Route 79 In West Virginia


This story is true and happened on January 22,1993. 

My father had passed away, and my son and his wife and I were 
driving to southern Ohio from Pennsylvania for the funeral. 

We were traveling Rt. 79 in West Virginia between the exits for 
Wallback and Big Otter. WE didn't depart until after my son got 
home from work that day so it was nearing midnight when we reached 
this part of our trip. There were no other cars or trucks around, 
and it was a nice peaceful trip. Suddenly a warning light appeared 
on the dashboard, but it only stayed on a second or two, then went out. 

After a minute, it appeared on again, but went out quickly as before. 
We were in an area where we could see quite a distance in front of us, 
when suddenly a tall man appeared just a few yards in front of us very 
close to the edge of the road . He was wearing a long brown trench coat 
and had shoulder length hair. He was waving both of his arms above his 
head in an effort to flag us down. 

Instinctively, my daughter-in-law, who was driving, slowed the car, but 
then when she realized that the man had no face she sped back up again. 
The rest of the way to Ohio we tried to make sense of what we had just 
seen. The figure had glowed as from within, and as we passed it, it had 
disappeared. 

It appeared so dangerously close to the car that if it had been real, 
we would have surely have caused the hair and coat to blow in the wind, 
but it didn't. Why were there no discernable facial features when the 
rest of it appeared so real? About 3 years after this incident, I bought 
a book at a flea market on ghosts and haunting. In the back were listings 
of real ghosts and where they haunted. 

It lists a troublesome ghost who haunts a wide area in West Virginia who 
likes to cause trouble. Was this the ghost we saw? What would have 
happened if he had been successful in flagging us down and we had 
stopped? Oh, yes, the dash light NEVER came on again after that incident! 

Was it more of the ghost's handiwork? One other thing: Several years 
later my mother had spent a visit with us in Pa. , and I was driving her 
back to her home in Ohio via the same route. We were talking about the 
ghost sighting and I taunted it to reappear. We traveled a short ways 
and there was a man in a yellow t-shirt walking with his back towards 
us along the road. 

I regret now that I didn't look in the rearview mirror to see if he was 
still there after we passed. As I reflect back on it, what was someone 
doing walking along this deserted stretch of highway, no exits for miles 
and nothing but trees and mountains- no homes ,stores or gas stations. 
And he wasn't hitch hiking. Where could he have been going? There were 
no abandoned vehicles along the road. 

Could it have been the ghost in another form?