From: (Dana Minyard)
Date: 26 Sep 1995
Here is an interesting story that was related to me by a friend. I preface this by saying I do not vouch for its authenticity, but must also say that my friend was quite sincere and compelling when he told me this little gem.
One evening around the fall of '81, my friend was driving home from work. It had been a long, tiring day, and as he put it, "All I wanted in the world was a hot meal, a cold beer and a soft bed."
Before he could reach his offramp, he ran into a really bad auto accident. Traffic was being diverted, and he was forced to take an exit he'd never had occasion to take before.
After a few minutes of driving, he realized that he didn't have a clue where he was. At that time, he was a newcomer to the town, and a little shaky in his navigating. He kept his eyes peeled for any sort of road marker which would take him back to the highway so he could try to backtrack, but saw nothing.
It was only a little after 7:00 pm, but already the sky had darkened quite a bit since leaving work. He kicked on his headlights and saw a Mom 'n Pop sort of convenience store ahead. It was dark and obviously closed for the night, but he thought he may find a pay phone so he could call one of his buddies from work, who could get him on the right track.
He pulled into the dirt parking lot, and, leaving the motor running and lights on, climbed out of the car.
While walking toward the store, he told me that suddenly he got this really odd feeling, like something was out of sync, but what, he couldn't say. He stopped and looked around the woods surrounding the store, the hairs on the back of his neck tingling.
He saw something at the edge of the treeline, and after a minute made out the figure of a woman apparently crawling from the woods.
Well, immediately he figured she must be hurt or lost or something, and he ran over to her. By the time he reached her, she had collapsed onto her back, and just lay there.
He said she seemed to be in her early twenties or so, plump, but not fat, with long dark hair. As he kneeled beside her, she glanced at him, and he said something in his stomach seemed to give a slow tumble. Her skin was very pale, but streaked with mud. He said it was as if she'd taken a mudbath or something. He asked her the usual: "Are you allright? What's happened?" and etc. She never spoke a word, and he decided she must be in shock or something. He touched her forehead, and said it was ice cold. He was in a flurry, wondering what the hell to do. He wasn't even sure where he was, and had no idea how to help until he remembered that he'd stopped looking for a phone in the first place.
He told me that he took off his jacket and draped it over her, then ran back to the store. Unfortunately, there was no phone at all, and furthermore, it seemed obvious that the place had been closed for years. He was just about to bundle the girl up in his car and just drive until he found anything at all, when he saw some car headlights.
He rushed out into the road and flagged down the car. There were some kids inside, young high school football player types, as he described them. He explained what had happened, and lead them back to where he'd left the girl.
Well, of course she was not there. Even his jacket was gone. There was no evidence of anyone having been there at all: not a leaf crushed, not a speck of mud, nada.
My friend figured she must have pulled herself back into the woods, and so with a little pleading, he got the kids to help him search. He tured his car toward the woods, and got the teenagers to do the same. My friend searched until he began to worry about running out of gas in his car, and as he backtracked, following the light, he saw the teenager's headlights swing back toward the road. He ran to the parking lot, but couldn't reach them before they bugged out on him.
Well, what the hell do you do? My friend stood there, deciding which option to follow, when he said, again, he got that funny feeling. He turned around, and by God, there was the girl again, crawling from the edge of the woods. My friend said he felt his hair literally stand on end, because there was no way she could have been in those woods and not been found. Not in the shape she was in. As he stood there, petrified, he saw her collapse on her back again. She lay there for a few minutes, (My friend said he just couldn't move a muscle) then begin to choke and grunt, as though she couldn't get any air. Then suddenly, my friend said she was gone.
Well, that seemed to break the paralysis, because he said he ran for the car, smacked into it, fell down, jumped up and somehow fumbled the door open. He said when he turned the car around, as the headlights washed over the woods, he again caught a glimpse of something pale crawling from among the trees. That, as he said, was too much, and he peeled out of there like a bat out of hell.
Eventually he found his way home, and here, really, the story ended. He told me that for the first few weeks after that, he had really bad nightmares about the incident, and also, until he told me last year, had never related the story to anyone.
What it was all about, he never knew, and I think never bothered to find out. He never told me what town it took place in, though I pushed him pretty hard on that. My friend thought I was a sick puppy for being so interested. I explained that I only wanted to maybe verify the story, but that was a mistake, 'cause he got mad at me for doubting him.
I have a theory, and for those of you who've stuck it out this far, I'll share it with you. Maybe someone has a better one, or, (and this is what I really hope) my theory might be close enough to the mark to strike a chord in someone.
I believe that the girl worked at the Mom 'n Pop store. One night she was robbed and shot, or stabbed or something, but not killed right away. The person who robbed the store, believing her dead, dragged her out to the woods and buried her in a makeshift grave. Sadly, the girl possibly regained enough consciousness to drag her way from the ground and back to the store, where she finally did die of her injuries.
Furthermore, I believe the person who did rob the store was a local person, and the killing was an accident. A stranger would have most likely left her where she lay, but a LOCAL person, maybe fearing discovery, might possibly try to hide the crime.
At any rate, that's the story. As I said, I won't vouch for its truthfulness, because I don't have any facts to back it up. I suppose that is the nature of the ghost story though, and why so many doubt that they could exist because cold, hard facts are so hard to come by.
I apologize for the length. This being my first post, I should have probably trimmed it down a little. But if you want more, I got more, because I am interested in these strange asides. Unfortunately, I myself have never had an experience even remotely approaching the ghostly or supernatural. I sure envy those of you who have. All I can do is listen and pass along.
