Scary Stories: Power Outage

On the evening of Thursday, November 13, 2014, a man was watching Jeopardy with his girlfriend and her parents in a suburb on the US West Coast when the lights went out. There was no storm, no wind, no explanation. The sky was perfectly clear. As their eyes adjusted, they saw stars brighter than any of them had ever seen before—impossible with a major city just twenty miles away, unless the power was out there too. And on the horizon, there were flashes: an eerie green light, like lightning in a distant storm, but silent.

The family assumed it was transformers blowing. Neil, the girlfriend's father, brought out a battery-powered radio. There was only static. They lit candles, played Scrabble, and joked about hoping for a snow day from work. It felt almost cozy—until the radio crackled to life with a woman's voice: "This is a public service announcement. We are currently experiencing widespread power outages and public services are limited. Please remain indoors and we will update you when we have more information." The message played on repeat. They turned it down and kept playing.

The Instructions Change