The Paranormal Blog

In honour of the USA Fourth Of July celebrations this week's Freaky Friday edition features an American report, and is dedicated to our U.S. readers!

Virginia, USA - Death Omen

The following strange encounter was sent in by one of our readers, and they are hoping for some feedback from others who may have gone through something similar or have heard about another report like it.

An event that took place in 1990 has had myself, and 2 friends curious for some years now.

August 1990, three of us went to Atlantic City. On the way home, my passenger side control arm snapped. I recovered from the skid and safely made it off the highway.

After hours spent waiting for a wrecker that never came, another friend came and got us, sometime after dark. We dropped off the first of our group in Fairfax, VA, then began the trip to our second stop.

We were on a divided highway in Manassas VA, no roadside lights, and tree lined. We noticed a female walking down the shoulder of the road. She was in a long black formal dress, kinda old style. She was weaving from side to side as she walked, so we figured we ought to stop and help.

A curious note is that despite the side to side movement, there was no vertical movement or bounce to her step. In the instant between her leaving our headlights, and when she should have been next to us, she was gone.

The next day, I was in a car wreck that had me in the emergency room for 5 hours, and the paramedics and firemen agreed that I should have been dead given the severity of the crash.

Two years later, in August, the guy that lived in Manassas, and was in the car when we saw the girl was killed in a car wreck.

Another two years following that, the driver was in a car wreck that left him legally dead for 2 minutes, and has walked with a cane ever since.

Nothing bad has happened to the guy we dropped off before we saw the girl.

I am curious as to whether there is some example in some folklore that would match this experience. It could be ruled as a sad coincidence, but there are enough details in this story that seem to resemble a kind of death omen, that I am curious as to if there is some tradition that would fit this episode.

Our thanks to the witness for sharing this report! It is our experience that apparitions or spirits of the dead are harmless, nor is this case a phantom hitchhiker. Any feedback or thoughts will be much appreciated. Please write to sue AT psican.org