Roommates From Hell: 10 True Nightmares Of Dorm Room Terror

We all have roommate horror stories. And, if you don’t, then you definitely know someone who has. From bedroom-rotters, wake-n-bakers, and shampoo-stealers, to those who constantly lock themselves out, are afraid of cleaning supplies, and who can be a bit too… loud (dorm jail, now) — just know, you aren’t the only one. Living with roommates you don’t get along with can be just as much of a nightmare as a Halloween haunted maze — you never know what’s coming! But, as horrific as it can be, it’s normal.

Now that spooky season is here, it’s likely that the honeymoon is over and you’ve made a decision about whether you and your roommate — whether they’re a childhood friend, favourite cousin, or complete stranger you met on Ig — will be holding hands and skipping under a rainbow towards your happily-ever-after, or going completely Wednesday Adams on their ass. 

Naturally, our first instinct is to dip and find another roommate. But what happens if your new roommate is worse than the first? Or what happens if you can’t move out? Or what if it takes more time than you thought to finally escape Miss Can’t-Pick-Up-a-Sponge? The horror stories just pile and pile… and eventually, you just gotta let ’em out. That’s why I asked 10 Gen Zers to share their most Halloween-horror-worthy roommate stories. (So we could all be ghosts on the wall, duh). Grab your candy, besties — here’s what they had to say.

All names have been changed for privacy. Responses have been edited for clarity and length.

Alex, 22: “She had to buy a personal $80 specialty plunger.”

“I had a nightmare of a roommate my senior year of college who clogged the toilet so frequently that I was on a first-name basis with the town’s local plumber. After having the toilet not work for days at a time, six months in a row, the landlord paid to replace our pipes and our toilet, but the toilet still kept clogging. During the last month of the school year, I overheard my roommate talking to her friend about how using half a roll of toilet paper per bathroom visit might have contributed to the problems at hand… It got to the point that she had to buy a personal $80 specialty plunger (and even made us chip in to help pay for it).”

Aubrey, 22: “There was no bag in the garbage can, just a bloody tampon.”

“In my first year, I lived in a double traditional dorm, which meant that I had a roommate that I shared a bedroom with, and then we also shared our bathroom with one other girl. You would think that at the age of 18, 19, 20, when people are in there for university, they would have a little bit of common decency about shared spaces. This, unfortunately, was not the case. The thing that kind of sent my roommate at the time and me over the edge was that we walked into the bathroom one day to find a bloody tampon just sitting in the plastic garbage can, not wrapped up; there was no bag in the garbage can, just a bloody tampon.”

Maya, 22:  “Thinking that I wouldn’t notice, but obviously, I did.”

“My former roommate used my laundry detergent while I was away without asking and then proceeded to fill the detergent bottle back up with water, thinking that I wouldn’t notice, but obviously, I did, because water is a lot lighter than laundry detergent.”

Ainsley, 21: “I had to keep the windows open in the winter.”

“My first year roommate showered once a week, and the body odor was so bad I had to keep the windows open in the winter.”

Lola, 22: “Her cat’s litter box was genuinely overflowing with poop.”

“She had a cat and would clean his litter box probably once every 2-3 weeks. Her cat’s litter box was genuinely overflowing with poop, and her room smelled nauseating. Her cat would frequently knock cups over all the time, and my roommate would literally sit and watch as we cleaned her cat’s mess up. She’d also feed her cat wet food on the kitchen counter at times, and would even leave the empty wet can food on the counter, even after we asked her not to. We shared a bathroom and she would constantly leave her clothes on the ground and hair all over the shower wall, even though I had a hair catcher on the wall, to the point where I would get nauseous every time I showered — and there was even a bar of soap entirely covered in pubes. It was so disgusting.

She’d frequently leave the toilet paper roll empty without replacing it, and at one point, we went a week without toilet paper because she wouldn’t buy any, and it was her turn. (I obviously brought a spare roll into the bathroom, but who knows what she was doing for that week every time she went to the bathroom!) She’d constantly leave pots of food sitting on the stove for days at a time until one of us cleaned her mess up, and she even made her boyfriend — who none of us really knew — a spare key to our apartment without asking any of us.”

Carlie, 21: “The cops were constantly called every day because of their fighting.”

“I had an 18-year-old roommate last year that didn’t go to school or work or anything. I don’t really know how or why she moved out. She never paid rent on time. I had to beg her every month to pay. Her boyfriend ended up moving in, and the cops were constantly called every day because of their fighting. She damaged our apartment, charging us $900. One day, she got a cat without our permission, but our building said it was ‘too much paperwork’ to get her evicted. A couple of weeks after we found out about the cat, she got a dog without our permission! She ended up moving out eventually (thank God), and I took the cat, so now she has a good home! The dog also got rehomed to a nice family. Moral of the story: do not let randos move into your apartment!”

Dallas, 21: “That left me stumbling all over the place and doing homework in the pitch black.”

“My old roommate from first year never once attended a full class the entire time we lived together. Which, you do you, but when you’re sharing a dorm, my only alone time was my 5-minute walks to and from class. Sometimes I’d get home from class and she’d be in a deep sleep at 3 p.m. with the blackout blinds closed. Again, if we were in a house, no problem! But sharing a room, that left me stumbling all over the place and doing homework in the pitch black.”

Sofia, 21: “She literally rifled through my sh*t to get to it.”

“​​It was week one of being on res in my first year. I did not know this girl, nor did we have anything in common, but I figured it couldn’t be that bad. Big f*cking fat wrong on my part. Both she and I were heading to bed, regular ass evening, I fell asleep, she stayed up and decided to invite our neighbour over into our room, and f*ck him, not discreetly whatsoever, right next to me (there is literally a foot between our beds). Then, she proceeded to laugh about it the next day and tell me to loosen up. And also, I had booze in my room that I had left when I went home for a weekend: I hid it in my closet beneath a bunch of dirty clothes, and she literally rifled through my sh*t to get to it. I confronted her and she told me, ‘Why would you leave it in here if you didn’t want it drunk?’ and refused to pay me back.”

Arden, 21: “Literally let mold grow in the sink.”

“I had a roommate in my first year that quite literally let mold grow in the sink and would bring people into the room at 4 a.m.”

Jamie, 20: “I went to shave one day and found literal pubic hair in my razor that wasn’t mine.”

“My roommate started dating this guy who would come over and count the calories of my dinner when I was literally just sitting there trying to eat in peace. Also, I went to shave one day and found literal pubic hair in my razor that wasn’t mine… I have red hair, so I know how to tell.”

If these weren’t considered a jumpscare, then I don’t know what is. Happy Halloween!