A video of a person riding a scary looking elevator in the Balkans has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was shared by @trapluka, who is a rapper from Bulgaria, according to a later comment by the poster. The video has had 15.6 million views since it was first shared on January 26.
A message overlaid on the clip simply says “Elevators in the Balkans.” The footage shows a person entering an elevator carriage. The elevator has a eerie industrial feel, with a heavy metal door and the numbers on the buttons for different floors faded away.
A hand presses one of the buttons and the elevator begins to ascend, going past several walls weathered by rust stains and other markings before the clip ends.
A Brief History of Elevators
While the latest video might lead you to think the world’s oldest elevators must be in the Balkans—a region comprising several eastern European countries including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia—elevators go as far back as the pyramids of ancient Egypt, noted a Frontiers of Engineering report published in January 2018 by the National Academies Press (US).
According to the report, “the Egyptians, Romans, Babylonians, and others devised increasingly sophisticated rope and pulley systems, capstans, and other hoists for construction purposes—and there is evidence of an elevator hoistway in the Roman Colosseum completed in the year 80.
“Elevators were generally not successful because of their unreliability and lack of safety. Fraying rope and other mechanical failures due to wear and excessive weight were common causes of dangerous accidents that made factory owners reluctant to use elevators for cargo. Passenger use was all but unthinkable,” the report noted.
However, the invention of the safety brake in 1852 “transformed an unreliable, little-used industrial tool into a viable means of transporting not only cargo but also people,” the report said.
The first-ever safe commercial passenger elevator was installed in 1857 in New York City at a Manhattan department store owned by E.V. Haughwout and Co., according the report.
The latest post comes as the global elevator and escalator market is projected to grow to $142.52 billion by 2030, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 7 percent, according to a report by Fortune Business Insights, a global market research company.
‘A Horror Game’
Users on TikTok were terrified of the elevator in the latest viral clip.
User @thiliazune said: “That is sooo scary.”
Allfornone noted: “Bro this looks like an elevator you’ll find in a horror game.”
User @naylo_om agreed, saying “That’s from a vintage horror game.”
User ellie semedo noted “this is my worst nightmare.”
User tilly x said: “nightmares in real life.”
User @.hugs4b wrote: “i would pass out at the quietest creaking noise.”
Others were less bothered, such as user scoopdidoopdi who said elevators such as the one in the viral video are “just an older style.”
Flouting noted “i mean it works.”
User wtfbratomg said: “Still better than walking up the stairs.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.
@trapluka on TikTok
Do you have a travel-related video or story to share? Let us know via [email protected] and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.