A few months ago, I had an accident and my pickup truck was totaled. I was driving north around 9pm, and pulled out from a stop sign to cross a 2 lane highway when my truck was struck right at the rear axle. The impact sent my truck spinning off the road and down an embankment, where it came to rest facing south, bending the frame and breaking the passenger side rear wheel completely off the axle.
I was somehow, very luckily, completely unharmed in this accident. The cab of the truck was right at the fulcrum of the spin, so I experienced very little g-force, and the airbags didn’t even deploy. As soon as my mind computed what had just happened, I dialed 911, listened to it ring , and then it dawned on me: I never saw what hit me.
As the operator picked up and I explained where I was and that I’d been in an accident, I made my way out of my crumpled Silverado and back up to the edge of the road. When she asked me how many vehicles were involved, I of course said two, but as I looked both ways down the highway, I realized there was no sign of car #2 whatsoever. The shock of the situation was starting to win over the adrenalin, so I don’t really remember what I said to the operator at that point, but I must’ve sounded confused because she started asking me concussion protocol questions after assuring me that first responders were on their way. I walked down the edge of the highway looking for another car in the ditch or something, but there was nothing. No car, no other driver, no skid marks, no pieces of wreckage, no spilled fluids… Nothing.
The police and fire department were there in a surprisingly short amount of time, considering I was miles out in the country. The paramedics checked me thoroughly for a concussion and other injuries, and cleared me after a few minutes. The sheriff’s deputy was looking at my truck with a flashlight and taking pictures with his phone, while the fire firefighters were driving up and down the road with spotlights, looking for another vehicle. As I walked over, the deputy looked up with a concerned look on his face and asked one simple question: “Did you see what hit you?” Keep in mind, I had not explained the full situation to anyone at this point. I shook my head no, and he nodded as if he already expected that answer. He turned and radioed something inaudible to dispatch, I think it was just my vehicle info, before turning back and finally asking for the details.
As I was finishing up my story, the firefighters pulled up and proceeded to corroborate what I had seen myself: there was no second vehicle anywhere in the vicinity. The one in the passenger seat looked at my truck and mentioned that it looks like I got hit by a train. The cop kinda shook his head and said “Yeah, 3rd one this year.” I looked at him with a questioning look and he elaborated that there had been two other incidents of people being T-boned on that same stretch of highway, with no other vehicle involved. He also said “you’re the lucky one, coming out unscathed like that.”
I wish I had asked for even more details, although I’m not sure if he would’ve told me, or even been allowed to really. He went back to his squad car and finished up paperwork while I cleaned out my belongings before the tow truck took my truck away. I was initially cited for a failure to yield, but it was dropped when my insurance got involved due to the lack of another witness. For their part, my insurance treated it as an uninsured motorist/hit and run accident and paid out no issue, which I’m grateful for.
So now I sit here with higher insurance premiums and a new truck, and the knawing thought in the back of my mind that I still have no idea what caused my wreck. The only explanations I can come up with are these: 1. Somebody is driving around at night in a blacked out, reinforced vehicle with no lights, plowing people off the road for no discernable reason, or 2. It’s paranormal. I’m not sure which is scarier. One thing I will add is that this occurred in Illinois on US Highway 40, which is built on the road bed of the historical Cumberland Road, so there is definitely some historical significance to it.
Either way, I was violently hit off the road by a completely unseen force, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be the same again.