(Before anything I would like to inform the kind readers of this story that, being French, English is not my mother tongue. Consequently, I apologize in advance for any misused word or oddly coined sentence you may -and surely will- find in the following account. I did my best.)
As far as I can remember, ghosts and paranormal events have always been subjects I would eagerly bring up during a conversation or read books about. However, as much as I wished it, I never was a gifted medium nor had anything that could allow me to be described as a ghost magnet or of the sensitive kind. All of the "odd" happenings in my house could usually be brushed off as common disturbances such as a creaky wooden house, little animals running around at night in the attic or jack-o'lanterns by the riverside.
All, but one. No matter how hard I think about it, there is one event in my teens for which I cannot find an logical explanation.
It happened in 1998, when I was just 16 years-old. At the time, me, my mother and my two sisters (respectively 10 y-o and 12 y-o at the time) were living with my step-father and his two children (a 14 y-o boy and a 8 y-o girl).
This particular year, we had to spend Christmas with my step-father's family, in Verdun. Verdun is a medium-sized city mostly known for its importance during the WW1, due to its strategic location, but on the whole a rather dull and sad place. There we were, about one and a half hour ride from the place we lived, and not having so much fun in a family we didn't like very much and wasn't really paying much attention to us.
Needless to say that my sisters and I were quite happy on the 25th of December, when around 5pm we could get back to the cars and head home.
To drive from Verdun to my hometown you have to use those typical small two lanes roads curling around in dark and deep hilly woods. Those very dark forests are patched with swamps and old bunkers, and you always have to keep in mind that a family of boars is likely to cross the road right in front of the car. In summer, such a drive on a road basically roofed by tree branches is nice and refreshing; in winter it's plain dangerous. Most of the time, fog stays around, the roads are slippery and you have to be careful if you don't want to end up stuck in the ravines running along the road.
My step-father and his two kids were in the car in front, and my mum was following close, with me next to her and my little sisters asleep at the back.
We weren't driving too fast, considering how poor the weather was, and my mum and I were chatting about this and that, when, all of a sudden I saw a solid black figure jump out of the woods on the left side of the road. It was huge, about, 2,5 meters tall, it had arms, legs, torso, and head, just like a human being, but unbelievably stretched, skinny, and featureless. Moreover everything about it seemed square and stiff, like it was a wooden imitation of a human body carved by someone who had only a very faint idea of what a human being should look like. In barely two huge steps this thing crossed the ravine on the left and stopped like a scared deer would do, right in front of my step-father's car.
Said step-father drove right through it.
I gasped.
My mother, on the other hand, had already hit the brakes. She didn't stop completely, nor did she swerve, but she slowed down enough to allow the thing to clear the way if it felt like it. By the time we reached the figure standing in the middle of the road it had... Turned its head toward us. It is a weird feeling to feel a pair of eyes watching you intently, but not see them. As we were approaching I could see that this huge thing was carrying in it's arms, close to his body, a big square object attached to his right wrist by a chain. Time seemed to slow down as I looked at that thing in the eyes. Doing so, I felt filled with sorrow and despair, I wasn't scared, I was flabbergasted, curious and worried we were going to hit it, but not scared, this being however felt terrified and did convey it toward me quite efficiently. As we were about to reach it, gone it was, jumping again on the other side of the road, and back into the woods in a couple of hurried bouncing steps.
My mother sped up to catch up with my step-father's car and nothing was said until my sisters both woke up saying they were cold and fell asleep again.
After a few minutes more of silence, my mum said: "Did you see something?" and I said "Yes". "Did your step-father drove through it?" "Yes." "Must have been a optical illusion, it's foggy." "Most certainly."
And that was about it.
Until a few months later, when debating about ghosts and apparitions with a couple of guests at our house. I started describing the 'illusion' my mother and I had that night. When I was done my mother stared at me blankly and said: "I saw a thick white mist. It behaved like you said but it did not have a human shape, it was just a very "lively" white mist...". Then, I knew that I had not been a illusion. I had felt for the shape when my step-father drove right through it and the feeling I had when it turned to "look" at me could not be washed off as mere surprise. This road-crossing thing was scared, painfully scared and I felt it. The fact that my mum and I did not witness the same thing was somehow a proof that it was not a natural happening. Eyes see the same reality, souls might beg to differ...
I never could find out what this thing was, and we never drove back there again.
They are many stories concerning this forest: about soldiers from the previous wars, about car accidents and what not. But nothing related to a ghost chained to a square rock or box. The only tale I can relate this adventure to, is one concerning those landowners, who in the past, used to move the rocks marking the limits of their properties to gain a few acres of land. Legend wants that they have to remain earthbound until they can put the markings back were they should have been.
The habit of moving one's property boundaries was common in this area, so it wouldn't be surprising to meet one, carrying his burden for so long that he barely know anymore how to show himself in a human form. That being said, if anyone has a more convincing explanation for what my mum and I witnessed that night (natural or supernatural) I'd be happy to hear it.
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