Wildest flashlight stories?

I have none, but this is what I heard from a fellow I got a royally beat-to-hell flashlight from. What are the wildest things that have happened to yours?

"I bought that light in the seventies while I was an MP in
Germany. When I started at xxxxx PD in 1978 they didn't provide
flashlights at all as part of issue so they allowed us to carry whatever we
bought. In 1981 I was riding shotgun on PM shift when our unit became
involved in a chase headed toward the NH border on Interstate 95. The
suspect driver was DWI, suspended and had a couple of bench warrants out for
him and he kept trying to force other vehicles into our cruiser. My Partner,
Officer xxxxxxx, brought the cruiser up alongside the suspect and I reached
out and tried to hinder his vision (mind you we were doing 85-95 Mph on a
bridge) by smashing his windshield with my flashlight. Well, I lost my grip,
the light bounced off the suspect's door column and was last seen skidding
under an 18-wheeler that we'd just past. After making the arrest at the end
of the chase in a field in NH we went back and found that light against the
curbing at the top of the bridge. The light survived pretty much intact. It
had a few good scuff marks on it, but I put a replacement bulb in and to my
amazement it still worked. I carried it until about 1985 when the PD started
putting rechargable lights in the cars."

My story is more of a bad experience.

About 4 years ago, some of my friends and I decide to mess around during the summer and we wanted to explore the storm drain system under our neighborhood. but we only had 2 lights (mine was a cheap Panasonic BF-100 which was similar to an Everyready 2D and the other was a Coleman electric lantern).
Anyway, there were 7 of us and we went into the storm drain outlet in the woods near our Junior High school. We decided to split up at an intersection and part of our group with the lantern went down a different pipe while me and 2 of my friends kept going straight. Well John Love, who was leading the way, dropped my flashlight and it cracked open and went out when it hit the bottom of the pipe. I had to grope around in the dark feeling for the flashlight parts and batteries all over before we could get light again. The flashlight had a nasty crack going up the side but it worked (dimly) after I manage put it back together.
On a few other occasions, we went back to the storm drain with stronger lights but as of now; I'm too tall to fit in the 4' diameter pipe.

From a post last month:

Back in the early 70s I was kicking around different jobs in Alaska and I always carried a disposable incan light in my kit as a backup. They worked pretty well. They were rectangular and just a little bigger and thicker than a pack of smokes. They had one corner knocked off and that's where the bulb was. They were good for emergencies because they were all battery -- no wasted space.

I had one that I put into a baggie. I folded the excess plastic around it and held it in place with a few pieces of tape. The light could be switched on and off through the bag. I'm sure that it wasn't waterproof but the bag offered some protection. I lugged it around that way for quite a while.

At one point I was working on a three man tug boat in the Gulf of Alaska and without going into a whole lot of detail, one night about 4 types of mechanical failures happened in rapid succession. The situation cascaded to the point where we were in danger of losing the tug AND the tow. The generator was one of the things out and as Murphy would have it, no one could make their flashlight work.

That lame disposable backup flashlight, wrapped up in a baggie, actually saved the day. It was the only light on the boat that could be made to work that night. I'm still kind of amazed by it.

Sub Umbra, if I had an experience like that, it's guaranteed that it would have helped to start my Flashaholism. Is that what launched your quest for better lights?

One of our Facilities Techs dropped his 3D cell Maglight into our Acid Waste Neutralization pit. It sat in the bottom for months in a swirling bath of mixed acids with caustic soda being injected to neutralize the acid. The next time we had a break in production we did some preventative maintenance, the pit was drained and he retrieved the light. There was no anodization left on the light except a thin strip of red where it had been in contact with the bottom of the tank. He replaced the batteries and it worked just fine.

I will tell this one on behalf of a friend, who is not on the internet, but who I convinced to buy an A2:

He was at a concert at Apline Valley, the kind of place with a band shell, seating, and then a grassy amphitheater beyond that. Anyway, he and friends were up on the grass. While walking around my friend found a guy laying on the ground, not moving. So, taking out his trusty A2 he took a look and the guy was in real bad shape. He was way drunk, had vomitted, had aspirated it, and was basically in a coma. As my friend was looking at the guy security showed up...with your basic dim flashlight. They shortly realized where the good light was coming from and were directing my friend where to shine it. When they called for assistance they grabbed his light and waved it in the air telling the folks on the radio "look for the light". The EMTs showed up, snatched his light to do their work, bundled up the comatose drunk and took off.

Yes, my friend got his light back. But it kinda makes you wonder how things would have gone had he not been there...

Now for my somewhat lamer story:

At the rehearsal dinner for my wedding, I gave E2E's to my best man, father in law, and my father. My father let one of my nephews open his, and the nephew promptly began shining it at people around the restaurant. My father scolded him a bit because it's rude with a regular flashlight and downright rude with an E2E and he stopped.

Then my wife and I walked over to her family's table, where her father opened his, and promptly began shining it at people ;-) "Hey! Wow! This thing is BRIGHT! Hey Chris - can you still see?..."

Three weeks ago my 4 year old son and I went to a yearly church festival in the night. I knew something was wrong because the place was dark but the people were still there. The church was overloading the circuits, the power was switching off and someone, somewhere, was manning the circuit box to flip the breakers on when the power went off.

My son and I went into the auditorium full of people to eat. Just as I was paying for our dinners when the lights went out again...for good. Who knows what happened the the breakers or the person flipping the switch. I swear like on cue, my son pulled out his Xnova AA light and turned it on at the same time I turned on my Streamlight Jr. Luxeon and clicked it on. I gave my son the Streamlight and showed him to point it at the exit while I used the Xnova to pay for the dinner then used the Xnova to point it in the general direction of the exit. Everyone made it out of the auditorium safely but I could hear people in the crowd wondering what kind of white light the little flashlights have. And they were commenting and laughing on that nice little boy that was holding the light to light up the exit sign and doorway.

It was the Lone Ranger and Tonto to the rescue!

[ QUOTE ]
jayflash said:
Sub Umbra, if I had an experience like that, it's guaranteed that it would have helped to start my Flashaholism. Is that what launched your quest for better lights?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, it did help me on my way. But even before that...

In the summer of '67 I was 16 and got a chance to work on the +600' ore carriers on the Great Lakes for summer vacation from high school. The ship was 65 yrs old and a death trap. (It was so old that it was powered by reciprocating steam -- hand fired coal! -- no lie!) The deck of one of those old 'lakers' was a pretty dangerous place. They had the ancient style 'telescopic' hatch covers and had to be opened and closed with cables and steam winches. It took five or six guys to do it. I was Bull deckhand so I gave the signals to the winch man. Sometimes I would be as far as 200' from the winch operator.

One night we were closing hatches underway and the wind was blowing and it was raining pretty hard. You may remember the cheap 2D chromed Ray-O-Vacs. That was all I had. The light just got wetter and wetter as the task wore on. Eventually it started to go off by itself while I was signaling. I'd have to shake it to get it to come on again for a few seconds. It was horrifying.

I had guys working all around all of this power (in the cable) and even at 16 I was very worried that someone on the crew could loose fingers, toes, or even die. No one got hurt that night, but I still remember it vividly. I would have felt really bad if any of those men would have got hurt while I was giving the signals. I'm sure that it was not a pleasant night for the winch operator, either. I NEVER looked at a flashlight the same way after that night. I NEVER EVER wanted to be in a situation like that again.

That was probably the real beginning. I'm sure that many of us have been nudged in this direction over and over throughout the years.

I'll bet that there are lots of folks around here who have similar (and much scarier) stories. That's what's so cool about this place. IMO there is a reason why CPFers like lights -- they're people who DO things. (Sometimes really crazy things!) They often really NEED their lights. To me, that means that there is a higher density of interesting people here than most other places. I'd love to read some of the stories about lights that CPFers WON'T tell.

My total sea time only added up to a little over five years, but flashlights were a pretty important thing there.

When I was around 5 years old (1970's), the priest in our church always carried a flashlight during evening masses. One day during mass, he asked(whispered) one of his assistant to get him something from his office. When the assistant returned and indicated that he cannot find what he wanted, the priest got his 2D aluminum Eveready flashlight out of his pocket and whacked his assistant's head in full view of the stunned churchgoers.

OT - sorry, but...hey Sub, we have a little in common. After college I spent a season on the P.D. Block (the Snake), one of Inland Steel's old ore boats. 672'(IIRC) with a 60' beam - I never knew how much 2" thick steel could flex!

I got to be a deck watch after a couple months and operated the gantry crane to lift the hatch covers. Working 4 on/ 4 off I spent half my time working at night. I could have used much better lights but that was way before...

Once, I was shitting in a toilet and was about to finish shitting when suddenly the cleaner who passed by just assumed that there's isn't anyone in the toilet and turned off the lights. Once the lights were out it was like total darkness. The switch is on the outside and I am in the toilet; pants down with fresh poop on my asss, blinded at the same time. Lucky I have a PT Pulsar II, one of those single 5mm LED. I was then able to clean my asss without messing up.

Well, maybe not as dramatic as prior stories, or interesting or graphic... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smoker5.gif

But back in mid 80's I was stationed in South Carolina. I dated a local girl for a short period.
Well, one very dark moonless night, her sister and sister's boyfriend took us way out in the boonies. I drove, but the boyfriend navigated. We ended up at a church. Well, he wanted to go exploring and leave the girls behind. And he asked for a flashlight.
Hmmm. I agree.
I give him a RadioShack giveaway 3D plastic jobbies. [remember when they gave those away?] I slip a mini-mag in my pocket. [They were still top of line back then for AA's.]
Well we wander about 50 yards away pass brush and fields and end up at the cemetary section. He starts pontificating. Then he turns off the light and tries to play a little practicle joke on me. Unfortunately for him, it backfires. The RadioShack special breaks in two when he accidentally drops it while he tries to run back and hide. Now he's lightless and fumbling around in the dark. I conveniently reach in my pocket, pull out the MM and find my way back to the girls the other way-round. I limited the use if the light so as to not help him. He finds he way back quite a few minutes later with a busted bulb and a more busted look on his face. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif
Hmmm. Even the sister was laughing at him.

Back in the mid-1970s, I was snowmobiling with my dad on the Dan Moller ski trail in Juneau AK. Somewhere around 3rd Cabin (about two miles up the trail), I hit a mogul and the snowmobile (an Arctic Cat 400 I think) crashed into a ditch and the motor quit running. I took my Eveready Big Jim out from under the seat, and used it for signalling purposes. After my dad saw the flashlight beam, he came over and helped me pull the snowmobile out of the ditch. It refired at once, and we both rode back down the trail and back home to our little brown house on Nowell Avenue.

Here's a photograph of an Eveready Big Jim flashlight:

This one time, at band camp...


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

In all seriousness - about a year ago my husband and I had gone camping at a friend's family farm. Of course this involved a campfire and consumption of much beer. Around 2 in the morning, my husband had crawled into our tent in a drunken stupor and fallen asleep, and the friend and I decided that it would be a brilliant idea to go riding around the farm in the dark, drunk, on a 4-wheeler going about 60 mph. So, we're on this ATV zipping around and basically acting like a couple of mullets and we decide to make one more run at top speed before turning in - at which point a fence suddenly pops up directly in front of us. My friend tried to turn but of course, we were going too fast and it was too late, and we were both thrown off the ATV. There was a lot of movement and yelling, and then I had a mouthful of dirt. LOL. Best I can figure, I hit the ground and landed directly on my arse, and then somehow bounced/rolled through the dirt only to end up jammed about halfway up under the barbed wire fence. My friend landed in the dirt, directly on his collarbone (which of course broke). When we got up, the ATV was high-centered on the fence off to the right (I guess it must have bounced over us), both of our clothes were torn up from the fence, we were both covered in dirt, whiskey (he'd had a fifth in his back pocket which broke upon impact), and blood. My arm had been sliced open by the fence, and it bled everywhere. We were very lucky, since I've heard many stories about much worse accidents involving 4-wheelers and fences. We somehow managed to get up but, in our drunken and now injured state, couldn't get the ATV off the fence - so we had to hoof it back to the campsite, in complete darkness. I had NO lights with me (shocking, I know) and all he had was a Mag Solitaire 1AAA. LOL. We hiked all the way back to the tent - him with a broken collarbone and me with 2 cracked ribs, a badly lacerated arm, and a bruised tailbone - with 1 keychain mini-Mag. I should add that while I am injured and attempting to make my way through the wilderness back to the stinkin' tent - my husband is happily cozied up inside the tent asleep - WITH ALL THE FLASHLIGHTS. We made it back to the tent and picked up my truck and the remainder of the evening was spent assessing our injuries and making trips to the ER. My friend ended up having to go to months of physical therapy for his collarbone and I now have a lovely scar thanks to that fence.

Needless to say, I always carry a good light now, and I also don't ride 4-wheelers anymore. (At least not while intoxicated!)

Well, There was the one known as "Nightfire". Rumor had it that no man had ever managed to wrap his fingers around it's barrel. Powered by a dozen Duracell CR123As, it was a sight to behold, nay a sight that would shake your very faith....


Oh. You meant wildest flashlight story!

I can't think of one.

Daniel

I only got into this flashaholic bug a couple of years back but prior to that I went on a trip to Malacca in Malaysia with my friends. At that time I wasn't even a flashaholic but for what reason I carried a mini Maglite I do not know. One of my friend is a permanent resident here in Singapore but he was born in Malacca. His mum is still there so we decided to stay in his mum's place which is in a village.

I remembered he told me to bring a flashlight when we go out at night. Malacca isn't really dark but in some places it is. My flashlight though miserable served it's purpose alright. I wasn't entirely happy with the brightness but I thought that was the brightest light in it's class.

We were out for dinner in a seafood restaurant and I had my mini Maglite with me. As the restaurant is built in a very rural area and is situated quite far from the car park we have a hard time getting to the car after dinner. Along the way there are pot holes, mud, gravel, rocks and whatever a rural area could give you and with the added bonus of no streetlamps. Suddenly I recalled having a mini Maglite in my pocket. With the mini Maglite I was of course the hero of the night. Everyone swarmed to me like bees to honey. We reached our car and got back safely, but on hind sight if only I was a flashaholic at that time and had my Surefires with me....

Eventually, I lost my mini Maglight in Malacca. How I do not know but I guess it slipped out of my pocket when I am having some beer at one of the pub.

Reminds me of when I was an astronaut. Lost my flashlight on an EVA. It's still floating around up there -- plenty bright but it has gone yellow /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

-(a different) Craig

Oh, that wasn't the only light I lost.

I once dropped my M2 with the KL3 in a parking lot and I did not even realize it until I reached home. I went back to look for it and it was still lying there on the floor. Guess the next guy who parked his car there did not see the light just where he got down.

I lost my E1e with the KL1 when on a cab. I was messaging my friend and placed the light on my lap. As I was getting out of the cab I dropped the light without realizing as it is so small. I called the cab rental company to report a lost and the girl behind the phone thought I must be crazy to report on a flashlight. After taking down my particulars and asking for a description of the flashlight, her reaction goes "Excuse me sir, but is this torchlight so important to you? I mean, of sentimental value to you?" Well, my replies to her was "Of course it is! it cost me bloody 200 Singapore dollars!" and she went "What...!!!???"

Twice (and it worked good) used X990 at show to replace broken/blown spot light at musical/ band show, The musicians actually complained that the light was to bright /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif (LOL) compared to 1000 watt spot. Made the crowd happy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif The zoom focus on the X990 is most useful in show light application. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

NikolaTesla /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

An Arc lamp is the Spark that takes away the Dark--HID Forever!

My Lights LightWar /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif