College life is full of absurd, inane incidents that perplex the student body for years to come.  But the strangest things happen among the youngest of the college population. Welcome back to UTDMojo, where today we’re counting down the top ten crazy things that have happened at the freshman Residence Halls. These halls house 2,200 freshmen, representing 7.5% of our student body. Naturally, with so many bright, engaged, curious minds, mishaps are bound to happen. Let’s go over the ten wacky and wildest things that have gone down among these fledgling scholars.

10. The Evacuations (Always and Forever)

This entry on our list has a special distinction. It is the only one without a year. This is because it happens every year. Every semester in fact. One or two unlucky halls will, every year, be evacuated from their complex, usually at an ungodly hour. Though the reason cited is usually a fire alarm, one cannot help but note that the timing seems almost calculated to ruin as many nights as possible. But hey, I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

9. The Cake (2023)

Taking a turn for the bizarre, this next wacky mystery may leave you with a bit of a sweet tooth. In 2023, Helix Hall experienced a nasty surprise – a whole cake, lying upside down in the staircase. While this may seem like nothing to report, the true absurdity of this incident relies on its staying power. Despite a strong scent, the cake remained in the stairwell for a week, temporarily attracting all insects in the building and giving infested apartments a break while their resident roaches feasted.

8. The Pizza Disaster (2022)

This addition to our list may seem strange because this did not happen in a Residence Hall. Instead, this debacle takes place in the Dining Hall. We’ve qualified this for our list because all students in the Residence Halls have to buy a meal plan, meaning the Dining Hall is still a key part of the Residence Hall experience. In Fall of 2022, residents were shocked and disgusted to find the pizza – a Dining Hall staple – undercooked. Reports claim the pizza was “still dough” and “stretched at the edges”. While this incident is especially egregious, similar situations happen frequently, raising questions about the quality of the food the university all but forces on its first-year residents.

7. The Bleach Incident (2018)

In 2018, one enterprising student spent their afternoon not hitting the books, but hitting the bleach! This kooky Comet poured bleach in at least thirty empty laundry units, laying a devious trap for their hallmates. Though one lucky resident managed to catch them in the act, saving three washers by putting them on rinse, the true extent of this mastermind of the spin cycle’s crimes against civility will forever be… unsolved. 

6. The Flood (2024)

You’ve heard of the flood. Everyone on Tiktok has heard of the floods that happened this year. During the first week, three roommates in Capella Hall had a handyman — after solving the issue they put in a request for — insist that he could fix their shower. He could not, in fact, fix their shower. They dealt with gallons upon gallons of flooding, all while Housing denied their calls. God, this… this is absurd. The university claims they handled it, while those girls were shoving water out of their dorms for fear of losing all their things. As freshmen! In their first week! This is unconscionable. Everything about this. The constant insect infestations! The rusty water! The raw food! What did we do to deserve this? What sin has damned us to these plagues? Really, truly, what the fuck?! 

5. The Bad Omen (2019)

In 2019, seven birds fell out of the sky and dropped dead outside of what is now Andromeda Hall. Their bodies were found in a perfect circle.

This can’t be normal. This can’t be normal. Flooding, evacuations, food hazards. How can we be expected to live with this? It’s not right. It’s like some great misery machine. Everything here is. You wake up and your shower is broken. You try to get breakfast, but you can’t fit anything in your fridge. Your neighbors are still playing music. Get home and it’s the same in reverse. Is this normal? Is this being an adult? I can’t accept that.

I’ve been hearing things. From staff, mostly. Mutterings about a ritual five years ago. About the misery “not being enough.” Something is going on. It has to be. This cannot be what living on my own is supposed to be like.

4. It happened to me. (2024)

I-I think I’m going to be sick. I know no one will believe me. Derek didn’t. But I have to write it down, I have to tell someone.

I don’t know how many days ago, I went to leave my dorm in the Residence Halls, but when I opened the door leading out of my hall, there was just another copy. Like the door had been replaced with a mirror. I walked through, over and over again. I don’t know how long. The only thing I had was infinite repetitions of the same Dining Hall leftovers. I can never eat their fries again.

When I finally thought to call my PA, Derek, I must have sounded insane. Panicking, screaming. But he came, and as soon as he walked through that great heavy door, it all stopped. There was a perfectly normal elevator and a perfectly normal study area behind him. I tried to tell him what happened. He gave me the number to the Counseling Center. He didn’t believe me. I can’t do this.

3. The Plan (2024)

I’m going to talk to my coordinator. I need answers. Some kind of rational explanation. Drugs in the water. Maybe the Residence Halls are a mob front. There has to be a reason for all of these things. 

There has to be.

2. Go Time! (Now)

[Transcript begins]

Okay, um. First time I’ve ever recorded any of this live! Wow. Hi. I’m walking down the hall right now to talk to the Residence Hall Coordinator. God, this could make me SO viral, ha.

Oh, shit. Doesn’t look like the coordinator is in right now. They left a note though. “Be back soon. If you need me, I’m in 0.014.” I’ve never heard of a zero floor, but the Res Halls don’t have basements. Weird. Uh, guess I’ll get ‘em next time.

Huh. Glad I didn’t turn the recorder off.

So, I’m in the elevator. I was going to go do homework, but there’s a zero button on this elevator. I’ve never seen it before. I would know if there was a floor zero. But I’m pressing it. I’m getting my answers.

Fuck, this is creepy. You guys can’t see this, but so far the zeroth floor is just a really long hallway with really aggressive blue fluorescent lights. I think I can hear something, though, down the hallway.

I’m not close enough to make out everything, but I can make out words. It sounds like chanting. I’ve heard “fear” and “stress” a lot. “Sacrifice” too. What would they be sacrificing? The misery that living in the Res Halls generates? I don’t know. I’m going to get closer.

Alright, I’m almost there. Just got to keep quiet– 

What, hey! No– 

[Transcript ends]