Video Shows Man in Elevator for 41 Hours

Posted: 2008-04-21 13:50:42

Filed Under: Weird News

NEW YORK (April 21) - A time-lapse video of a man trapped in an elevator for 41 hours has become something of an Internet sensation after surveillance camera footage emerged after nearly a decade.

"After a certain period of time I knew that I was in pretty big trouble because it was the weekend," Nicholas White said Monday on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America."

Video of his Oct. 15, 1999, ordeal in an elevator in New York's McGraw-Hill building was posted online to accompany an article in the April 21 edition of The New Yorker. It can be seen on the magazine's Web site and had been viewed more than 280,000 times on YouTube by Monday morning.

White said he understood why the video has captured people's attention: So many have wondered what they would do if it happened to them.

Edited to a soundtrack of classical piano music, the video shows him pacing, trying to climb the walls, lying down, curled up in a fetal position, prying apart the doors. (He said he relieved himself down the shaft when the doors were open.)

White sued the managers of the midtown skycraper and the elevator maintenance company and won an undisclosed settlement.

He was a production manager for Business Week when he left his office about 11 p.m. Friday for a cigarette break. According to the article, it was never determined exactly why the elevator stalled though there was talk of a voltage dip.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2008-04-21 13:37:51

Read Related Blogs and Articles

Must Read?

96 %

4 %

8 VOTES

Recent Comments

Post Your Own

1 - 10 of 440

440 comments

pradaprincezz340 01:26:56 PM May 06 2008

Report This!

He held his urine for 41 hours! I think I would die before I would be able to do that! Poor guy.

cthompsonsnow 04:01:56 PM Apr 30 2008

Report This!

the article was actually pretty good. maybe you all should read it.

rayfridjr 11:11:07 PM Apr 24 2008

Report This!

That's a cheap elevator for you. Most new elevators don't sport their manufacturers' nameplates-and that's why! Time was that if you were in an Otis, Haughton, Westinghouse, AB See, or Montgomery, to mention a few, you saw their logo or nameplate. Today's elevators are crap! Nothing more than junk in a shaft.

samscare1 04:15:33 PM Apr 24 2008

Report This!

HAHAHA

rfmail5 12:33:11 PM Apr 23 2008

Report This!

I hope he got millions.

masc930 02:39:53 AM Apr 23 2008

Report This!

I'd have to try, and climb the shaft.

hammfam1 01:23:29 AM Apr 23 2008

Report This!

See little is know about this man. he was a spy for the CIA in Afghanistan helping recruit Jihadi's for the 9/11 attacks. upon his return, during a drunken outburst he let some vital information slip out at a party. Subsequently all of the people at the party died in strange ways, such as: bee beard accident and shower head collapse. George Bush himself cut the power to the elevator that was almost his tomb. He was supposed to die of dehydration but the plan was unsuccessful. So the feds settled for 50 billion dollars. See more at www.libsbelieveanything.com/dumbass