L.C. and a business associate, Charlie, (fictitious name) had
just finished lunch in the small Southwest Louisiana town of
Abbeville. Still discussing their work, they began their drive
north along Highway 167 towards the Oil Center city of Lafayette
about 15 miles away. The date was October 20, 1969, and the time
was about 1:30 in the afternoon. It was one of those
picture-perfect days in Fall--clear blue skies and a nippy 60
degrees, just right conditions for cruising along with the car
windows rolled down.
The highway had been practically traffic-free until they spotted
some distance ahead what appeared to be an old turtle-back-type
auto traveling very slowly. As they closed the distance between
their vehicle and this relic from the past, their discussion turned
from their insurance work to the old car ahead of them. While the
style of the auto indicated it to be decades old, it appeared to be
in show room condition, which evoked words of admiration from both
L.C. and Charlie. Because the car was traveling so slowly, the two
men decided to pass it, but before doing so, slowed to better
appreciate the beauty and mint condition of the vehicle. As they
did so, L.C. noticed a very large bright orange license plate with
the year "1940" clearly printed on it. This was most unusual and
probably illegal unless provisions had been made for the antique
car to be used in ceremonial parades.
As they passed the car slowly to its left, L.C., who was in the
passenger's seat, noticed the driver of the car was a young woman
dressed in what appeared to be 1940 vintage clothing. This was 1969
and a young woman wearing a hat complete with a long colored
feather and a fur coat was, to say the least, a bit unusual. A
small child stood on the seat next to her, possibly a little girl.
The gender of the child was hard to determine as it too wore a
heavy coat and cap. The windows of her car were rolled up, a fact
which puzzled L.C. because, though the temperature was nippy, it
was quite pleasant and a light sweater was sufficient to keep you
comfortable. As they pulled up next to the car, their study turned
to alarm as their attention was riveted to the animated expressions
of fear and panic on the woman's face. Driving alongside of her at
a near crawl (no traffic in either direction allowed this
maneuvering) they could see her frantically looking back and forth
as if lost or in need of help. She appeared on the verge of
tears.
Being on the passenger's side, L.C. called out to her and asked if
she needed help. To this she nodded "yes," all the while looking
down (old cars sat a little higher than the low profiles of today's
cars) with a very puzzled look at their vehicle. L.C. motioned to
her to pull over and park on the side of the road. He had to repeat
the request several times with hand signs and mouthing the words
because her window was rolled up and it seemed she had difficulty
hearing them. They saw her begin to pull over so they continued to
pass her so as to safely pull over also in front of her. As they
came to a halt on the shoulder of the road, L.C. and Charlie turned
to look at the old car behind them. However, to their astonishment,
there was no sign of the car. Remember, this was on an open highway
with no side roads nearby, no place to hide a car. It and its
occupants had simply vanished.
L.C. and Charlie looked back at the empty highway. As they sat in
the car, spellbound and bewildered, it was obvious to them that a
search would prove futile. Meanwhile, the driver of a vehicle that
had been behind the old car pulled over behind them. He ran to L.C.
and Charlie and frantically demanded an explanation as to what had
become of the car ahead of him. His account was as follows. He was
driving North on Highway 167 when he saw, some distance away, a new
car passing up a very old car at a slow pace, so slow that they
appeared to be nearly stopped. He saw the new car pull onto the
shoulder and the old car started to do the same. Momentarily, it
obstructed the new car and then suddenly disappeared. All that
remained ahead of him was the new car on the shoulder of the
highway. Desperate to associate logic to this incredible sight, he
immediately assumed an accident had occurred. Indeed, an accident
had not occurred, but something more haunting, perhaps as tragic,
and certainly more mysterious had.
After discussing what each had seen from his perspective, the three
men walked the area for an hour. The third man, who was from out of
state, insisted on reporting the incident to the police. He felt
that it was a "missing person" situation and that they had been
witnesses. L.C. and Charlie refused to do so as they had no idea
where the woman and child along with the car had gone. They were
missing alright, but no police on this plane of existence had the
power to find them. The third man finally decided that without
their cooperation he could not report this on his own for fear his
sanity would be questioned. He did exchange addresses and phone
numbers with L.C. and Charlie. For years he kept in touch with
them, calling just to talk about his incident and to confirm again
that he had seen what he had.
High strangeness points to ponder over: what if--she was from the
past, and went forward in time, and she is now an old lady still
living today, and what if on that same day it had been her instead
of L.C. and Charlie behind the "old car," that same now old lady
would have met herself. What if--the Earth itself has a super
mentality and it creates as a cosmic joke all these anomalies of
life on its surface just for its amusement or some other esoteric
reason. What if--and this is the final and most depressing of the
"what ifs"--she had come from the past, popped into the future and
did not return to her past. The newspapers of 1940 would puzzle
over a disappeance of a mother and her child one cold October day,
foul play suspected, the search continues--while she and the child
continue traveling in and out of various time zones forever.
This article was originally published in Ken Meaux's High
Strangeness column in Totally True Magazine 2, Spring,
1988.
