The Haunted Pickup Truck

After a difficult divorce in 1999, I lost my pick-up truck in the settlement. I needed new, affordable transportation. Fortunately my stepbrother knew this guy that had an old Dodge for sale at a really good price. But when I saw it, I had a bad feeling about this car.

I was however very desperate to get a car, so after taking it for a test drive, I convinced myself it was only my imagination that something was wrong. So pretty soon I was driving my new car on Route 270 heading home. Then the paranormal activity started. Driving along slowly, the material from the ceiling of the car came detached. My son Raymond was in the back seat, and he looked at me with big eyes and said, “Dad, why is that man pulling the stuff off the ceiling?”

A person terrified with the imagination of spectres, is more reasonable than one who thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless ~ Joseph Addison

I looked in the rear view mirror, but could not see anything. I scolded Raymond for playing a prank on me, while I was nervously driving without any temporary license plates. I put it down to dry rot and the material becoming dislodged from the bumps on the road. By the time we arrived home I could smell a very foul odor. I thought I might have hit a skunk on the way home.

The next day I came out to check on my spooky new Dodge pickup and I still had a bad feelings about it, but I still needed something to get me from work to home. As I approached the car in the driveway, I could hear the radio in the car playing. It was tuning from one channel to another, surfing the airwaves all by itself. When I opened up the door, the radio went off instantly.

The Monday morning I was on my way to work. Pulling up to a traffic light, the car suddenly died like it had no life to it at all. I could not get it going again, no matter what I tried. A friend later came to look under the hood, but when he tried the car started right up again. He said he didn’t understand why this was happening and to bring it by the shop later.

I was getting really worried. Was my new car cursed or haunted? On my way home I stopped by a church to talk to a priest, to see if he would bless my car. He smiled and said he usually doesn’t do that sort of thing, but he would do it for me. His blessing seemed to sort out the problem and for a few months all was fine.

Then the trouble started all over again. A friend  came to help me put jumper cables on the car. While I was busy setting up the jumpers she suddenly got out her car and grab me by the arm and pulled me back hard. “We need to leave right now,” she said.

Don’t matter if you believe in them or not. If they’re there, they’re there ~ Joan Lowery Nixon

At first I protested but finally I got into her car. I asked her what was going on and she told me she saw a creepy old man sitting sitting behind the steering wheel in my car. She was clearly upset. I then told her the story of what had happen when I got the car. We then had the car towed in to a garage.

After getting the car back on a cold Sunday, I was driving down Hamilton road in Columbus, Ohio. I thank God that I had my seat belt on that day. It was like someone opened the door on my side and shoved me really hard. I almost fell out! After that I decided to get rid of that car, even if I had to walk all the way to work.

Fortunately I was able to get a red pickup truck for a good price and I traded in the spooky Dodge. Driving off it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Who the creepy man behind the steering wheel was, remains a mystery.