Around the beginning of October, all the Halloween movies start crawling out of the woodwork and into the movie theaters. I got freaked out watching some of the video trailers on television last week; they are so graphic and some of them would frighten the wits out of little children. Can you imagine what a child would think if they got a glimpse of Freddy Krueger or the Chainsaw Massacre on a television advertisement? Those images could leave some deep scars and sleepless nights! My sister and I had an experience that was chilling when I was eight and she was fourteen. It was the weekend before Halloween and my parents had gone out to a costume party. My sister, Libby, and I were the only ones at home and we had decided to watch The Twilight Zone (not a good choice for a child who was afraid of her own shadow; that would be me)!
It was an episode titled, The Eye of the Beholder. This chilling story was about a team of doctors who had completed plastic surgery on a woman’s face (the doctors implied she was born with horrifying features that only intense plastic surgery could repair). The surgery was completed and they were preparing to unveil the woman’s face.
The doctors were hovering around her and all that was visible were the backs of their white jackets. With creepy background music playing, I watched as the doctors unwrapped the bandages, but they were disappointed to see the surgery had not changed her appearance. One of the doctors made the comment. “There is nothing more we can do, we’re sorry!” At this point I was curled up in a ball next to my sister and we were smashed together in my dad’s recliner, just a few feet from the TV screen.
We hung on with suspense as the doctors hovered around the woman with their backs turned to the viewers. Then they handed her a mirror and she screamed in horror when she saw her face. At that moment the doctors backed away and we were surprised to see the woman was extremely beautiful!
Then came the drama; immediately, the camera panned around the hospital room to reveal the faces of all the doctors and nurses and they were the monsters! The surgery was an attempt to make her ugly like them, for she presumed she was the abnormal one. I freaked out! I wasn't prepared and it had happened so quickly that there was no time for me to hide my eyes. Those scary faces were all over the place and every time I blinked, I saw ugly monsters!When it was time to go to bed we decided to leave a small lamp on in our bedroom. Fortunately for me, my sister and I shared a room together in a second story home. Second story sounds luxurious, but I assure you that was not the case; our upstairs resembled a haunted house! All the rooms were unfinished, which added to our anxiety. Each time the lights from passing cars reflected off the windows, it cast spooky shadows that danced across the walls.
We had just started to drift off to sleep when we heard noises coming from downstairs. It was a banging sound in random patterns that wouldn’t stop. Libby and I were terrified and I had conjured up the most horrible thoughts in my mind. I imagined everything from Booger John to Captain Hook and I even thought the Twilight Zone monster doctors were sawing on a patient in our kitchen! I knew it was just a matter of time before “it” would find us hiding under our blankets.
Then Libby said the unimaginable, “We have to go downstairs and find out what that is!”
That was a terrible idea, why would she even suggest that... but I wasn’t about to stay upstairs by myself and each time she took a step forward, I took one too. She grabbed our brother’s baseball bat that was leaning against his wall and I thought that was a brilliant thing to do, so I grabbed the closest thing I could find and it was a belt. Libby was disgusted with my choice.
“What’re you gonna do with a belt, dress it or spank it? At lease get something that will protect us!” She was preparing me for battle, but my better judgment told me to hide somewhere safe until our parents got home!
I looked around and found a board, we both agreed that was a better choice and together we crept down the stairs. At the bottom of the staircase was a door that entered into the living room. When Libby opened the door the noise seemed so much louder, she hesitated out of fear and I was so scared that I levitated a few inches off the ground. I was about to run back upstairs when she gave me more instructions.
“Hold your board up and get ready, the noise is coming from the kitchen. Stay right behind me.”
I was so close to her that I could feel her heart beating through mine! If she had spooked me at any time, I probably would have hit her in the head with the board! We walked step by step and hardly breathing, fearing the monster would hear us. The noise was banging and clanging as we rounded the corner into the kitchen. We had our weapons held high, but we were shocked and relieved to see that one of our little kittens had it’s head stuck in an empty Campbell's soup can.
Apparently, the soup can had fallen off the top of the waste basket. The kitten started licking the inside of the can and when it’s head got far enough inside, it became stuck! The kitten was banging around blindly against our metal cabinets in the kitchen and trying to knock this Campbell’s soup can off it’s head! It was a hilarious sight to see. We pulled the can off the kitten’s head, washed it’s face and laughed about how scared we were through the chilling experience.
We definitely were "Scaredy Cats" that evening! I am still amazed at how powerful a child’s mind can become when engaged in fear. If there was a way to harness the amount of energy exerted by my sister and I that night, it could have powered the city for several days. by, Linda Sumner Urza, One fine day.
