William Castle fan clubs were now forming throughout America

epub or mobi, with thanks to the original sharer

Finally, two minutes before the end, the movie stopped. I held my breath as I heard my recorded voice make the announcement: 

This is the "Fright Break!" You hear that sound? The sound of a heartbeat! Is it beating faster than your heart? Or slower? This heart is going to beat for another sixty-five seconds to allow anyone to leave this theatre who is too frightened to see the end of the picture, and get your FULL ADMISSION REFUNDED. Ten seconds more and we go into the house. It's now or never! Five! Four! You're a brave audience! Two! One!

Then we really got going and began to heighten the fun and publicity with additional stunts. Yellow stripes appeared on sidewalks near the curb, leading past the theatres — and stenciled on the stripe: "Cowards, keep walking." Inside, large yellow footsteps were stenciled on the floor from the seats back to the box office—and over the box office there hung a sign: "Cowards' Corner." A blood-pressure outfit sat on a table nearby, attended by a nurse who offered free tests to cowards. A yellow light bathed Cowards' Corner, and a recorded message kept repeating, "These cowards are too frightened to see the end of Homicidal! Watch them shiver in the Cowards' Corner. Coward…coward…coward…" As a final touch, we required anyone demanding a refund to sign a yellow card which read "I am a bona fide coward."