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[Tobin S.]

This message was self-deleted by its author (Tobin S.) on Tue Feb 24, 2015, 05:55 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[frogmarch]

1. I spotted this in the Lounge, and it's

excellent, Tobin! OOOoooooo! I'd have been unnerved too!

[Tobin S.]

2. Thank you

I promised PassingFair earlier this evening I'd write a story for you guys. It didn't look like I was going to get too many responses here tonight, so while I've got a good beer buzz, I decided to cross post it over there in the lounge where things move a lot quicker.

I appreciate the compliment.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. You and your stories are a welcome addition here.

As someone who has always wanted to be proved, really proved, wrong about the existence of the supernatural, I can also say "nope". I look for proof. So far, nothing.

Thanks for the story.

[Tobin S.]

4. Thank you very much

What's that old saying from Carl Sagan? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence...something along those lines.

[michael811]

5. was a trucker for 5 years never saw anything unexplained nt.

[Tobin S.]

6. Welcome to DU, Michael

[onager]

7. What? This song is NOT true?

At the wheel sit a big man, he weighed about two-ten
He stuck out his hand and said with a grin
"Big Joe's the name", I told him mine
And he said: "The name of my rig is Phantom 309..."

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/sovine-red/phantom-309-1890.html

[michael811]

8. nope

Scariest thing I ever saw on the road was a 50 year old racist prostitute named Daisy

[PassingFair]

9. Beautiful, Tobin....

I couldn't respond yesterday, I was at a graduation party and then I went to see Jim Gaffigan (funny!).

It reminded me of "signs" that I saw after my father died.

I was charged with bringing some food to my parents apartment for the wake after his funeral.
I had to put one of the paper bags down to open the door. When I came back to pick it up,
the frozen food inside left a definitive heart-shaped wet spot on the cement. I felt my throat
and my stomach constrict, I have to say that my IMMEDIATE thought was that he was trying
to communicate his love to me from "beyond"....

A couple of days later, as I was driving on an expressway, a single, red, heart-shaped balloon
drifted across the eight lanes of traffic. Its string tangled on my side-view mirror for a moment before
sailing away. By this time, I'd had a little time to absorb the loss, but I did realize that had
I been LOOKING for "signs", this would have qualified.

I understand the impulse, the need, to override the finality of death. I see how it can come,
unbidden.

It freaks me out a little that some people never question the place where it really comes from.

Our own feelings of fear, sadness and loss.

[Tobin S.]

13. Thank you

You're right on target. We are the source of the "supernatural." It's all inside our heads.

[onager]

10. Did anybody else ever hear a story like this?

I grew up in Upstate South Carolina, which had a lot of moldy old ghost/h'aint yarns.

One of them was about a cemetery in the old mill town where some relatives lived. A very creepy place, even in daylight. Barely legible tombstones dating back to the 18th century, shaded by ancient trees with a lot of hanging moss etc. etc. The graves of the 1% featured stuff like life-sized marble angels or Jesi, often looming over big family crypts.

The story: one resident of the cemetery had been so evil in real life, that shortly after his death a devil's head etched itself into his tombstone. Complete with the outline of 2 horns, etc.

No amount of sand-blasting, chiseling or acid could remove it, so the cemetery finally replaced the headstone.

Naturally, Old Scratch came right back and tagged the new tombstone, so the cemetery gave up and left it.

Nobody knew the name of the dead guy or any other details (naturally). Just that if you walked around the cemetery long enough, you'd find a tombstone with a devil's head etched into it.

And if you touched the outline of the devil's head, Gawd might strike you dead. And the devil might snatch you right out of your Keds, and haul you down to Hell immediately.

My cousins and I wasted many hours looking for that damn thing. And one day we found it!!!

Well, we found a tombstone with a devil's head on it. But the artwork had been scrawled on with a piece of charcoal, apparently by a 4-year-old...or maybe a Post-Modernist Impressionist.

When we touched the stuff - risking being struck dead by Gawd immediately, remember - it rubbed right off.

As I got older, this reminded me a lot of the "Virgin in a taco shell" type of tale.

So I just wondered if anybody else had heard anything similar in their neighborhoods.

[Tobin S.]

14. I've heard something like that before, although not in my own neighborhood

My ancestry on my dad's side of the family is deeply rooted in Tennessee. I have a great, great, great grandmother who lived during the 19th century who was an atheist. At the time that got her branded a witch, and old people from the town she lived in still refer to her as such and won't come within a certain distance of her grave at the local cemetery. It is said that she heckled people who walked past her house on the way to church on Sunday. I bet she was a hoot.

My wife and I got married last year and we took our honeymoon on Tybee Island, Georgia just outside of Savannah. A few days there we went into Savannah and did the touristy type stuff. We went to a famous cemetery there that was supposed to be haunted. It's called Saint Bonaventure and it is a beautiful place as far as cemeteries go. Huge live oaks covered with Spanish moss; headstones, grave sites, and tombs that are beautiful works of art. There are many alleged sightings reported from that cemetery going going back to its inception, and many of the grave sites have their own mythology due to the many numbers of supposed close encounters with the dead.

[AlbertCat]

11. Tell 'em Large Marge sent ya....

[JNelson6563]

12. Great thread everybody!

Great stories! Albert, I too thought of Large Marge while reading this.

Thanks for kicking things off Tobin!

Julie

[Tobin S.]

15. Thanks Julie

I'm glad you like it.