Didn't Turn On The Lights

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.