The Bells Toll at Midnight by Ricky

BYU Carillon

Boy and man, I have always been very mischievous.  In 1977, I was a senior at BYU and working part time as an armed Campus Security Officer assigned to night duty as a patrolman.  During my shifts, I would occasionally explore the underground maintenance tunnels to learn my way around in preparation for any needed response to an incident.  Using my pass key one night, I entered the carillon tower about 2 AM via the maintenance entrance and began to explore the ground floor level.  (I must note here that the carillon would automatically chime the hours from 6AM to 10PM and remain silent between 10PM and 6AM.)

I previously read about the mechanism used to play the carillon manually, which is located near the bells at the top of the tower, but I did not climb the stairs to see it or the bells.  I did discover a small concrete room on the main level that contained a piano or organ style keyboard against the wall.  It was electric, so I flipped the switch and began to play a little.  I did not hear any bells, just the keyboard tones.

Better-late-than-never, the analytical part of my mind finally wondered, “Why is a keyboard down here?  Could it actually be connected to the bells?”  I hit the lowest note key, ran out of the room and opened the outside door just in time to hear the bell’s echo.  I turned off the keyboard and fled as fast as I could–still unseen through the underground tunnels.

In October, I again went into the tower unobserved via the maintenance access, turned on the keyboard, and at midnight I played the Big Ben Chime Theme followed by “bongs” to mark the hour.  In later years, my wife and I met a married graduate who remembered that particular Halloween in 1977 when the carillon struck 13 at midnight.

BYU Carillon

© 6 May 2014

About the Author

  

I was born in June of 1948 in Los Angeles, living first in Lawndale and then in Redondo Beach.  Just prior to turning 8 years old in 1956, I began living with my grandparents on their farm in Isanti County, Minnesota for two years during which time my parents divorced.

When united with my mother and stepfather two years later in 1958, I lived first at Emerald Bay and then at South Lake Tahoe, California, graduating from South Tahoe High School in 1966.  After three tours of duty with the Air Force, I moved to Denver, Colorado where I lived with my wife and four children until her passing away from complications of breast cancer four days after the 9-11-2001 terrorist attack.

I came out as a gay man in the summer of 2010.   I find writing these memories to be therapeutic.

My story blog is, TheTahoeBoy.Blogspot.com.