The time Joel Thomas Hynes was a security guard on a film set

Before Joel Thomas Hynes was an award-winning writer and actor, he took a job as a security guard on a film set to make ends meet. Hynes tells The Next Chapter a chilling story about his first and only shift on the job.

Hynes' books include Say Nothing Saw Wood, Right Away Monday and Down to the Dirt.

"I got a job as a security guard on a film set. This film set was located in a building that was a former children's rehabilitation centre. So I settled in for a night and decided to partake in something that I thought might be a relaxant to help me through the night and it turned out not to be much of a relaxant at all. I started patrolling this building, kind of like a mad man. Every little noise I heard, I had to go investigate. I just got so wrapped up in the whole scene; it felt like the building was mad alive. At some point, I was sitting in the lobby, listening in the wind and trying not to freak out too much, and...I might have cried or something...I steeled myself to go downstairs and see what was what. When I rounded the corner, there was a shallow pool with a lot of little leg straps and arm straps, that looked like little electric chairs and all along the walls were prosthetic limbs. I don't know what happened from there, but I guess I got such a fright I took off running. I wouldn't go back until dawn. One of the first people who came in was a wardrobe person or something. I had to latch on to her and tell her everything I had seen and thought about and heard. I guess I freaked her out so bad that I was not called back the next night."

Joel Thomas Hynes' comments have been edited and condensed. This interview was originally broadcast on November 9, 2015.