For non-locals: local area urban legend has it that this railroad crossing is haunted by the ghosts of children who were killed here when their school bus was struck by a train. If you park your car on the tracks (and of course put it in neutral and keep your parking brake off--after all they're only child ghosts), they will push you off the tracks to make sure you don't get hit by a train. Furthermore, if you dust the back of your car with baby powder or something like that, you can see their little handprints left on your car from them pushing you.
Okay. Utter bogosity. Even if you did believe in ghosts, there is no such record of any such train/school bus collision ever occurring at this crossing. Furthermore (once again), some debunkers surveyed the tracks and found that the "level" ground is actually not; if you stop there you just roll downhill.
So anyway, it's not really haunted. And if it were, the haunts are said to be friendly, helpful ghosts.
Still, it feels haunted, or at least, belurked.* Why else would I get a sense of brooding evil every time I go through there?*I made that word up. If something is haunting a place, that place is "haunted."** If something is merely lurking at some place, that place is "belurked."
**There is a difference between haunting and lurking. Haunting denotes some form of perceptible activity that affects the behavior and reactions of those still living who witness it. Lurking merely means that something is there, but is not making itself known; only waiting...waiting.
Been there, done that. Can plainly see you're only rolling downhill, but... still seems like a weird vibe there.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great place to take the kids just before nightfall. And of course, once it is all over, you can simply explain the gravity and optical illusion business.
ReplyDelete