The Korean Elevator Game:
10 Floors, Wrong World,
No Way Back
Somewhere in South Korea, in an apartment building you'd never notice from the street, someone pressed a series of elevator buttons in a specific order β and never came back the same way.
The Korean Elevator Game, known online as μλ¦¬λ² μ΄ν°λ‘ λ€λ₯Έ μΈκ³μ κ°λ λ² ("How to travel to another world via elevator"), is one of the most widely documented paranormal rituals to emerge from East Asia. Unlike Western ghost stories rooted in specific haunted locations, this ritual can theoretically be performed in any building with at least 10 floors.
That's what makes it different. That's what makes it terrifying.
The Origin
The ritual first surfaced on Korean internet forums in the early 2000s, spreading through horror communities like λ€μ΄λ² μΉ΄ν and DC Inside β the Korean equivalent of Reddit. By 2010, English-language paranormal sites had picked it up, and by 2015 it had spread to YouTube, Reddit's r/NoSleep, and TikTok.
Researchers who study internet folklore trace the ritual to older Korean shamanist beliefs around liminal spaces β thresholds between worlds. Elevators, moving between floors in a sealed metal box, have long carried an eerie quality in Korean urban culture. The specific sequence of floors is said to mirror the structure of a Korean shamanic ritual called a gut, designed to open a passage to the spirit world.
"I pressed the buttons exactly as instructed. When the doors opened on the 10th floor, the building outside looked identical β same hallway, same walls. But the lights were slightly different. Yellower. And there was no sound at all."
β Anonymous account, r/Paranormal, 2019The Rules
The ritual requires a residential or office building with at least 10 floors. You must enter the elevator alone. Once another person enters with you, the ritual cannot begin β or if already begun, it is broken.
- Enter the elevator alone. No other people may be present.
- Press floor 4. When you reach it, do not exit.
- Press floor 2. When you reach it, do not exit.
- Press floor 6. When you reach it, do not exit.
- Press floor 2 again. When you reach it, do not exit.
- Press floor 10. When you reach it, do not exit.
- Press floor 5. The doors will open. A woman will enter.
- Do NOT look at the woman. Do NOT speak to her. Do NOT acknowledge her in any way.
- Press floor 1. If the elevator goes UP instead of down β you have arrived.
- Exit on floor 10. You are now in the other world.
The Floor Map
The Woman
Every account of the ritual describes her consistently: a Korean woman, appearing to be in her 30s or 40s, standing silently in the corner of the elevator. She does not press any buttons. She does not speak. She faces forward.
Those who have looked at her β by accident or out of curiosity β describe what they saw differently. Some say her face was wrong in a way they couldn't articulate. Some say she had no face at all. Some say she looked completely normal, but when they reached their floor, they couldn't find their way home for hours.
"My friend did it with me watching from outside the building. I saw the elevator stop on the 5th floor. The doors opened. Nothing went in. But on the camera feed, you could see him step back against the wall like something had entered."
β Account from Korean paranormal forum, translated 2021What happens if you look at her
Accounts vary. The most consistent outcome reported: the elevator stops functioning. The doors open onto an unfamiliar floor. The person finds themselves unable to locate the exit, wandering in a version of their building that looks identical but is subtly, deeply wrong.
In some accounts, the person is found later β sometimes hours, sometimes days later β in their building's lobby, with no memory of how they got there.
In a small number of accounts, they are not found at all.
How to Return
If you successfully arrive in the other world and wish to return, you must not eat or drink anything while there. You must find the same elevator, and press the same sequence of floors in reverse order. If the woman is still in the elevator, the same rules apply: do not look, do not speak.
The Other World
Those who claim to have successfully arrived describe a place that looks exactly like their city β same streets, same buildings, same layout. But there are no people. The sky is always dark. Electronics don't work. And somewhere in the distance, there is always a red cross, like the sign on a Korean pharmacy or hospital, glowing in the dark.
No one has ever explained the red cross. It appears in accounts from Seoul, Busan, and Incheon β and in accounts from people who attempted the ritual in Japan and the United States, having read about it online.
Whatever world the elevator opens into, it seems to be the same one.
Has Anyone Proven It?
In 2014, a group of Korean university students documented a live attempt on video. The footage showed the elevator stopping on the 5th floor with no one visibly entering β but one student reacted as if someone had, stepping to the side and pressing himself against the wall. The elevator then ascended to the 10th floor. The student exited, walked down the hallway, and was not seen again for four hours. He was found in the lobby of the building. He said he didn't remember anything after pressing the floor 1 button.
The video has been re-uploaded and taken down multiple times. A copy remains on a private Korean archive. We will not link to it here.