Do you want a free Ms. Pac-Man? What if it was haunted?
March 10th, 2008 -
Posted by: Jeff Rivera in Arcade/MAME, Cool Stuff
This is definitely one of the strangest things I’ve come across during my days browsing through message boards. It’s not so much disturbing as absolutely fascinating. Here’s the basic story, followed by a few links.
BYOAC forum member, JMB, shared with the forum that he had come across a Craigslist posting offering up a free Ms. Pac-Man cabinet. Yes, somebody was willing to give away one of the most sought after and beloved arcade games of all time. All that was required was that somebody come by and pick it up. In fact, here is the listing word for word:
arcade game: Ms. Pac Man
Reply to: sale-601115305@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-03-09, 11:20PM EDT
full-size stand-up arcade game.
Ms. Pac Mac.Works well, in very good condition.
MUST BE ABLE TO PICK-UP at 9:00 AM TUESDAY MORNING.
JMB contacted the “seller” to see if it was still available, if he had any pictures, and why in the world he’d be giving away a free arcade cabinet. Here’s the reply he was given:
“When I bought this machine the previous owner told me it was haunted. I laughed, didn’t believe him, because I didn’t believe in that sort of thing.
Got a bad feeling the day it was delivered. Game started on its own in the middle of the night several times, had a tech service the machine three times (very pricy housecalls), but he couldn’t find the problem.
Three-year old daughter started talking about the “man in the video machine”, didn’t think much of it, then my wife saw a dark figure move across the basement and into the machine. She ran out of the house, would not return until the machine was out of the house. I moved it to my business garage (two miles away), and several times I have opened the garage to find tools missing or scattered, things tipped over.
This is why I am giving away a $1000 machine for free.”
I don’t know so far if anybody has claimed the machine, but I’m secretly cheering for somebody from the BYOAC or KLOV forums to pick it up so we can find out whether or not this Ms. Pac-Man is in need of a old fashioned exorcism or if paranoia is just playing with people’s minds. Whatever happens, it’s definitely something the seller believes in, because you don’t simply throw away that kind of money, and surely don’t tell somebody that what you have to offer is haunted, unless you feel morally obligated to do so.
Original Craigslist posting: Haunted Ms. Pac-Man?
BYOAC Forum Thread: Where the story is unfolding.
Entries (RSS)
March 11th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I personally would pay extra for a haunted machine, I don’t know why he is giving it away for free… nearly as questionable as the gentleman who traded Gamblor a PS3 for an old PS2 (still not sure how you sleep at night).
March 11th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I sleep quite well, thank you very much. Actually, since the neighbor’s dog has taken up howling, it can be challenging at times. By challenging, I actually mean impossible.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
[...] Yesterday I posted about a possibly haunted Ms. Pac-Man machine out in Boston that a Craigslist user was just giving away. Well, by the end of the day the “seller” of the machine had claimed that somebody had claimed it, and nobody in either the BYOAC or KLOV forums (two very prominent arcade collector sites) had picked it up, so I figured we’d never hear about it again. I was wrong, however, as a new Craigslist ad popped up for a free Ms. Pac-Man in the same area, just in a neighboring town. Here’s what the ad said: [...]