Creepy old buildings with tight spaces.

One of my internships was at a historic site that's got a bunch of buildings from the mid-1700s. Part of my work included putting together a small photo exhibit on the sections of one of the main buildings that visitors don't get to see (because it's unrestored and also technically a confined space). This obviously entailed getting up there and taking a bunch of pictures. No big deal, right?

Wellllll... everything in this building was built low and narrow. The third floor was particularly tight, with some hallways being maybe shoulder width plus six inches on either side. The way the halls bent around was pretty mazelike. It was also damn musty, and, being summer, damn hot up there. But, still, nbb. I was working my way along rooms and taking pictures of quaint old door hinges when I started to realize just how isolated I really was up there. Never mind that I was carrying a radio and a cell phone, and that I was maybe 100 yards from our visitor's center, and that I was practically on top of a busy road, and there was a sold-out tour group going through the first floor at that moment. None of that matters when silly waves of paranoia strike.

I'd like to imagine that feeling that way wasn't totally unfounded. After all, if a stray stealthy homeless dude or Mr. Skeletal or some of the wasps from the attic (yet another reason not to let folks up there...) decided to jump out and shank me, it's not like anyone would've been able to do shit. Sure, it is kind of dumb; other staff had spent plenty of time up there, and nothing interesting had ever happened to anybody. Trying to reason with yourself when something deep in your brain is noping the fuck out isn't too easy, though. I did manage to keep cool until the very last bend in the hallway, leading into the very last room at the end of the hall. At that point, I spun around and retreated to the second floor, which had a nice big open dining area right to the staircase, and tried to talk myself into being a touch more rational. Didn't really work. Never did get any pics of that last room.