Apr 21 2008Oh Man, That Would Suck: Time Lapse Of Man Trapped In An Elevator For 40 Hours

You realise anyone who sees this will never go in an elevator again, well I do need the exercise. Did he sue anyone? I would sue the crap out of someone for that.

I would have been better if he just got out as if nothing happened, just casually strolled out.

what the f*** took them so long

take the stairs, you fat f***s!

There is something really unsettling about this video.

I wonder what his mindset was during all of that?

He sued his employer for something like $20 million I think, and settled for an undisclosed sum, reported to be in the six figures.

Read the New Yorker article - it's online somewhere. Basically the guy has completely gone off the rails since this happened.

Didn't he also ended up losing his job, his wife, and his house?

Agreeing with Grace (5)

There is something deeply unsettling, But it could just be the way he moves in his sleep, etc combined with the music. I'm sure if it was the Chicken Dance song then it'd be funny as, But yet it's left me feeling really sorry for the guy, Did he suffer any mental damages?..

Haha, it looked like The Sims.

Yea, that would suck though.

So it goes to show. 1) Smoking bad. 2) Stairs good. Okay and 3) Cell phones... good.

Which makes me wonder, weren't cell phones pretty common even in 1999? And what about the phone on the wall, the emergency one? I can see how the public at large wouldn't notice for 2 days.. you just enter the elevator that opens it's doors first. But the maintenance guy with the ladder? Or the EIGHT security people over those 41 hours that didn't see him bouncing around in there?

Something's a little fishy.

Man I cant believe he never found the security cam. He seems to never know its there. I guess what i'm getting at is, I cant believe he never beat his penis around to pass the time. thats what i do. sometimes even when i have really important things i should be doing instead of hiding in the bathroom and smacking my beef gun against the toilet paper holder.

It seems that by *at least* 13 hours in, they must be either attempting to rescue him, or at least acknowledge his presence, because the lights in the elevator stay on while the other three shut down.

I got stuck in en elevator once for 4 hours. I went a little nuts after basically an hour. i couldn't imagine 41. If he really went off the deep end in life and lost his job and wife, then i wouldn't be too shocked.

man, i couldn't imagine what it would have been like anything past 5 hrs.

My theory was right, Watch it with the Chicken Dance in the background, It;s good!

@12 Yeah that's probably what I would've done... But with my luck the doors would probably fling open exposing my member to some poor sod. And yes he is peeing at 2:12. :P

I do wonder why he kept opening and closing the doors. At one point towards the end it just looked like he was doing it for exercise.

@11: cell phones don't work in all elevators. the reception is just really bad, i think.

A brief insight into what he was thinking:

0:34 - Damn, I'm hungry...

0:35 - Ooh, tic-tacs

0:37 - That wasn't very filling...

0:40 - Ooh, gum!

0:59 - DAMN this Bazooka Joe comic is getting boring!

It's definitely the music that makes this video. Also, come on!! Only a completely unstable person would go crazy in 40 hours...now 70 hours I can understand since you would not be getting any water or food. 40?! Meh...I could take anywhere from 40-60 without water...and perhaps 4-6 days without food. I think _> ^_^

It turns out that he got trapped working late on a Friday night, and he was stuck between floors. No one discovered him until 4pm Sunday. Apparently he was ringing the help buzzer near constantly. I'm just glad theres no audio, or it would probably haunt my nightmares.

@Grace: I think his mindset was probably "SOMEONE GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE."

If he could open the doors as far as he seems to be doing so then why couldn't they just jam something in between them and he could climb out?

What would he jam between the doors? There is nothing in the elevator. Elevators are not built like they are in the movies...you can't just climb out. 40 hours in a space with no knowlege of when he might get out is plenty of time to go crazy.

Damn that would suck

He stepped out for a cig break really quick and probably left everything upstairs.. got into an express elevator which skips floors 1-30 or something like that to get to the 43rd floor where he works. He got stuck on the 13th floor as he discovered by opening the doors and looking at the brick wall which was labeled "13".. and he pissed down the elevator shaft (also in the hopes that someone on the 1st floor would notice him) which is why you see him opening and closing the doors.

Also apparently the elevators were malfunctioning (hm you think?) so the security guards figured the elevator alarm was just going off by itself. Altough you'd think that they would take a quick peek at the cameras....

in 1999 cell phones were still bulky and you only had about 5 minutes included on your plan, so most people didn't carry one around all the time. hell, most people didn't even own cell phones in 1999.

express elevators don't open to doors on the floors they skip, that's why when he opened the inside doors he was faced with a brick wall. if he took the local elevator, and it was stuck (even between floors) then it really is like in the movies. you manage to pry open the inside doors (not always easy), and then there's a release arm on the inside of the outer doors, so you just pop it open and get out before the thing starts moving and you get crushed.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/04/21/080421fa_fact_paumgarten

http://www.cnn.com/tshirt/?headline=Pacing%20man%20stuck%2041%20hours%20in%20elevator&date=1208867395000&hash=11694688074e66750a174488fd93a954&return_uri=http://www.cnn.com/video/%23/video/us/2008/04/22/roberts.stuck.in.elevator.cnn

I don't think my obscure references from the 80's would help here.

@28 you gotta be kiddin me..... people actually make shirts out of news headlines? ..... how unbelievably boring do you have to be to buy that?!?

1. Light a cigarette.
2. Trip the fire alarm.
3. Get rescued.

i'd have had to take a GIANT dump before 40 hours was over.

this goes to show, that in the urban jungle, your survival kit now should include; gun, ammo, water, water flask, power bars, loud noise maker, cell phone, pillow, blanket, medications, mugger money, smokes, water proof fire source, portable oxygen source, parachute, helmet, business cards, pair of dice, pen-paper, self charging flashlight, umbrella, sit and spin, guitar pick, poker chip and a healthy dose of "i'm gonna make it".

...or else you're going to die!

...or you could just carry a squeegie around with you, in case elevator gets stuck again. remember the janitor and office workers in the world trade center cutting their way out of the elevator and through the wall to get out?

that's a true story. why not for this guy? ...because he didn't have a squeegie. ...but he had the panel from the electronics on the elevator interior. i would have found something useful in that electronics box. that's for sure. but then again, i may have burnt myself up in there by screwing something up too...

you never know when you're going to die, and for what reason. there's no promise of a tomorrow. makes you feel awesome doesn't it?

Just goes to show you, nothing good comes out of smoking! lol

I have watched this video like 6 times and blows my mind successively. Can you f***ing imagine how miserable that would be. Why do I not remember about hearing this on the news...I bet Psychologists had wet dreams over this unplanned creepy experiment.

lol i would rape poop and mr anderson on here

this cock for the new yorker wrote possibly the most convoluted article in history. way to go

Does the guy who goes in at around 2:54 ever leave?

im clausterphobic......i would die

He sued his employer for something like $20 million I think, and settled for an undisclosed sum, reported to be in the six figures.