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Category Poetry / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 111 x 120px
File Size 70.7 kB
How awful can darkness be?
Try being in an antenna test range anechoic chamber when the power fails.
I'm suddenly in the dark. Not just dark, but pitch black eyeball sucking dark.
But it's more than dark, it's soul crushing deathly quiet too. You open your mouth and say something and hear nothing.
Then you sit and think, "I think the door is to my right."
And you wonder if it is or if the mounting pit for the antenna mast is to your right, a ten foot deep hole full of bolts and studs and other bad things to fall into.
So you just sit there and try not to panic, you try to control your breathing. You have to remember to blink.
5 minutes later the lights come back on.
You're almost blinded by them.
You realize the door was NOT to your right. Staying put was a VERY good idea.
When you walk back outside, you first thought is "I'm going to find who threw the switch and kill them."
You have a cigarette, and then you go back in, shut the door and finish running your tests, because that's what they pay you to do.
Bunners
Try being in an antenna test range anechoic chamber when the power fails.
I'm suddenly in the dark. Not just dark, but pitch black eyeball sucking dark.
But it's more than dark, it's soul crushing deathly quiet too. You open your mouth and say something and hear nothing.
Then you sit and think, "I think the door is to my right."
And you wonder if it is or if the mounting pit for the antenna mast is to your right, a ten foot deep hole full of bolts and studs and other bad things to fall into.
So you just sit there and try not to panic, you try to control your breathing. You have to remember to blink.
5 minutes later the lights come back on.
You're almost blinded by them.
You realize the door was NOT to your right. Staying put was a VERY good idea.
When you walk back outside, you first thought is "I'm going to find who threw the switch and kill them."
You have a cigarette, and then you go back in, shut the door and finish running your tests, because that's what they pay you to do.
Bunners
Some time ago my sister and I went to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and took the 'Wild Cave' tour. It's a 4 hour slog through the harder portions of the cave system where you need a hard hat and industrial knee pads. You are guaranteed to come out soaked in sweat and covered in mud and dust. Somewhere in the middle, waaaay below the surface of the earth and far from anyone else, the guides tell everyone to turn off their helmet lights and cover their camera ready lights. Everyone stays quiet. If no one coughs or makes any racket with their breathing, it only takes about 2 minutes to convince yourself that you've just been eliminated from existence. Aside from touch, there is no sensory input to tell you that you exist outside of your own mind.
Then you realize you've been holding your breath and you have to start again. That's when everyone starts gasping and it's all over. Weird stuff.
As an aside, when we came out of the side trail to leave, filthy and exhausted, we crossed paths with one of the short, 'easy' tours heading into the caves. They looked at us with alarm, which only got worse when one of the guys asked, "Hey, what year is it?"
Then you realize you've been holding your breath and you have to start again. That's when everyone starts gasping and it's all over. Weird stuff.
As an aside, when we came out of the side trail to leave, filthy and exhausted, we crossed paths with one of the short, 'easy' tours heading into the caves. They looked at us with alarm, which only got worse when one of the guys asked, "Hey, what year is it?"
When I lived off the grid in Minnesota, there were nights when all forty of the dogs would be perfectly quiet and I would sit up on top of the bunk barn to stare at the stars. The kennel was surrounded by miles of wilderness. There were no man made sounds of any kind at night, and all the lights came from the stars. It was very dark, but I was part of it and that made it comfortable.
That was the first time I ever experienced absolute silence.
It was amazing.
That was the first time I ever experienced absolute silence.
It was amazing.
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