Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Things That Go Bump In The Night



For Memorial Day, my live shot was to be at a cemetary where there are veterans from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War. The cemetary had fallen into a state of disrepair. There was to be a re-dedication ceremony that afternoon at 1:30p.m. Of course this is 5 a.m. dark and I'm headed to a cemetary.

I arrive there and it's dark. I mean really DARK. Bone chilling dark. Dark that makes you shiver. I'm talking really, really, really dark. I get out of the truck after putting on my high beams, revealing the gate of the cemetary and it's fence. Actually it revealed what was left of it's fence, minus the six foot gaps of missing wrought iron.

Looking up, I saw no above wires and proceeded with the set up of the live truck. I start pulling cables and thats when the noises started. The wind picked up and tree branches rubbed together. Bushes rustled with unseen monsters and zombies looking for braaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnssssssssssss....

As I set up my cables, camera and lights, something ran right past my leg. I almost lost it then when I caught a glimpse of what it was. It was one of Satan's minions come to take me away. Ok, not really. It happened to be a skunk.

SKUUUUNNNNKKK..!!!! I leapt about ten feet into the air (no small feat for such a big guy like me), made a noise akin to what my wife makes to when she sees a spider and punched a hole in the air that would make Chuck Yeager proud, as I ran to the safety of my live truck.

Safely barricaded within the confines of my truck, I called the station and proceded to have my live shot dialed in. My reporter arrived and I told him what happened so now we're both on guard for nocturnal mammals wandering about. Not to mention the undead out for a stroll.

Then it hits me. I need to pee. Badly.

I just want to let you all know that it is not considered desecration of a grave if you pee outside the gates of a cemetary, in the dark. The tree might not feel that way, but I'm sure it'll get over the indignity of my bodily function.

And as I finished, I could swear I heard someone say, "brrraaaaiiinnnssss..."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny how your previous post was about public indecency and your now being public indecent. Just kidding...if you gotta go, you gotta go.
keep up the good work.

Widescreen said...

We have on old jail here in town. Dates back to the 1840's. It closed down before WW2 and most was pulled down but they kept one main wing and it now is a tourist attraction.

The wing they kept was also the wing they held executions in. Hanging in our case. To long a story, but I had to do a night shoot in there. Very creepy and said to be haunted. All night I had the shivers and it may well have been my imagination.

After the shoot I realised I had left a cable inside and up on the next level where the gallows were. I made my way up and only got half way if that, and decided it could wait till the next day to retrieve it. It scared the crap out of me.