When I was a kid, nothing was more deliciously scary than to stay up until nearly midnight to watch the late-night scary shows like “The Twilight Zone” and “Lights Out.” They were so much creepier than the fare offered on Saturday afternoon’s “Creature Feature” on KXLY in Spokane.

After I’d managed to sneak a look at one of those shows, I couldn’t sleep for days, certain that every creak, every crack, every exhalation was the horrible monster reaching out of the dark to snatch me to my doom. It was great.

Of course, my all-time favorite is “The Twilight Zone.” It can still creep me out after all this time.

Some of the best of that genre came along before my time, in an age when radio was king. Shows like “Dimension X,” “Inner Sanctum,” “Quiet Please,” and “CBS Radio Mystery Theater” gave kids of the ’30s-’50s the opportunity to experience thrills and chills before the age of CGI special effects.

I recently rediscovered some of those old shows, courtesy of the production team of Humphrey-Camardella, which has podcasts of many of them available on iTunes. Thanks to their free podcasts, I have enough well-acted horror and sci-fi stories to keep me in business for weeks or even months.

The other night, I sampled “Mrs. M,” a story about a kindly lady innkeeper with a particular “talent” she’s willing to share with her guests. The stage manager in my head outfitted the inn like one out of the English countryside and Mrs. M was a sweet-faced little old lady with sharp eyes.

If you don’t have access to iTunes, you can download the Humphrey-Camardella podcasts from a number of online sources, including the Podcast Directory.

I’ve turned my niece and nephew on to the shows. They both have iPods and an intense interest in ghost stories. Every time I go for a visit, they want me to make up a good ghost story for them, something I’ve done for my sisters, cousins and friends since I was about 10. I like to think mine come close to the H-C productions, but I know they don’t. Maybe I need better sound effects.

I received this coin in a handful of change the other day and have been trying to identify it since. It would appear to be from the Middle East or perhaps Africa, since the writing seems to be some version of Farsi or other Arabic language.

And while we’re on the subject, what’s the strangest coin you’ve ever received in change?

The world became a little less funny today. Harvey Korman, one of the funniest human beings on the planet and a longtime co-star of “The Carol Burnett Show” died in Los Angeles at the age of 81.

Korman, Burnett, Tim Conway and Vikki Lawrence were sort of a magic combination — a deliriously funny ensemble who could crack each other up with the raise of an eyebrow. My favorite Korman role was when he played opposite Burnett as Ed and Eunice Higgins of “The Family.”

I didn’t get to see much of “The Carol Burnett Show” when it was new. It ran from 1967 to 1978, which means it debuted when I was 5 years old. In elementary school, I longed to watch it, but it was on at 10 p.m. on Saturday nights and that was long before my bedtime. It was torment to lie in bed and listen to my parents howling with laughter in the living room. The only time I got in on the action was when I stayed overnight with my friend, Carol, whose mother let us stay up and watch the entire show. By the time I hit junior high, I was old enough to stay up, but usually had other activities planned. In the days before VCRs and DVRs, that meant missing the show.

Of course, syndication and then DVD sales breathed new life into the show and I’ve since seen nearly every episode. They’re as funny now as the first time they aired, and the talent of Harvey Korman is a part of the reason why.

Goodbye Harvey Korman or, as Carol Burnett would sing:

I’m so glad we had this time together,
Just to have a laugh, and sing a song.
Seems we just got started and before we knew it
Came the time we had to say, ‘So long.’

It’s impossible to articulate how much I HATE that Parvati Shallow (and how fitting is that name?) won this season of Survivor. After all the great moves and terrific game play, to watch that shallow, self-absorbed little twit walk away with a million bucks is like trying to swallow that icky clam Kathy talked about.But once again, we can blame Amanda for giving the prize away. She’d have been better off choosing Cirie for the final two, but she allowed doubt and foolish loyalties to dictate her gameplay and in so doing, gave away the money.

Of course, I suspect there’s another layer that we’re not getting as viewers and I think Erik alluded to it. There is something about Amanda that ultimately rubs people (at least jury members) the wrong way.

I guess it all goes to show that you can be shallow, self-absorbed and willing to use your sexuality to advance yourself in life, but if you own your behavior you’re more likely to have people admire you.

Still … (insert inarticulate gurgle of rage/revulsion) how stupid is that danged jury to reward Parvati with anything more than a kick in the keister on the way out the door?

I’m not getting over this one any time soon.

Cirie ought to go down as the greatest Survivor ever for the masterful strategy she’s played out.

It was her idea to work Erik into giving up the immunity necklace. I reversed my recording just to check that out and watch her while they talked over the events of the immunity challenge was a lesson in machinations.

The women were sitting around, talking things over, mulling how awful it was that Erik had actually won. Parvati, Nat and Amanda were fatalistic. “If ONLY he hadn’t won Immunity.” Cirie had a sort of far-off look on her face. Then she said, slowly, “Unless we can get him to give the necklace to Nat.”

None of the others would have thought of that. In fact, Natalie out and out said it wouldn’t work — that it was too crazy. And not only did Cirie hatch the plan, it was she who came up with the four-pronged strategy to make it work.

1) Get Nat to go to him with the argument that everyone on the jury hates him and Amanda is his biggest threat. Ergo, he could redeem himself by giving Nat the immunity necklace and then the women would vote out Amanda.

2) Present herself and Nat as his compatriots, but with reservations, playing on the fact that he’d told so many whoppers they didn’t trust him. She (Cirie) needed a physical show of faith on his part that he would keep his word. And then she provided it: Giving up immunity.

3) Present Parvati and Amanda as the enemies. She then cemented it by telling Parvati and Amanda to go hard on him at Tribal. That would have tipped off a more intelligent player because Amanda is very strategic and has never “lost it” at Tribal the way others have. She and Parvati played the roles Cirie had written for them to perfection and Erik bit, hook, line and sinker.

4) The final link in the chain was her little speech at tribal, where she said it was only possible for an extremely dishonest player to redeem himself by actions, not by words. When she said that, I knew her strategy would work. Erik was sold. You could tell by the look on her face.

And if there was ever any doubt about Cirie’s philosophy about Survivor and strategy, she enunciated it perfectly when she cast her vote for Erik. “My momma always told me you may not be able to beat them here (pointing to her bicep), but you can always beat them here (pointing to her head).”

Masterful. She may not win, but she deserves to.

One other thing: If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama really wanted to win the Democratic nomination, they’d hire Cirie Fields. She’d plot and scheme and strategize and smile, smile, smile. Knowing her, she’d find a way to get Republicans to vote for them.