The Strange-ness: My Haunted Television

The Strange-ness -- The Grey Area News -- greyareanews.com
The Strange-ness -- The Grey Area News -- greyareanews.com

Contributed by Brenda Lambert, Member www.paranormalchasers.com

You may not think of your TV as something that would be considered “haunted”, but here I’ll tell you of my personal experience, and you may just change your mind.

So, here I am on an average Saturday. My daughter is excited that she will be having a sleep over with six of her closest seven year old friends. We’ve purchased snack foods, the sleeping bags are all carried down from the attic, and we have plenty of pillows to go around. We’ve recently purchased a big screen TV (two days ago), and my daughter has chosen the movies the girls will be watching between giggling and playing silly games in her room.

The girls have all arrived and there has been just as much giggling as one mom can take for the evening, so I suggest we have the “campout” with the sleeping bags and movies in the living room. Seven sleeping bags are stretched out on the living room floor and there is barely room to maneuver between them. Popcorn and juice are served to all. The girls are watching their movies, and there is quiet. Blissful quiet, except for the occasional repeating of movie lines or question from one of the small campers. All is well.

We’re halfway into the 2nd movie, the girls are having a good time camping out….the TV cuts itself off. Noooooo! It’s a brand new TV. What’s the problem?! Upon pressing the power button on the remote, I get a blue screen and nothing else. I cannot change the channel. I cannot turn the TV back off. I cannot switch the source to cable so the girls can watch the Disney channel….nothing. Here I am with seven little girls in the house planning to watch movies into the wee hours and I have no TV.

Since the store from which I purchased the TV is still open, I call them and explain that I either need someone to bring a new TV or I need them to come fix the problem. Or, maybe the technical service department can assist me over the phone with changing whatever setting has caused the TV to become inoperable. The representative on the phone states that they can send a repairman, but it will be Monday before they can get someone out to the house. They suggest I bring the TV back in tonight. Well, I cannot leave seven 7 year olds to take the TV back, so I settle for a repairman scheduled for Monday and we abandon the campout.

Monday rolls around and the repairman comes to the door. He asks about the TV….what happened, how long had it been on before it cut off, how old was the TV, etc. I give him all of the details about which he inquires. At this point he tells me he’s going to check it out and see if he can find the problem.

He has a bag of tools with him that reminds me of something a doctor might have carried back in the day when doctors still made house calls – just a small satchel of a tool bag. The repairman unzips the tool bag and removes from it a small electronic box. He explains that this is a hand held diagnostic computer, and that he can connect it to the TV. It will scan the components inside to TV to let him know if something has burned out or is faulty. He now has the little diagnostic computer connected by a short cable to the TV. He’s turned it on and is watching the screen.

I’m watching as he does his thing, hoping he’ll tell me it’s going to be an easy fix and that I’ll have my new TV back in working order quickly. I’m watching him, he’s watching the little computer in his hand…. waiting, waiting, waiting…. Suddenly, the repairman’s face drains of color and he has a look on his face as if he’s just witnessed a horrific accident or a crime…or seen a ghost. He hastily disconnects his diagnostic computer from my TV and says (in a voice almost not loud enough for me to hear), “Your house is haunted. There is a ghost in this TV. A ghost is talking to me through your TV. Its talking through your TV to my computer. TV’s are not supposed to do that. They aren’t programmed to do anything like that. You need to get someone else out here to fix this TV. I will NOT come back into this house.” He left the house immediately and would not tell me what the TV “said” to him. He was in such a hurry to leave that he left all of his tools behind, to include his hand held diagnostic computer, right there on the floor where he had been working.

I had to call the store back and tell them that their repairman left without fixing the TV, and that he’d left all of his tools. The repairman must have spoken to the manager after arriving back at the store, and I’m guessing he told the manager what the TV “said” to him. Three days later the store sent a great big hulk of a man over to deliver a new TV. This hulk also collected the tools that had been left behind. I asked him if he could tell me what was wrong with the repairman, or if he knew what had happened. Either this man was not on the “need to know” list, or he just plain refused to tell me what the TV had “said” to the repairman. I will probably never know what the TV “said”, but I did get a new working TV with which I never had any problems.

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About Kay Whatley 2309 Articles
Kay Whatley serves as Editor and Reporter with The Grey Area News. Kay is a published author with over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. Kay Whatley is wife to Frank Whatley, founder of The Grey Area™ newspaper and The Grey Area News online news website.