{{short description|Activity involving riding on top of elevators}} {{More citations needed|date=August 2020}} thumb|Interior of a hydraulic elevator shaft from an elevator surfer's point of view
'''Elevator surfing''', also known as '''lift surfing''', is the usually clandestine activity of riding on top of elevators rather than inside them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s609279.htm |title=Surfing Medical Madness |accessdate=2006-08-27 |last=Kruszelnicki |first=Karl |date=19 July 2002 |publisher=ABC}}</ref><ref name="15 March 1990">{{Cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/e92285f4176ace361301ea9c343f4306|title=Student's Dies While Riding Atop Elevator|last=Locke|first=Michelle |date=15 March 1990|work=Associated Press|access-date=4 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201221842/https://apnews.com/article/e92285f4176ace361301ea9c343f4306|archive-date=1 February 2021}}</ref> Experienced surfers may attempt riskier maneuvers such as jumping between moving elevators, or riding the elevator's counterweight. Elevator surfing is typically considered a form of urban exploration, aligned more with investigative experiences like rooftopping and tunnel hacking than with adventurous urban sports like train surfing.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Malone |first1=Luke |title=Is Elevator Surfing Really a Thing? |url=https://www.vocativ.com/culture/sport/elevator-surfing-actual-thing/index.html |publisher=vocativ.com |date=30 July 2014 |access-date=25 October 2022 |archive-date=25 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025150455/https://www.vocativ.com/culture/sport/elevator-surfing-actual-thing/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> While elevator surfing was most prominent as a subculture in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1990s, it made a comeback in the late 2010s, with partakers often posting footage of their adventures on YouTube and similar platforms.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bostock |first1=Bill |date=16 October 2021 |title=Inside the resurgent, often deadly craze of 'lift surfing,' where thrill seekers sneak into skyscrapers to ride on top of speeding elevator cabs |url=https://www.insider.com/lift-surfing-inside-secret-world-riding-skyscraper-elevator-cabs-2021-10 |website=Insider |access-date=25 October 2022}}</ref>
Access into the elevator shaft (Hoistway) is often achieved using an elevator key—like those carried by first responders and building maintenance staff—to open the outer doors. Alternatively, participants may utilize lock picking techniques or use tools like coat hangers and metallic bars to force the elevator car's door interlock open between floors and unlatch the outer doors from the inside.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gene.greger-weltin.org/elevator_surfing/ |title=Urban Exploring Techniques: Elevator Surfing |accessdate=2006-08-27 |last=Greger |first=Gene |date=2003-10-05}}</ref> Elevator surfers usually cannot use the emergency hatch in the roof of the elevator to access the shaft, as these are designed for first responder use and cannot be opened from the inside.<ref>{{cite web |title=Common Myths and Facts for Elevators |url=http://www.mowreyelevator.com/industry-updates/common-myths-facts-elevators/ |publisher=Mowrey Elevator |access-date=25 October 2022}}</ref>
Elevator surfing typically occurs in skyscrapers or on college campuses, especially those with tall buildings. Participation is often illegal,<ref name="March 1992">{{cite journal |last=Kohr |first=RM |date=March 1992 |title=Elevator surfing: a deadly new form of joyriding |journal=Journal of Forensic Sciences |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=640–5 |doi=10.1520/JFS13273J |pmid=1500904 |issn=0022-1198 }}</ref> and if caught, surfers may face other charges like trespassing.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Feehan |first1=Katie |title=Reckless intruders filmed risking lives by 'lift surfing' |url=https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/17739902.reckless-intruders-filmed-risking-lives-lift-surfing/ |access-date=25 October 2022 |publisher=Echo News |date=30 June 2019}}</ref>
==Origins== Although the first instances of elevator surfing are unknown, by 1990, the activity was noted for its popularity among children in New York City public housing projects.<ref name="Lillian Wald">{{cite news |last1=Finder |first1=Alan |title=Like Russian Roulette, but With Elevators |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/17/nyregion/like-russian-roulette-but-with-elevators.html |access-date=27 October 2022 |work=New York Times |date=17 April 1990}}</ref> Children as young as six partook in the activity, often as a game of chicken.<ref name="thrill">{{cite news |last1=James |first1=George |title=Elevator Thrill Game Kills A Boy Once Wary of It |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/28/nyregion/elevator-thrill-game-kills-a-boy-once-wary-of-it.html |access-date=27 October 2022 |work=New York Times |date=28 March 1991}}</ref> During the same time period, elevator surfing became popular on college campuses, especially along the East Coast of the United States.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bryan |first1=Chad|title=Elevator Surfing Leads to Student Death|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28489256 |access-date=27 October 2022 |work=Middlebury Campus News |date=6 April 1990}}</ref>
==Hazards== Elevator surfers can be electrocuted, crushed between the elevator and the sides of the elevator shaft, be struck by the counterweight, or slip and fall to their deaths.<ref name="15 March 1990"/>
==Injuries and deaths== In November 1989, twelve-year-old Walter McMillan of Harlem, New York City, was found dead on top of an elevator car in the Polo Grounds housing project where he had been playing;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/27/nyregion/metro-datelines-boy-12-is-killed-playing-on-elevator.html|title=Boy, 12, Is Killed Playing on Elevator|work=New York Times|date=November 27, 1989}}</ref> his legs had been crushed between the car and a beam, resulting in his death. Walter had been a member of the "Little Tough Guys", a group of roughly thirty-five children known for elevator surfing, and police had tried to warn him of the dangers of the activity.<ref name="Lillian Wald" />
Also in November 1989, thirteen-year-old Paul Curley was found dead after he became entangled in the machinery while surfing the lifts at Divis Tower, Belfast.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Death In Lift At Divis Flats |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21372468-death-in-lift-at-divis-flats/ |access-date=2024-12-14 |website=RTÉ Archives |language=en}}</ref>
In March 1990, Joel Mangion, a University of Massachusetts Amherst student, was found dead in the bottom of an elevator shaft at his dormitory. Friends reported that he had been jumping from one car to another in the double shaft.<ref name="15 March 1990"/> While attempting the jump, he slipped and became wedged between the cab and the wall, falling sixteen stories to his death.<ref name="14 March 1990">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111400923/the-miami-herald/|title=College student killed while playing game of 'elevator surfing' |date=14 Mar 1990 |work=The Miami Herald|access-date=17 October 2022|via=newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="15 March 1990"/>
In March 1991, Michael Deliduka, a twenty-three-year-old Indiana State University aviation student, and his peers used a coat hanger to wedge open elevator doors after a night's drinking.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Evans |first=Steven|title=ISU campus legends, Vigo County, Indiana|date=1 May 2002|url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32866768?searchText=%22Elevator+surfing%22&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2522Elevator%2Bsurfing%2522%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_phrase_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A9b5a3a153277a59d6c1d3c7914a22353#metadata_info_tab_contents|access-date=}}</ref> They gained access to the tops of the elevators and subsequently attempted to move between them. While Deliduka was attempting to repair a stuck elevator, it activated, pinning him between the carriage and another elevator part and killing him instantly.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111402971/the-south-bend-tribune/ |title=ISU student killed riding atop elevator |date=21 March 1991 |work=The South Bend Tribune |access-date=17 October 2022|via=newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111403212/the-indianapolis-star/ |title=Riding atop dorm elevator costs ISU student his life |last=Crittenden |first=Susan |date=21 March 1991 |work=The Indianapolis Star |access-date=17 October 2022|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
Also in March 1991, twelve-year-old Edwin Ortiz, of New York City's Lower East Side, slipped and fell to his death from the top of an elevator at the Lillian Wald Houses.<ref name="thrill"/>
In September 1992, Michael Schlosser, a Southern Methodist University student and athlete, slipped while hanging onto the bottom of an elevator, falling thirty feet through the shaft and succumbing to blunt force head injuries. His companion also fell the same distance but sustained only a broken arm. The event prompted SMU to install safety locks on elevator doors so that they could not be pried open with hangers or other tools and would instead open only when an elevator is present.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goodnough |first=Abby |title=Friends lament death in 'elevator surfing' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111404511/asbury-park-press/ |access-date=25 October 2022 |work=Asbury Park Press|date=19 September 2022}}</ref>
In May 1997, ten-year-old Paul Illingworth was discovered dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft in his Leeds housing estate. He had been riding on the top of the elevator and fell eight floors to his death.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/boy-dies-after-falling-eight-floors-in-lift-surfing-craze-1264094.html | title=Boy dies after falling eight floors in 'lift-surfing' craze|last=Mellor|first=James|date=30 May 1997|work=The Independent|access-date=6 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309040533/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/boy-dies-after-falling-eight-floors-in-liftsurfing-craze-1264094.html|archive-date=9 March 2022}}</ref>
In April 1999, fourteen-year-old Jason Nolan of Dublin died after becoming trapped between the elevator walls and mechanism at the top of the shaft in the elevator at his apartment complex. Another resident who had been in the elevator at the time of the accident reported a sudden shaking, followed by a halt, and heard Nolan's friends screaming and a breathing sound that subsequently stopped.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/teenage-boy-crushed-to-death-in-lift-surfing-game-26132545.html| title=Teenage Boy Crushed To Death in Lift-Surfing Game|date=19 November 1999|work=The Independent|access-date=25 October 2022}}</ref>
In December 2006, eighteen-year-old Jonathan Figueroa was found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft in a Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment complex. His body had likely been in the shaft for two to three days.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/nyregion/08mbrfs-shaft.html|title=Brooklyn: Body Found in Elevator Shaft|last=Feuer|first=Alan|date=8 December 2006|work=New York Times|access-date=4 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115233023/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/nyregion/08mbrfs-shaft.html|archive-date=15 January 2018}}</ref>
==See also== {{Div col|colwidth=20em}} * Car surfing * List of train-surfing injuries and deaths * Skitching * Train surfing {{div col end}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
Surfing Category:Urban exploration