-Morb-
2008-12-28, 13:07
I'm bored, and since Halloween is right around the corner, here's a scary little story...
Years ago, I had just finished clearing a bunch of crap out of my parents' basement to make room for a little hangout place for me and my friends to go get high 'n shit. Before leaving that day, I put a funky pink movie theater lightbulb in the ceiling (the only light in the basement), and positioned an old television on a box in front of a chair in the corner. When I turned the pink light on, it looked really odd and trippy somehow. It was weird to imagine just sitting there in the corner of the basement with that pink light on and watching tv (and indeed it was, when I tried it).
Satisfied that my friends would agree that I had taken two minutes to create something stupid and weird, I went upstairs and forgot about it. Later that night, I couldn't sleep, and decided to lay on a couch in the living room and read a book. I kept reading until it was about four in the morning. Suddenly, I heard a television come on somewhere in the house. Loud. Much too loud for four in the morning.
I couldn't read with that racket going on, and my first thought was that for some reason my mom had turned her television on, and didn't realize how loud it was somehow. Annoyed, I got up and started upstairs to tell her to turn it down, but suddenly realized it was coming from the basement. I stood there probably for about twenty seconds, just thinking to myself, "Ummm... what the fuck?" The door to the basement was only about twenty feet from where I had been lying on the couch, I knew there was no way anyone could have gone down there without me knowing it.
Feeling very creeped out now, I went to the basement door, and opened it. The sound of the television got instantly louder still (some guy selling something on an infomercial in a voice that sounded a lot happier than I felt). The basement was pitch black, as you would expect, except for a faint, bluish light emanating from the farthest corner down there. I was probably talking to myself at this point, saying out loud what I kept thinking: "What the fuck?"
There was no stairway light anymore, I had taken that out earlier, and was planning on putting a funky blue or red one in later that day. If I was going to go down there, it was going to be in the dark.
It sounds kinda lame now after all this time, but going down those stairs was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I couldn't understand why the television was so fucking loud. I started down the stairs, all the skin on my body feeling like it was ready to detect so much as a wisp of spiderweb brushing past, and when I got to the bottom, there it was. My creepy setup looked a lot more creepy than I had ever planned. In the corner of the basement, there was just this black silhouette of the back of the television, and beyond that, the chair sitting in front of it. I quickly turned the funky pink light on (which didn't make the moment seem any less weird), and looked at the television. I had been watching it earlier that day (and I'm sure no one else had), and the volume had been turned low. Now it was almost at full blast. I turned it off, and got the fuck outta there.
I've never been so absolutely creeped out in my entire life.
What didn't help is that I had been reading short stories by Stephen King ("Night Shift", I think) when this happened. I didn't read any more that night, but it was awhile before I could get to sleep. Now I keep thinking, "Well, it was an old television, maybe it just turned itself on...." But I can't figure out why the volume was up so loud, and I can't figure what the odds are that it would happen while I happened to be up reading at four in the morning (which I never did back then). I ended up keeping that television for a few more years down in the basement, where me and my friends got high many times, and nothing like that ever happened again. True story.
Years ago, I had just finished clearing a bunch of crap out of my parents' basement to make room for a little hangout place for me and my friends to go get high 'n shit. Before leaving that day, I put a funky pink movie theater lightbulb in the ceiling (the only light in the basement), and positioned an old television on a box in front of a chair in the corner. When I turned the pink light on, it looked really odd and trippy somehow. It was weird to imagine just sitting there in the corner of the basement with that pink light on and watching tv (and indeed it was, when I tried it).
Satisfied that my friends would agree that I had taken two minutes to create something stupid and weird, I went upstairs and forgot about it. Later that night, I couldn't sleep, and decided to lay on a couch in the living room and read a book. I kept reading until it was about four in the morning. Suddenly, I heard a television come on somewhere in the house. Loud. Much too loud for four in the morning.
I couldn't read with that racket going on, and my first thought was that for some reason my mom had turned her television on, and didn't realize how loud it was somehow. Annoyed, I got up and started upstairs to tell her to turn it down, but suddenly realized it was coming from the basement. I stood there probably for about twenty seconds, just thinking to myself, "Ummm... what the fuck?" The door to the basement was only about twenty feet from where I had been lying on the couch, I knew there was no way anyone could have gone down there without me knowing it.
Feeling very creeped out now, I went to the basement door, and opened it. The sound of the television got instantly louder still (some guy selling something on an infomercial in a voice that sounded a lot happier than I felt). The basement was pitch black, as you would expect, except for a faint, bluish light emanating from the farthest corner down there. I was probably talking to myself at this point, saying out loud what I kept thinking: "What the fuck?"
There was no stairway light anymore, I had taken that out earlier, and was planning on putting a funky blue or red one in later that day. If I was going to go down there, it was going to be in the dark.
It sounds kinda lame now after all this time, but going down those stairs was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I couldn't understand why the television was so fucking loud. I started down the stairs, all the skin on my body feeling like it was ready to detect so much as a wisp of spiderweb brushing past, and when I got to the bottom, there it was. My creepy setup looked a lot more creepy than I had ever planned. In the corner of the basement, there was just this black silhouette of the back of the television, and beyond that, the chair sitting in front of it. I quickly turned the funky pink light on (which didn't make the moment seem any less weird), and looked at the television. I had been watching it earlier that day (and I'm sure no one else had), and the volume had been turned low. Now it was almost at full blast. I turned it off, and got the fuck outta there.
I've never been so absolutely creeped out in my entire life.
What didn't help is that I had been reading short stories by Stephen King ("Night Shift", I think) when this happened. I didn't read any more that night, but it was awhile before I could get to sleep. Now I keep thinking, "Well, it was an old television, maybe it just turned itself on...." But I can't figure out why the volume was up so loud, and I can't figure what the odds are that it would happen while I happened to be up reading at four in the morning (which I never did back then). I ended up keeping that television for a few more years down in the basement, where me and my friends got high many times, and nothing like that ever happened again. True story.