"The
Preacher"
Marylin
Williams
As
near as residents can determine, the sightings began
in the late 1940s, when a preacher, his wife,
and two small children were coming home late from a
church function on a cold rainy night. Their car broke
down on a remote narrow two-lane overpass, not equipped
an emergency lane, so he was forced to leave his car
sitting in the southbound lane. Since the area was isolated,
he thought it was best for he and his family to remain
in the car out of the storm until help arrived. Finally
after several hours, the preacher saw lights approaching
from behind. At first he was grateful, but he quickly
became concerned when he realized the car had not decreased
its speed and was coming up the small hill too fast.
The alarmed reverend leaped from his car and started
towards the rear of the vehicle, futilely waving his
arms to warn the oncoming car of the impending disaster.
Visibility was poor because of the deluge, and the unsuspecting
preacher didnt have a chance. Unable to stop on
the rain-slicked streets, the car crashed into him,
hurling him over the trunk and overpass guardrail and
continued, careening into the preachers car. All
lives were lost when both vehicles catapulted over the
guardrail and onto the road below. The only evidence
of the accident that remained on the overpass was vestiges
of shattered glass and twisted metal, and a mans
black hat.
A few years later, another motorist became stranded
on the same isolated section of road late on a rainy
night. The driver claimed he scanned the area for lights
from nearby farms, and when he didnt see any signs
of homes, he, too, sat in his car out of the driving
rain and waited for help.
Afterwards he told friends that he must have dozed but
was startled awake by his car moving. In the rearview
mirror, the stranded motorist saw a man dressed in black
and felt the plodding steps as the black clad figure
pushed the car forward one laborious step at a time
up the incline, as the rain streamed from the his hat
and down onto his shoulders. The grateful driver stayed
in his car and steered it up the overpass until gravity
pulled it down. Once the car was safely parked on the
shoulder, the driver got out of his car and ran back
to thank the mysterious Good Samaritan, but when he
got to the top of the slope no one was there, and the
only sign of the phantom assistant he found was a mans
sopping wet black hat.
As the area grew, the sightings increased, and many
people claimed to see a solitary man, dressed all in
black walking on the lonely, seldom traveled road. Several
eyewitnesses reported that the man waved at them frantically
as they approached the southbound incline. While others
purported they heard heart-wrenching wailing on cold
rainy nights. Never-the-less every driver remembers
the halting, ponderous steps as a tall, gaunt man dressed
in black inched the vehicle forward. However, most residents
prefer to avoid the area late at night whenever possible
because everyone knows the preacher continues his wretched
wandering and in his wake he always leaves a grim reminder
of that fateful night-a black wet hat.
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