There’s a well known power utility in West Virginia that I work for. A lot of my time is spent driving to different locations across the state. It was one of those nights that I was driving home in my company van. It was just before midnight, but I still had a few hours of driving in front of me. I recall I was listening to a rock station and “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins came on. The song left me somewhat distracted as I started imitating the drum solo and as I was making a left turn I almost didn’t see a speeding car. This Incident left me stunned.
After catching my breath and processing things I realized the van was low on gas. It would be about fifteen minutes later that I found a place to fill up. I decided to do a few things at once by getting some coffee and using the bathroom. I walked into the convenience store, and the young man working gave me an odd look. It started when I walked through the door and went to the bathroom. His eyes never left me.
Something about the situation left me on edge. I decided the best course of action was to confront him. While I got my coffee and walked to the counter I thought about what I’d say, but he beat me to it.
“If you’re going North you should avoid WV-20,” He said.
“I should what?…” I responded, but he cut me off.
“If you’re headed near Roanoke or even Buckhannon it’s best to take WV-15, you should be trying to avoid 20 at this time of night.”
Before I could muster up words to say to him he was already done ringing me up. While I walked back to my van I couldn’t shake the sensation something was awry. That feeling went away as the radio carried on my journey.
I had a GPS and I noted that the road forked. One road went north east and the other went northwest and would be significantly longer. I didn’t realize until I got close that this was the exact road the clerk had warned me about. I seriously debated my options for the brief period I had, but I ultimately concluded the extra hour wasn’t worth it, I was already fading at that point, but the coffee was keeping me going. There was a small diner with some patrons. I could have sworn that out of the corner of my eye they lacked faces, but I chalked it up to my fatigued state.
The road was unpredictable. One wrong turn could be fatal. I was taking it easy, I was just worried about being a safe driver, but that’s when I noticed the road was lighting up behind me. I didn’t think much of it at first, but soon I was blinded by the vehicle’s bright lights. The vehicle quickly grew impatient with my pace and sped off around me. That’s when I saw it was an old green truck.
Again I was alone with only music to keep me company. At some point I reached a clearing. That’s when I encountered something that unnerved me. Under the light of the moon beside the road were five large crosses. They were old, and there was no explanation of why they were there. I was used to seeing three crosses, but not five. They were large enough to feel out of place. This is where things started to head down hill, and I mean that literally. There was a curve and I didn’t see it until the last second.
After I went to make the tight turn I could have sworn I thought I saw the shape of a deer, or something smaller a shape fall by the van as it shook. I stopped in the middle of the road and immediately went to investigate. I thought to myself that it might be a deer, but there was nothing, except an unusual amount of ash. That’s when I examined my van and noticed a large ash stain on the side. I was spooked for sure, but I decided I’d have to continue.
The road dipped into a valley, things started to look like most other West Virginian roads. Hills on either side with many densely scattered trees. I could see the road head back into the hills about a mile away. That’s when I thought I noticed something. In the moonlight just up ahead, less than half way I could swear I saw the shape of someone walking. I approached with caution, but I began to keep a deep sensation that something was wrong, worse than at the gas station.
Had it been different circumstances I might not have chosen to stop for this person, but we were miles away from civilization and it was the middle of the night. I decided it wouldn’t be right to leave someone like that. As I came to this conclusion I realized that I lost track as to where this person was and I became disoriented. I stopped roughly where I thought I saw this individual and turned on my hazards. I was already used to stopping on this road. I had a flashlight that I used in every direction. I called out, screamed and yelled, but there were no signs of life and it was unusually silent. This silence began to make that pit in my stomach grow even larger.
I got in my van and tried to play music, but I couldn’t find anything, all the stations were static. I drove silently for what seemed like sometime up the hill and into the woods. I thought I saw shapes in the woods, but I chalked it up to my imagination. I decided I’d try the radio again once I was higher in altitude and I found one station.
“West Virginia has a very interesting history with labor laws. West Virginia was one of the few states that didn’t implement laws related to the Jake Inquiry. What grew into a solution that gave workers more protections for their safety…”
Dialing the radio was meaningless, even though I tried. I didn’t want to bore myself with whatever lecture I had stumbled into. It was around this point I could feel the energy from the caffeine in the coffee was wearing out. My surroundings became meaningless and I lost track of time. That was until I came to the bridge.
It was a bridge that crossed a gorge, but also the terrain below. It was somewhat long. I drove observing the terrain below for a moment. The bridge was high above the river and terrain. I looked up for a brief moment. Then about 50 yards out a figure climbed up on the rail and jumped off. I quickly drove to the point where I saw this and looked below with my flashlight while screaming. Below that point of the bridge was flat ground. I shined it downwards with the brightest setting. It was empty and undisturbed.
I know what I saw. It wasn’t something I took lightly and I couldn’t shake it from my mind. I drove in silence and just wished the drive would end. I was done with this road, I needed this to be over. I began to speed ever so fast to end it, but the road continued still. I checked the GPS and I didn’t have much longer, but as soon as I looked back at the road I witnessed a man with old and tattered denim. The man was covered in black soot from head to toe. I realized the road was somewhat veered and the man was standing in the middle of the road. I had to swerve to get out of the way and I ran my van straight into a ditch.
Several moments passed before I could orient myself. Nothing about what was happening was okay. I had to convince myself to get out of the van. The damages were severe and there was no way I was driving away from this. I then recalled the man and I figured I should make sure he’s alright.
The man wasn’t there. I was alone. I checked my phone to call someone, but that’s when I realized I was in a complete dead zone. I couldn’t even make an emergency call. At first I was hesitant to leave the van, but as time passed it became obvious I’d have to finish the last leg of the journey to civilization.
As I walked I heard the sounds of the usual wildlife, but I heard something in the distance that didn’t sound animal. At first it sounded like a man yelling, but it turned to what sounded like crying. It sounded near, but seemed to follow me. I began to get seriously scared and nervous and debated on heading back to the van. As I stood there and debated this I stood around and I saw lights in the distance. I was instantly relieved. I stood on the side of the road and tried to flag the vehicle down. While it got closer I debated on what I’d say, the car was using its bright headlights so I knew there was no way they could miss me. That’s when I realized the speed of the vehicle. It was going at least twenty miles an hour over the speed and it was not slowing down. Soon a familiar green truck passed me.
As soon as I walked further I heard frightening and deafening screams of men who sounded like they were in an awful predicament. Blood curdling screams is the only way that I’d describe it. I began to run by the road and just hoped for the best. The woods that surrounded me were dense and I knew if I didn’t stay by the road I would get lost. My problem was that I was vulnerable in the open. As I looked into the woods I saw black figures begin to fill the gaps of the trees.
I began to scream, “Get back!… Don’t mess with me!… This is not okay!” As I did this, again I saw a light, but it was around a slight turn. I wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way, but luckily that didn’t matter because they broke just in time.
The driver opened the door and got out, but the headlights somewhat blinded me so I couldn’t see who it was.
“I thought I recognized that van,” a familiar voice said.
My eyes began to adjust and I realized it was the young man from the gas station. I realized how silent it was and the sweet feel of relief washed over.
“I can drive you to town, service isn’t reliable in this area, so no point in waiting here.”
This young man could not be more humble. He didn’t think twice about picking me up. I thanked him generously and offered to pay him, but he wouldn’t accept. He said he could tell, by how I looked, that I’d been through a rough night.
As we continued he revealed shocking details. He said nearby was a coal mine where a tunnel caved in and nearly 80 workers suffocated to death. He repeated that odd things happened on this road. That’s when I checked the clock to discover it read “2:30am.” I was drawing all types of conclusions in my head, until the young man played a popular rock station on the radio. Right before the road ended we saw an old rusted truck. The young man commented that it’s said cars get stuck on the road and never escape. I would get my van towed and repaired. Even to this day I question things, but I’m just grateful for how things turned out.