# A lot of New Yorkers are taking the stairs today . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337 "2011-12-15T20:55:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/21 "2011-12-16T20:15:12Z")
Wow. I just read the Snopes article linked to above. I didn’t realize this has happened multiple times. Horrific. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/22 "2011-12-16T20:32:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > :eek: I didn’t realize there was enough room to fit between the elevator car and wall. If I’m reading this right she got jerked up in there and crushed. Well, um, no, there _isn’t_ really enough space for a person between car and wall, not exactly, that’s why it’s fatal… I’m trying to avoid freaking out/grossing out the more sensitive readers… [spoiler]There actually isn’t, strictly speaking, enough room in that tiny gap for a human body in its intact state. The effect is somewhere between a meat grinder and a Play-Dough extruder except, of course, we’re talking about a human being being subjected to those forces. The result isn’t really body shaped any more, with pieces detached, pulverized, squashed… it’s bad, m’kay? Not suitable for open casket funerals. The woman wasn’t just killed, she was _destroyed_ The compressibility of the human body, even as meat, has its limits, thus as Eve mentioned upthread the building was shut down to inspect for structural damage caused by forcing a human body into a space too small to contain it. I’m assuming the end was quick for the deceased victim - the long term horror is for the two people trapped in the elevator car watching another human being being turned into meat paste right in front of them. And there wasn’t a goddamned thing they could do to stop it.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/23 "2011-12-16T20:38:38Z")
I had no idea about it till I read the thread. Great. When I leave work tonight it’ll probably take me an hour to work up the nerve to get into the elevator. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/24 "2011-12-16T20:43:59Z")
I’ve also had the losing the foot fear while stepping onto an elevator. This is just so much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/25 "2011-12-16T20:51:14Z")
I’ve heard stories of folks getting caught in the “gap” between a subway car and the platform and remaining conscious - until they were removed (Kinda like that scene in \*Signs \*with the wife being pinned between a car and a tree), but that’s a tad more than an elevator gap. Eww. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/26 "2011-12-16T20:56:35Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Well, um, no, there _isn’t_ really enough space for a person between car and wall, not exactly, that’s why it’s fatal… > > I’m trying to avoid freaking out/grossing out the more sensitive readers… > > [spoiler]There actually isn’t, strictly speaking, enough room in that tiny gap for a human body in its intact state. The effect is somewhere between a meat grinder and a Play-Dough extruder except, of course, we’re talking about a human being being subjected to those forces. The result isn’t really body shaped any more, with pieces detached, pulverized, squashed… it’s bad, m’kay? Not suitable for open casket funerals. The woman wasn’t just killed, she was _destroyed_ > > The compressibility of the human body, even as meat, has its limits, thus as Eve mentioned upthread the building was shut down to inspect for structural damage caused by forcing a human body into a space too small to contain it. > > I’m assuming the end was quick for the deceased victim - the long term horror is for the two people trapped in the elevator car watching another human being being turned into meat paste right in front of them. And there wasn’t a goddamned thing they could do to stop it.[/spoiler] _Mythbusters_ did a segment involving a decompressed diving suit and whether the body would be forced into the helmet. [It did](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEY3fN4N3D8). **WARNING!** Really disturbing footage. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/27 "2011-12-16T21:21:32Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > I’ve heard stories of folks getting caught in the “gap” between a subway car and the platform and remaining conscious - until they were removed (Kinda like that scene in \*Signs \*with the wife being pinned between a car and a tree), but that’s a tad more than an elevator gap. Eww. A couple of years ago, a teenager was pushed towards the train at one of the platforms downtown (it was a drug deal gone bad, apparently). My husband was on the crew that removed the body. He fell in the small space in between the train and the platform while the train was still moving forward. It caught the front half of his body, and the momentum of his fall caused his body to spiral as it was pulled along. There was some detachment of skin and meat, but he was still mostly together, just in one long spiral from the waist down. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/28 "2011-12-16T22:11:55Z")
I guess I can forget about having meat for dinner. Thanks, y’all. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/29 "2011-12-16T22:24:27Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > _Mythbusters_ did a segment involving a decompressed diving suit and whether the body would be forced into the helmet. [It did](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEY3fN4N3D8). > **WARNING!** Really disturbing footage. Saw that one. Seriously traumatized me. What a tragic accident. Horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/30 "2011-12-16T22:30:13Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > A couple of years ago, a teenager was pushed towards the train at one of the platforms downtown (it was a drug deal gone bad, apparently). My husband was on the crew that removed the body. > > He fell in the small space in between the train and the platform while the train was still moving forward. It caught the front half of his body, and the momentum of his fall caused his body to spiral as it was pulled along. There was some detachment of skin and meat, but he was still mostly together, just in one long spiral from the waist down. We’re friends with a guy who works as a mechanic for Calgary Transit (he might know your husband - small world!), and he recently told us that they had been formally told not to make any jokes about painting little human figures on the sides of the trains after fatalities (before the Panty Wad Brigade comes storming in, that’s black humour, the kind used by people who have to deal with traumatic stuff like people being killed by trains). Regarding the OP: irrational fear of elevators? It’s not irrational if they actually _are_ trying to kill you! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/31 "2011-12-16T23:32:17Z")
Lots of folks take the stairs in [N.](http://www.lungusa.org/pledge-events/ny/new-york-climb-fy12/) [Y.](http://nyrr.org/races/2012/r0208x00.asp) [C.](http://eventnyn.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=GEN_NYN_homepage); & even up [your way](http://www.climbforwilderness.ca/news.asp), **Cat Whisperer** ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/32 "2011-12-16T23:38:01Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > And I have a terror of getting my long, veiled hat caught in the elevator doors. It would be a terrible crime against fashion to destroy that hat. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/33 "2011-12-16T23:42:54Z")
Great, another thing for me to be afraid of… Those poor women? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/34 "2011-12-17T04:07:32Z")
Now I know I wasn’t crazy when the elevator at work hesitated for about five seconds before moving up and I nearly had a heart attack. Being stuck in one would suck a lot. Not nearly as much as being crushed by one would, though. Those poor women. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/35 "2011-12-17T05:03:38Z")
Wow. Until I read the snopes article, I didn’t know that a fatal elevator accident had happened AT A HOSPITAL I USED TO WORK AT EVERY DAY FOR SEVERAL YEARS! It’s creepy to realize that just a few years before I was there someone died in those elevators that I used all the time. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/36 "2011-12-17T05:27:43Z")
There’s actually a word to describe what happens when a helmeted diver is hit with a pressure differential: excarnation. **shudder** ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/37 "2011-12-17T07:02:02Z")
> [@velvetjones](#): > > I was listening to this on NPR last night and they were investigating whether or not a maintenance worker had disabled the switch that didn’t allow the elevator to move when the doors were open. The story was also mentioning another recent elevator accident so I’m not sure it’s the same one. It would take jumping out two or more switches. And if a mechanic jumped out these safety switchs he should face charges. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/38 "2011-12-17T07:16:15Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > It would take jumping out two or more switches. And if a mechanic jumped out these safety switchs he should face charges. Oh thank GOD. I was about to ask why the hell there would be a switch for that in the first place. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/39 "2011-12-17T12:31:39Z")
I’ve been stuck in an elevator twice, (the same one!) in the building where I work, a library. The first time I’d arrived way earlier than usual, at 4:30AM. to bake two big sheet cakes I needed to decorate for a reception that afternoon.(I work in the cafe as a baker) The elevator started up, then stopped. I picked up the emergency phone _and it was out of order!_ I didn’t get released until 7:00AM! I was very annoyed and got a letter of apology from the library, and assurances that the phone would be fixed. The next time was worse. It was almost a year to the day later than the first incident. On Labor Day the library was not open, but I used my card to let myself in to the cafe to pick up an item from the cafe I needed. It was 5:20AM, and I was out early because I was on the way to a local park to start the cookfires for a family breakfast cookout. Same thing, the elevator stopped on the way up! So I picked up the emergency phone and again it was out of order! All it would do was call the front desk of the library, and a recording told me the place is closed. OH CRAP! I’M STUCK IN A BUILDING ELEVATOR WHERE NOBODY WILL BE FOR TWENTY FOUR HOURS, AND I CAN’T CALL OUT! When family arrived at the park and found me not there they went looking. My sister and my cousin found my car at my parent’s home(they were out of town) and not knowing I’d borrowed their van they called police. A nice officer came and ask questions. “does she do drugs?” “Would she run off with a guy?” My folks van was finally located at the library so my boss was called. He let them all into the building where they heard the pounding, and me ringing the emergency bell. Cops don’t open the elevators, the fire department had to be called. While all THIS was going on the director of the library drives by, wonders what the hell is going on when the place is supposed to be closed, and so he stops. I was finally released about five and a half hours after being trapped. I wouldn’t have starved or anything, and I’m not particularly claustrophobic, but I was extremely pissed. What if it had been the director himself? He was severely diabetic, he might have died if nobody knew where he was, and without access to his medication. I told him that, and all I got was another letter of apology. ---
**Author:** ![ASanders](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asanders/32/3367_2.png) [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337/40 "2011-12-17T12:44:04Z")
I’ve been scared of escalators for years since a freak escalator failure killed someone in NYC. Now I can be scared of elevators too? Great. Time for me to start walking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-new-yorkers-are-taking-the-stairs-today/606337.md?page=3)