Hey guys, it’s Flo. This time of year is when much of the world celebrate the dead. November 11 is Remembrance Day and Guy Fawkes Night on 5th November. The 3 days of Allhallowtide in the Christian Calendar is happening now: October 31 was All Saint’s Eve, better known as Halloween. Yesterday was All Saint’s Day, or in Mexico Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Finally today, November 2, is All Soul’s Day. During the 3 days of Allhallowtide, the dead are honored with various festivals, parties, feasts, parades and ceremonies.
I’m not a practicing Christian, so for many in the western world like me, this is the time of year when people chase the thrill of getting scared by sharing ghost stories. Children dress up in silly costumes and run around on a sugar high, and adults run around dressed like silly children on a sugar high. I’m not a fan of fancy dress myself so I haven’t actually got a Halloween party story to tell.
I do however, have my own story to tell in honour of the dead. There have been a number of strange occurrences having to do with the unexplained that has happened to me (I’ll get into it another time). This story, is the most popular one.
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One summer, when I was living in Canada. A friend and I did a road trip to Calgary from Winnipeg for his brother’s wedding. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the sheer size of the country, you can see from the below map of the route. And yes you see that right, it’s a 13 hour journey. That’s if the conditions are right. Our road trip took place at the end of June which is typically a very wet time of year. Because of all the heavy rains, a portion of the Trans-Canada highway (the main highway linking all major cities) washed away due to flood waters somewhere between Regina and Calgary. This meant we had to take detours through back roads leading through small towns and our journey turned into something like 16 hours. We wanted to do the whole trip in one go – because we were hardcore like that ha.
Roy and I took turns driving, it was my turn to drive and we were about 13 hours into our journey at this point. Roy was fast asleep in shotgun and I was very tired. The hypnotic feel of the empty road certainly didn’t help so I began to nod off. The road was pitch black as this was a country road, the only lights to be seen were from the headlights of the car we were travelling in. I remember seeing a big sign “Welcome to Beiseker” a small village in Alberta. At this point I was going at a pretty dangerous speed, coupled with my fatigue it was a very dangerous combination! I also saw road signs notifying drivers to “slow down children crossing” or “Caution school bus” as I sped through this little town. But thought, what does it matter? No one is on the road but me….
I saw a rise in the road ahead, and as I came up and over the top I saw a little boy standing on the shoulder of the road to my right. He looked about 4 or 5 years old, wearing a blue and white tee-shirt, shorts and was bare foot. I saw his blonde hair blow in the wind and he raised his right arm up as if to wave me down, in the palm of his hand he was holding something.
I immediately slammed on the brakes and yelled “Whaaat the fuck was thaaat?!!” and my eyes went straight to the clock which stated 4:17am.
My thoughts? What is a shoeless kid doing on the side of the road at this time?!?!
At the speed I was going, even after hitting the brakes, I went right past him. Of course all this action woke Roy up, “What happened?” So I quickly explained. Roy is massively into horror flicks so his reply was, “I think you just saw a ghost Flo!”
I could feel all the hairs on me standing on end and I was scared shitless by now so I kept driving. Too afraid to turn around.
A couple hours later, we made it safely to Calgary. I had so much adrenaline pumping through me that I was completely fine to get us there.
Now, I know you can rationalize this story and try to convince me that because I was falling asleep and going really fast, it’s likely my eyes were playing tricks on me…
I know, I did the same rationalization exercise on myself.
A few days later…
Guilt had set in by now. What if there really was a car accident, and this kid was just trying to wave someone down to help his parents who were potentially in a car rolled over in the ditch?? I’m being very silly, I’m going to call the police. So I did just that. As I explained my story to the woman on the phone she went silent.
“Hello?” I said.
“I don’t mean to scare you, but a truck driver called and reported the same thing. He saw a young boy standing on the side of the road in Beiseker. However, he stopped and turned around to check and found nothing. No one was there, no boy, no car accident, nothing”.
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Shiiiiit! I still get chills everywhere whenever I tell this story.
So what do you think now? Pretty difficult to rationalize 2 accounts. After some reflection on this encounter, I realized that it wasn’t a bad thing to have seen the boy. After all I was speeding at a ridiculous rate and falling asleep at the wheel. The scare woke me up and got us safely to our destination. If I didn’t see him…well we all know what could’ve happened then. Believe what you want, however I believe I did see a ghost or spirit…someone even has called him an angel.
So on a day the dead are honoured, I’d like to thank the little boy with the blue striped shirt for scaring the shit out of me that early morning in June. I’ll forever be grateful. And may he always help weary travelers arrive safely to their destination.
Oh and if anyone reading in Canada has any information on this town and their little helper, I’d like to hear from you.
I’ve also attached a tune to help with the vibe of the post 😉
Happy Allhallowtide everyone!
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