The Roommate's Death (Kailee Colon)

## Legend Summary

This legend is a classic college urban legend. The tale usually starts off with two girl roommates in their college dorm. One decides to head to bed rather early while the other girl decides to go out for the night. Little did the second girl know that her night adventures would be cut a little short. Throughout the night, the sleeping girl hears noises that sound like scratching and clawing at the main door. Terrified, the girl stays in her bed and awaits until the morning to see what happened to the door and the mysterious creature on the other side. Throughout the night, she continues to hear clawing, but over time it winds down to an eventual complete stop. There was cold, dead silence filling the atmosphere. Now all there was to await until the sun rose to see how safe it was to leave. Once morning arrives, the girl opens the door to their dorm hall. Here she finds the corpse of her roommate sprawled out with blood on her fingertips, symbolizing that she was the one clawing at the door seeking help. Alas, she met her sorrowful fate at the foot of what was supposed to be her home away from home.

## History

The history of this legend is rather hard to find unless attempting to dig in deep. After looking around, the earliest edition or rendition that could be found for his legend trails back to an article by David Mikkelson in April of 1997. Mikkelson states that the origin of such a story may come children’s stories in the early 1960’s. It is also stated that this legend may have stemmed from the fear of rooming with someone you do not know beforehand and how little trust they can have in some random stranger that happens to share the same room as them.

## Adaptations

The first adaptation to be discussed is that of the nature of the girl that went out for the night. A few stories say that she went out on a date with a guy and he ended up being a killer. The depiction of the corpse becomes more specific in which her throat was slit and she bled out at the door of her dorm room. Another story of this variation states that the girl would go missing after attending a concert or vacation while the other girl would stay on campus. This story normally ended with the girl going missing as well as passing away. The second adaptation to be discussed is that of the inclusion of academic excellence. With the death of the roommate, the other is supposed to receive all A’s for the rest of the year. While this one is a tad far-fetched, many depictions of this adaptation have spread so far as administrative heads for real-life colleges. Besides these two adaptations, there are not many if any other adaptations that have specific differences that would make it stand out from the previously stated. However, below I will provide what I believe to be a more gruesome version of the second adaptation.

## Analysis of Adaptations

Overall, I believe that the adaptations above are rather far-fetched. Although there are possibilities of someone being harmed at an event they attend, the likelihood of the girl returning to her dorm without her trying help anywhere else first like a hospital or police is little to none of a chance. If she was harmed on campus, there are a few things she could of done such as use the blue call buttons in order to contact emergency services or go to an RA or adult that she felt she could trust. On that note, I would like to give my own variation of the second adaptation that was mentioned above. My theory of it all is that if the roommate would have to die in order for the main girl to receive all A’s for the year, she would try to kill her roommate herself. This comes from an idea of the girl being desperate for good grades and selfishness. To the girl, she would want to do anything to get better grades in her classes, even if that means to end the life of the girl she is living with. This variation could also result in the girl doing this every year as she wants to pass all of her college career with the highest grade possible. Obviously, the chance of it being every year is very unlikely as it most likely be used at the source of desperate cries for academic help. Nonetheless, there would always be a possibility of it becoming routine just for the presentment of an innocent girl who rooms with those who has unfortunate endings at their young age.

## Works Cited

Aiello, John. “The Legend of the 4.0.” The Legend of the 4, 14 Sept. 1998, www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/Anthro/Anth263/legend\_of\_the\_4.htm.

Mikkelson, David. “The Roommate’s Death.” Snopes, Snopes.com, 1 July 2011, www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-roommates-death/.

Pancheva, Vyara. “5 Creepy University Urban Legends.” Top Universities, Oct. 2014, www.topuniversities.com/blog/5-creepy-university-urban-legends.

Taff, Jeremy. “College Myth about Roommate Death.” The Minnesota Daily, 17 Aug. 1998, mndaily.com/233859/uncategorized/college-myth-about-roommate-death/