Fun Strange things on the side of the road?

[SoapboxQuantez08]

We've all seen strange things, on the side of the road, while traveling.

What's the strangest thing you've seen?
When I was fresh out of high-school, several moons ago, my uncle and I were coming back from a larger city.
We were coming back from my having taken the TASP exam, when we saw a male on the side of the road, who was probably 28-ish.

The strange thing is that he was sitting on top of a washing machine, on the side of the highway.
Just sitting there, on top of a washer that's inexplicably there, with no one else in sight.
''Something weird video'', anyone?

 

[Doctor Omega]

One evening, while in a car, crossing a bridge as a passenger, after a visit to a cinema. I saw a lady, dressed very much like this....





...except the dress was flimsy and purple and totally inappropriate for the chilly weather. It may even have been lightly raining. It was as if she was dressed for a party with a 1920's theme and had insanely got out halfway across this long bridge, then was going to get in front of the traffic. She was walking towards our car on my side and I was worried that she was going to walk in front of us. She stopped before she could do so, standing still at the side as the car passed, as if waiting to cross.

I turned to my friend, the driver, and said "I thought we were gonna hit her then!" and my friend said "Hit who?"

I then explained about the pedestrian and he insisted that he had seen nobody, then started to, with good humour, freak out and proceed to quote THE SIXTH SENSE to me, asking me if I saw dead people, and continued texting me as such when I got home. I did a quick colour sketch of her when I got in, while the memory was fresh, and realised that I had seen no details of a face.


This could sound like a classic ghost tale. But I do not believe it to be such. I think there has to be a rational explanation for it. I believe that I was tired after the film and mistook somebody or something to be a person dressed in that fashion. It could not be a lady ghost from the 1920's as the bridge was built in the 1970's.





And, as you can see, it has very glaring lights on it, so these would have dazzled my eyes and confused matters. And, as for my friend not seeing her - or whatever I perceived to be her, this suggests that I was mistaken in some way or that he had, failed to notice a very real, very alive person - or something that could be mistaken as a person - that was standing at the side.

I would love to believe that I saw a ghost, but I don't think I did. It was a spooky occurrence at the time though and he continued to rib me mercilessly for some time after.

 

[SoapboxQuantez08]

One evening, while in a car, crossing a bridge as a passenger, after a visit to a cinema. I saw a lady, dressed very much like this....

View attachment 4120



...except the dress was flimsy and purple and totally inappropriate for the chilly weather. It may even have been lightly raining. It was as if she was dressed for a party with a 1920's theme and had insanely got out halfway across this long bridge, then was going to get in front of the traffic. She was walking towards our car on my side and I was worried that she was going to walk in front of us. She stopped before she could do so, standing still at the side as the car passed, as if waiting to cross.

I turned to my friend, the driver, and said "I thought we were gonna hit her then!" and my friend said "Hit who?"

I then explained about the pedestrian and he insisted that he had seen nobody, then started to, with good humour, freak out and proceed to quote THE SIXTH SENSE to me, asking me if I saw dead people, and continued texting me as such when I got home. I did a quick colour sketch of her when I got in, while the memory was fresh, and realised that I had seen no details of a face.


This could sound like a classic ghost tale. But I do not believe it to be such. I think there has to be a rational explanation for it. I believe that I was tired after the film and mistook somebody or something to be a person dressed in that fashion. It could not be a lady ghost from the 1920's as the bridge was built in the 1970's.


View attachment 4121


And, as you can see, it has very glaring lights on it, so these would have dazzled my eyes and confused matters. And, as for my friend not seeing her - or whatever I perceived to be her, this suggests that I was mistaken in some way or that he had, failed to notice a very real, very alive person - or something that could be mistaken as a person - that was standing at the side.

I would love to believe that I saw a ghost, but I don't think I did. It was a spooky occurrence at the time though and he continued to rib me mercilessly for some time after.

It could be that the bridge has that "paranormal energy", or somesuch.

I forget the proper term, but you catch my drift.
For example, ever since my current neighbors moved in at the start of 2014, I've been hearing their voices talking about me, repeatedly.
I don't believe I'm schizophrenic, as I have no reason to believe as such.
If I were born to be afflicted with such ailment, why would it begin shortly after my 37th birthday? It would've begun sooner.
But at the same time, they're not talking about me, at least not half as much as it seems.
They denied it, and to their credit, I've heard their voices even when they're not home.
So it seems to me that their house has always had that "paranormal energy field", so to speak, and all it needed was non-strangers to move in, for the fire to be fueled (they're my second cousin and his wife).
It is possible that bridge has that same type of energy, especially at night.

 

[Doctor Omega]

It is possible that bridge has that same type of energy, especially at night.

A lot of people have jumped off it over the years.....

More than 200 incidents of people jumping or falling from the bridge have taken place since it was opened in 1981; only five have survived.Between 1990 and February 2001 the local Rescue Team launched its boat 64 times to deal with people falling or jumping off the bridge. Notable incidents include the cases of a woman and her two-year-old daughter who fell off the bridge in 2005, a mother who killed herself and her 12-year-old son with Fragile X Syndrome in April 2006,and that of a man jumping from the bridge to his death on the road below in September 2006.

As a result, plans were announced on 26 December 2009 to construct a suicide barrier along the walkways of the bridge; design constraints were cited as the reason for non-implementation before this time.

As an sad footnote, and one I was holding back, as I didn't want it to seem as if I was putting any supernatural credence in the following fact, my friend, the driver, who was still in his early thirties, passed away from meningitis very shortly after - certainly within approximately a year - which I have put down to coincidence, but which I realise could easily be interpreted by a writer collecting anecdotal stories, such as this, as something more eerie.

To add some context though, my friend had had a lifelong heart condition and had not expected to live a long life and seemed prone to being in a weakened state. So his passing, in one form or another, was not unexpected.

I think it depends on the prism we view things through. One person's supernatural occurrence is another person's gathering of coincidence and human error.

 

[SoapboxQuantez08]

A lot of people have jumped off it over the years.....

View attachment 4133






As an sad footnote, and one I was holding back, as I didn't want it to seem as if I was putting any supernatural credence in the following fact, my friend, the driver, who was still in his early thirties, passed away from meningitis very shortly after - certainly within approximately a year - which I have put down to coincidence, but which I realise could easily be interpreted by a writer collecting anecdotal stories, such as this, as something more eerie.

To add some context though, my friend had had a lifelong heart condition and had not expected to live a long life and seemed prone to being in a weakened state. So his passing, in one form or another, was not unexpected.

I think it depends on the prism we view things through. One person's supernatural occurrence is another person's gathering of coincidence and human error.

I'm sorry for your loss, just the same.
I think what I was trying to refer to was "electro-magnetic energy", it was just evading me.
All those lights would create quite a bit, and I think I'd rather believe in that than...the other thing.