Episode 577: Listener Tales 87

Living with roommates can bring unexpected challenges and sometimes bizarre, even frightening situations that require effective communication and protective measures.

Roommates with unconventional or disturbing personal habits can create tense living situations

Ella encountered a tense living situation with her roommate Molly, who was upfront about her involvement in witchcraft and her intention to use their shared dorm room for filming adult content for Twitter. Molly unpacked about 100 crystals, numerous incenses, witchy herbs, and books on magic upon move-in, and also explained her need for “a lot of alone time” to record her sessions. Despite Ella's initial attempts to accommodate by spending less time in the room, tensions rose when she and other roommates encountered Molly filming exposed in a maid costume or found her personal items, such as sex toys and a container of murky water in the microwave. Discussions about boundaries and a possible filming schedule ensued to manage the situation. However, operative boundary setting wasn't enough, as the shared microwave incident led to Ella getting the Resident Assistant (RA) to remove Molly from the room.

Roommates with erratic or unstable behavior can disrupt the home environment and potentially threaten the safety of other residents

Stephanie, another roommate with erratic behaviors, created a disconcerting atmosphere for her cohabitants. Her room was extraordinarily messy and she kept to herself, frequently locked behind her door, sometimes emitting a haunting moan or suddenly appearing while whistling an eerie tune. Her grumpiness and bizarre conduct, such as throwing objects in her room and yelling, led to the roommates deciding to leave her alone.

Steph, as Stephanie was also referred to, would regularly have meltdowns, and her manic laughter from behind closed doors was equally unnerving. A chilling event occurred when ...

The possibility of living with an untrustworthy or dishonest roommate can be a dire threat to one's safety, as they may secretly plot criminal activities that risk the well-being of their housemates.

Untrustworthy or dishonest roommates may secretly plot criminal activities that endanger their housemates

A situation is recounted where a roommate named Sophie confessed to disturbing and potentially harmful actions. Upon arriving home, the narrator encountered a strong chemical smell and found empty cleaner bottles, evidently part of an attempt to mix dangerous chemicals. The severity of the incident compelled the narrator to involve campus police, who promptly moved them to a new room for safety. Sophie claimed innocence, stating she was merely cleaning up and blamed the narrator for a prior incident.

However, during separate interviews by the campus police, discoveries were made on Sophie's phone of a search about mixing acetone and bleach, which she justified as post-incident research. The narrator remained convinced it was premeditated. As a result, the narrator pursued and was granted a no-contact order against Sophie, who continued to live without facing consequences.

In a personal narrative, the narrator describes an unsettling revelation during freshman year when a roommate admitted to a plan to rob and murder a friend named Dave, known for dealing cash-only transactions. The narrator quickly left the shared living space with a stun gun in hand, also warning ...

Unusual and unsettling phenomena in shared living spaces can leave occupants feeling unnerved as they encounter what seems to be evidence of roommates from the spectral realm.

Unexplained paranormal phenomena in a shared living space can unnerve the occupants

The narrator speaks of a time involving strange occurrences, such as witnessing shadows resembling humans, hearing unexplained noises, and experiencing a tangible presence. These events are singular to the narrator, who recounts various experiences specific to them. The narrator describes a scenario where, while in the bathtub, the door swung open by itself, reinforcing a sense of an unseen entity at play. Shadows appeared to frequent the bathroom, jocularly commented by the narrator as potentially a ghost with IBS.

The focus then shifts to Sam, who grew up in an antiquated farmhouse where footsteps and the creaks of an aging structure were part of the nightly soundscape. Parents would dismiss the odd occurrences, attributing them to the farmhouse's age, but the nocturnal activities persisted—doors opened on their own, and footsteps led to Sam’s room, never seeming to return.

The narrator had a cat named Lexington, which reacted to the phenomena, fixating on a window where balls of sparkling light appeared and eventually vanished. This coupling of human and animal reactions hints at an unseen presence engaging with the living.

Attempts to communicate with suspected supernatural entities residing in the home can yield unsettling results

After seeing a solid black silhouette of what looked like a young boy disappear into the darkness, the narrator and their roommate decided to use a Ouija board to attempt contact with the entity. During this chilling interaction, they connected with an entity named "Christopher," a 13-year-old boy, presumed to be the same one the narrator had seen. Alarmed by the encounter via the Ouija board, they ceased all further communication out of fear.

Additional tales include the narrator’s involvement with a man linked to a native medicine man who used divining rods to communicate with spirits. The rods signaled the presence of two playful spirits, a man and a woman, who admitted to mischievous acts such as a prank involving wallpaper. These spirits, while mischievous, were not malevolent, and communication halted when the divining rods ceased to move, leaving the narrator questioning the implications ...