5.23.2008

The Case Of The Possessed VCR.

So this is a true story I felt like sharing.

A few days ago, I popped an unlabeled VHS tape into my VCR to see what was on it (I wanted to watch a movie, but didn't feel like watching any of my some-odd 250 DVDs). Well, the tape then proceeds to get stuck in said VCR and nothing I do can get it back out. And I mean it's stuck. It'll either be popped up or stuck down (depending on if I pushed it down), and the flap on the VCR was stuck open.

And it was stuck in just the right place where the VCR couldn't read it, but knew something was possibly there. So for the first half of the time I'm messing with it, it'll stay on for a while, try to read the tape, and then turn back off. Then I think I break the thing, so now it'll stay on the whole time, but it'll continually try to fidget with the tape... such as switching back and forth between trying to play the tape and trying to eject it. It was very noisy.

The biggest issue with this is that everything is connected together through my VCR. Without it being on (and set to a certain channel), I couldn't use my DVD Player or my PS2 (which is highly annoying when you're used to at least watching a movie a night, but not having to go downstairs to the only other DVD Player in the house and trying not to have the TV loud enough to wake your parents).

But I digress. So I talk to my dad about helping me try to get the tape out and/or fix it (because I'm rubbish with tools and fixing stuff), but of course he never gets around to it. And the only VCR I could really replace it with is the one in my parents' room, which is equally as important for their TV's functionality as it is mine... so I can't take that one.

So then this morning, I'm finally fed up with the whole thing, and I start taking all the chords and whatnot out so I can just take it to my dad to try and get his help on getting it out. Imagine my surprise when I notice that not only is the VCR flap back down, but there's no tape inside.

The tape was gone.

I checked on my floor where there's a mess of VHS tapes, and I do see an unlabeled one, but I have no idea if it's the same unlabeled one, because I'm prone to having unlabeled VHS tapes.

Long story short, neither one of my parents had anything to do with the removal of the tape, and I know I didn't do it (unless I woke up in the middle of the night and did sleep-repairs). It is truly bizarre, if I say so myself. We still have no idea how the tape got out of the VCR (and onto my floor, if it is, indeed, the same one). Oh, and another weird note is that my TV was unplugged, as well. Though I could have accidentally done that while I was messing with chords trying to get the ones off the VCR... but I doubt it, because I wasn't pulled that hard (the chords go back behind this wooden shelf thing, all tangled with each other, then across, and into a power strip. My room is a regular fire hazard. And very hot).

So yeah... Creepy.

1 comment:

  1. It was the VCR gnomes that helped you out. They stop by my place all the time.

    I think the real problem here is your TV. If you still need to run components through your VCR, that sounds like you don't have enough A/V ports in your TV. Boo VCRs!

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