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My humorous thoughts about life.

"My Humorous and Helpful Thoughts About Teaching / Educational Resources for Your Classroom / Music and Random Fun"

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Basement Phobia

So Fun!
It was the place where yellowed stuffing spilled from tattered couches and humming heaters sang mournful duets with spinning dryers. I'm referring to that musty, spider-infested basement. That place I crept into only when forced to retrieve Mystery Date. All that bravery just to end up with the Dud at the door. After all, if I was going to risk my life to get that game, at least I could've found the stud muffin in the white tux.

That light bulb dangling from a cord was never enough to give me the peace of mind to be way downstairs--at least not alone. What was it about the basement that would scare the Buggy Man, Phantom of the Opera, or even the millions of famous dead people who we've ooed and awed over throughout history? Tackle the basement, suckers!

The shadows reflecting from the dull light gave me the tingling feeling that something eight-legged or the Mystery Date Dud was crawling on my forearm. While downstairs, I'd often hop into a hula hoop spin without the plastic because, I'd felt something creepy.

And the noise of the heater with the glowing orange light added to the drama. I'm with you Kevin, my Home Alone heater came to life when doing laundry too. In real life, we don't need  Hollywood scare music to add to the tension. Haunted houses on Halloween, nah, just find the basement.

Now that I'm a grown up, I live in a state so humid that the ground would swallow those dirt dwelling rooms. Not many basements in Memphis--only attics. Yikes! That's another post.

I'm leaving you with a fun link for those too young to remember Mystery Date or old enough to enjoy a nostalgic look back to the fun we used to have. Tune in Monday, and I'll tell you all about my closet.

Please click the Picket Fence. Thanks!

17 comments:

Rhonda @Laugh Quotes said...

I love Mystery Date, but I don't know if I would have played it if we kept it downstairs. My basement was a pretty scary place when I was a kid, it was the scariest place around until my cousin told me about closet monsters. Funny post.

Catch My Words said...

Thanks, Rhonda. I remember dashing for the door to get out of there once I had the prize under the arm.

Claire Goverts said...

Great post, I can really get the creepy basement. Growing up my brother and I used to play in our basement. I grew up in a one floor house, so the basement was fairly large. There was enough room for us to roller skate when we were smaller (and didn't have to worry about ducking under the beams).

Cat Lavoie said...

That clip is hilarious! And now I have the Mystery Date song stuck in my head. Yup, I definitely had the creepy basement growing up. I never wanted to go down there after dark!

Tony Payne said...

We used to have a basement that was a bit creepy, that and filled with lots of asbestos insulation, cobwebs, and on several occasion drains that backed up :(

Heather said...

Nice to meet you.
I am from the attic only part of the U.S. too!! Basements do seem creepy!

Catch My Words said...

Thanks to all for the comments! Our basement always backed up too.

msposh said...

I looked forever for one of those for my daughter (without HS Musical).It was a classic.

Stopping by from the UBP to say hello. Have a great weekend!
POSH
http://poshonabudget.com/2011/04/weekend-party-fun.html

Manzanita said...

Thanks for dropping in. Great Basement post. I've always tried to get out of basements asap. Like yours, the ones we had when I was a kid creeped me out. Now we have crawl space where you bang your head if you don't duck.
Manzanita
Wanna buy a duck

Laura Howard said...

I guess I'm the minority here...I always loved our basement growing up.( I had a chalkboard set up for playing school , it was great.. And I actually loved the musty smell..

Langley Cornwell said...

I've had creepy attics and creepy basements. And yeah, I love Mystery Date... hadn't thought about that in years. Thanks for the 'flash back.'

Chasing Joy said...

We had a basement like that when I was growing up. only partiall finished. Musty smelling. poorly lit. My dad built a boxing gym down there for my brothers. That was nice until I followed them down their an they ran back up and locked me in and turned out the light. I don't think I went down there to many times after that.

Thanks for linking of for Flshback Friday. Link up every Friday at http://www.chasing-joy.com.

Lorinda J Taylor said...

You don't know what spooky is until you've descended into the basement of a very old library to retrieve a government document for a patron. I'm a retired librarian, BTW, but this was when I was in college and working in my college library. The building was built in the 1890s and the basement was used only for storage. It had drop lights and you had to turn them on as you went and then turn them off as you retreated. Sometimes things were piled in the aisles between the stacks. I remember seeing a cartoon showing a wide-eyed librarian staring at a skull sitting on top of a pile of books with cobwebs all around. That's exactly what I expected to see every time I had to go down there!

Unknown said...

"The shadows reflecting from the dull light gave me the tingling feeling that something eight-legged or the Mystery Date Dud was crawling on my forearm."

This captures so well the experience of entering those creepy dark spaces humans have only half claimed from encroaching entropy, places where you just feel that overwhelming sense of being vastly outnumbered by arthropods who may coalesce into attack groups at any time.

I think I'll go take a bath.

Sandra Tyler said...

lol, sounds like my mother's basement. I had to dare to go down there this summer because her pipes were leaking. And clear out the spiderwebs just so the plumber could get to the pipes. And yes, I felt just like Kevin, even with the little hanging light bulb.

Journey of Life said...

This reminded the "longest" hallway that I needed to pass before reaching my room. Her eyes were following me and definitely gave me the creepy feeling as I rushed or perhaps ran as fast as I could.

*her referring to my deceased grandma's photo whom I was not closed with.

Sunni said...

Fun post. I hate basements, although I'm from the south and we never had one - too many spooky stories I guess. When I hear the word basement I think of moldy, dark places.