On Tue, 05 Apr 2016 19:17:45 -0700, Leonard Blaisdell
> wrote:

>In article >, Janet B
> wrote:
>
>> the basement under the house where I grew up was a scary place that
>> children didn't want to go. It was lit by a light bulb in each room.
>> You had to be brave to travel to the center of the room and pull the
>> string to light the bulb. Various rooms wandered off in different
>> directions. All rooms were rough made and obviously meant for storage
>> and such. There were the rooms that were coal bins in the winter
>> (coal came in through the window.) There was the furnace room, eerily
>> lit by flickering flames only in winter, otherwise totally dark. It
>> was a very cold place because the outdoor access was cement stairs
>> covered by a drop down wooden lid. This kind of basement was very
>> common in older houses in the upper mid-west.
>
>The very first basement I ever encountered was in Abilene, KS. We were
>visiting Grandma for a extended period of time in about 1951. The
>basement scared hell out of me. It had a coal chute that just dumped
>into a open floor bin. There was a ominous boiler. It was dim with the
>only light coming through the coal chute opening and a flickering light
>from the wheezing, evil boiler. The stairs were wooden and steep. I
>know there was a dragon in the shadows, because I'm sure that I saw it.
>I was five and have never forgotten "the cellar". I've been in nicely
>appointed basements since and am fine in those. But, that thing...
>So! You've been there, done that. I skipped out early with glee in my
>heart.
>
>leo
I don't know if you have noticed, but Hollywood uses that kind of
basement for slasher and horror movies
Janet US