Fright Night, courtesy of my sister Linda — 1965
I recall one of the most frightening times of my life, which occurred when I was 13 years old in American Fork. My parents were out of town and had left me under the supervision of my sister, Linda. Linda and her friend, Linda Thornton, decided to go to a movie on a Friday night, and begrudgingly took me along, having no other viable choice. Unfortunately for me, the movie playing at our local theater was a spine-chilling thriller entitled “I Saw What You Did And I Know Who You Are”. The show was about 2 teen-aged girls and their young sister who accidentally became involved with a man who had just committed a murder. The show was especially frightening to me because it was so realistic, and the show was produced to incite maximum terror in its viewers. I can still vividly remember every scene in the movie and my blood runs cold even now as I recall those scenes. What made the evening even more terrifying, however, was the fact that Linda and I drove home to our dark, empty home after dropping off Linda Thornton at her home. My bedroom was down in the basement, and, despite my pleading with Linda to let me sleep upstairs, she insisted that I sleep in my own room. I knew that every step I took down those dark stairs and on into my bedroom was going to be my last step in mortality, as I fully expected to meet the same fate as the unfortunate teen-aged girls in the horror show I had just seen. My sleep that night, what little there was of it, was restless and fitful. I have reminded Linda many times over the years of the dastardly deed she perpetrated that night. No matter how long I live here in mortality, my life will be at least one year shorter than it should have been due to that one fateful, fearful, frightening night!
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