Here goes a mangling of a classic urban legend meme!
Oh, hello out there, today, we are dealing with the urban legend commonly known as "Are You Glad You Didn't Turn On The Light?" or "The room Mate" "The Room Mate's Death" about a girl who finds her friend has been killed during the night at a camp or college dorm.
The descriptions are designed to give you the creepy crawlies, but I'm here to demonstrate why they fall flat if you look at this with a logical and very critical mind. In other words, I am here to stop this nonsensical meme from scaring people, if they will just give me a chance.
Oh, and you may call me Susannah. or Caprice. You will find out why later on.
Now, let's get started.
🧛♂️🧛♀️👺👻🧟♀️🧟♂️Memes: Aren’t You Glad You Didn’t Turn on the Lights?
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: I didn't turn on the light, I left it on, because I was coming right back. Aren't you glad you made a wrong assumption again?
This volume consists of the shortest versions of the hoax, and none of the characters are named.
🧛♂️Meme1: Supposedly, at another college in the state, a girl was studying late and went back to her dorm room to get some books or notes. So she wouldn’t disturb her roommate, she didn’t turn on the lights when she got her stuff off of her desk. Later when she went back to her room, she found her roommate dead and a note written in lipstick on the mirror. It said, "Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?"
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Supposedly? no names, dates, exact location, everything is generic, there is not even a supposedly about this, it didn't happen, anywhere.
Besides, if the killer was in the dorm room, in the dark, watching as the girl went in and out, there's a good chance he'd give himself away, maybe even be in the way. If she didn't smell his BO, she could hear the idiot fumbling around trying to hide in a closet or locker or whatever compartment the dorm had that could partially conceal a person trying to hide. And if neither of the above, the idiot could be standing in the middle of the room, where she bumps right into him or trips over his big feet on her way to get her stuff.
Body count: 1.
🧛♀️Meme2: THIS IS NOT A JOKE!*!*!*!
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: oh, but it is, and I'll show you why.
🧛♀️Meme2: ONE YEAR IN CAMP.THE FIRST YEAR I WAS A COUNSLER IN CAMP I WENT OUT A WHOLE LOT.AS I WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE THE CAMP, A COOL BREEZE CAME OVER THE NIGHT NIGHT SKY.SO I WENT BACK TO MY BUNK TO GET A SWEATER.WHEN I GOT BACK IN THE BUNK, ALL THE LIGHTS WERE OUT.SO I JUST WENT TO MY BED, WHICH WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR, AND GRABBED MY SWEATER.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Wait, what? You're a camp councillor and this is the best you can do for writing? This reads like a huge run-on sentence because you keep forgetting to space after the period. Yet you space after the comma. It is taking away from the story and making me mental.
🧛♀️Meme2: I CAME BACK VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING, 7 HOURS AFTER MY CURFEW. AS I WAS APPROACHING MY BUNK,
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Thank you for that space!
🧛♀️Meme2: I SAW LIGHTS FLICKERING.AS I TURNED THE CORNER, TO MY BUNK THERE WERE
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Aaaaaaagh! No space after period, commas in the wrong place, excuse me, I'll be hitting my head against a wall for some time.
🧛♀️Meme2: POLICE CARS EVERYWHERE.AS I WENT INTO MY BUNK, ON THE CEILING WRITTEN IN BLOOD WAS ‘AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU DID NOT TURN ON THE LIGHTS?’
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Oy. Let's see if I can make something of this mess.
You got cold because you were out during the night during curfew when you shouldn't have been out anyway. You got cold and went back to your bunk for a sweater, saw police cars with their flickering lights, and you just went on into your cabin to your bunk without even the slightest curiosity as to why the police showed up?
All that just to tell me some sick moron wrote "Aren't you glad you did not turn on the light?" in blood on the ceiling? Whose blood? Was it determined to really be blood, or were you just assuming?
Or maybe it was your bunk that was on the ceiling?
🧛♀️Meme2: I RAN OUT OF THE BUNK ASKING THE POLICE WHAT HAPPENED.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: So, you clearly ran into the cabin, then ran out to inquire why the police were there. Why? Any other person would've done it the other way around, and then once the police get out of their own vehicles, they aren't likely to let anyone in or out of the campground let alone its buildings before ascertaining what happened.
One more thing. Who called them? assuming there isn't a phone in your cabin, someone would've had to use a cell phone or the main campground's landline. Gosh, you just wrote a summary. I feel like I'm the one telling the story here.
🧛♀️Meme2: HE SAID ‘YOUR FRIEND WAS KILLED.’
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: HOLD IT!
*URCH!*
You didn't even say the police had gotten out of their vehicles to ward off the crime scene, in which case, they wouldn't have let you back into the cabin.
You didn't say anything about paramedics being there to save or pronounce her dead at the scene.
You did not actually establish if and why those cops would know she was your friend or that it was even your own cabin you were trying to get into.
who called the police, and why weren't you reported missing or at least being searched for? Why didn't they ask you for your identity and what you were doing at this camp?
See, your story has just been knocked so full of holes that it would have to be completely re-written to make any sense.
🧛♀️Meme2: I ASKED HIM ‘HOW DO YOU KNOW.’HE SAID ‘BECAUSE YOUR FRIEND HAD A KNIFE IN HER STOMACH.’
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Urgh! So, your friend ate a knife? Was she going for sword-eater circus act?
If the police informed you she had been stabbed, that is how they would've said it "I'm sorry, but there was a stabbing." Then further conversation between you and them would established who was injured or killed.
🧛♀️Meme2: THEN I REMEMBERED WHEN I WAS AT HER HOUSE TWO YEARS AGO AND WE WERE ONLINE SHE GOT A CHAIN LETTER THAT SAID ‘IF YOU DONT PASS THIS CHAIN LETTER TO 10 PEOPLE IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS YOU WILL DIE.’
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: *Wide-eyed* What the - !? Oh - mah - gawsh! You've just been told somebody was killed in your cabin, and the first thing you thought of was that you and she got a lousy chain letter two years before? Where is the grief over your friend's fate? You really thought some silly monster got spawned by a chain letter and was just lying in wait to get your friend? No, m'dear, you are the monster, and your chain letter doesn't even make sense, let alone come close to scaring me.
🧛♀️Meme2: I GUESS THESE THINGS ARE TRUE.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: You guess wrongly and shouldn't be a camp councillor with your attitude. Telling spooky stories around a campfire is one thing. Trying to pass them off as truth is another entirely.
🧛♀️Meme2: SO IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, YOU BETTER SEND THIS TO 10 PEOPLE IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS OR ELSE…
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Using your friend's death as some sort of verbal crowbar to whack people with a message of "My friend died, so send this chain letter or you're next!" is a twisted, dishonest, bullying, foolish, and a good way to get you enemies.
Body count: 2.
again, the characters are unnamed, but the hoaxes go into more detail.
👺Meme3: There were two girls who were the best of friends in school. When they went to college, they decided to live together and became roommates.
One night,
👻Meme4: Two female college roommates
👺Meme3: they
👻Meme4: in their dorm room
👺Meme3: trying to do some last-minute studying for a midterm exam that was scheduled for the next morning.
👻Meme4: during the University’s Christmas vacation. All of the other girls on campus had gone home so they were completely alone.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Hahahaha! That's how funnily inconsistent the story gets when you take the accounts and try to put them together. These girls are having midterms during Christmas vacation while everyone else is gone home. This goes to show another reason this story isn't true. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many differing variations out there.
👻Meme4: The roommates were trying to do some study, but they ended up just spending hours browsing the Internet on their laptop.
👺Meme3: One of the girls was quite lazy, so she decided to give up studying and went to bed early.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Lazy? Really? Oh, how off-putting can you get? Maybe she already studied her brain out. Maybe she really was tired. Maybe she wasn't feeling well. Or maybe she was an absolute whizz and actually didn't need to study any more. If you had gone further with descriptions about this girl preferring to party and get high when she should have been applying herself, your claim of her being lazy would be a lot more convincing. You just blew it.
👺Meme3: The other girl was a hard worker, so she stayed up late because she wanted to do well in the exam.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Or maybe she was the lazy one and suddenly realized she would have to buckle down and cram like heck if she hoped to get a decent grade. Just maybe. The point is, studying at the last minute doesn't necessarily determine what kind of student you really are.
👻Meme4: Late that night, one of the girls felt hungry so she told her roommate she was going downstairs to get some food. She assured her friend she would be back in a few minutes. Then she took the keys to open the kitchen door and walked off down the hallway.
The other girl sat in her room, using her laptop and waiting for her roommate to return. After a while, she began to feel sleepy so she undressed and got into bed.
As she was about to fall asleep she heard a gurgling moan coming from down the hallway. She froze, lying in bed, her heart pounding. The sound stopped, but it was replaced by a dragging noise.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: That could be somebody gargling, and someone else dragging a suitcase.
👻Meme4: The girl was terrified.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: That doesn't mean I'm about to be.
👻Meme4: She couldn’t lock the door because her roommate had taken the keys with her. All she could do was lie there, shivering, as the sound drew nearer and nearer.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: That's ridiculous. Of course she could've locked the door. The room mate took the keys, so could let herself in. Unless it's one of those cumbersome locks that you actually need a key to both lock and unlock. hardly practical.
👻Meme4: She listened, shaking with fear, as the dragging sound came closer and closer, stopping right outside her door. Then, something began scratching at the door. Frightened beyond belief, the girl jumped out of bed and hid in the closet.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Guess who hasn't run to her closet yet. Me.
👻Meme4: The trembling girl was afraid to move a muscle.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: You've made your point. She's scared out of her wits. I am not. So move on.
👻Meme4: The scratching noise seemed to go on and on. Eventually she managed to fall asleep, curled up in the closet.
👺Meme3: During the night, the girl who stayed up remembered that she had left one of the books she needed in her bedroom. She didn’t want to wake her roommate by turning on the light so she sneaked into the bedroom and rummaged around in the dark, looking for the book she needed.
She heard some heavy breathing and she whispered her roommate’s name, asking her if she was awake.
There was no answer.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Because her room mate was already asleep in the closet by this time. The dragging and moaning and scratching that was heard that had scared her so badly was actually the studious room mate returning for the book. It's just that Sleepy-head was already entering rem by that time, so everything just figured into her dreams and sounded a lot scarier than they really were. She had already ducked into the closet by the time Ms. scholar entered the room.
👺Meme3: Then the girl heard something moving around in the dark and she whispered, “Can I turn on the bedroom light?”
There was no answer.
The girl cleared her throat and asked again, “Can I turn on the bedroom light? I need to find something.”
Her roommate didn’t respond.
So the girl sighed in frustration and continued to search for the book in the darkened bedroom. Eventually she found the one she was looking for. The girl took the book and felt her way in the darkness towards the door.
She stayed up all night studying and in
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Because her friend was still too scared or just sleeping in the closet.
👻Meme4: the girl cautiously stepped out of the closet. The scratching sounds had stopped but she was still too frightened to open the door.
👺Meme3: The girl was worried about her friend so when she got home, she rushed upstairs and knocked on her roomate’s door.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: home? Don't you mean back to the dorm?
👺Meme3: There was no answer.
The girl was getting quite anxious at this point, so she opened the door and turned on the bedroom light.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: In the mean time, the other girl has only just fought off her fear long enough to exit the closet.
👻Meme4: Looking out her window, she saw a mailman passing by and shouted to him for help.
She heard the mailman’s footsteps entering through the college dorm and coming up the stairs, into the hallway. Suddenly, the footsteps stopped.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: What? okay, I'll admit to being unfamiliar with college dorm setups, but what is the mail man doing in the dorm? Don't they just deliver mail to a main box on the property or something? and please keep in mind this is Christmas vacation mid terms, when the college is supposed to be closed for exams, er, I think. *Scratches head* So how does he get in?
👻Meme4: “Is everything OK?” cried the girl.
For a few seconds, there was just silence.
“Yes, everything’s OK”, shouted the mailman. “Just stay in your room. I’ll get the police.”
“What’s wrong?” asked the girl.
“Nothing!” came the mailman’s reply. “Just stay where you are. Don’t come out.”
But the girl was already turning the handle and opening the door. As the door swung open, the girl saw the mailman standing there, his face pale and his eyes wide with fear. Then she looked down and screamed in horror at what she saw.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: In the mean time, her friend has just arrived.
👺Meme3: She was met with the most horrible sight she had ever laid eyes on.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: And here it comes.
👻Meme4: roommate’s dead body
👺Meme3: lay motionless,
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Ugh. If she's dead, she is going to be motionless.
👻Meme4: was
👻Meme4: on the floor, lying
👻Meme4: There was a hatchet buried in her head and her fingernails were worn down to bloody stumps from scratching on the door for help.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: I don't see how a hatchet can get buried in someone's head. But here is how it stands so far. One girl calls to a mail man, another is just about to enter the room where she is, and both of them find each other dead, on the bed, on the floor. Right.
👺Meme3: Then the girl turned around and saw something that chilled her to the bone.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Uh-huh, after seeing my friend lying in a pool of blood, nothing else could chill me any further.
👺Meme3: Written on the wall behind her in smeared blood were the words “Aren’t You Glad You Didn’t Turn On The Light?”
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: As if she would even notice that. And we're right back to me wondering why the killer just stuck around, deciding to kill one girl and sparing the other just to write her a stupid taunt. For all the killer knew, the girl could've had good night vision. There could be security cameras all over campus. And again, there's always the scenarios I described back in Vol. 1. where he gets discovered, in which case, he would have to kill them both to silence any witnesses.
Body count: 4.
In the following variations, the room mates are given names.
🧟♀️Meme5: Two dormmates in college were in the same science class. The teacher had just reminded them about the midterm the next day when one dormmate — let's call her Juli — got asked to this big bash by the hottest guy in school.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: They're about to have midterm exams, and the students decide to throw a bash the night before? *Shakes head*
🧟♀️Meme5: The other dormmate, Meg, had pretty much no interest in going and, being a diligent student, she took notes on what the midterm was about.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Well, basically it would cover what was taught and studied throughout the term, so the students should have a good idea what they need to work on, and for each student, it would depend on which subjects they were best at and not so good at.
🧟♀️Meme5: After the entire period of flirting with her date, Juli was totally unprepared for her test, while Meg was completely prepared for a major study date with her books.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: So, one class of not paying attention, and Juli is totally unprepared? Didn't the last few weeks of study count for anything?
🧟♀️Meme5: At the end of the day, Juli spent hours getting ready for the party while Meg started studying.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: hours? how long can it take just getting ready for a college party? When is this party anyway? If Juli is spending hours at the end of the day just getting ready, that implies the party starts late at night. With a midterm exam the next day? I repeat, what sort of kooky campus is this? It would make a lot more sense to wait with the party until the night after the exams are over.
🧟♀️Meme5: Juli tried to get Meg to go, but she was insistent that she would study and pass the test.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: You don't have to hit me over the head, I get the message, Meg's a scholar, Juli couldn't care less about studying. Forward march, please.
🧟♀️Meme5: The girls were rather close and Juli didn't like leaving Meg alone to be bored while she was out having a blast.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Note to Juli, Meg hardly has time for boredom with all that studying.
🧟♀️Meme5: Juli finally gave up, using the excuse that she would cram in homeroom the next day.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: This implies Meg tried to persuade Juli to spend a little time studying instead of wasting it getting dolled up for some party that's likely to end in her getting trashed.
🧟♀️Meme5: Juli went to the party and had the time of her life with her date. She headed back to the dorm around 2 a.m. and decided not to wake Meg. She went to bed nervous about the midterm and decided she would wake up early to ask Meg for help.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Good, from what you implied, she didn't get wasted.
🧟♀️Meme5: She woke up and went to wake Meg. Meg was lying on her stomach, apparently sound asleep. Juli rolled Meg over to reveal Meg's terrified face. Juli, concerned, turned on the desk lamp.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Hold it!
You mean Juli first recognized Meg's expression was one of terror before switching on the lamp? I'd be concerned well before that point, if someone is that out of it so they don't even stir when you lift so much as one of their arms or head off the bed. Then something's wrong.
🧟♀️Meme5: Meg's study stuff was still open and had blood all over it.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Gross. But I'm not scared.
🧟♀️Meme5: Meg had been slaughtered.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: what? if that was the case, Juli would've been made well aware first of all, that there was blood all over Meg and the bed, before rolling her over and flicking on the light. She would end up with blood on her own hands and maybe on her clothes too.
🧟♀️Meme5: Juli, in horror, fell to the floor and looked up to see, written on the wall in Meg's blood: "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights!"
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Again, how would the killer know that two people were supposed to occupy the room? Why single Meg out? How did he even know anyone would be in the dorm with the party going on that night? Don't tell me he just got lucky finding a victim.
Body count: 5.
🧟♂️Meme6: This story has been told over and over in my town (Harrison, Arkansas). Here goes...
There were two roommates (yes, I know, another college story), Sarah and Megan.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Another Megan, well isn't that interesting.
🧟♂️Meme6: Sarah was the theatrical type and loved acting. She was in all the town's plays.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: All? aren't you exaggerating just a bit?
🧟♂️Meme6: Megan was more of a book person, she loved to read and her studies were her first priority.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: You low what, though? They go hand in hand. Acting and reading. If you are into drama, you must have started out enjoying stories, whether listening to them being told, reading them, and eventually acting them out.
🧟♂️Meme6: Anyway, there was a huge play called "Oh, Susannah" that Sarah was in, and it was coming up on Saturday... so every chance that Sarah got, she would practice in the park (that's where she got her inspiration) for hours. Every time, she would beg Megan to go with her, but Megan would stay in the dorm and read.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: So Megan had other material she was interested in, and probably sat through one of Sarah's rehearsals already, and once you've done that, you don't need to sit in at every other.
🧟♂️Meme6: Well, on Saturday Sarah was a hit. Being the star, she was detained after the play, and got home really late.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Fair enough. Did Megan go to see the play for real? Unless she was sick, well, put it this way, I'd gladly go see a friend star in a play, unless that play was of a sort that I already really dislike.
🧟♂️Meme6: As she entered, she heard her roommate's rocking chair squeaking in the corner,
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: what? This is a dorm, and Meg has her own rocking chair? Could you explain this to me?
🧟♂️Meme6: but couldn't see it, not all the lights were on. Must be waiting for me, Sarah thought. Putting her stuff away, she went back into the main room.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: I take it Meg didn't go. Was she sick?
🧟♂️Meme6: From the corner came a voice. It sounded rather husky, but that wasn't what agitated Sarah.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Why, was Meg's voice normally husky? Or was it that way because she was sick?
🧟♂️Meme6: "Oh, Susannah, don't you cry for me..." came the voice.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Meg singing, or trying to. That is my guess. surely she would've heard bits and pieces of Sarah's play and the song it was woven around.
🧟♂️Meme6: "Stop it Megan! Don't give me that crap, okay?" said Sarah.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Thought so.
🧟♂️Meme6: "Oh, Susannah, don't you cry for me..."
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: That's not how the song goes. You don't repeat that line twice in a row.
🧟♂️Meme6: "Stop it! I mean it, Meg!"
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: I don't get why Megan would do that since she'd rather stay in than go see the play.
🧟♂️Meme6: "Oh, Susannah, don't you cry for me..."
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: *Stern look* You are trying my patience! I will bop you if you make that mistake again! You sing that line once during the refrain, Not twice, NOT three times and counting!
🧟♂️Meme6: "Stop!!!!! That's it!!!!" Sarah screamed as she flicked on the room's lights.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: You said the lights weren't all on, but you also did not say they were all off, either. So I am not convinced Sarah literally couldn't see into the unlit room when a light was on in the area just next or leading into it.
🧟♂️Meme6: Sarah gawked in horror at the sight.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: And a killer will gawk in something that defies description shortly if Meg is dead and the killer does the turning on of the lights taunt.
🧟♂️Meme6: Her roommate's body was in the rocking chair, but her head wasn't, her head was on the wall, kept there by a butcher knife.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Somehow I don't think you can pin a skull to a wall by way of a measly butcher knife. And with a beheading, there would be an absolutely horrendous amount of blood. I would think the pool of blood on the floor plus on the chair, the body, and anything else in that area would be the first thing Sarah would see. The recognition of more specifics would come a moment later.
🧟♂️Meme6: From behind the rocking chair she could hear laughter – maniacal laughter.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Behind the chair, eh? *Expression goes malevolent* Okay killer, you've just signed and sealed your own death warrant.
🧟♂️Meme6: "Who's there? Who are you????"
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: My guess is he is probably Laughing Jack or one of his cronies. But really, Sarah sees all of that blood, which you didn't mention, and her decapitated friend, and her reaction to this killer is simply "Who are you?" What? If I was her I'd make for the door and run like heck out of there and call the police.
🧟♂️Meme6: From behind the rocking chair jumped a man, later found out to be the butcher that escaped from the sanitarium in the next town.
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: *Glare* Crazy won't get this guy off the hook. And since when does simply being a "butcher" equal crazy murderer?
And he just obliges her query by coming out of hiding? This really isn't adding up.
🧟♂️Meme6: All the time he was cutting Sarah,
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: What? He was cutting Sarah while jumping out from behind the chair to show himself? And what was he cutting her with? The knife is stuck in the wall with Megan's head. Does he just abracadabra produce more knives, or secrete them out of his skin the way a frog does slime? Or does he have zillions stashed in various places on his person? That would make for some awkward going since this activity would surely call for flexible and free movement of the limbs and whatnot.
Whatever... *Baleful glare*
🧟♂️Meme6: he was singing, over and over, "Oh, Susannah, don't you cry for me... I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee."
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: *Glare intensifies into a glower* Getting it right is not getting this reprobate off the hook, either! Grrrrrr! Off with *HIS* head!
🧟♂️Meme6: Pinning Sarah to the wall next to her roommate's head, he screamed, "Now, Susannah, don't you cry for me!!!!"
👤Susannah Caprice Swan: Killer, I will do a lot worse than that to you, you demented psycho fanboy!
Body count: 6!
Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn Out The Light Continuation
Stay tuned. The killer's end is near.
Lights, camera, action! Oops, I mean, Lights, Room Mates Vol. 3.