This is one of my favorites that my family loves to hear me tell year after year.
Two young women closed up the diner where they worked.
One of the women rode her bicycle to work, the other took the bus . . . but that cold snowy and windy night, Louise missed her bus because she went back to get the last piece of lemon meringue pie. Emma was locking the diner as Louise rush passed her balancing the piece of lemon meringue pie on a plate as she tried in vain to stop the bus.
“Oh what am I going to do?” Louise asked no one in particular.
“Come home with me and I’ll take you home in my car. The weatherman said it wasn’t going to snow tonight, so I thought I’d save some money by riding my bike.”
Louise agreed and was grateful. It was after midnight, cold and windy. And now it was snowing . . .
Emma lived about a mile and a half down a couple of long desolate country roads. With the wind and snow . . . and Louise balancing her plate of lemon meringue pie . . . they walked down the long dark country road huddled together for warmth. Emma had one hand guiding her bike and Louise had one hand balancing her plate . . . of lemon meringue pie.
Ahead of them, they saw an old van slowly turn off the row in the woods.
They watched as the man got out of the van, he stopped and starred right at them . . . then proceeded to the back of the van and to the other side. They could hear his footsteps as he walked a little way into the woods.
Without a word, the young women started walking a little bit faster. They were approaching a curve in the road. Emma motioned to Louise that they were going to turn . . . That was when the man came out of the woods, ran across the road chasing after them.
Louise ran ahead . . . holding onto her plate of lemon meringue pie . . . zig zagging down the dark deserted road.
Emma was having difficulty with her bicycle . . . she decided to pick it up, propped it on her shoulder and ran as fast as she could trying to catch up with Emma and keeping a distance from the man chasing them.
The man reached out to grab Emma’s hair . . . she turned around so quickly and knocked him down with her bike.
As Emma caught up with Louise, they ran across the road and walked in the shadows, trying to catch their breath.
They heard the roar of a motor . . . It was the van!!
The guy must have gone back to get it.
At the end of the road was an old oak tree which divided the road in a weird configuration — a road went to the left and another turned to the right and if you wanted to continue going straight ahead, you had to jog to the left and then to the right. It was dangerous during daylight hours. At night, even if you knew the road, you had to slow down . . . and the man in the van wasn’t slowing down . . .
Just a few feet in front of the old oak tree was a man dressed oddly for the time of year . . . and oddly for this century . . . he seemed dazed and was crying out for help . . .
The young women had already turned to the left and were a few feet from Emma’s front door when they heard the screeching of tires and a loud sickening thump and then a bang . . .
Inside, Emma ran for the telephone and called the police to report . . . a strange man crying for help . . . a man chasing them . . . what sounded like an accident . . .
Whatever Emma said, she got it all out and the police were on their way . . .
On the table, Louise set down her plate with the single piece of lemon meringue pie . . . it had been bounced around a bit, but it was still intact . . .
Emma made coffee while she and Louise discussed what had happened . . .
“Did you see that man in the road?” Louise asked. “I think he was a ghost.”
Emma nodded on both counts — yes she saw the man and she, too, believed it was a ghost. “I think he saved our lives.”
When the police arrived, they learned about the man in the van — he was abducting women throughout the county. A police officer confirmed their belief of seeing a ghost. Back in the early 1900’s there was an accident on the road — he and his family were badly injured. The man went to get help in the nearest town, but died from his injuries before arriving.
There had been reports of other sightings of a man walking on the road calling out for help.
As for the piece of lemon meringue pie . . . it was delicious!
I hope you enjoyed this Real Ghost Story and will tell it when family and friends gather— be sure to have a lemon meringue pie handy to share with your guests.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
