[Music] I listened to your trucker episode last month and it reminded me a lot of my own work experiences I knew I had to submit a couple of my stories even if they don't fit that typical trucker narrative I'm sure you'll be able to use the story somewhere after high school I did what all my friends were doing enlisted in the Army this was 2008 wherein I did basic and then went to my specific job training by the end of that year multiple units had already been gotten the word they were going to the Middle
East places I'm not even legally allowed to discuss these were Hush Hush missions getting things done quickly for government entities we didn't even know existed little did we know this was because those entities knew the war was about to end extraction was emminent so lots of these little running guns were put into place throughout the countries involved extraction was actually a big part of our deployment fresh boots to help get the old ones out but we were specifically told not to disclose our mission details or location to anyone ever for any reason I've seen the
absolute worst of humanity the war in the Middle East was a never-ending nightmare a constant reminder of the hores were capable inflicting upon each other as an 88 Mike a truck driver in the army my days Blended together in a haze of dust diesel fumes and the constant threat of death the desert landscape stretched out before me like an endless gra punctuated by the occasional fob or forward operating base tiny Oasis of relative safety and a sea of grimy chaos my daily transport duties took me down treacherous roads through Ambush zones and areas with questionable
terrain you'd think it'd get easier that the familiarity would breed confidence but it didn't every time I climbed into the cab of that truck my heart raced with anticipation my senses on high alert for the slightest sign of trouble the roads were always treacherous the enemies always lurking waiting to strike but it wasn't just the enemy I feared it was the unknown the Unseen threats that lurked in every shadow every ditch every abandoned building the war had a way of warping your mind making you see danger everywhere even when it wasn't there sometimes it was
there waiting to pounce to tear your world right apart all you could do was react either kill it or try to find some kind of cover war is a truly ugly thing and I have many dark memories I wish belonged to somebody else honestly I thought I'd seen it all but I was wrong there was something out there something that made the war seem like Child's Play something that made me question my own sanity my own Humanity it started started with a whisper a rumor a hint of something sinister lurking just beyond the edge of
our little fob and then it began to happen raids in the middle of the night and these folks are clever they'd rig a DIY mortar tube and fill that tube with ice there would be just enough space at the top of the tube for them to set the mortar shell in place then leave behind the tubes as the Sun beats down on the ice sheath within that tube it slowly starts to melt and as it does the mortar shell gets Clos and closer to the fixed firing pin at the bottom when all the ice melts
and the primer hits the pin the detonation occurs and sends that mortar shell piping up into the air to rain down upon the fob and our supply lines here's the deal though the insurgents are long gone by the time we found that mortar position they set those tubes up at 4:00 a.m. then disappear into the pre morning dawn so when the mortars tag us at 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon the attackers have been gone for hours they're in different cities sometimes over National Borders or hiding out in the hill fors it's a crazy game of
cat and mouse and one that we can't afford to lose but back to my story this was sometime in 2009 in an undisclosed area of American conflict in the Middle East deep in enemy Waters working to extract soldiers and equipment from various Frontline outposts we just loaded everything up from one of our most traffic vobs which was pretty isolated and out on its own away from the rest rest of the network of outposts our mission was to break this fob down to its Bare Bones leave all the scraps behind we were taking a route that
wormed along the series of different outposts half of them already abandoned so security was hit and miss every time the sun went down it just rearranged the chest board one stretch of the road would be safe one day then the next morning it'd be littered with IEDs it was rolling [ __ ] the only way out was through that that day is etched in my memory like some kind of Scar we departed from base that was barely holding on its walls breached and defenses worn thin the unit was headed for an Airfield sandwiched between two
combat outposts a supposed Safe Haven but the last few days have been a blur of chaos constant barrage of arm Insurgent attacks mortar fire raining down like deadly hail our leave was delayed a tactical move to throw off the enemy schedule we lingered for a few hours fine-tuning our vehicles fueling up our nerves stretched taunt as guitar strains finally we formed up and hit the road a 3-hour drive through this treacherous terrain Villages and townships gave way to endless Dunes the landscape shifting like a snake slithering through the sand crowds of locals watched us depart
their faces a blur of curiosity and hostility we knew that half of them were undercover enemies waiting to relay our movements to all the insurgents was a risk that we couldn't avoid but it still made my skin crawl as we rolled out the tension was palpable every eye scan the Horizon every ear strained to pick up the slightest hint of danger our Convoy was a slow-moving Target snake winding its way through this hostile territory I gripped the wheel of my truck my Knuckles white with tension my heart racing like a jack rabbit The Villages gave
way to open desert the sun beating down on us like a drunk stepparent every Rock every Dune every cluster of scrubby trees seemed to hide some kind of Potential Threat I felt like I was driving through a Minefield and I guess that's because I was every mile a ticking Time Bomb just waiting to explode the radio crackled with static voices of my comrades a steady hum of reassurance but I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched that unblinking eyes were trained on us from somewhere out in the shadows the air was was thick
with anticipation almost seeming to vibrate with tension we knew we were all sitting ducks a slow-moving Target waiting to be picked off and then the silence was broken the Stillness Shattered by a faint hum on the horizon we got some company the lead Scout relayed back to us go ahead the commanding Sergeant barked back this looks like Farmers two crowds east and west of the roadway 40 m out don't appear to be armed we all got Frosty as the order came down the pipe everyone look alive weapons ready be prepared for unfriendly activity just as
I looked away from the road an explosion rocked the cab of my truck filled the windshield with dust and debris Flames curled around the hood as the explosion mixed with the combustion engine underneath it effectively frying all the mechanisms that kept the truck running next I could hear that catastrophic pop and hiss all the tires as they succumbed to the heat one at a time you all right up there gunny hollered at me from the back of the truck it was mostly an equipment load so it was just myself and two other guys apparently I'd
taken the worst of the blast and had gone in shock for several minutes gunny whose name was Calvin had been yelling at me for a while he and I knew each other pretty well from our time out in the desert yeah you guys intact back there I asked looking back into the smoked contents in my truck the crates of ammo acus everything was scattered and blown open spilling all over I guess the entire truck tilted hard and had rocked back and forth a bit all in a manner of seconds the IED that we ran over
had packed a serious punch but fortunately had only damaged our truck the rest of the Convoy remained undamaged we're all good let's get the [ __ ] out of this thing before it blows the other guy said a PFC named Hamlin we did exactly that and scurried out of the windows as fast as we could most of the doors had been locked up from the sudden blast we got out to find the rest of the Convoy parked along the road all the drivers nervously eyeballing every inch of dirt before them they knew what I knew
if there was one IED in the dirt there were definitely 100 more to follow I looked at the Caravan stretched out in front of us it went on for at least a quar of a mile they were entrenched in God knows know how many explosives we sat idle like that for a while a couple of Medics came back to check on us gave us the clear and then went back to the security of the rigs the sergeants were parlaying with the commanders back at the Airfield trying to figure out the next move since our truck
had been sidelined a couple of mechanics came over to look at the damage but told us right away that we weren't outfitted to make any kind of repairs it needed to be hauled back to base before they could fix anything now behind us with their backs to the Sun the group of farmers was steadily growing into a large audience I knew it' only be a matter of time before shid would hit the fan it was always just a footfall away out here soon we saw some officer prick striding back to us he looked smug and
I don't know why but it just put a bad taste in my mouth what's the word Calvin hollered over to him before he could open him his mouth brass wants us back to bog before Sundown we got to go right now to meet that deadline I looked back at the truck uh what about us how many in the vehicle just three of us Calvin explained a look of agitation spreading quickly across his face looks like you three drew the Short Straw you get security detail until we can get this piece of [ __ ] back
to base he said with that same smug smile who's driving anyway I raised my hand you two can blame this dip [ __ ] he said as he pointed to finger at my chest lesson learned watch where the [ __ ] you're going I didn't bother to explain myself we all knew that that IED had been buried under a foot of sand there was no way to just spot a bomb especially if they took the time to hide it I just smiled nodded and took the rest of the orders it turned out we weren't that
far from the combat outposts only about 30 minutes this area had been cleared on and off the last few days so the commanders were calling it secure for now the plan was to let the Convoy roll onward while Calvin Hamlin and I took up the lead and guarded the truck I accidentally blew up as I mentioned before it was full of Claymores bullets and all kinds of tools for war letting it fall into Insurgent hands just simply was not an option still the commanding officers had a feeling this was all a distraction so wanted to
get the rest of the soldiers and equipment off the roadway and into a secure location in the Airfield and we couldn't blame them the three of us were to sit tight till a team returned with relief and a hauling truck ETA 90 minutes we sat in stunned silence as the rest of the Convoy just rolled onward each Soldier looking out to us in disbelief as they went by some waved most of them just turned forward to look happy not to be the ones left behind a couple of people offered to stay but command was Keen
to get everyone off the road and back to the Airfield soon they were out of sight just a cloud of dust inching through the desert like something out of Dune the sun started to dip and Fade Away creating a blinding glow Over the Horizon I was in the truck up through the top hatch with an eye in every direction Hamlin sat on the hood literally baking himself away in the Relentless weight of the Sun Calvin stood in the back where there was this sliver of shade to protect him we had eyes forward eyes backward and
my Eagle's Nest to catch anything on the sides for the first half hour nothing really happened at all it wasn't until Twilight settled the Shadows got real long and squirely this was probably 45 minutes in or halfway into our little security job and this is when [ __ ] usually got the realist as pursuit of insurgence through the desert in the dark was almost impossible even if you had a vehicle the hills and gulches are just too rugged too complex to keep up the only way to successfully give Chase is if you have some kind
of drone oh [ __ ] Hamlin muttered eyes up I turned in the direction he was looking forward the same direction the Caravan went way out there maybe a mile away we could see a group coming and climbing out of the galie onto the road considering how dark it was there must have been 30 or 40 of them climbing up and turning back to pull the others up behind them there was no way to tell if they were armed or not but after assembling in the road they quietly began to approach Calvin get up here
I said over my shoulder I see him he explained he'd already come around the side of the truck rifle train directly at the approaching group he had a much better scope than either Hamlin or I did so he had a better beat on them it wasn't infrared or anything but definitely allowed him to get a better angle on whatever was going on they have bags he explained of what [ __ ] if I know Candy Donuts he shot back sarcastically can you two shut the [ __ ] up Hamlin requested it was funny to hear
the PFC call the action asz he was totally right we settled into the shadows of our transport truck and just waited it was really all we could do barrels fixed on the group slowly coming toward us hush voices spoke in dialect I didn't know the strange alien tongues getting closer in the dark [ __ ] this get on the horn Calvin instructed pointing up into the cab hurry up I dropped through the hatch and into the driver's seat clicked through a couple of channels and static and feedback until I hit the Airfield good old Americans
were talking back and forth in a language that I did know BM Airfield BM Airfield this is Delta leave behind we're 30 minutes south of the twins combat Outpost 212 and 213 extraction team is supposed to be here in 30 minutes but we need guns on site immediately Delta leave behind this is Bam what's your situation it's too hard to tell there are bogies in the road approaching our position from which direction approaching from the north side they're walking right at us I said copy that be advised the rendevu team has already left but we'll
request to get there with the quickness I took a shaky breath and looked back through the windshield they were almost close enough to start shouting what should we do hold fire we've got something on the way over ETA I asked 60 seconds I hung up the radio and craw back through the roof hatch I could hear it all up there now shuffling feet the sound of fabric on fabric and dozens of chattering voices all three of us were Feathering the triggers ready to spray down range at the first sign of lethal contact hold up the
Hamlin hollered through the dark at them stop right there the group stopped but continued to whisper just out ahead of us all civilians please turn around and return to the Village Calvin shouted he had this deep authoritative voice and honestly sounded like a cop or a drill instructor but still you were speaking a different language none of them moved to follow his commands right at that moment the most unbelievable sites of my entire life happened a massive beam of light dropped down out of the sky almost like a UFO I mean a thick wide cylinder
of 10,000 lumens lighting up every inch of space for a good 50 ft you can see their faces their clothes every little detail under that unwavering glow it was a drone dispatched from the Airfield that was what the guy had implied over the radio com I only guessed because what else could get here in 60 seconds it had to be something in the air and based on the totally silent presence it couldn't be a helicopter the crowd froze up underneath the light and now they could see that we were armed they made themselves clear those
holding bags came to the front of the crowd and dropped to their knees emptying the contents of the bags for us to see they brought food water and tools of all kinds they were good people good locals from a village nearby word had passed through the community that an American truck was down damaged by an IED some of them got together got a care package of food and water for us and all the tools they could scrouge up to help us fix our Machinery in that moment I felt nauseous but overwhelmed with relief the Phantoms
in the dark turned out to be friendly after all by the time extraction got there they found us lounging on blankets in the dirt eating all manner of fresh food with those villagers they helped us load everything up and wished us well on our travels to the rural villagers out there in the Badlands thanks for the support this story isn't mine but one my grandfather used to tell me when I was growing up we lived in rural New Mexico the land stretches out like a canvas of dust and rock our family made a living doing
the work others didn't want to do cutting highways Ranch handling working for electrical companies we were the go-to people for jobs that required a strong back and a willingness to get our hands dirty my grandfather Dale was a man of all trads could fix a broken engine wire a house hunt a deer with ease he was a true renaissance man and I looked up to him with a mix of awe and reverence One Summer he came home with a story story that would haunt me for years to come though a Logging company had rolled into
town overnight like a ghostly Apparition the strange thing was there wasn't much Forest to speak of in our area Dale was curious and applied to be a truck driver for that company to his surprise they hired him on the spot along with a few other locals to fill the swing shifts the company was well outfitted with a shiny new equipment and a crew of men who seemed to know their business but there was something off about them something that made Dale's skin crawl they worked 24 hours a day Round the Clock and would only be
in the area for a week the pay was incredibly high but the hours were weird and the atmosphere was tense Dale would come home exhausted his eyes sunken in and his face drawn he tells stories of the logging Camp of the men who worked there and the strange occurrences that happened in the dead of night I was young but I could sense the unease in his voice feeling that something was just waiting Beyond the Edge of Town watching and waiting as the days passed Dale stories grew more ominous more Sinister he spoke of strange noises
in the woods of lights flickering in the darkness of this unshakeable feeling of being watched I didn't know what to make of it but I knew my grandfather wasn't one to spin tales for the sake of it something was definitely wrong I could feel it in every fiber of my body my parents parents naturally started taking these conversations into other parts of the house they didn't want the kids hearing all the cuckoo stuff coming out of Grandpa soon enough that week came to an end Grandpa's stim with the loggers was over his stories and anxious
Behavior went away and for the most part I forgot all about that weird little summer at least until I got older must have been 20 or so having a beer with my family when someone piped up and brought it all crashing back into my head hey you remember that Summerdale when you worked for the Men in Black he laughed but I could see in his face that he had some memories coming right back to him as well I made a mental note to touch back on that in private to see if I could get the
actual whole story and I did Grandpa was almost too excited to share it even if it was only to get it out of his mind maybe to Archive it with someone other than himself who knows it went exactly as I explained a Logging Company came to town and Grandpa applied again no real Forest around here not to yield Real Lumber anyway that was the first red flag the guy he went and applied with clearly didn't work for a sawmill of any kind high and tight haircut pressed black suit extremely fit underneath his clothes he looked
military plain as day but grandpa just chocked it up to getting out of the trade military men got into other jobs all the time it wasn't a big deal the then he saw the equipment the next day every single piece of it was brand new freshly oiled he said the trucks the back H the tree pushers none of it had ever been used they all had that new car smell brand new paper license plate taped to the back but the digits were clearly [ __ ] they were all the exact same numbers and letters they
didn't have an expiration date grandpa just assumed this must have been a bid job some company got the contract and had to allocate all their logging equipment overnight either way he was getting paid big bucks to simply just drive back and forth he'd get on sight right at midnight for his nightly a truck inspection while he did that the ship from earlier would be running semi after semi out of the loading zone which was entirely private and fenced off in fact the entire facility was apparently top secret as my grandpa and the other hir drivers
weren't allowed anywhere but the truck stalls outside the fence there were armed guards walking patrols by the gates Jeeps that did laps of the entire perimeter ready to fly to the scene at the smallest sign of trouble the only thing I can compare it to are the videos that I've seen of Area 51 my grandpa's description is eerily similar rolling bad lands tall barb wire fences military types lingering about everything done behind a fence Andor under the cover of Darkness everything felt weird all the time no question questions ever got answered what's in the back
of the trucks don't worry about it what are we hauling today it's above your pay grade what Forest are you guys logging and that one was just met with some kind of stifled laughter or Grandpa this was [ __ ] sticking to the Bowl everything inside him telling him to get the hell out of there and fast but the money kept him behind the wheel of that truck though when the last shift was done the overnighters waited by the gate for their cargo to roll out the entire overnight crew were all local hires whereas the
crew that rolled out before them was entirely private guys in uniforms with crew cuts and the Word was that all of them wore a gun on their hip pretty serious stuff for just driving a big rig the cargo would come and go at one time these just massive white stock semi-trailers the same ones that were seen on the highway all the time they get everyone attached then they begin the trip over to the processing facility about 2 hours West of of us which honestly was a head scratcher in itself there wasn't really [ __ ]
out that way except for the choco Canyon area another armpit of nothingness it was all really weird but none more so than when they were got on the road the entire overnight Caravan had an armed security detail a couple of cars in front and two trucks in the back Grandpa only knew they were armed because he peaked in one of the cabs when they were passing him one evening you could see a pair of M16s crisscrossed over the console the driver and passenger both wore what looked like bulletproof best another big red flag for Grandpa
then they started seeing the lights it happened every single night that they drove every night for a week after they got well outside the borders of her little Community there was actually be some sparse Woodlands scattered around the valley there would be just some flashes at first some strobing orbs way out in the distance they'd be interrupted by the trees making it harder to see in track grandpa said that they were the brightest whitest lights he'd ever seen like the sun had emptied out its Pockets out there in the woods the lights would dance around
each other start to play Chase then almost seemed to try to Blink a code over to the drivers and no one asked when they got back to the processing facility it was just this unspoken thing off the road don't ask don't tell they knew it had something to do with their cargo it made everyone her up real good those orbs would zip up into the sky one after the other till the woods went dark and still again never saw anything else like it in his life no sir grandpa had said when he talked about the
lights he got real antsy and jittery could tell they had him shaken up still all these years later of all the things he actually saw those were likely the most inexplicable sometimes there would be people standing along the highways business looking types wearing suits and ties some would even have briefcases they didn't hold out a hand for a ride or anything just watched the procession of semi- trcks crumble on down the highway most of them were expressionless but the ones that did have a face looked joyous he said happy or satisfied or something and a
few of them almost looked like they were in shock they drove by and that was that just some stranger out on the road at 2:00 in the morning without any kind of car as you can imagine this was another red flag from my grandpa each night that they would arrive at the processing facility which had a long winding driveway that went on for about 3 miles sneaking into some Canyon at the back of the driveway was this huge bay door built right into the side of a mountain it would roll up and the semi would
proceed to drive underground the receiving workers explained to Grandpa that it was an old mine converted into a storage facility but he couldn't remember any mines that part of the valley whatever the case they backed the trailers into the holding stalls unhooked the load then rolled out of that cavernous M back to the surface he said the place the place that was underground was huge sprawling roadways of unimaginable size some areas as wide as 80 ft others as tall as 100 absolutely massive tunnels that went in every direction to Crazy depths that Grandpa couldn't even
begin to fathom them the whole thing made him claustrophobic like he'd been allowed a window into what an antill is like they would reattach the empty trailers then begin the long slog back home drop off with the loggers was at 7:00 a.m. have their truck inspected and check out finished shortly after that Grandpa would roll in the door sometime around 8:00 in the morning wide-eyed and full of crazy stories this is where the initial memories begin Grandpa and his buddies would roll around theories for the next 20 years in the bars and back shops usually
over a beer some of them had also driven a truck for that strange Logging Company all those years ago fellow specters in the night watching all that weird [ __ ] go by the wayside there was one thing they all put together the trucks themselves didn't have any markings of any kind neither did the trailers no company name was one thing but they were free of any kind of reflector or strip of pain stock white with rivets that's it now you go look at another stock white trailer and you see something that legally has to
be on there the length of the trailer for example is painted in small numbers along the side there's usually a serial number of some kind or unit number something anything Grandpa's trucks only had one thing on them there's a weird symbol stamped onto the back door of each one low near the corner it looked like some kind of Masonic symbol definitely Ely strange not something you'd ever recognize it didn't have words or anything just a circular symbol that looked old religious or something none of them ever saw that marking again they only ever saw it
on the trucks after that week was up all the equipment moved on and no one ever heard of a logging contract coming through the county again my grandpa went to the Grave never knowing what it was he was hauling people over the years have offered some reasonable theories nuclear waste is the biggest one back in those days there was a lot less regulation lots of experimenting too so I guess anything is possible grandpa on the other hand didn't want to hear anything like that though on account of the lights and those people on the road
he believed it was something much more diabolical but at the end of the day no one had any proof all I can tell you is this wasn't long after Roswell and there were lots of Whispers in the wind about weird stuff here weird stuff there for a week I think my family was right in the thick of it I was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan delivering and installing machines for the company that I was working for was in a 26t box truck with 12 machines in the back was having trouble with the truck that
day before I had checked it out by the rental company and they told me that it was all good since I was behind schedule due to the truck and problems with the installation I decided to drive late to my next destination it was about 11:00 at night on a state route through the upper peninsula there were no street lights there was no other cars the headlights from my truck were the only thing Illuminating the road I was creeped out at the peak of feeling like I was in the middle of nowhere and that's because I
I was in fact in the middle of nowhere every single light on the dashboard of the truck lit up and then it stalled now it's pitch black I'm stopped the truck isn't restarting rather than eat up the battery trying to turn it over I shut everything down and start making some phone calls I sat there in the dark making calls with the only light being from my hazard lights I looked up and saw something move in the front of my truck just out of the distance of the flashing lights I thought it was my imagination
at first but in the moment I finally got somebody on the other line they told me it would be at least 2 to 3 hours before they could get a mechanic out to me so now I'm just sitting in Silence the only noise is the clicking of the hazard lights staring out the windshield into the void of the darkness when I see that same movement again just as I was about to [ __ ] my pants from the shadow my phone rang out and that nearly secured the pants [ __ ] cuz it didn't did
scare the hell out of me it was the mechanic he wanted me to get out open the hood and check some things out uh no I'm not getting out of the truck gave him an explanation as to why he was irritated but I didn't care again I see the movement just out of range of the lights I threw on the headlights with the high beams immediately the headlights caught three wolves snacking on something that looked to be roadkill I honked a horn and they looked at me like they were irritated more than scared I was
safe the Wolves were more than likely weren't going to bother me but it was just spooky knowing they were out there I shut the lights off I sat there listening to the Flasher click all while surfing my phone each time I would turn the lights back on the Wolves would still be out there again to remind you I'm in the middle of nowhere no homes no businesses nothing but trees Wilderness the wolves and me suddenly I heard what I can only equate to a woman Scream Of Terror and and it sounded like it came right
from behind my truck then something slammed into the side of my truck hard enough to rock it I wasn't afraid of it actually tipping over but whatever it hit it hit it hard enough to rock the suspension and move me around in the cab and this was a heavy truck I turned every light that I had on slipped it into reverse so the reverse lights came on and laid on the horn was checking both mirrors the only thing that I saw was a shadow bolt across the road I couldn't make out what it was but
in my head it was this werewolf Yeti Bigfoot monster lizard was going to end my life I now noticed the Wolves were gone too and from every nature documentary I've ever watched the only time Predators leave food is when there's a bigger batter Predator around by this time I was in full Bobby Hill that's my purse I don't know you mode whatever had crossed the road didn't cross very far off the road I he thrashing around in the brush breaking sticks and what sounded to be logs there was no other noise pollution I only had
my window cracked a little bit I could hear it all pretty well basically had the steering wheel gripped all the lights on and was feverishly looking out the windows and through the mirrors just to make sure nothing was around in my immediate area I couldn't see anything off the road and any flashlight I had was in the back of my truck in my tool bag I'd physically have to get out of the truck to get them finally I saw some headlights through one of my mirrors and it seemed like it took hours for them to
close the distance to me the noise stopped as the headlights approached it was obviously the mechanic because no one else was stupid enough to come out there besides me he pulled off in front of me my headlights were shining on him in his truck his door opened to step out and then we both hear that same woman screaming in Terror noise the brush thrashing intensified whatever it was is close and still pissed his door immediately shut and my phone rang next he called my phone asking me what that was and he sounded almost more panicked
than I did I had no clue what it was and he had no clue what it was he ended up calling the police and he refused to work on my truck until we could secure the immediate area which again I don't really blame him I didn't want to so couldn't blame him for not wanting to he didn't like the idea of him getting out of his truck just to check things out eventually two Michigan State Police Officers showed up it lit that area up like it was a stadium and I finally stepped out of the
truck for the first time since it's all started we heard that scream three more times while the mechanic was working on my truck but thankfully it was getting further and further away the cops had no clue what it was either and they got kind of spooked too the obvious answer is a mountain line but this is really mountainline country they are incredibly rare across the state they were hunted to Extinction in like the 1900s people say there's a few left but I don't know anyone who's actually seen one in this area the other thing is
a mountain line wouldn't just run into the side of my truck they're smart agile predators and running full Sprint into a trailer doesn't really fit the bill it was like I decided to park right in the middle of some kind of encounter that was already going on the Wolves the screaming entity the thing that slammed into the truck it was a lot of nope and it was all right outside my window the mechanic finally got my truck running and I made it to my hotel for the night the next morning I walked the truck for
inspection the side that was hit there was a clear indentation about the size of a basketball whatever had hit it didn't hit it hard enough to push all the way through but definitely mushed the fiberglass that indentation was about 7 fo off the ground again not very Mountain line like but who knows I have no idea what it was and I probably never will I do confidently know that I will never ever drive through that Upper Peninsula at night ever again though I stopped driving over the road due to the lifestyle and still kept my
CDL for other jobs this all was during the late '90s I worked for a company that owned a caterpillar D9 bulldozer it weighed over 100,000 lb it wasn't common for them to move the Dozer off the property but they had the means to do so their means to do it was a 1980 Something International tractor with a drop trailer both were bought specifically to move the Dozer both had seen much better days both were functional and as safe as they could be be they were just used hard the tractor had a couple of 100,000 mil
on it but that isn't odd for older tractors we hadn't used the Dozer to its full potential for a while so the owner of the company had lent it out to one of his Partners I was basically hired to operate Earth moving equipment My Truck Driving Experience was just a perk they asked me to deliver it and I agreed we load up the Dozer secure it to the trailer and I was on my way the CB antenna hadn't been tuned in forever so I was only picking up short range with a lot of static weather
conditions were cold with light snowfall reports of ice on the road in certain areas I slapped the oversized load Banner on the Dozer and off we went one of the intersections on the state route that I was on was notoriously bad the intersection is at the base of a hill if you're coming from the side of the Hill it's on you don't see the stoplight or stop traffic until you get over the peak of the hill and you still use usually would have plenty of room to stop as I was approaching this intersection the CB
lit up and a guy was basically screaming into it for traffic at the peak of this hill to slow down that problem my CB wasn't tuned reception was sketchy I only caught about every third word I know the intersection so I let off the accelerator when I Peak the hill mostly because I hated and still hate that intersection I would have plenty of time to stop even with the road conditions if traffic was normal unfortunately for me traffic was not normal there was a fresh pretty bad accident at that intersection traffic had backed up more
than halfway up the hill the accident had just occurred so there was no emergency services on scene yet I now had very little space to stop a very heavy load with a very old truck I start downshifting and braking realizing I was going to be cutting it very close close and then started breaking harder then I realized that I was hitting this large ice patch along the road the tires were slipping and jerking the tractor around it suddenly dawned on me there was no possible way for me to stop this much weight under these conditions
I heard the fifth wheel clanking and I felt the trailer tugging at the tractor in this weird way so I looked out my driver side mirror and didn't see anything including the dozer in a panic I whipped my head around to look out the passenger mirror the only thing that I saw was the entire side profile of the trailer and Dozer I'd made a terrible mistake in letting that trailer get out from behind me it was one of those well this is it this is how I die moments was now Jack knifing while still moving
and still trying to slow the truck down while in an icy Hill I was headed for an intersection full of stop Passenger cars my truck weighed a lot at this point I was thoroughly convinced I I was about to involuntarily murder a bunch of people I laid on the horn as much as I could but I was also trying to work the steering wheel in an attempt to pretend I had control honestly I hit a point where I basically realized I was just a passenger standing on a brake pedal I didn't have enough room to
correct anything so I just went all out on that horn the trailer tires finally heated up enough to start making a very loud and deep squeal there's a bunch of people in front of me that got out and ran away from their cars they were staring at out ofc control death roaring down a hill the truck finally came to a stop within 3 ft of the last car in the intersection I could sit on my truck's bumper and easily put my feet up on that next car's bumper the truck stopped with the trailer jacknifed so
I was basically blocking both lanes and the breakdown Lane I was sweating and shaking from all the anxiety the trucks breakes the trailers breakes and everything underneath was a hair away from Catching Fire that's how hot I'd ridden it down till the last splitting second all brakes and friction if I'd gone 10 more feet I'm confident every single wheel would have sparked a flame from that heat I was sitting in the now stop truck the people who'd abandoned their cars were now screaming at me and pointing up the hill I looked up the hill to
see another driver but this was a tank trailer basically reliving everything that I just had with much less space to work with due to my trailer blocking more of the road immediately I got out of my truck and ran that's all I could do I thought I'd Escape certain death and here I was rehearsing for part two not but 10 seconds later to say it was surreal was an understatement especially when you're running alongside people you almost just accidentally killed the second truck slid down and stopped parallel parked almost perfectly with mine once his truck
stopped I could see he was experiencing the same thing that I did we were both extremely close to being in bad accidents thankfully he was pulling a dry tank I'm pretty sure that's the only reason he was able to stop it was a lot lighter than me by this time the guy had gone on the CB and got through enough truckers at the top of the hill that they basically slowed everybody else down once the adrenaline wore off I almost passed out I've operated a lot of different vehicles in my life and that situation was
easily the scariest operating situation I've ever lived through I had zero control of that situation and that's a bad feeling for an operator I remember the people that ran away from their cars were comforting me it's been over 20 years since that happened I still get the Willies when I think about it I've saw enough accidents to know how that could have turned out too had I not been able to get that truck to stop I would have ripped through all those passenger vehicles with Little Resistance another 5 mph or just being in a different
Lane maybe a bit more ice even the time of day with would have completely changed the outcome of that situation it would have all entirely been my fault too and I could have kissed my whole life goodbye hey everyone thanks for listening if you stuck around to this point if you haven't yet please hit the like button the Subscribe button Buton and that notification Bell to be notified when future episodes come out if you have a true scary story of your own feel free to send it to our email or submit it to our subreddit
you can stalk me on Instagram and you can stalk me on Twitter all these links are below what going on everybody uh my plan for this week is to uh continue to make up for taking a full week off for couple of weeks ago I plan on doing three episodes this week as well uh we got truckers obviously today and then desert stories and summer camp stories for the remainder of the week and uh I also wanted to give a specific shout out to the dude that sent in that first story um I appreciate you
sending that man that was a good one that was a fun one um I also was in Afghanistan not in 2008 but in 2012 for about a year I was 13 Bravo so I shot artillery and we rigged up alers went out to uh help troops and ticks and stuff like that I've definitely have some not quite exactly like your story but I've got seen and had some wild [ __ ] experiences over there so I just wanted to give a specific shout out to you as well brother and uh thank you for your service
um I'd like to maybe someday in the near future maybe not even near future we could uh do some kind of meet up I'd love to do meet up like you know have a couple beers and share some War Stories whatever but uh I me honestly speaking of that I've talked about it with a couple of other narrators like I I'd be down and would love to do like a fullon maybe I don't think there's a exactly a narrator's convention that doesn't happen like but me even just like have a meet up at a horror
convention or something like that you know you know uh that'd be that'd be pretty sweet be pretty cool meet some of you guys and Andor whatever but yeah uh again thanks for sharing that story brother I appreciated that I appreciated that I appreciate it it was a it was a good one I enoy enoy reading that one um and again I think I did this a couple episodes ago but if you've got a scary story or true scary story I guess for all you Skeptics and um sleuths out there those that know and can tell
the difference between what's real and what's not allegedly true scary stories cuz kind of goes without saying that any story that gets told on this channel is allegedly true it's not full-on true because I have no way of verifying and you know validating I think honestly I'm going to put out a stories for Sleep episode probably tomorrow then um what was it Thursday Thursday will be either desert stories or summer camp episodes summer camp stories and then Friday will be uh yeah the other one all right so there'll be a total of four releases this
week but obviously the story is for sleep most of you know this already but I'll just reiterate it again are all duplicates episode or stories that you've heard before it's just putting all the episodes in one for people that like to use them for Sleep CU I think I been a little while since I've done one of those so yeah we'll definitely do another one of those and uh I'll see you tomorrow for stories for Sleep Wednesday for Desert or summer camp and then Friday for the other one all right cheers guys [Music] [Music]
