Horror Stories

Stranger in my Bedroom

Stranger in my Bedroom
By Reddit User: Snail_Cig

This happened in my fourth year at University. I had moved from abroad on an exchange year and was living in student accommodation in England.

The building was an old factory converted in student housing. It had 5 floors and was square, with a courtyard in the centre. Each floor had a connecting corridor that would run from one side of the building to the other. The corridor was then separated in 8 self contained flats of 4 bedrooms. The separations between the flats were locked fire doors (these doors could only be opened by breaking a fire seal or by having a master key - which would set off an alarm, as experienced in the first few weeks when students were trying to sneak into other flats without having to go through the courtyard); each fire door had a see through window from one flat to the other.

It was sometimes in the Spring break of 2004. All the local students had gone home for Easter but I couldn't afford the plane ticket back to visit my parents. I was alone on my floor, except for a few students in another aisle of the building who were sharing a flat together.

I was actually relishing having the whole flat for myself, without the endless parties and general mess that comes with shared student accommodation. Actually having time to write my dissertation and maybe grab a decent night sleep without anyone screaming or switching corridors lights in the middle of the night (the bedroom doors had big gaps underneath and the light could wake you - and as my bedroom was next to the fire door dividing the flats, I could enjoy my flatmates and neighbours' antics...)

That evening I had watched a movie on my computer (lights out); probably Silence of the Lambs or Big Fish as these were the only 2 DVDs that I owned at the time, then I turned off the computer and went to bed.

Now remember - the whole floor is empty of students, no lights coming from corridors or kitchens, no lights in my bedroom and blackout curtains drawn. My flatmates are with their family and there is no noise in the building. I am confident that I have locked the main entrance AND my bedroom door - and I do not need to worry about the fire doors as they are locked and alarmed. I feel safe... How wrong I was...

In the middle of the night, I wake up and "feel" a presence in the room. It is hard to describe as I actually cannot see, but on instinct I do not move or make a noise (well except from my heart pounding), hold my breath and wait. Now, I have tinnitus (constant ringing in the ears) so I cannot hear faint noises, but trust me, I didn't need to hear - I actually felt the person in the room move - and I knew; just knew; that they were standing right next to my bed.

Fear takes over: I stand up on my bed and scream the loudest and biggest scream that I can muster - I am ready to ponce on the person - who has their back to me as I can now make out from the faint light coming from a tiny torch (or phone screen?), but they are faster than me.

In one jump, they reach my bedroom door and with another jump they are out - through the fire door...

I grab my phone on my bedside table and run out of my bedroom, unlock my flat door and sprint directly to the security office - a block away - in my pyjamas and bare feet. I talk to the security guard on duty; who doesn't believe me - "through the fire door you say? But the alarm didn't go off..."

I still make him come back to the flat and check. The fire door is unlocked - and the security guard proceeds to lock it again, then open it with his master key, no alarm sounding. "I'll have the engineer check it in the morning".

I also made him check the CCTV (cameras) but we couldn't see anything or anybody running out in the courtyard. "Go back to bed love, must have been a nightmare..."

I know it wasn't a nightmare - how do you explain the fire door being unlocked? - and I know I had locked my bedroom door. And if no one exited the building, did it mean that the person was still within the building?

From that point on, and until the end of the academic year, I did not sleep without my phone on me and I pushed my chair against my bedroom door to prevent anyone opening it... I also learnt to love my noisy flatmates - it meant I wasn't alone...

I never found out who it was. My flatmates thought that it was a previous student with a double of the flat keys looking for loots in what they thought would be an empty building; and sometimes joked that it was a secret admirer who had come to observe me in my sleep. We'll never know, and honestly, I prefer not to...