Two college girls named Miranda and Louise
shared a dorm room together. One night Louise
told Miranda she had a mild case of the flu and
felt pretty lousy, and wanted to be left alone.
Miranda was sympathetic and took her books to the
library to study so Louise could have the room to
herself.
Later that evening, Miranda met a very nice guy
who wanted to take her to a bar. But she
remembered she had left her ID back in the dorm
and would need to get it to prove she was old
enough to get into the bar. Remembering that
Louise was sick and not wanting to disturb her,
Miranda didn't turn on the lights when she went
into the room. She just walked in, fumbled on the
dresser for her card, and left.
Miranda had a good time at the bar with the
boy. At midnight he drove her back to the dorm.
Police cars were everywhere. Frightened college
students huddled in shivering groups. Yellow
crime-scene tape was blocking the door to the one
of the dorm rooms. Miranda panicked, screamed
that the room was hers, and pushed past
detectives to get inside.
Louise's mutilated, dismembered body was
sitting on her bed in a lake of blood. She had
been stabbed repeatedly and hacked to pieces.
Sickened by the sight, Miranda ran into the
bathroom and vomited. After she emptied her
stomach, she went to the sink to wash her face.
Scrawled on the mirror in blood was a message
from the killer written just for her: "AREN'T YOU
GLAD YOU DIDN'T TURN ON THE LIGHTS?"
This is a version of the "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn On The Lights" story that I heard as a
child.
Cindy and Mary shared a dorm room at college. Cindy was more into partying than into school,
while Mary spent most of her time studying. Mary hummed under her breath a lot while she was
studying, something that really bothered Cindy. One night Cindy came home late from a party, and
Mary was already in bed with the lights off. Cindy was kind of hung over, and when Mary started
humming "Oh Susannah" she got really mad. She yelled at Mary and told her to shut up. The
humming stopped for a while, then started up again just as Cindy was drifting off to sleep. She
yelled at Mary to shut up again, and this time she listened.
The next morning when Cindy got up, Mary was still asleep, with the covers completely
over her. Cindy went to her closet, to get dressed and just then Mary started humming "Oh
Susannah" again. Cindy had had enough, and whirled around screaming "Shut up Mary or..." but
she stopped in midsentence when she saw a big black man standing in the corner, holding a
machete in one hand and Mary's head in the other. He was humming "Oh Susannah" as he started walking
toward Cindy.
I've heard a different version of didn't turn on
the lights. Here it is.
There is a girl named Leslie and she shared a dorm with another girl named Arline (Arline was
kinda a slut). So Leslie wouldn't be suprised if she came home and heard Arline doing it. So one
night after she comes in from studing from the library she hears Arline being murdered but she
thinks shes just with another guy again. So she just puts on her headphones and goes to sleep.
The next morning she wakes up and there's a puddle of blood on Arlines bed. On the wall
behind the bed the killer wrote Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light's? In Arline's
blood. So there it is.
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