Urban Legend #4-Tidakkah kamu bahagia kamu tidak menyalakan lampu! (Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Light?)

Seperti yang diceritakan oleh Whorton ...

   Dua orang teman sekamar di perguruan tinggi berada pada kelas sains yang sama. Guru baru saja mengingatkan mereka tentang hari paruh waktu berikutnya ketika teman yang satu  - mari kita sebut saja namanya Juli - diajak untuk datang ke pesta besar oleh cowok paling keren di sekolah. sedangkan teman yang lainnya, Meg, sangat tidak tertarik untuk mengikuti acara itu karena ingin menjadi seorang mahasiswa rajin, ia mengambil catatan tentang apa ujian tengah semester yang akan dihadapinya. Setelah beberapa waktu ia digoda dengan teman kencannya, Juli akhirnya ikut dalam pesta itu, sementara Meg benar-benar siap untuk kencan besar dengan buku-bukunya. Pada saat menjelang malam, Juli menghabiskan berjam-jam waktunya untuk bersiap-siap untuk pergi ke pesta sementara Meg mulai belajar. Juli mencoba untuk membujuk Meg untuk pergi, tapi dia bersikeras bahwa dia tidak mau dan ia akan belajar agar bisa lulus dalam ujian. Mereka berdua sangat dekat dan Juli tidak suka meninggalkan Meg di kamar kebosan sementara dia keluar bersenang-senang. Juli akhirnya menyerah, dan mengatakan bahwa ia akan belajar dengan cepat di kelas keesokan harinya. pada akhirnya juli pergi ke pesta dan bersenang-senang dengan teman kencannya. Dia kembali ke asrama sekitar pukul 2 pagi dan memutuskan untuk tidak membangunkan Meg. Dia pergi tidur dan mulai merasa gugup tentang ujian tengah semester yang akan dihadapinya dan memutuskan dia akan bangun pagi-pagi untuk meminta bantuan Meg. Saat dia bangun dia lalu pergi untuk membangunkan Meg. Meg sedang berbaring tengkurap, dan kelihatannya sedang tertidur. Juli menggulingkan tubug Meg dan melihat wajah Meg yang sangat ketakutan. Juli, memutuskan untuk menyalakan lampu meja. buku pelajaran Meg masih terbuka dan dibanjiri oleh darah Meg. Meg telah dibantai. Juli, yang sangat-sangat ketakutan , terjatuh ke lantai dan mendongak hanya untuk melihat tulisan dinding,yah tulisan itu tertulis di dinding dengan darah Meg: "Tidakkah Kamu bahagia kamu tidak menyalakan lampu!" 

Seperti dituturkan oleh Little Jon ... 

   Saya pernah mendengar tentang seorang gadis yang pada suatu malam kembali ke kamar asramanya untuk mengambil buku-bukunya sebelum menuju ke kamar pacarnya untuk bermalam. Dia masuk tetapi tidak menyalakan lampu,dia tahu bahwa teman sekamarnya sedang tidur jadi dia tidak ingin mengganggunya. Dia berjalan sambil tersandung-sandung di dalam ruangan gelap itu selama beberapa menit, sambil mengumpulkan buku, pakaian, sikat gigi, dll sebelum akhirnya dia meninggalkan kamar itu.Keesokan harinya, dia kembali ke kamarnya dan menemukan kamarnya telah dikepung oleh polisi. Seorang polisi bertanya kepadanya apakah dia tinggal di sana dan dia bilang "ya". Polisi itupun  membawanya ke kamarnya, dan di sana, ditulis dengan darah di dinding, kata-kata, "Tidakkah Kamu bahagia kamu tidak menyalakan lampu!?" Teman sekamarnya dibunuh ketika dia mengambil barang-barangnya.(Aku telah mendengar hal ini beberapa kali, dan Setiap kali, hal ini terjadi di universitas yang berbeda..) 

Analisis:

    Cerita di atas adalah variasi dari legenda yang telah tersebar luas. Cerita asli dar cerita diatas diberi judul "The Roommate's Death" oleh folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand . Dalam setiap versi "The Roommate's Death" seseorang dibunuh tepat di depan tokoh protagonis perempuan yang tidak mencurigai hal itu,karena lampu dipadamkan, atau pembunuhan itu terjadi di ruangan lain, tubuh korban tidak ditemukan , biasanya hingga keesokan harinya. kadang-kadang juga diceritakan bahwa, toko protagonis mendengar suara mencurigakan tapi takut untuk menyelidiki karena dia pikir bahwa bisa jadi itu adalah penyusup yang datang untuknya . hal yang sangat menyeramkan yaitu ada tulisan di dinding yang megatakan "Tidakkah Kamu tbahagia kamu tidak menyalakan lampu! ?" Pada saat tubuhnya ditemukan, karakter utama tidak bisa melakukan apa-apa tetetapi sadar apa yang Nyaris saja dia alami.Dan pembunuh menorehkan pesan itu dengan darah temannya.Sedangkan bentuk umum dari legenda ini  kembali ke setidaknya 40 tahun lalu (dan pastinya lebih), memiliki daya tarik abadi sebagai spesimen dari "cerita jijik remaja Amerika," meminjam istilah Brunvand itu. Saat ia menulis dalam The Hitchhiker Vanishing,

    Satu tema yang konsisten dalam cerita horror remaja adalah bahwa sebagai remaja yang sedang bergerak keluar dari rumah ke dunia yang lebih besar, bahaya dunia mungkin akan sangat mendekati dia. Oleh karena itu, meskipun tujuan langsung dari legenda ini adalah untuk menghasilkan ketakutan yang baik, mereka juga sekaligus memberikan peringatan: Hati-hati! Hal ini bisa saja terjadi pada Kamu!

Humans Can Lick, Too (English Version)

Example #1
As told by Liz Langridge (Australia):  

A young girl named Lisa was left alone on several accounts as her parents worked late. Her parents bought her a dog to keep her company. One night Lisa was awoken by a constant dripping sound. She got up and went to the kitchen to turn off the tap properly. As she was getting back into the bed she stuck her hand under the bed and the dog licked it. The dripping sound continued, so she went to the bathroom and turned off the tap properly in there, too. She went back to her bedroom and stuck her hand under the bed, and the dog licked it again. But the dripping continued, so she went outside and turned off the taps out there. She came back to bed, stuck her hand under it, and the dog licked it again. The dripping continued, drip, drip, drip. This time she listened and located the source of the dripping — it was coming from her cupboard. She opened the cupboard door, and there was her dog hanging upside down with its neck cut, and written on the window on the inside of the cupboard was, "HUMANS CAN LICK TOO!!!"

Example #2
As told by Kirsty H. (U.K.):

 

Once there was a nice old lady who had a lovely little dog. One day, the old lady heard on the radio that a crazy murderer had escaped from jail and that she should lock all her doors and windows. So she locked every door and window in the house except one tiny one to let some air in. She thought that a murderer would never get in through there.

So that night she went to bed as usual. She knew everything was okay because when she put down her hand the dog licked it. But later in the night she heard a drip, drip, drip. She put her hand down and the dog licked it and everything was okay, so she went downstairs to check out the tap. But the tap wasn't dripping. So she went to bed again. And everything was okay. She woke up again later in the night, though, so she thought the dripping sound must be coming from the shower. She went into the bathroom, and there was her dog, dead, hanging in the shower, dripping with blood, all its intestines hanging out. Written on the mirror was: "Humans can lick, too!" And behind her in the mirror, she saw the murderer.

Example #3
Email text as circulated in May 2001:

Subj: DON'T DELETE THIS!!! (it scared the crap outta me)

Once there was a a beautiful young girl who lived in a small town just south of Farmersburg. Her parents had to go to town for a while, so they left their daughter home alone, but protected by her dog, which was a very large collie. The parents told the girl to lock all the windows and doors after they had left. And at about 8:00pm the parents went to town. So doing what she was told the girl shut and locked evey window and every door. But there was one window in the basement that would not close completely.

Trying as best as she could she finally got the window shut, but it would not lock. So she left the window, and went back upstairs. But just to make sure that no one could get in, she put the dead-bolt lock on the basment door.

Then she sat down had some dinner and decided to go to sleep for the night. Settling down to sleep at about 12:00 she snuggled up with the dog and fell asleep.

But at one point, she suddenly woke up. She turned and looked at the clock...it was 2:30. She snuggled down again wondering what had woken her.....when she heard a noise. It was a dripping sound. She thought that she had left the water running, and now it was dripping into the drain of her sink. So thinking it was no big deal she decided to go back to sleep.

But she felt nervous so she reached her hand over the edge of her bed, and let the dog lick her hand for reasurance that he would protect her. Again at about 3:45 she woke up hearing drippping. She was slightly angry now but went back to sleep anyway. Again she reached down and let the dog lick her hand. Then she fell back to sleep.

At 6:52 the girl decided that she had had enough...she got up just in time to see her parents were pulling up to the house. "Good,"she thought. "Now somebody can fix the sink...'cause I know I didn't leave it running." She walked to the bathroom and there was the collie dog, skinned and hung up on the curtain rod. The noise she heard was its blood dripping into a puddle on the floor. The girl screamed and ran to her bedroom to get a weapon, incase someone was still in the house.....and there on the floor, next to her bed she saw a small note, written in blood, saying: HUMANS CAN LICK TOO MY BEAUTIFUL.

Now it is time for you to lock all the windows and doors. This letter is the only chain letter that is true. This did happen many years ago, and the man who killed the dog was never caught. If you delete this letter you will suffer the same fate as the girl in the story did, years after the dog was killed. She was raped and killed in the same town and same house as the dog. Do not dismiss this letter, becaue if you do, a horrible thing will become of you, everyone will soon know your name. But only because it will be the headline of your local newspaper for a long time. It will read... Small Town Murder On The Loose! You can not chance your luck on a chain letter so serious as this. Give up your chance to send this letter to 23 people and you will be giving up your chance to live. You were warned. I hope that I will not see any murder stories in the papers anytime soon. And now I bid you a good day. And one more thing... you only have 23 minutes... sorry.