Attack of the Space Insect

It was a cold winter night in 1965. I was wearing my pajamas and snuggling with Daddy on the couch watching a Christmas special on TV when a high-pitched, piercing noise immediately distracted us from our show. I followed Daddy into the front yard. In the dark night sky, we saw a huge mass. It looked like a giant insect with a long stinger aimed directly at us.

“What is that, Daddy?” I asked, clutching my teddy bear. Looking around, I saw numerous neighbors outside in their yard, also staring at the sky.

“Don’t worry, baby,” said Daddy. “It is a light show of some sort. Disneyland must be developing some sort of new attraction.” This seemed reasonable to me. We lived about a mile from the “Magic Kingdom” and saw the fireworks from our front yard every summer night.

Our neighbor Bob – who was a pilot – walked across the street to talk to Daddy. Other neighbors gathered in our front yard.

“What do you think, Bob?” Daddy asked. “Is this a new Disney attraction or is it a military exercise of some sort?”

“It’s not the military,” said Bob. “I’ve never seen or heard anything like it before.”

At that point, the apparition changed its tone from a high-pitched, piercing noise to a loud, dull throbbing sound. “Boom. Boom. Boom.” The tempo steadily increased until the “booms” coalesced into a single loud – almost rumbling – sound. Then, there was silence. The image in the otherwise dark night sky seemed to withdraw briefly. Then it came. “BOOM!”

There was a huge flash in the sky north of us, and the horizon turned red.

“Los Angeles has been hit,” said Daddy.

“I believe you’re right,” said Bob.

Mrs. Abernathy, who lived next door, started screaming. Her husband Walter tried to comfort her. Sirens started going off around town. Mommy came running outside. “What’s going on?”

Daddy merely pointed up at the sky. The boom noises had resumed, and the space insect changed position with its stinger pointing even farther north.

“It is aiming at Frisco now,” said Bob.

“Let’s go back inside,” said Daddy. He grabbed my hand and put his arm around Mommy. Back in the house, the TV was still on. Walter Cronkite was talking to the nation. “The United States military has yet to confirm the origin of the massive structure that is hovering over the state of California. There are reports of strikes hitting Los Angeles and San Francisco. We have yet to confirm whether this is a nuclear attack by the Russians.”

“What is happening, Daddy? Are we going to be okay?”

“Everything will be fine, Sweetie.”

The rumbling sound resumed and was even louder than before. We heard one last, deafening BOOM.

I opened my eyes. The house was silent. I ran out of my bedroom and into the living room. “Daddy, where are you?”

Mommy came out of her bedroom. “What are you doing up at this hour,” she asked.

What are those noises? The screeching, the rumbling, and big booms.”

“Daddy is working in the garage, Sweetheart. Everything is fine,” said Mommy.

At that moment, Daddy came inside. “What are you doing awake at this hour?” asked Daddy.

“All the noise woke me up.” I ran over and tightly hugged Daddy.

“Everything is fine, Sweetie. Let’s tuck you back into bed.”

“What about the giant insect in the sky?”

Daddy laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“In the sky, Daddy. We saw it. All the neighbors did too.”

Daddy picked me up and carried me outside. There was nothing to be seen. We came back inside. It took me a long time to fall asleep.

Two day later, it was Christmas. When I finished opening my presents, Daddy told me to throw away the wrapping paper in the garbage can in the backyard. I thought it was odd, because we never kept a trash can in the backyard. I gathered all the wrapping paper I could carry, opened the sliding door and stepped outside to see a fancy wooden playhouse that Daddy had built. At that point I realized that all the strange noises came from Daddy building my playhouse.

* * * * * * * * * *

Fantastica: Music From Outer Space by Russ Garcia was the first piece of artwork that captivated me.

As a young child in the 1960s, I used to listen to records with my brother Harvey who was 14 years older than me and had muscular dystrophy. Harvey had an eclectic collection of close to 100 records. He had diverse taste ranging from Elvis Presley to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to the British invasion. Yet, of all the album covers, it was Fantastica that mesmerized me.

I spent hours staring at that album cover – not all in one setting. The image of a space insect attacking our planet both terrified and intrigued me. Could something like this actually happen? Should I be concerned?

I cannot say that this album cover influenced my taste in art. While some “space age” art engages me, my home is decorated in a quasi-Moroccan style with over 25 house plants, a dozen hanging lanterns, and a wide variety wall art ranging from a huge Madonna painting, Hindu prints, Hawaiian prints, folk art, family creations, and a large collection of items from my time in Russia.

After over 50 years, I listened to the album on Spotify, hoping to be transported back in time to my childhood. It didn’t happen. The music was not particularly familiar to me. It reminded me of a Disney soundtrack, especially the early tracks. While my husband enjoys “space music,” it has never been my genre. I favor progressive rock, like YES, Pink Floyd, early Genesis – that sort of thing.

It was an adventure revisiting Fantastica by Russ Garcia. While it did not influence my taste in art or music, it absolutely captured my imagination as a young child.