I had an old school friend I visited in Chicago, and her apartment had a locked door in her bedroom against the back wall, and her landlord had just said “it’s not used, just ignore it.” It didn’t even have a doorknob, so she had just ignored it for like 3 years. The building had been there for like 100 years.

Naturally, after some alcohol, I convinced her I could lockpick it, and we pushed her bed to the side and I spent about ten drunken minutes picking the deadbolt. We finally got it open, and discovered it was a straight-up small elevator! None of the lights or buttons worked, and we were worried about it falling, so we got out of there.

To this day, I’m not sure if it was an old building elevator for residents and her room had been a hallway, or if it was some kind of (very small) service elevator, or something for the ADA (handicapped requirements). But it was absolutely fascinating.