The Electrocutioners

Another urban legend for your perusal:

Originally sourced to Maltbury, Ohio, the myth of the Electrocutioners has been spreading since its earliest known tellings, in the mid-1980s. It’s no surprise that the town, which is well known for its high-winds, would be the spawning ground of a legend relating to electrical outages.

It’s said that, when power is interrupted, and the family within a suburban home is suddenly left in the dark, a knock may come at the door.

The two visitors, dressed in blue overalls and black hardhats, are described as large men, bald beneath their head-ware, with perfectly shaven faces. Purveyors of the myth say that this is the only time at which you might avoid tragedy – that you MUST tell the workmen at the door that you are quite happy with your situation, and that you are sure their efforts would be better spent at some other home.

To invite them in is to call down disaster.

Over the interceding years, many back-stories have been applied to the Electrocutioners – that they are the spiritual remnants of technicians who’d gone overseas, only to be kidnapped and beheaded; that they are a ghostly pair of local workers who were electrocuted by a downed power-line during a storm; that they are madmen, escaped from a local institution, out on a stormy night with the intention of creating mischief.

Whatever the case, their mode of operation, once allowed in, is always described as the same: heavy dirt tracks are left behind their boot-falls as the pair diverge and begin to search the house. Moving with a frenetic speed, they work high-intensity flashlights over the area – leaving observers temporarily blinded with their beams – and all the while spouting nonsensical reasons as to why the power is out.

As the pseudo-technical gibberish reaches its peak, the duo will begin to move furniture away from wall plugs, disconnect electronics, or strip light bulbs from their sockets. Then, as suddenly as the assault began, they will meet at the front door and disappear into the shadows beyond.

The true repercussions are often left undiscovered until well after the mess has been tidied and service is restored. A member of the family, forgotten in the bustle, will inevitably be found in a quiet corner of the house, (often the bathtub, although some versions mention toddler’s cribs or back bedrooms,) with no obvious source on hand to explain their apparent death by electrocution.

– source