A little while ago, there was suddenly a hot, acrid smell in the house. It scared us half to death. We were sure we had an electrical fire somewhere. Then we realized it was coming from a twist bulb in the hallway that had just gone out.

I did a little research and Consumer Reports said that very rarely these bulbs will smell, turn dark, or smoke (!) when they burn out. I didn't know that.

And I never realized until lately that one has to be very careful if one gets broken--don't use a broom or vac, for example. *sigh*