Man in the Elevator

The Man in the Elevator is a scary urban legend from Korea about a girl who lives on the 14th floor of her apartment building. It is also known as “The Elevator Murderer” or “The Elevator Killer”.

There was a 19-year old Korean girl named Haruko who was attending university in a large city. One night, she had to stay late in the library to finish a project and it was almost dark by the time she returned home.

Haruko lived on the 14th floor of an old apartment building. She stood in the entrance and pressed the button to call the elevator. She always hated coming home alone so late in the evening. It just didn’t feel safe.

When the elevator came, she stepped inside and pushed the button for her floor. Just as the doors were about to close, a handsome man came running up. The man was out of breath and put out his hand to stop the doors closing. Then, he stepped into the elevator and stood beside her.

“You live on the 14th floor?”, he asked, seeing the button lit up.

“Yes”, replied Haruko.

“Oh”, said the man, smiling. “I live on the 13th.”

As the elevator ascended, he pressed the button for 13.

Through the windows in the elevator door, Haruko watched the floors go by, as they both stood in silence. She stole a few glances at the man. he certainly was handsome. She wondered if he would ever be interested in dating her.

When he happened to look at her, she batted her eyelids and smiled sweetly at him.

Just then, the elevator stopped at the 13th floor. The doors opened and the man stepped out.

“See you later…” he said.

“Yes, see you,” replied Haruko.

As the doors of the elevator were closing behind him, the man suddenly turned around, pulled a sharp knife out of his jacket and said, in a menacing voice, “…upstairs!”

Then, laughing like a maniac, he ran towards the staircase.

The girl was terrified, but before she could do a thing, the doors shut and the elevator began to ascend. She began to panic.

Desperately, she hammered the buttons with her fist, trying to get the elevator to stop, but it was no use.

When it reached the 14th floor and the doors opened, the man with the knife was already standing there, waiting for her.

In Korea, people say that this is a true story. The girl was found dead, stabbed to death in the elevator.

People say that the worst part was not her death itself, but rather the sheer horror she experienced in between those two floors, when she was trapped in the elevator and knew she was going to die.

They claim that this is the reason that all elevators now have a stop button.