Advertisement
Please wait...

Turn Off the Light When You Leave



Estimated reading time — 2 minutes

In Finland, there is an old but still inhabited yellow apartment, situated in a small city near an important railroad. Almost all of the people living there are over 70 years old, and in fact it seems that younger people simply won’t stay there for longer than a year.

If you live there you will soon notice several unusual things. In the basement the text “TURN ON THE LIGHT. TURN OFF THE LIGHT WHEN YOU LEAVE.” is written next to every light switch. It’s unusual to remind somebody of something so obvious, but here it is of critical importance.

People who forget something in the basement never return to pick it up. If you offer to go and retrieve it for them they will stop you from doing so.

Advertisements

There is one door there, between some storage doors that has no numbers on it. Instead the door has a worn-out nameplate on it. The people in the flat will tell you to leave that door alone. It is said that people who have peeked in the keyhole have seen very unsettling things.

The wires and pipes in the basement look amazingly old, yet still the house has perfectly functioning water, electricity and phone lines.

The laundry room, which is in the basement, must be reserved if you want to use it. If you go there without reserving a time first you will at first get weird looks and some scolding. Then people will more ominously and angrily warn you.

Advertisements

These things may seem minor but those, usually the young ones, who have got too curious or failed to follow the rules have ended up either dead, crippled or insane. Usually people say that these incidents were the result of drug use or alcoholism, but some of the freak accidents cannot be explained by anything.

How do I know this? I used to go and help my grandmother who lived in that apartment and I have seen several times how ambulance has dragged away young people who have missed an arm, sometimes some other parts also. The worst case was when I found a corpse that looked like an explosion victim in the laundry room. His guts were spattered all around the room and his left arm was sitting on top of the washing machine.

Before her death my grandmother told that she knows what’s behind these incidents. After the second World War, there was a shortage of apartments, and one war veteran who had lost his left arm was given a rudimentary room in the basement for no cost if he would help people to do laundry and help the janitor. He did, but eventually someone insulted him one way or another. The veteran killed that youngster and himself. Ever since his spirit has been there, harshly punishing those who fail to follow the rules of his home. After telling this she told me that I should never ever return to the apartment as I knew too much.

Advertisements
Advertisements

As I left the apartment for the last time, I could see the figure of an old, old man missing his left arm staring at me, reflected on the large glass panel on the door to the stairway…

CREDIT: Anonymous

Please wait...

Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.

43 thoughts on “Turn Off the Light When You Leave”

  1. Grr, this rating star thing is pissing me off! (< *wak, wak, wak* – and plus, I am rating more stars than needed for a story of this stature, how the hell can I fix this now?! DX

    I don't have fricking virtual powers like BEN DROWNED!!!!! OoO

  2. Also, I liked this story. XD It was a very intriguing read and helped me put things into perspective.

    I don’t think it is the best CreepyPasta per se, but it is a good way to look on our actions and be careful with our decisions. XP

  3. Frozen
    August 10, 2008
    If people are losing their dam arms and limbs from just going in that hell hole why not just bulldoze the place? That should get rid of that pesky ghost

    Um, that may be true, but that would piss the ghost off and bring ruin to those who lived there afterward and plus, wouldn’t the ghost just start roaming the world, looking for a place to liva again? Also, If the ghost couldn’t find anywhere in the world their soul is trapped in, they would be alone in the world, with no one there to help them. This puts the way the ghost sees it into perspective. It would be a wandering, lost and weeping soul, wandering the earth for eternity. If you think of that, it would be kind of sad… :,(

    Anyway, that’s just my opinion. :D

  4. This was an incredibly below average story with some of the worst use of grammar and spelling I have ever seen on this site.
    This story had potential to be entertaining, but the build up amounted to absolutely nothing.

  5. *sniffs pasta* *tries it, chewing slowly* Needs a little more spice, leaves a bad aftertaste. (In other words, it has a bad ending- but surely you all know that?)

  6. Why the heck would anybody live there. I mean if you simply forget to reserve a time to do laundry you’re gonna be ripped apart. That is just stupid.

  7. This was a good pasta. One of the better ones I’ve come across for a while. I wasn’t totally freaked out while reading it, nor do I think I would feel terribly threatened by the ghost should I live in the building, for I’m usually pretty good about following rules, especially when it comes to turning off lights. I get annoyed when they’re left on. >>

    Also, @ Basement Ghost: I, too, like it when the red water comes out.

  8. well no wonder all them youngsters are getting blown up. It’s against youngster rules to older people follow rules
    *rolls eyes* i actually liked this pasta, as for that place it sounds really creepy. why don’t they just you know ….get rid of the spirit?

  9. Iz: why’d ppl explode again?

    Lys: teh ghost… durr…

    Iz: well frozen has a point. if ppl die. destroy the property. what does the gohst have to haunt if there’s nothing to haunt. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA– *cough*

    Lys: Oh, gawd… not that again…

    Iz: you got it! byebye for now peeps! wait. did that sound right?

    Lys: Kinda…

  10. If people are losing their dam arms and limbs from just going in that hell hole why not just bulldoze the place? That should get rid of that pesky ghost

  11. At first I thought it was a troll where the entire story was a dramatization of regular apartment rules. Instead it was simply a bad story.

  12. @Augusto

    I think the ads you were talking about I actually just replaced anyhow, as they were producing pop-ups which I did not agree to >:( The Amazon and Google ads that are left should both have a black background.

  13. Hey, this is awesome stuff you do. Delicious creepypasta is delicious, now I can happily stay awake thinking about the stories, not letting me sleep. but the only thing that bothers me is that some ads beside the stories have white backgrounds! they ruin the whole experience of reading it in the dark. I hope you can do something to stop that discomfort. I appreciate your time.

Leave a Reply to OH NOES Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top