We’ve all had a crazy roommate or two. Usually, we can look back on those experiences with laughter, bitterness, or disbelief, but not usually in utter horror. Unfortunately for Andrew, the subject of a viral TikTok storytime, his Craigslist roommate horror story has to be up there as one of the most disturbing of all time.
Ashlee on TikTok takes submissions for all manner of spooky, scary, or creepy storytimes, and her viewers voted to hear Andrew’s. By the end, they were wishing they hadn’t.
Andrew decided, a few years back, to move out of his parents’ house. As many of us do, he took to the internet to find a roommate. He finally found one, Mark, on Craigslist. At first, everything was fine. Mark was quiet but respectful. The duo weren’t buddy-buddy, but they would say hello when they crossed paths in their apartment and were pretty respectful of the other’s space and belongings.
That is, for the first five months.
One night Andrew gets a text from Mark saying he’s not going to be home. Andrew thinks nothing of it and spends his evening playing video games peacefully… Until he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns around, freaked out, thinking he was alone, only to find Mark standing there.
Slightly startled, Andrew apologizes, saying he didn’t think Mark would be home because of his text. Mark responds that he has no idea what Andrew is talking about.
Andrew shrugs it off as a miscommunication and goes about playing his video game, heading to bed a couple of hours later. While he’s asleep he hears a crash in the kitchen and goes to check it out under the assumption Mark accidentally knocked over a plate or cup while trying to get a snack or some water.
Instead, he finds Mark sitting on the kitchen floor self-harming with pieces of a broken plate. Andrew freaks out and tells him to stop, but his roommate just gets mad and says next time he’ll use a knife since all Andrew cares about is his plates.
The next day Andrew expresses his concern for Mark, but Mark brushes it off and treats it like a joke. So, Andrew decides that if he ever catches Mark hurting himself again, he’ll call 911.
Time passes without any major incidents until one day Andrew finds Mark standing in his bedroom doorway, eyes glassy, mouth open, and unresponsive to anything Andrew is saying, other than making a smacking noise with his mouth. Freaked out, Andrew closes the door, but can still hear Mark on the other side.
At this point, Andrew is heavily concerned. He calls his friend who advises him to call 911 and have Mark evaluated for mental health issues. But Andrew’s brother advises him to leave it alone so that he’s not out of a roommate and a place to live.
The final straw was a doozy. One night, Andrew woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. He flipped on the light switch to find Mark eating his own feces out of the toilet. Just like that, Andrew packs his things and heads to a hotel. He tells Mark he needs to move out. Andrew ends up too weirded out to stay in that apartment alone, so he moves out, too.
A week later he finds out that Mark attacked someone at a train station and that they fought back, causing Mark to die from his injuries.
According to Ashlee, Andrew often feels guilty about this, wishing he had done something sooner, and even blames himself for Mark’s death. He says he thinks drugs were the cause of Mark’s behavior and a nurse in the comments chimed in to say that Andrew couldn’t have done anything for Mark until Mark was ready for help.
Other commenters chimed in to let Andrew know that the outcome wasn’t his fault and commended him for prioritizing his own safety and mental health. Most people, though, are just absolutely traumatized by the story, several of them swearing off having roommates ever again.
If you live in the United States and believe a loved one or roommate is at risk of harming themselves or others due to substance abuse or mental health troubles, you can call SAMHSA’s national helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357), or call 911.
Published: Dec 2, 2024 12:54 pm