The Basement Light

There is a light in my basement that’s always on. It’s the only light in this small room in the corner of my basement, where nobody ever focuses on. Even after 3 years of living in this house I have never noticed it. I found it one day when me and my friends were playing hide and seek. The door to this room is always locked and by the look of the spider webs on the door, the door has been locked forever.

One day I asked my father why the door’s always locked and why that lights always on. My father answered, "I’m not sure son but it’s been that way even before we moved in!" I raised a brow. I could not believe it.

I then asked my dad if he’s ever been inside that room. My father gave me a surprised look then gave a loud sigh, "No son not ever and neither have the previous owners of this house. I was truly surprised. The previous owners had owned the house for over 20 years.

When I asked my dad about it in details he took me into his work room and showed me something. He went on a website and opened up a newspaper from over 35 years ago. He then searched up one story, the Shadow Man Story. He then carefully told me the story and why that door is locked and why the light is always on.

"There was a family who was going camping in the woods. The suddenly their car broke down. Unable to fix their car by sun down the family decides to take the important stuff and start walking.

After a while of walking they suddenly hear "shadow man shadow man" it was faint but clear. When they turned around the son was missing. Thinking that the son got scared the family walked on in search of a camp ground. Then they heard it again, "shadow man shadow man" this time it was louder and when the parents turned around their daughter was gone. Thinking that she too had gone back the parents walked on. Then after a while it started again, "shadow man shadow man" and the rest of the family disappeared.

The next day when the parents didn’t show up for work the police were called. The police went into the forest to look for them. All the found was their car. They never found the bodies or their stuff that they took with them. After further investigation the police found a man hidden in that forest. It turns out that the man is an insane madman who was in solitary lock up for so long that he now can’t even stand one second in the dark. When he does he gets powers.

They locked up this man in a high security lab in Alaska where they have their own power supply and ran tests on him. Then one day there was this horrible snow storm. It was so intense that it had knocked out all of the power systems in the lab for just a brief second. When the lights came back on all of the crew at the lab were gone and the door to the man’s cell was open." My dad paused for a bit then went on saying, "It is said that the man used to live in this house and that he eventually came back here after he escaped. That small room was his favorite room. That’s why the light’s always on in there."

I gasped and took in a deep breath. I then laughed as I didn’t believe a word of it. My dad was known for his crazy stories and exaggeration. I thanked him for the story and left the room. That night while my parents were asleep I woke up after having a nightmare about the Shadow Man. I walked down into my basement. I stared at that door for quite a long time before finally making up my mind. I walked over and unlocked it. Slowly I opened the door and peered inside. There was nothing there. It was just an empty room. What was odd though was that there were no spider webs in the room.

I walked into the room. A single light bulb hanged above my head and a thin pull cord dangled beside it. I laughed to myself and looked at the pull cord. It was so tempting. Finally I built up the courage and pulled the cord. Nothing happened.

The next day after none of the parents went to work and didn’t call in sick the police went to their house to investigate. The found all of the lights closed, all except one. That single light in that small room in the basement. The door was locked. All the beds were made, the door was still locked with the keys inside the house but the family was nowhere to be found.