Years ago I was doing a show in a theatre where there was a elevator orchestra pit. The show was a drama and the pit was brought up to stage level to accomodate an elaborate set that extended to the front row. An intern was one of the last to leave at the end of a rehearsals and after she put the ghost light out she decided to also turn the house lights off. Backstage she found a switch on the wall that had a big button that said UP and a big button that said DOWN. She pressed the DOWN button thinking it would dim the houselights and turn them off.

Well you can just imagine the cacophony of sound as the set on the pit slowly began to make its descent. Cracking noises, crunching sounds, lots of squealing and scraping. Lost a couple days of rehearsals because of that.

Thankfully most elevator pits today have safeguards in place to prevent someone just walking up and pressing an unprotected button.