The Man In A Trench Coat

I come from a family that experiences a lot. It's a very interesting life, which, while growing up I thought it normal; 'til I realised my friends don't have so much activity occurring in their households. Don't know if I envy them or what. Luckily we have never had anything bad happen. Only to my great aunt who is a nun. But that's another story.

This one is about my Uncle's experience. Unfortunately I don't have much details but it's an interesting encounter nonetheless. It has happened twice in his life; both times he nearly died had it not been for the Man in the Trench Coat.

My Uncle is based in Durban South Africa. A city regarded as South Africa's playground. It seems to be the playground for the paranormal to me. Maybe because most people residing in Durban are still very involved in native traditions and rituals.

When my uncle was a young man he used to be a trucker. He was coming back from the Eastern Cape. Now the road from Durban to Eastern Cape is very coaly with long drops down so you have to be very careful and drive slow along those curves. My uncle then told us he was driving along a two way narrow stretch of road and something caught his eye in the sky. Up in the clouds was a man, dressed in a brown long trench coat that was walking from East to West. He says they stared at each for a couple of seconds but the man showed no emotion but continued on his way. Thinking it was his imagination my uncle continued driving but he was going at such a high speed he forgot that there was a sharp bend up ahead. He almost drove off the cliff but says he luckily ran the truck into a tree that was growing just below the level of the road; he doesn't know how that tree held the truck from going down because he should have been at the bottom, probably dead.

He thought nothing of the man he saw walking in the clouds until recently in 2001. It was in the afternoon and he was driving from his office home when again he noticed a man wearing a trench coat walking in the clouds. He said the man looked down at him and he realised it was the same man he saw years ago when he was still a truck driver. Same dress code everything. Now he was curious and again he noticed the man was walking from east to west. This time the man disappeared and my uncle carried on driving. What happened next is still a mystery to him; he says the axis from his hind wheels broke sending the car spinning into another one. Now I remember this accident, I was fifteen sixteen. My uncle was in such a critical condition he almost passed away. Apparently, and I am not knowledgeable in the field of mechanics, but axes are meant to be strong and not break easily because they keep the wheels together so how his broke is a mystery. The insurance people later concluded it must have been a factory fault.

Whilst my uncle was hospitalised and in and out of consciousness he kept mumbling about this man he saw walking in the clouds. Everyone, even the doctors thought he was delusional so no one took him seriously until many months later he told us of this man he refers to as his 'guardian angel' because during both times he feels he should have died in those accidents.

Sorry for being so vague but that encounter has always fascinated me. Especially because my uncle felt it necessary to mention that both times the man was walking from east to west.

Is there any significance in that?