·3 clips
A woman who isn't human joins the elevator on the fifth floor, and if you acknowledge her, she can trap you in another universe for eternity.
Rasha opens with a framing device connecting the Elevator Game to Einstein's theory of relativity and the fourth dimension of space-time, using the theoretical possibility of wormholes and portals as a pseudo-scientific entry point into what she acknowledges is a paranormal ritual game. The episode traces the game's origin to Korean or Japanese internet posts, with the earliest confirmed versions dated around 2011 and a possible 2008 reference, and notes that all earliest versions were written in those languages before spreading to major English-language horror forums and discussion boards. The rules of the Elevator Game are detailed: the player must be alone or with one companion in a building of at least ten floors; they must ride the elevator through a specific sequence of floors in exact order (4, 2, 6, 2, 10, 5) without allowing anyone else to board; if anyone gets on at any point, the game must be abandoned immediately and the player must exit the building without looking back. On the fifth floor, some versions of the game describe a woman entering the elevator — a non-human entity that will attempt to engage the player in conversation and must never be acknowledged or answered, as doing so traps them in the shadow dimension forever. If the sequence is followed correctly, the elevator ascends to the 10th floor and the doors open onto a parallel world that looks like ours but feels deeply different — described by those who claim to have played as identical in appearance but profoundly wrong in atmosphere, with no other people visible and a red cross visible in the distance. The episode examines why this game spread as rapidly as it did, connecting it to the broader internet horror ecosystem and the human fascination with liminal spaces, threshold experiences, and the particular uncanniness of elevators as enclosed, mechanically controlled spaces that carry people between distinct floors of reality. Yvette and Rasha also discuss documented cases of people who claimed to have played the game and reported strange experiences, and one internationally reported case where a young woman was found dead in a water tank on the roof of a hotel — a case that became associated with the Elevator Game in online forums despite no confirmed connection. The hosts present the material with their characteristic blend of genuine fascination, light humor, and appropriate skepticism.

As heard by us

An internet-born Elevator Game story that ties into the Elisa Lam case without losing its eerie pull.

This episode traces an internet-born Elevator Game tale from its creepy rules and recorded attempts into the Elisa Lam case, which explains why the folklore kept its hold.

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Why you'd press play

You want an eerie elevator story that starts online and ends up tied to a real case.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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