The Roommate's Death

The "Roommate's Death" is a little bit different than some of the other urban legends I've looked at. Instead of having a lot of different variations it has two main versions and one lesser known version. Each of the three variations have differences within them, but I'm going to explain each variation individually in this post, instead of comparing all three stories at the same time.*
*To make it easier to differentiate between the roommate's I'm going to call the roommate that leaves "Roommate 1" and the roommate that stays in the room "Roommate 2."

The "Roommate's Death" Version #1

There are two female college roommates. Roommate 1 leaves their shared bedroom for some reason. Not long after Roommate 1 left, Roommate 2 hears thumping in the hallway outside the door and scratching on the door itself. She gets scared so she locks the bedroom door and stays inside all night. In the morning, she yells out the bedroom window and gets help from a passing stranger, usually a man. He comes up and opens her door, revealing that Roommate 1 has been stabbed to death outside their bedroom door. In her attempts to escape she has left long scratches in the bedroom door with her fingernails.

Variations on version #1 are listed below.

Why Roommate 1 leaves

  • To get food
  • To run an errand
  • To go to the restroom

Who Roommate 2 gets to help her

  • Deliveryman
  • Mailman

How Roommate 1 is killed

  • Hatchet in her back, or the back of her head
  • Throat cut

The "Roommate's Death" Version #2

In this version there are still two female college roommates. Roommate 1 still leaves the apartment, leaving Roommate 2 behind. However, Roommate 1 comes back late at night. Trying not to disturb Roommate 2, she gets into bed without turning on the lights. She hears heavy breathing and movement from Roommate 2's bed, but she thinks that Roommate 2 brought her boyfriend back to the apartment and she goes to sleep. When she wakes up in the morning Roommate 1 finds Roommate 2 dead in her bed. There is a note on the wall written in blood that says, "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?"

This version of the "Roommate's Death" is also known as "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Light?"

This variation is used in Supernatural, "Hook Man" (S1E7).

Variations on Version #2 are listed below

Why Roommate 1 leaves

  • To go to a party
  • To see her boyfriend
  • To study

Why Roommate 2 stays

  • Her boyfriend is coming over
  • She needs to study

What the note is written with

  • Blood
  • Lipstick

The "Roommate's Death" Version #3

Like before, there are two female college roommates that share a bedroom. In this version, Roommate 1 is in a play, "O Susanna." She leaves that night to go perform. When she comes back she leaves the lights and starts to get ready for bed. She hears Roommate 2's rocking chair squeaking in the corner, but leaves to go to the bathroom. When she comes back she hears a voice singing, "O Susanna, don't you cry for me . . ." Roommate 1 freaks out, telling Roommate 2 to stop messing with her. Eventually Roommate 1 gets so frustrated that she turns on the lights. She sees Roommate 2's body in the rocking chair, but her head is pinned to the wall with a butcher knife. The crazed killer jumps out from behind the rocking chair, still singing, and attacks Roommate 1. 

There aren't many variations of version #3, but they are listed below. 


How Roommate 2's body is displayed

  • Roommate 2's head is lying in the lap of the killer, who is sitting in the rocking chair. 

Who the killer is

  • Crazed butcher
  • Maniac
  • Escaped criminal


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