The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories by Ventura Varla

Author:Ventura, Varla [Ventura, Varla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781609250539
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
Published: 2008-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE WARNING

TOLD BY DENISE MURPHY BURKE

Several years ago, I organized a Northwestern University reunion of my sorority sisters. We were all to stay at a sister's home in Santa Rosa, California. A group of about twenty of us were able to come, some from as far away as New York. I was immensely excited about the reunion and especially looking forward to the arrival of my best buddy, Barbara, from Ohio.

The afternoon prior to her arrival, I received a long-distance call from her. She said, “My suitcase is packed, and my ticket is in my hand, but I just don't think I can come.”

It seems her son had called and begged her not to go. He had had a very powerful dream in which she was in a fatal accident at the reunion. My friend said that based on that alone she would have changed her plans. But her son had confessed to her that he had also had a similar dream three years before that his father would die very suddenly; five days after that dream his father died while taking a shower. His father was only forty-eight years old. The son felt somehow responsible for his dad's death, and due to his guilt had never shared the dream with his mom. But now he was desperate to convince her to stay home, and she did.

Even though Barbara wasn't with us, the first day was incredible. The plan for the second day was to take a horse-drawn, open-wagon ride through the vineyard countryside. That morning, nine of us climbed up on the first carriage as the driver was hoisting his large body into the driver's seat. Suddenly, the two horses mistook a loud sound for a signal to go. They lurched forward, throwing the driver on the ground. With no one to keep them in check, we were soon going at a full gallop!

I reached up to the driver's seat and pulled back on a large wooden lever, which seemed like it should be the brake. The lever did nothing to slow the wagon, but I held on to it for dear life. The others threatened to jump, but I begged them to hold tight.

We were racing out of control, and all of a sudden, we realized the freeway was straight ahead of us. The horses were heading right for it. But as the horses approached the freeway, they took a sudden ninety-degree turn on two wheels onto a frontage road. At full speed, the horses headed directly for one of the telephone poles that lined the road. The pole ended up going right between the two horses, smashing the yoke and freeing them. Everyone but I was violently flung out of the carriage. Women lay strewn on the ground like rag dolls. No one sustained serious injuries. But when the police arrived and asked me the names of the others, I couldn't answer. I just kept wondering, “What would have happened to Barbara if she had gone with us?”

I think that a deep connection between mother and son saved her life.

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