Shows like the Sci-Fi channel’s Scare Tactics are quickly gaining popularity due to media hype about the show’s victims getting angry after the stunt is revealed. The show places people in science fiction or horror movie situations to give them a good scare. One person was led to believe that an alien was going to kill her and she sued the network.
Almost everyone thinks it is ridiculous that she is suing The Sci-Fi Channel over being frightened, but how do you think you might react in a situation like that? What if the threat was more realistic? What if it was not a UFO, but instead something that has really happened, such as a school shooting?
Well, I had the opportunity to find out what my reaction would be last Friday.
I was on my way to drop off my daughter at Little Bucs just like I do every morning. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Little Bucs, it is a daycare center located in Warf-Pickel Hall. They do a super job taking care of babies for students in need of daycare. I have never before felt like my child could be harmed there.
As I wrote down the time she got there, someone on the other end of the phone told one of the daycare employees to lock the doors and not let anyone in. I immediately knew something strange was going on, but I was not afraid, simply concerned. I asked the lady what was happening, but she didn’t know either. All she knew was that an employee from the daycare room downstairs for older children called the infant/toddler room and told them to lock the doors.
She called the lady back and asked her what was happening, gave a nonchalant “Mmm huh … OK,” and hung up. She then looked at me and said “There’s someone in the building with a gun.”
My heart stopped beating, my veins filled with adrenaline, and my mind was rushing. I thought of Columbine, Appalachian School of Law and Paducah, Ky. I thought about how this room would be the best to invade if the gunman wanted to take hostages. I wondered if there was anything I could use as a weapon and quickly realized that there shouldn’t be anything sharp or dangerous in a daycare.
The daycare employees moved furniture in front of the doors, turned off the lights and gathered all the babies and toddlers together in a room in the corner farthest from the door. I held my daughter and wondered what would happen next.
One of the girls from the infant room said that she saw two people with black hooded sweatshirts brandishing guns and running down the hall outside her room. “Great,” I thought. “They know this is a daycare … why else would they be outside?”
I had time to think about all the reasons that day was not a good day to die. I thought about what would happen if only one of us lived, about how the surviving one might feel. I thought about my husband … how would he find out? Would he find out while he was at work or would he come home to an empty house and wonder where we were?
After 10 to 15 minutes of horror that I could never express on paper, someone called and said it was all under control, the police were there. With a white face and red eyes, I stood up from the corner I had been crouching in. Much to my surprise, finding out that it was all over didn’t do much to soothe my nerves.
It turned out that the mystery gunmen in Warf-Pickel were mass communications students filming a scene. Public safety thought it was real, the Johnson City Police Department thought it was real, everyone involved with Little Bucs thought it was real, and most of all, I thought it was real. For a while, I thought that I might die that day, but thankfully, it was all a hoax.
I never dreamed I would react the way I did, and I bet if you were confronted with a situation like mine, you would surprise yourself too. I can only hope that one day in the not-too-distant future the person responsible for this gets to experience the same fear that I did. It was better than any roller coaster if you are an adrenaline junkie.
The next time you see someone whining about being scared to death by a prank, think twice before you laugh at them. The more popular these shows get, the better your chance of being the butt of the joke. Who knows, maybe now that they’ve had some practice, the communication department could do its own version of Scare Tactics.

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