...is the way that old spooky radio show began....it used to scare the heck out of my sister and me....The episode I remember to this day was about a woman whose voice sounded more and more like a Cat's meow....as the show went on, and by the conclusion, she had actually turned into one.
That's about all I remember about it, but that obviously was enough to make me remember it for the next 60 or so years.
I'm not sure if the show was called "Light's Out" or not, but that's the way it began...with the announcer's "voice of doom" calling for "Light's Out."
At which point (and this was in the 1940's when the whole family was sitting around listening to the radio) my Dad would switch off the lights.
And then it got really scary.....
Sometimes I think I would be over 6 feet tall today....if it hadn't been for that radio show. I'm convinced that it stunted my growth at least to some degree.
But like most kids....my sister and I loved to be scared by crap like that.
And our Dad loved to join the fun.
the next "lights out" episode in my childhood was not a radio show....but real.
My father was out of town on business that particular night, and my Mom, Sister and I were returning home from a trip to Stanley's Drug Store...and as our car started up our driveway...the dining room lights, which my Mom had left on....in our house, suddenly went off.
We knew my Dad was still in New York, and my Mom and sister and I were together in the car....the obvious question was "Who turned out the lights?"
We didn't dare enter the house...not knowing who could possibly be in there.
So Mom did the sensible thing and drove back to Stanleys and called the police. they arrived about the same time we did and Mom gave them the keys. One officer stationed himself at the rear of the house to capture the intruder if he tried to escape that way, while another officer entered the front
...with gun drawn.
After about 10 very tense minutes.....the lights came back on, and the brave officer emerged.
Alone.
"All's well," he exclaimed.
Great work, I thought.....and he didn't even fire a shot.
I was waiting for the intruder to be dragged out of our house.....when the officer came over to our car and said, "It was a fuse."
He went on to add that, "When your car started up the driveway, it obviously caused a loose fuse to become completely unattached and caused the lights to lose power.
That makes for a pretty boring story…...
But, sometimes, boredom is GOOD!
Ed
