A couple of years back, I began noticing something strange whenever I'd drive along a particular stretch of road. It's a fairly long stretch because it's the main highway that goes right through the town.
I noticed a strange pattern as I drove along at night ... a number of large highway lights on my side of the road would blink out just as I drove under them. Once I noticed it, I began to take more and more notice of the incidences.
"Am I going nuts?" I began to think. "If I acknowledge that those lights are going out when I drive under them does that mean that I'm going crazy because it's not really happening; or because I have some kind of God complex and think I have the power to do that; or I'm going whacko because it's actually not really happening in the first place?"
This went on for several months, and I told myself, "Just ignore it, it's not happening."
Somehow I thought if I ignored it, I would somehow retain my sanity. Was I really crazy because I was denying I was going crazy, or was it really happening?
Fortunately a newspaper article appeared in the local paper that acknowledged that what I was experiencing was not just limited to myself. The lights were indeed going out as traffic passed by. I heaved a sigh of relief, thankful to retain my sanity.
Isn't it funny that I thought that by ignoring it I would somehow stop from turning into a crazy loon, which in itself kind of suggests otherwise. I spoke to a counsellor friend of mine and we had a good laugh together about my reaction.
To be honest, if I was going to go crazy, I would have preferred that the lights went ON as I drove past. That to me would have been a positive reaction, more in line with my own personality.
When I was 18 and going to University I can recall watching a mini-series on television with my next-door neighbour. It only went for a couple of weeks and was based on Stephen King's novel "Salem's Lot" and starred David Soul.
I think it was while watching the last episode that my friend and I were sitting in his lounge when in one of the scariest moments of the movie, just as a vampire came smashing through a window ready to kill his victim that the overhead light in the lounge-room suddenly went out and we were plunged into darkness. I think I screamed while my friend kind of went "Arrghh!!" and leapt off the lounge. It was amazing timing that it happened just at that precise moment, and while we were able to laugh about it later, I can still recall the utter terror that came over me when it happened. I don't think I could have been more frightened even if a real vampire had appeared in the lounge at that moment...except perhaps if a politican appeared! ©
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