Ever wonder what secrets lurk within the seemingly innocuous objects that populate our lives? Buckle up, as I share the harrowing account of my run-in with an enigmatic piece of aviation history – the Exploding Blue Taxi Light. As a brash young pilot in Denver's Stapleton International Airport, I could have never predicted how a souvenir from my audacious past would erupt into a puzzle years later, right in my own karate studio. This episode isn't just about the shards of a shattered memory; it's an exploration of the power of the mundane to morph into the macabre when you least expect it.
As the Master of Creep, I've spun many a chilling yarn, but this farewell episode of the Creepy Show podcast might just be the one that clings to your psyche. We wrap up with a tale so unnerving, it deserves its own place in the annals of our darkest narratives. I leave you with a laugh that will reverberate through your bravest nights and a reminder to keep the nightlight burning. Spread the word, my fellow aficionados of the eerie, and remember – sometimes, the most terrifying stories are hidden in the fragments of our own histories.
Speaker 1:
Well, hello, my little creepies. Oh, yes, it's that time again. We talk about UFOs and Bigfoot, paranormal true crime and conspiracy stories and all things creepy. Yes, this is the Creepy Show. You can find us online at creepyshow and I'm your host, the Master of Creep.
Speaker 2:
Tonight's episode is called the Exploding Blue Taxi Light. When I was a teenager in 1972, I was 18 years old and living in Texas. I had just finished flight school and got my private pilot's license. I was dating a girl who was a couple of years younger. She was still in high school. Her father got transferred during the summer to Denver, colorado, so my girlfriend had to move. I drove up there to visit her a couple of months later and while I was there I made the decision to move to Denver. I started looking for a job, since I was already a pilot. I went to Stapleton International Airport and I got a job refueling small corporate jets at a fixed base operation known as an FBO.
Speaker 2:
Being 18, I was ready to move out on my own and start a new life. I went back to Texas, rented a trailer, packed up all my stuff and moved. I got a small one-bedroom apartment in Denver. I started a new life with all of the benefits and consequences of making your own decisions. For the first time in my life, I had an electric bill and a phone bill. I had to buy my own groceries and keep my car running, just like any other adult. I quickly learned that when you made a mistake, you paid the price. If you decide to stay up and party all night long and you have to go to work the next morning, you paid the price. Looking back on this now, I realize that the best way to become an adult is to just jump in and make mistakes. You will quickly learn and in terms of maturity, I probably aged 10 years in only two months.
Speaker 2:
I started working at the airport and I had a regular schedule Monday through Friday, with the weekends off. One of my chores was to keep the fuel trucks filled up, so I had to drive a 10,000-gall gallon truck called a KW Dart. This is a very big and low to the ground truck, designed to be able to fit under the wings of airliners. A few weeks later, I quit seeing my girlfriend. We didn't have a fight or anything, but our lives were completely different. I considered myself an adult and she was still a teenager, and we just lost touch.
Speaker 2:
One week it rained very hard in Denver and when I went to work, many parts of Stapleton Airport were under a few inches of water. Many of the taxiways were underwater. Few inches of water. Many of the taxiways were underwater. My workday started at the fuel farm a place away from airplanes where you refuel the trucks and I had just loaded 10,000 gallons into the truck and started to drive back to the main section of the airport. I accidentally slid off the road, which was underwater, and I hit one of the taxi lights. A taxi light marks the paths for airplanes to go from the gates to the runways. While getting out of the truck, I could see that the taxi light was still working, even though I just drove over it with more than 100,000 pounds of fuel and truck. My truck pushed the taxi light down about a foot into the mud and the muck, but it was still on. I actually was amazed that it wasn't broken. I actually was amazed that it wasn't broken. I tried to pull the taxi light back up to the surface of the road and when I did, the blue glass cover came off in my hands. The light was a deep cobalt blue color and was very thick. I decided to keep it as a souvenir.
Speaker 2:
After a few months later, I moved back to Texas and, of course, I took my taxi light with me. Since it seemed indestructible, I didn't bother wrapping it up for protection. I just threw it in the box with some other stuff. During the next five years I had moved several times. Each time I moved, I would take my taxi light with me. I usually just put it on the shelf and when friends would come over and ask me about it, I would tell them about the story of running over the light.
Speaker 2:
When I turned 23, I opened a karate studio. I was always interested in the martial arts and managed to get my black belt. My martial arts school was located in Bedford, texas. I had an office in my karate school. I placed my taxi light on a bookshelf that was against the wall. One day, while working at the studio, I stepped out of my office for just a minute and I heard a shot. I heard glass breaking and I thought someone was shooting at me. I hit the floor and I stayed down for a few minutes. I was wondering why someone would want to kill me. I didn't have any enemies that I could think of. Maybe it was just a stray bullet. Maybe someone was shooting from the road because of a road rage incident. Whatever the reason, I stayed down until I thought it was safe to stand up again.
Speaker 2:
My studio had very large windows that were about 8 feet tall. I started looking at all of the windows to figure out which window was broken. I was surprised to find that there were no windows broken. Maybe it was the window in my office. So I went back into my office and looked at the window. It wasn't broken either. This is very odd because I know I heard glass breaking. Then I noticed my shelf and I couldn't believe my eyes. My taxi light was gone, or it was in a thousand pieces. It looked like maybe it had just exploded for absolutely no reason at all. There were shards of blue glass everywhere on the floor embedded into the bookcase. There was even some stuck in the ceiling. This is the same line that didn't break when I drove over it with a fuel truck. The same line that survived moving four or five times during the past five years.
Speaker 2:
I made a mental note of the day and the time that this happened. It was on a Saturday. It was on a Saturday, december 11th 1976, about 10.30 in the morning. 30 years later, while surfing on the internet, I started thinking about all of the people that I knew growing up. I started looking them up one by one just to make a connection and see how their lives ended up. I remembered my girlfriend in Denver and I tried to look her up online and I was amazed to find her now married with three kids and living in Billings, montana.
Speaker 2:
I asked her about living in Denver and how did she end up in Montana, I said she said she fell in love with a physical therapist who was helping her recover after the accident. What accident, she said? Oh you don't know. I had a terrible auto accident while going to work and actually died in surgery, but they were able to bring me back and then, while recovering, I met Steve, the love of my life. He was later transferred to Billings. Oh my gosh, I had no idea. When did this happen? It happened on Saturday morning, december 11th 1976. And now you know why this story belongs on the Creepy Show podcast.
Speaker 1:
As the casket closes on another creepy episode, we bid you farewell to the shadows that danced upon your fears. Oh, and thank you for joining us on this creepy journey into the unknown, where the darkness whispers secrets and the silence echoes within your soul. Find us online for some extra creepy content at creepyshow and, if you happen to make it through the night, don't forget to share this podcast with someone you want to terrorize. Good night, my little creepies. Sleep with one eye open, for the night is long and full of horror. Ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha.