A Joke in Poor Taste
“My wife and I were driving across country to a family vacation. It was getting late and we were tired of driving and needed a place to stop. Most hotels were already full for the night, but we found a motel with vacancy and booked a room.
It was your typical run-down motel right off the highway in Indiana. When we got to our floor with about only half of the hallway lights working we walked past a room with red tape on the door.
As a good husband, I could sense my wife’s uneasiness, so to be as supportive as I could I joked to her that I bet someone died in that room. She didn’t appreciate the joke but we were both tired and headed to our room about 3 doors down.
When we got to our room the wife went to use the bathroom to find that someone had already used it and just left it in the toilet. No paper, no flush. The entire room gave off a “you’re going to get a disease or leave with bugs” vibe, so we slept with our clothes and shoes on and made the best of it.
The next morning during checkout I made the same joke to the front desk clerk. “What happened to the room down the hall from us. Did someone die?”
The clerk didn’t hesitate to reply that yes, someone had died. They fell asleep while smoking in bed.
My wife and I just said “oh…” at the same time as we soaked in the poor taste of my joke as it became a reality and turned and left. I searched online to confirm the story, and sure enough, it was true. This motel didn’t have a fire alarm system that reported to the fire department, so when the room caught fire the occupant died of smoke inhalation before someone was alerted to the fire.
We haven’t stayed in an Indiana motel since.”
Story credit: Reddit / gregolde