Where is the scariest place you've ever visited?

[Byegad]

180 ft up a transmitter mast at Tacolneston. Sleet coming upwards at you. Hands frozen, gloves soaking and trying to climb down. Took me longer to climb down than it did in the calm before the storm. All for the sake of a Noel Edmond's Swap shop TV programme.

Good of you to take the blame Malc. Even if it is a little late!

[Malc]

It was worse when we did the Late late breakfast show!!

[jpendle]

OK as my post seems to have garnered no interest, I'm turning it into a competition.

What happened next?

The winner is the most accurate or possibly the most humorous

The prize is a free meal at the Waltzing Kangaroo pie shop near my house.

Regards,

John P

[Newportnobby]

Including air fare/car rental?

[daffy]

OK as my post seems to have garnered no interest, I'm turning it into a competition.

What happened next?

The winner is the most accurate or possibly the most humorous

The prize is a free meal at the Waltzing Kangaroo pie shop near my house.

Regards,

John P

Our house, when SWMBO has a strop on!!!!

Or the driveway to the Norton House Hotel, where it passes under the railway, not far from Ratho station.

Let me explain.

While returning to said hotel after midnight, I headed up the drive from the A8. It's narrow and tree lined, it's not lit either except for a very few lamps here and there.

Just as I got to the railway bridge, I saw a dark van with no lights on just under the bridge blocking the road. I slowed down and stopped just before the bridge.
As soon as I stopped another car with no lights on drove out of it's hiding place and blocked me from the back.

Then a dark figure got out of the car and walked towards my car. I locked all my doors and tried hard not to embarrass myself.

As this guy got closer he switched on a torch so I could see even less, except of course for the 2 people who had got out of the van in front and were headed my way..............

To be continued

John P

Okay JP, here's my version of the continuation of your tale.....

It was only then that I that my own car lights went out and the engine died. Even the ignition light was gone, and no amount of frantic key turning brought life to lights or engine. Only the beam of the torch behind me threw any light upon the scene now, and even the two guys now just a few short feet from my car had all but merged into the night.

Then that light too  went out.

All was in total darkness now and not even the sound of footsteps came to my ears from outside my feeble fortress.  A long, unrelenting, agonisingly terrifying silence hung in the air. A minute went by. Two. Then three, the seconds creeping by like the slow drip from a leaking tap. As sweat from my brow began to sting my eyes I gradually became aware of a noise that soon became a deafening, thumping beat as if all the devils in hell were pounding upon my car.  In terror I ripped open the glove box, searching in vain for something, anything to use as a weapon to defend myself from........ From what?
At that very moment a shrill whistle and a thunderous roar ripped the air and broke my thought as the night express from Glasgow took the bridge on its way into Waverley.
As the sounds of the train steadily faded, reason returned to my mind and I realised with a nervous laugh that the awful thumping was not the hordes of Satan but merely the frantic rhythmic beating of my own heart.
"Oi! Come on! Get out!" An all too real crash upon the car roof bought an audible cry from my dry mouth. Another thump and the torch light returned brighter than a thousand suns right beside my right ear. Again came the shouted command: "Oi! Come on! Get oot ya bampot!"
Bampot! What sort of villain says "Bampot" to his intended victim, I wondered.
The light went out as suddenly as it had appeared. Voices now murmured all around me, and the darkness was broken by a flash of orange light followed by a small red glow as one of them lit a cigarette. In those brief seconds I caught a glimpse of a round faced man with a thick grey beard and the unmistakable form of a hunting rifle hung over his shoulder.
"Oh my God, they're going to kill me!" came the small and terrified voice inside my brain.
"Don't be stupid!" said the quieter voice of reason and hope, "This is the outskirts of Edinburgh not downtown Chicago in the '20's."
"Precisely!" grinned the first voice.
The conversation ended abruptly as an awful face, illuminated by what I took to be the torch I had first seen, pressed up against my window.
"What on earth are you doing still sitting there?" He shouted in a rather unsettling easy tone. " Come on, the boys are all ready and there's wild Haggis for hunting somewhere around here cos young Jimmy and Big Angus just hit one with their van under the bridge. Burst his tyre he reckons. Just keep quiet, and watch out for Willy cos he's messin' about with that floodlight on his truck. He thinks the wee poor Haggis that Big Angus flattened was blinded by their headlights so he figures we can blind em and then shoot em."

Still nervous, but starting to feel like a complete idiot, I gingerly opened the door and stepped out. The glow from my car's interior light showed a small group of men stood beside a breakdown truck I hadn't noticed just off the road to the left.
"Er....um...look, I ..... er.... well...."
"Who the hell are you?" asked an invisible voice.
"Pendle" I rather foolishly replied, but courage now brightening in my chest. "Pendle" I repeated. "Pendle, John. I'm staying at the Norton, just up there."
"Oh", came the rather deflated reply, "We thought you was Gordy. He's got a car just like yours."
"No" said I.
"Well Pendle John, now we've been introduced, I'm Adam by the way, wanna come Haggis hunting? It's a good night for it."
"Well, yes I would, but I think my car's packed up. It won't start or anything".
"Here, gis a look" said a young man in a grimy boiler suit, who I presumed was Willy, as he pushed past me.
He turned the key and my car engine burst immediately into life as it ever had done.
"What the........"
"Seems fine to me" said Jimmy. "Are you sure you turned it the right way."

We all laughed, and later that morning I had one of the freshest Haggis' I've ever tasted for my breakfast, courtesy of one of the finest bunch of Scots lads I ever had the pleasure of meeting.

[joe cassidy]

This is turning into the Rocky Horror Show.

For me there is nothing more scary than landing in a plane in a thunderstorm at night, "preferably" in a third world country with a dodgy airline.

Bon voyage,


Joe

[Newportnobby]

I've been in a 747 over Chicago O'Hare airport in a thunderstorm when it was hit by lightning. Everyone, including cabin crew, was strapped in but the plane plummeted a little and when the stewardesses screamed I thought we'd had it. there was nearly an escape of 

[joe cassidy]

I forgot to mention the take-offs in windy weather when the plane suddenly drops like a stone for what seems like at least minute before climbing again.

At least it shuts up the noisy neighbour who had too many beers in the departure lounge !

Best regards,


Joe

[jpendle]

OK cos he's the only entry and because I doubt he'll be beat, Daffy wins the pie.

So the real answer is that it was the 'polis' searching for an escaped convict.

They advised me to keep all my doors locked and get to the hotel pronto.

BTW anyone who has read a Rebus novel will know that there are some extremely dodgy bits in Edinburgh.

Regards,

John P

[daffy]

Thank you John, I shall look forward to receiving my pie.

Hope you enjoyed my tail to your tale, and glad that the seedier side of Edinburgh was avoided by you that night.

[Komata]

Umm, excuse me Jpendie,  but  I think you're a little bit premature in your 'Winner' declaration!!

Writing such things takes time and if by 'what happened next' you mean what 'Would' have happened if 'remedial' measures / actions  were not taken, herewith my contribution.. I would suggest that an explosion of a lot of petrol tankers and the resulting carnage is at least worthy of some sort of consideration, if only in the interest of fairness and fair play.

______________________

Radio New Zealand Bulletin
0600
25 May

'The people of Auckland  woke this morning to find that the Newmarket Business District,and the suburbs of Remuera. Mt,. Richmond, and Mt Eden were in flames as a result of a huge explosion with its epicenter at the Newmarket railway yard.  Early reports indicate that many commercial buildings in the Newmarket CBD are now piles of rubble .

At least 80 fire appliances are in attendance, with more being called-in from the Waikato and Northland areas. Hospitals have been put on an emergency footing.

It is not known how many were killed as a result of the explosion,  but a first estimate puts the death toll at 10. This is likely to increase as further reports are received and daylight reveals the extent of the damage.

The Mayor of Auckland has declared a 'State of Emergency' and the Prime Minister has been advised.

Broadway, Manukau and Remuera roads are currently blocked by the Police and alternative routes have been put in place.

Further bulletins will be posted as information is received, and in the meantime, people are requested to avoid the area if at all possible'.

___________

Radio New Zealand Bulletin
1200
25 May

'Investigations into the cause of the immense explosion which destroyed much of the center of Newmarket and severely damaged the surrounding suburbs this morning have pinpointed the epicenter as being at the Newmarket railway yard. The exact causer is unknown, but the presence of pieces of railway tank cars in the vicinity of the explosion crater lead the investigators to believe that these may have been associated with the explosions. Investigations are continuing.

The New Zealand Fire Service advises that efforts to put out firs in the area adjacent to the site of the explosion are continuing and that a search is being undertaken through the rubble of the Newmarkt CBD in an effort to determine casualty numbers.

The death toll is currently 35, with an unknown number of injuries.

The State of Emergency' is still in place.

The Prime Minister is en-route to Auckland to view the extent of the devestation.

Traffic delays are being experienced, but on the whole traffic numbers have not been affected and road diversions are coping with the traffic flow'.

____________________

Radio New Zealand Bulletin
2300
30 May

'Investigators involved in the recent devastating Newmarket explosion have now determined that the explosion occurred  in rake of petrol -filled railway wagons which were standing in the Newmarket railway yard.  Each wagon has a capacity of 52000 litres. The wagons had recently arrived from the Marsden Point   oil refinery and were in the railway yard prior to being taken to the Auckland bulk-fuel tank farm at Freeman's Bay.

The fires caused by the explosion took three days to extinguish, and the death toll was eventually 37 although some bodies  (including that of the Signalman at the Newmarket railway yard) have not been found.

The 'State of Emergency' put in place by the Mayor of Auckland was lifted on 29 May.

In a statement, the Prime Minister (who had previously visited the area and assured those present that all steps would be taken to both catch the culprit and rebuild the devastated Newmarket CBD) said that 'He was pleased at the progress that was being made with the investigation and tht he pledges Government assistance to help rebuild the shattered Newmarket CBD and the houses destroyed in this unprecedented disaster.   The Earthquake and war Damage Commission was being given special powers to expedite the recovery'.

__________________________

Radio New Zealand Bulletin
1200
27 June

'The investigators into the recent Newmarket explosion have released their report.

They advise that the cause of the explosion was uncertain, handwritten notes written by the (deceased) Senior Signalman and retrieved from the explosion-demolished Newmarket signalbox indicate that the cause was a fuel leak which ignited after contact with an over-heated axle box on wagon Uca 122.  it is believed that this fuel leak ignited in turn set off explosions amongst adjacent tank wagons, the combined effects of which were to flatten may buildings in the Newmarket CBD and cause fires in domestic dwellings in adjacent suburbs.

No blame can be placed on any persons in respect of this incident.

The explosion left 41 people dead and  approximately 235  injure and  resulted in a State of Emergency being declared.

The cost of the damage is put at 45 million dollars.

The Prime Minister and the mayor of Auckland are scheduled to attend a memorial Service for the victims of the explosion next week'.

 








 

 

[JayM481]

The back of an APC as it reversed into a quarry was pretty scary - especially after the drop, pinned under a detached toolbox that weighed about 250lb, and listening to the section commander calling names to see who was still alive. We all made it, but it was a near-run thing.
Glad it wasn't a wet quarry!

[daffy]

Hi @Komata

I really liked your detailed tale of what might have happened if you had not been so diligent.

However I think you got the wrong end of the stick regards John's pie competition: he was only referring to a fictional conclusion to his own tale that he had started and left unfinished with the words "to be continued".

If you read back through his posts you will see what I mean.

If you're ever in my neck of the woods we can share a pie or two.

Best wishes.