It was scary as hell for me as a kid. You never really saw the thing, just some big man shaped thing.
IIRC, James Arness of Gunsmoke played the thing
Yep. B&W movie ~1950, with James Arness.
My dad and I walked a mile or so to the theater to see it one night when I was 7 y/o. When they opened the cabinet and something (dead dog) fell out, I jumped!
Took me several months to get over the movie. I couldn’t sleep if my closet door wasn’t fully closed. I had to always have something solid at my back when reading at night.