One of first known images ever taken of an elevator. It was presumably taken in Level 1.
A photograph taken inside an elevator in Level 138.
Habitat(s): Majority
Elevators can appear virtually anywhere in the Backrooms, including "outdoor" levels1. However, they do have a few exceptions.
- Elevators cannot travel to and from levels that are impossible to escape, such as the Grave and the Void.
- Certain levels such as the Broken cannot be accessed by elevators, as they will invariably cause their destruction upon entry.
Description
Entity 81 is classified as a type of entity physically identical to an average elevator found in the Frontrooms, but instead of being limited to floors in a building, they can transport wanderers, other entities, and even objects throughout different levels of the Backrooms. Hence, they are considered one of the most popular and efficient methods of traveling through the Backrooms.
Upon entering an instance of Entity 81, the wanderer will find a set of four to twenty buttons, all labeled with a number. These buttons correspond to their respective levels2, and upon pressing them, the elevator will immediately begin rising or descending into the selected level.
In the case of unnumbered levels, the buttons corresponding to them will be labeled with two to three letters each; these letters are merely abbreviations for the names of unnumbered levels. To find a comprehensive list of abbreviations, please contact an M.E.G. archivist.
Behaviors
All elevators are completely safe. See addendum.
Many instances of Entity 81 are perfectly fluent in all aspects of every language used both in the Frontrooms and the Backrooms, including dead languages. As such, they can communicate with wanderers both vocally and via a small TV-like screen positioned haphazardly inside the elevator. What they choose to talk about heavily depends on the wanderer's mood and/or interests.
Due to these behaviours, many believe that all elevators are sentient.
Biology
A pair of deluxe elevators in Level 122.
Elevators tend to vary in design depending on the level they are in. For example, an elevator in Level 5 will often be incredibly beautiful and neat, while the same elevator entering Level 485 will appear very dirty and overrun with dirt, mold, and other unwanted substances.
Discovery
The original discovery of Entity 81 is still yet to be determined, as it has been confirmed that the entity was discovered long before the founding of the M.E.G., or any major group of interest, for that matter. However, wanderers have used instances of Entity 81 to discover other levels, such as Level 224.
Additional Notes
- Entity 81 has some of the highest amounts of confirmed sightings in the Backrooms, behind hounds and deathmoths.
- Elevator doors can sometimes be disguised as a large window or mirror. However, they are easily distinguishable from the two simply because the call button is always where an elevator is destined to appear.
- Both the Hub and the Blue Channel are widely accepted to be hubs for the entities to go from and come back to.
Addendum
Hey uh. I'm pretty sure that these witness accounts don't need to be all that formal, I think…? Whatever. I'll just keep writing in this personal tone.
I'm Mason Martinez3, and although I'm not associated with any major group, I do have a giant group of friends. We mainly just like to run around the Backrooms looking for food, water, and whatnot. And of course, we would almost always use elevators to travel through levels, because as their article states, they are EXTREMELY useful.
Yeah… that is, until a bit recently. Three of us, including myself, have encountered several instances of these things being straight up deadly. Well… actually, I think "deadly" is a bit too much of an exaggeration. One of my friends and I were somewhat fine, while the other one has been in a hospital for about a week now. So here's what happened:
I was in Level 522 buying some items I needed. I finished my business and began searching for an exit as usual. During my search, I found this one elevator with this sign saying "Out of order". Here's an image of it, for reference:
Me, being the elevator junkie I am, decided to ignore it and pry the door open. When I did, however, it unleashed this HUGE infestation of centipedes, millipedes, fire ants, combines, and more crazy bugs I couldn't identify. I did manage to run away fast, but not before one of the fire ants bit me really damn hard. I had to waste what was left of my first aid kit, but now I'm fine. Furthermore, the owners of the level taped the elevator off and put up a bunch of signs advising against its usage, so I guess that's good.
Next, my first friend (I'm gonna call him Ben due to privacy reasons) went to Level 484, nearly got snow blindness, and had to rush to an exit. After about half an hour of constant searching, he found an camouflaged elevator door placed on… the floor, for some reason. He got in, and the entire thing was upside-down. Poor guy. Anyways, after pressing on the button "162", Ben stated that the elevator music felt very off. Every instrument used in it sounded like they were being played by a five-year old. While that was happening, he also heard a loud thud, then the entire elevator started falling at light speed. Luckily, Ben has watched a few YouTube videos about these kinds of situations at Earth, so he was good. Well, until the door opened and he found himself in Level 8. He hasn't escaped the level yet, but he's still in contact with me, so that's nice.
Lastly, for the person that's in a hospital right now, it's one of my older friends (I'll codename her "Jennifer") who's deaf. Yeah… I have no idea how she's alive right now. It's good that she is, though. So what happened with her is that she had just entered Level 76 and was hiding for a while until she got the courage to move around a bit. After moving more, she hid yet again. Kinda feel bad for her that she has to do this kind of stuff to survive. So yeah, after a ton of repeating that, she accidentally pressed the call button for an elevator, and as such, decided to enter it. To her surprise, however, she discovered that the insides of the thing were completely invisible. And before she could exit it, she fell in this big hole in the ground and got injured really badly. But in a giant stroke of luck, she landed in 11 and got hospitalized. She's still in a coma, but the doctors have assured that she should be returning in about a month.
TL;DR: Elevators aren't utterly overpowered; sometimes, they malfunction and do weird shit.
I've attached some proof for all of these claims, but can you please keep them private? Neither me nor my friends want randoms knowing our names and all that stuff. Most people I meet are really creepy.
Take care,
Mason
