I'm a Skeptic Who Played a Deadly Game for Kicks

As someone who is deeply fascinated by mysteries and true crime stories, the Elisa Lam case is one that caught my attention. The first time I heard of it was 5 years ago when I watched a Buzzfeed Unsolved video about her bizarre death. One of the top theories they had was that Elisa had played the Elevator Game and it ended badly.

The Elevator Game is a ritualistic "game" that is so dangerous it can supposedly transport you to an alternate dimension where evil spirits are prevalent. A purgatory, of sorts. What a load of bull, right?

But I was intrigued. What was this horrifying game that had possibly claimed the life of a young girl? This is the viral CCTV footage(released by the LAPD) from the night of Elisa's death. It looks as though she is speaking to a person and playfully hiding from them. But we can't see anyone.

What could have possessed her to make those eerie hand gestures and paranoid movements? What pushed her to climb to the roof of the Cecil Hotel, and get into the water tanks, where she would drown, wearing no clothes?

Many speculated that she was haunted by the ghosts of serial killers like Richard Ramirez, the Nightstalker who assaulted and killed many women. Not to mention all the people who had taken their own lives at the Cecil Hotel out of misery and pain.

I didn't think much of this game again until February 2021. With the Netflix docu-series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel becoming popular, I was compelled to watch it. After going through the facts of the case again with a lot of research, it was understood that Elisa's death was most probably a result of her mental illness and irregular medication.

I even wrote about that here. It seemed as though the hard-hitting facts had pulled the veil of mystery off this case, and now it was just sad. I feel truly sorry for Elisa Lam and wish she had not lost her life so soon.

I put the case behind me. Or so I thought. It was over. She didn't die because of that stupid game. Of course not. Nobody could, right?

One tiny fact did keep bugging me. I'll tell you the rules of the game first.

Step 1: Find a building with more than 11 floors and make sure that you are the only one in the elevator when you begin. If people get in while you're in the middle of the game, you have to restart.

Step 2: Go to the 4th floor. Do not get out of the elevator, but push the button for the 2nd floor.

Step 3: Go to the 6th floor. Again, don't get out. Go to the 2nd floor.

Step 4: Once you're there, push the button for the 10th floor. Don't get out. Next, go to the 5th floor.

Step 5: Now this is the most crucial part. A woman may enter on the 5th floor. Don't look at her, don't speak to her, don't acknowledge her in any way. She may get hostile. She may do anything to grab your attention, and agitate you, but you can't give in. If you do, she wins you.

Step 6: Press the button for the first floor. If the game has failed, the elevator will descend to the first floor. Get out, walk away, and don't look back no matter what. However, if the game was successful, the elevator will go to the 10th floor.

Step 7: Now you've reached the other world. If you go out onto the 10th floor and you find yourself all alone, it means you're in the other dimension. Electronics don't work here. It's parallel to our world, but the lights will be dim, and the air will be thicker. You may get lost and confused, finding the elevator further and further away, although you're walking towards it.

Step 8: Press the same sequence of floor numbers you did to get to the 10th floor(4-2-6-2-10-5) and then press the button for the 1st floor. Walk away without looking back, because it is not easy to come back to our world after leaving it.

And all I could think was "Who are these fools trying to bluff?" I was the girl who laughed at "The Conjuring". I found "The Grudge" to be an uproarious joke-fest. I scoff at horror flicks, and I'm skeptical of every supernatural story I've ever heard. I wanted to try this, just to prove that there was nothing of the sort.

But like I said earlier, I noticed something. I noticed that in the video of Elisa Lam, she was on the 5th floor. The floor where you aren't supposed to get out or interact with the "woman". But Elisa seemed to be talking to someone. Could it be...?

I never saw the elevator game as something plausible. I didn't think the bloggers and Reddit users were sharing facts, actual things that had happened when they tried doing this. This is the story of how I found out if they were right.

On Friday, February 26th, I went on a mini-vacation with my family. We spent the weekend at a luxurious seaside hotel. There were two sections here, one being the main hotel building with rooms and restaurants. The other was a resort with cottages, which we opted for.

Saturday was a wonderful day. I lounged in the pool all morning and went to the beach later, watching the full moon cast a warm glow on the ocean. After a grand buffet dinner, my parents and grandparents retired to bed early.

It was 11:42 P.M. I sat by the pool lazily, watching the stillness of the glistening water and listening to music. Taylor Swift's 'willow' was my recent favorite.

"And if it was an open/shut case

I never would've known from that look on your face

Lost in your current like a priceless wine"

As the soothing melodies floated in my mind idly, I turned to the right and looked at the hotel building. The receptionist, Sanjeev, was leaving for the night, as the night shift worker took over. Sanjeev waved to me as he left and I waved back with a smile.

On an impulse, I paused the music, put my earphones in my pockets, and walked with a purpose towards the hotel. The night shift employee was a woman wearing a thick jasmine-scented perfume and a name tag "Alina". I went past her to reach the elevator. It was 11:50. Surely nobody would interrupt my game, I thought.

I got into the elevator.

"Okay, here goes. There's nothing to be scared of," I gave myself a wary grin in the reflection of the elevator doors.

Fourth floor. I'm fine.

Second floor. I'm taking a deep breath because, for some reason, I feel uneasy. It's just slight jitters, I think. I've been on too many of those damn Reddit threads, reading up on this game. Those people sure had a marvelous grasp of writing fiction.

Sixth floor. There is a slight jolt. It's normal. It's an old elevator, for crying out loud. The speakers jar a little and suddenly start playing music. Taylor Swift's 'willow'. Okay...that's just a coincidence. Taylor really is everywhere, huh?

Second floor. The lyrics stand out to me because "open/shut case" was what made me think of Elisa and the elevator game in the first place.

"And if it was an open/shut case

I never would've known from that look on your face

Lost in your current like a priceless wine"

Tenth floor. The sound fluctuates a little. Was that a pitch modulation? I push the button for the fifth floor.

"The more that you say, the less I know

Wherever you stray, I follow"

The music seems to stop for a microsecond before looping on the same line.

"Wherever you stray, I follow.

Wherever you stray, I follow.

Wherever you stray, I follow..."

Am I ridiculous for finding this creepy? Why is it taking so long to go to the fifth floor? Why is this line still playing? The music stops abruptly. Sigh. "It was just a glitch".

I get to the fifth floor. The doors aren't opening. I feel a bead of sweat roll down my temple. Come on, what am I even afraid of? I press the "Doors Open" button. I don't get it. They opened for all the other floors. I didn't realize how tense my body was. I wait for some time and lean back a little.

And the doors open almost a little too fast. I straighten up. A minute passes by. "Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. The game isn't real. How gullible can you get?" I chuckle at myself, still feeling oddly tense.

I'm startled as a woman steps into view suddenly. She's wearing high heels, but I couldn't hear so much as a click on the tiled floors. Why can't I hear her? She steps in, presses the button for the 1st floor, and I avert my eyes.

The elevator doors close. Without meaning to, I look at her in the reflection of the doors. But she isn't looking at me. She's wearing a formal white blouse and brown suede pants. The fact that she isn't looking at me gives me the confidence to look at her reflection, thinking she can't be a ghost. She can't.

And then she did something that made me jump. From looking straight ahead, she whips her head to her right and looks directly at me. I am still looking at the doors, but I can feel her stare bore into me now. 10 seconds pass, and it's taking forever to get to the first floor. I don't know why, but I'm not able to tell if the elevator is moving up or down.

"What is the time?", she asks softly.

I'm still not turning towards her. "If you're so sure that this game is a ruse, you can talk to her", an inner voice taunts. But I'm not talking. The part of my brain that remembers the rules is screaming that I shouldn't acknowledge her in any way.

"What is the time?", she asks, this time a bit louder. Perhaps she thinks I didn't hear her the first time.

I look down at my phone, but my phone seems to have switched off. After two failed tries, I look at my watch.

Mustering all my courage, I turn towards her and say "It's almost midnight". Her eyes are pitch black. I can't really see her pupils. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the screen displaying the floor we are on and I realize that we're moving up towards the 10th floor.

A wave of horror sweeps over me instantly and all I want to do right now is get out of the elevator. The woman is smiling at me brightly, with what looks like rotten, yellow teeth. She steps forward and moves right in front of me without any warning or reason. We just stand there facing each other and looking into each other's eyes. Hers are vapid and dancing at the same time, but my eyes are filled with the dread and panic that I can feel soaring through my veins.

She takes one step closer. I can feel her sharp breath on me now. The elevator reaches the 10th floor and dings. She turns around deftly and just walks out, without a sound.

I decide not to step out onto the 10th floor. I'm sweating profusely now although my hands are icy cold. I have no intention of visiting another dimension, and this whole thing was a mistake. I push the button for the 1st floor with an urgency I cannot explain. Every second I spent looking at the secluded hallway felt like one second closer to death.

The doors finally shut. But the elevator isn't moving. The doors open again. And after a few seconds, close. I push the 1st-floor button again, feeling a chilly draft around me. I've reached the first floor now, and I rush outside. I pass the front desk, and nobody is there. I start running to my cottage and away from the hotel as fast as I can.

I didn't sleep a wink that night.

The next day, I went to the pool again with my mom. There were 4 children laughing and playing loudly. There was also a couple who seemed to be on their honeymoon. And there I was, caught up in a flurry of sinister thoughts.

Last night just seems like a nasty dream. It can't have been real. Something was off, but it can't be the game. It can't. I dive into the deep end and start swimming vigorously.

I swim all the way over to the other end of the pool and come up for air. I turn around to look at my mom, and I see nobody. No mom, no kids, no couple. Just a still pool, with the sun shining as though it had an eerie filter.

I'm trembling now. My mind must be playing tricks on me. I hadn't slept for a whole day, after all. I can't explain what made me do it, but I plunged into the water again. I fervently expected to return to normalcy, and part of me just wanted to escape this strangeness and go back to hearing the familiar thrash of water over my head.

I swim and stop halfway. I look up to see everything as it was. My mother was at the end of the pool, the children were jumping into their floaties, and the couple was ordering cocktails. I'm shaking violently as I climb out of the pool. I don't want to swim anymore. I couldn't stand the thought of going underwater again and switching between the worlds. What am I even saying? Switching between two worlds. Insanity.

I walk over to where my mom is. She looks concerned and asks me what happened. "Nothing," I say quietly, looking at her with fear written all over my face. I was too scared to even blink my eyes. I wanted to stay grounded in this reality for as long as I can.

Was this even my reality anymore?

Did that wretched game actually work? Am I stuck between our world and a sick, demented alternate dimension?

These questions swarmed around my still sleep-deprived and highly disturbed brain as I left the hotel. I took one last glance at the elevator and looked away hurriedly. What did I expect? I expect to leave behind this hellish experience at this hotel. I expect to stay in our world and not be lost in such anguish ever again.

I loaded my luggage onto the car and settled down. I plugged my earphones and hit 'Shuffle'. The song I once liked, the song that now takes me back to a terror-stricken state began to play promptly. As the car rounded the corner, I looked up at the hotel to the 10th floor one last time.

"Wherever you stray, I follow"