> I have decided on one thing, I want to use a big, somewhat nasty
> looking open ceramic and copper knife switch to control the room
> lights! 

You need to have it switch a BIG contactor in a rattly metal cabinet. 
Maybe add a speaker in the bottom with suitably shaped hum generator 
(as seen/heard on "Back to the Future") and little bit of light dimmer 
modulation to get the total effect.

Steve.

PS. We had a Schaffner test setup that did all that for real and made big 
sparks too. 

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