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Cheating The Ferryman

B

Buchanan

Fresh Blood
Joined
Dec 8, 2020
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4
Back in 73/74 I experienced a baffling clearly defined occurrence. My best mate Rob was driving ahead of me in his girl’s car, a vintage (even back then) Vauxhall Cresta. I followed with my girlfriend driving Rob’s car a Wolsey Hornet thus having great trouble keeping up. As it was a glorious early sunlit spring evening, no alcohol has yet been taken, and I was of course a 19 year old youth therefore self evidently immortal. I just recklessly put my foot down at every straight length of lane to try and catch up. The girls, both friends, were picked up from home in Heywood (Lancashire at the time). Oddly and irrelevant but unforgettable-they both delighted in playing Scott Joplin rags on the piano!. Anyway We cut through the deep country lanes recklessly too fast. Then a jolt of horror hit me as a solid vertical stone hedge bank rushed at me. I had failed to anticipate an extremely tight right hand bend in the lane. I was too late to react, too late to brake, and 50 or 60mph sealed the outcome. I glanced to my right with a bolt of remorse for what I had brought upon this bubbly petite and pretty brunette of 18 years, she was head down in her handbag searching for something, so blissfully and mercifully unaware.
So a tragic vehicle accident, a quarter page in the local rag and even less in the ManchesterEvening news?.Well perhaps yes, with the caveat -not in the Universe me and you currently inhabit. From glancing down and glancing back up I found we were motoring along having surreally bypassed the deadly bend completely. No adjustment in steering, no braking, no thump or twitch or noise. It was a transition as precise as a video edit or cut. We were driving once more on a straight again heading seamlessly into the evening sun. I recall feeling quite sick and feeling as if my hair was standing on end with the adrenaline. I considered questioning my girl, but thought asking her if she noticed how close to death I had brought us was not good. This not the only death cheating experience in my life but it is the single experience that I cannot inject a fraction of doubt or error in perception about. It is only in recent years that I have discovered much scientific and philosophical thought that could perhaps provide an answer. I do though still live with the disconcerting thought that I probably left a whole mess of heartache in a parallel universe. Rob Taylor
 
Buchanan said:
Back in 73/74 I experienced a baffling clearly defined occurrence. My best mate Rob was driving ahead of me in his girl’s car, a vintage (even back then) Vauxhall Cresta. I followed with my girlfriend driving Rob’s car a Wolsey Hornet thus having great trouble keeping up. As it was a glorious early sunlit spring evening, no alcohol has yet been taken, and I was of course a 19 year old youth therefore self evidently immortal. I just recklessly put my foot down at every straight length of lane to try and catch up. The girls, both friends, were picked up from home in Heywood (Lancashire at the time). Oddly and irrelevant but unforgettable-they both delighted in playing Scott Joplin rags on the piano!. Anyway We cut through the deep country lanes recklessly too fast. Then a jolt of horror hit me as a solid vertical stone hedge bank rushed at me. I had failed to anticipate an extremely tight right hand bend in the lane. I was too late to react, too late to brake, and 50 or 60mph sealed the outcome. I glanced to my right with a bolt of remorse for what I had brought upon this bubbly petite and pretty brunette of 18 years, she was head down in her handbag searching for something, so blissfully and mercifully unaware.
So a tragic vehicle accident, a quarter page in the local rag and even less in the ManchesterEvening news?.Well perhaps yes, with the caveat -not in the Universe me and you currently inhabit. From glancing down and glancing back up I found we were motoring along having surreally bypassed the deadly bend completely. No adjustment in steering, no braking, no thump or twitch or noise. It was a transition as precise as a video edit or cut. We were driving once more on a straight again heading seamlessly into the evening sun. I recall feeling quite sick and feeling as if my hair was standing on end with the adrenaline. I considered questioning my girl, but thought asking her if she noticed how close to death I had brought us was not good. This not the only death cheating experience in my life but it is the single experience that I cannot inject a fraction of doubt or error in perception about. It is only in recent years that I have discovered much scientific and philosophical thought that could perhaps provide an answer. I do though still live with the disconcerting thought that I probably left a whole mess of heartache in a parallel universe. Rob Taylor
Click to expand...
This is probably the point when you transitioned from one universe's timeline to a timeline in another universe, yes.
 
There was a similar incident in a different thread—I'll try to find it. In it, the driver knew the road made a sharp turn, but on this occasion saw only a straight road. Another forum member replied with another incident just like it. This seems to be a specific type of hallucination or something. It was preceded by a feeling of dread.
 
Time slowing down is a common event when faced with imminent death. Pilots have reported time almost stopping to allow them to avoid a serious crash by carrying out multiple tasks that would seem impossible in "normal time".

Some attribute this to a survival mode of the brain whilst othets suggest its the brain recording more information than normal during a crisis.

It could be this survival element could have kicked in and you navigated the bend. You may have then blanked out the memory immediately.

The issue though is what did your passenger perceive? Pity, although understandable, that you didnt want to bring it up. What was her reaction? What was she doing when you looked at her again?
 
Naughty_Felid said:
Time slowing down is a common event when faced with imminent death. Pilots have reported time almost stopping to allow them to avoid a serious crash by carrying out multiple tasks that would seem impossible in "normal time".
Some attribute this to a survival mode of the brain whilst othets suggest its the brain recording more information than normal during a crisis.
It could be this survival element could have kicked in and you navigated the bend. You may have then blanked out the memory immediately. ...
Click to expand...

I can attest to the time dilation / 'slow-motion' effect, both as the person experiencing it and as an observer (e.g., passenger). I've experienced and / or been along when I or the driver avoided an imminent wreck while passing through this altered state. In some cases I / the driver couldn't remember what happened between the point when first sensing the slow-motion setting in and the point when the crisis had passed.

My point is that such a 'cut' or 'gap' in remembered linear experience can happen in crisis situations, and it represents one candidate explanation for what happened with you (Buchanan).
 
Buchanan:

How familiar were you with the country road you were traveling that evening? Did you ever travel that way again?

Another possible explanation is that the acute curve and stone bank weren't quite as ominous as they seemed. You indicated this occurred in the early evening. If it had been during dusk / gloaming your view of an unfamiliar curve may have been affected by that period's tricky lighting, which can affect distance perception.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
Time slowing down is a common event when faced with imminent death. Pilots have reported time almost stopping to allow them to avoid a serious crash by carrying out multiple tasks that would seem impossible in "normal time".

Some attribute this to a survival mode of the brain whilst othets suggest its the brain recording more information than normal during a crisis.

It could be this survival element could have kicked in and you navigated the bend. You may have then blanked out the memory immediately.

The issue though is what did your passenger perceive? Pity, although understandable, that you didnt want to bring it up. What was her reaction? What was she doing when you looked at her again?
Click to expand...
The passenger’s attention was diverted as she was heads down in her handbag, therefore totally unaware of the situation. From her demeanour seconds later nothing unusual had transpired. When she looked up (I assume) the incident perhaps had been avoided or erased by a sidestep in reality. Either way she was not a witness, It would have been earthshaking if she could have corroborated my take on events.

I do find that fact in itself surreal. She was not consciously aware of the event, Why would that be?, pure random happenstance would be the logical conclusion. But personally I find the fact that my passenger was excluded from being a witness just adds to the mystery.
 
The O.P. sounds like neither going into "mental overdrive" nor hopping into an alternate universe would have helped -- unless there was a world where a right-angled road turn was straight there. Sounded like a high-speed, instants-away-from-impact hit right into a stone wall -- even if the vehicle hugged the road magnetically and turned without incident, the passenger should have felt extreme g-forces -- if not suffered from whiplash.

My father described a similar sort of incident from his bachelor days -- he was driving home from college in the middle of the night; he took a tight curve far too fast; the headlights of an oncoming semi-trailer blinded him to the point he couldn't see the road or the shoulder (and I think there was an abrupt drop-off), so he just dropped aside and curled into a ball [in those pre-seatbelt days]. Seconds passed; he blinked, sat up, and found himself traveling down a straight length of highway again.
 
if you were heading out from shaw on driving roads chances are youd be motoring towards the pennines ... there are certainly some hairy corners but generally they look and feel scarier than their objective reality and in fact cars have a habit of making it through every curve with minimum of actual driving effort ... but doesnt prevent a few oh-shit moments on most trips

add in the adrenalisation of being on a promise and, uh, scott joplin
 
Thank you for posting, Rob!

it would be fantastic to pin down the location of the road, any ideas?
 
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