Chinese urban legends

Room 111

There is a room in the basement of New Asia College dormitory called Room 111. Years ago, it was shared by an electronics engineering student and a medical student. Both students got along well together and studied hard all week long.

One night, the electronic engineering student was in the room alone. He was under a lot of pressure because of an important test that was coming up. He was afraid he was going to fail and he became so upset that he decided to commit suicide. He picked up some circuit boards, copper wire, batteries, welding tools and a clock. He made a suicide timing tool. He strapped the copper wire to himself and connected it to a powerful battery that was connected to the alarm clock. When the alarm went off, he was electrocuted as he lay in his bed.

The next morning, the medical student finally returned to the dormitory. When he went into the room, he saw his roommate laying motionless in the bed and thought he was sleeping. The medical student stayed in the room for days until he finally realized that he had been sharing the room with a dead body.

It is said that, although the medical student was later removed from the room, he was still very troubled by the incident and ultimately lost his mind. Suffering from mental illness, he was placed in a lunatic asylum for the rest of his life. The school authorities decided to rearrange all the room numbers, so that the students wouldn't know which room was Room 111.

In another version of the story, Room 111 of Grace Tien Hall was the home of a brilliant science undergraduate who believed he had discovered how to transport himself through space and time. He wrapped himself in an elaborate wire contraption attached to an alarm clock and a powerful battery. When it rang, he believed it would send him hurtling into another dimension. The experiment went wrong and when the alarm rang the student died of a massive electric shock. His roommate returned to find him dead on his bed with a note beside him reading: "I will come back soon."