The housemates decided to investigate after finding drawers inexplicably open, lights on and hearing noises coming from the space beneath their feet.
When 10 housemates heard strange, unexplained noises coming from their basement, they feared the property was haunted, but the reality was arguably scarier.
In addition to hearing noises and alarms, students also found open drawers in the kitchen and bathroom and lights on in rooms they had not been in.
Curious and scared, they followed the sounds to the basement, where they found a locked door.
One of the housemates, Mark Hartman, told ABC News: “Sometimes when my roommate Brett was there, I would hear noises. But when I tried to turn the handle of a door in the basement, it was always locked.”
Then, while investigating the basement again, Brett was surprised to find a mysterious man.
Mark said Brett, who was understandably scared, asked the man who he was, adding: “The guy said his name was Jeremy but he didn’t answer Brett’s questions and just left the house.”
With the help of the police, the eight young men and two women eventually forced the door open, only to find a bedroom filled with photographs, books, a television and clothes.
Students at Ohio State University were shocked to realize that Jeremy had been living in their basement rent-free, using a side door to enter, evading detection.
It turned out that his cousin had lived in the house the year before, and that’s how he got onto the property in the first place.
The chilling discovery was made at the Columbus, Ohio, property in 2013.
Leasing company NorthSteppe Reality changed the locks the night it was discovered, but students were concerned the company had not noticed someone squatting on their property.
The owner posted a note on the house asking Jeremy to call them. He made contact that same night before removing his belongings from the room.
He had access to a bathroom in the basement along with a sink, which he could have used to wash clothes. The students did not believe that he ate any of their food or entered their rooms.
Mark told The flashlight.com: “They hadn’t changed the locks from the previous year and the keys don’t say ‘do not duplicate’. There could be hundreds of people with the keys to the house. We are hoping for a discount on the rent for a few months. We have spoken to student legal services.”
Jeremy turned out to be a “pretty nice guy,” according to another housemate, Jimmy Alderman. He added: “It was a dangerous situation. It definitely could have been a lot worse.”
