Trapped: Students stuck in elevator for over 3 hours

Video courtesy of WCTV

It was a typical Sunday evening on Sept. 13 for this group of students. Football, last-minute homework and a soon-to-be McDonald’s run was cut short when Isaiah Skeete, Luke Diel, Leesha Wagner and Chris Agnew realized that the Willison Hall elevator door wouldn’t open upon arrival to the first floor.

“We had Isaiah call Tyler Webb or one of the RAs … we said ‘hey, we’re stuck in the elevator,’ and they didn’t really believe us so they came and knocked on the door,” junior nursing major Leesha Wagner said. “We had Tyler Webb call some people, and three hours and 15 minutes later we were out.”

The group ended up growing bored and decided to pass the time by making a TikTok and give updates on Snapchat.

“Leesha brought up the idea of making a TikTok,” senior criminal justice major Isaiah Skeete said. “We thought that was fun.”

After being subjugated to only using their phones, eventually their batteries all ran out. Things then started to look grim.

“They told us it was going to be another two hours after we were already there for about an hour,” junior criminal justice major Chris Agnew said. “We were playing I-Spy within the confines of the elevator, and then we were just talking. At one point we were arguing with each other over why Isaiah drank the only water we had.”

Someone from campus safety then came along to investigate the situation while they waited for the technical team to arrive. As Skeete describes, he slid a butter knife underneath the door and started jiggling it around to see if they could see it. Skeete also joked to the man from campus safety that he should’ve put some peanut butter on the knife, as they were still famished from missing dinner.

Residence Director of Willison Hall, Tyler Webb, helped them out by sliding an iPhone charging cord underneath the door so they could watch the football game they were missing out on.

Not much later, they were freed once the technical team arrived in Waynesburg. Despite being trapped in a small space for over three hours, the group was able to bond and laugh together during an unexpected and unusual experience.