On a similar theme, almost. When I was a photography student, one of the lecturers once briefly entered the darkroom (hidden behind a dark light-proof curtain), and very quickly flicked the fluorescent white lights on and off. I assumed the brief lighting up of the tubes was caused by a powerful pulse of electromagnetic radiation. That could only mean one thing - a nuclear weapon had been detonated and we were all about to meet our end - or worse still, survive in a devastated world. I was quite surprised when I stepped outside and the world was still there.
(This post was last modified: 2018-09-29, 01:31 PM by Typoz.)
Those stories bring to mind a time in the late 80s when I was rehearsing with a band at this older guy's house, fairly secluded in the woods. We took a break and his TV didn't have a lot of channels but a program, a "fake broadcast" was on that imitated what would happen if nuclear war had started, and telling citizens what was happening. We honestly believed this was a happening for a good while and it really was awful feeling that our lives were about to be snuffed out.
I guess the surprise and fear were too strong for us to stay cool-headed and be skeptical about newscasters we didn't recognize.
It didn't help that the older guy was constantly strung out on weed, easily paranoid and not the most level-headed fellow!
The program may have been this one, this Canadian one:
Although the year this happened was 1986 or early 1987 at the latest (possibly it was a repeat of this program). There have been a few others like it, such as this 1983 American one:
(This post was last modified: 2018-09-29, 08:13 PM by Ninshub.)
On a lighter note, when I still lived in England, I visited Sweden for the second time to spend Christmas with M (my girlfriend at the time and now my wife) and her family. We had both travelled a long way as she had to journey from Gothenburg to Orsa in Dalarna and of course I had travelled direct from England, so both of us were tired and a little stressed. After dinner, we went up to the studio, which was our bedroom for the holiday and we spent some time cuddling and being romantic and she looked at me and said "I love you." Right on cue a tic took possession of me and I threw my head to one side and blurted out "You talk f*ck*ng sh*t!" I was scared everything was ruined because, although she knew I had tourettes, M hadn't heard one of my vocal tics before but she just burst out laughing, causing me to laugh too. We were a lot more relaxed after that and the holiday could begin for real.