The late Hollywood film star Vincent Price was a master of terror and suspense, and starred in such horror films as the House of Wax, the Witchfinder General, and a host of Poe films.
Although Price was always typecast to play sinister roles, in real life his only interest was cooking, and he wasn't interested in the occult or the supernatural - but in the year 1958,
something weird happened to him which made him realise that there are, as Shakespeare put it, 'more things in heaven and earth' than we know about.
Price was a good friend of another Hollywood star, the handsome heartthrob Tyrone Power. Price lived near the star in LA and often used to give him advice, and Tyrone Power
looked up at his friend as an older brother.
Anyway, Price was flying into New York airport, but the weather was particularly bad, so the plane had to circle the heavy grey clouds which were hanging over the Big Apple.
Price was reading a book, when suddenly he had a strange and powerful urge to push the curtain aside from his window. He swished the curtain aside and peered through the
porthole window at the grey dismal sky, and then the actor's heart palpitated when he saw something in the clouds that haunted him for the rest of his life.
Price saw huge glowing crimson letters which spelt out the chilling message, 'TYRONE POWER IS DEAD' across the clouds over New York.
Vincent Price couldn't believe his eyes, he turned to a woman sleeping in the next seat and woke her, then pointed out the window to draw her attention to the
bizarre message in the sky, but the woman could see nothing; the illuminated message was no longer there.
As soon as the plane landed, Price rushed down the steps of the aircraft and asked several members of the airport police if they had seen the sentence
flashed up on the clouds, but the police shook their heads and just smirked. Price then walked over to a news stand and scanned the headlines of the
New York Times; there was no mention of Tyrone Power's death. Price decided that some practical joker in New York had probably projected the words
he'd seen onto the low clouds using some powerful light. Anything was possible in New York.
But when Price checked into a hotel, a theatrical agent he'd worked with many years ago approached him in the foyer and grabbed his arm.
The agent said, 'Vincent, have you heard the terrible news? Tyrone Power died of a heart attack half an hour ago.'
Price felt a cold tingle down his spine; half an hour ago he had seen the strange aerial obituary in glowing letters in the grey sky.
Up until the day of his death, Vincent Price was haunted by the memory of the eerie message emblazoned on the clouds on that dismal rainy afternoon.