Major Charles Bordo, a resident of Miami, was sent on an assignment to England
in 1951, to the Department of Special Investigations at the Air Force
headquarters. He was given the task of investigating the mysterious murder of an
American pilot on an English airbase. The pilot was allegedly shot by a security
guard.
When Bordo arrived, he discovered the following. A night security guard suddenly
saw a man who was running on the airfield between two B-36 bomber planes. The
security guard shouted at him three times to stop, but the man did not stop
running. The security guard started shooting. “I swear that I shot the guy.
But when I ran up to those two planes, there was no one there. He just vanished”
the sentinel said. Unfortunately, one of the sentinels bullets killed an
American pilot who was nearby.
Conducting the investigation, Bordo talked to the officers that were present on
the airbase that night, trying to obtain some useful information. Here is what
the major heard from the people he talked to.
“The story that I am going to tell you may not have anything in common with
the death of our friend. One late evening, I was driving to the airbase. It was
shortly before the pilot was killed. A man, wearing the uniform of an English
military pilot, stopped me on my way and asked me to give him a ride. He got
into my car and wanted to have a smoke. He asked me for a lighter. I gave it to
him. Then I heard him clicking it. I turned my head to look at him, and I saw
that there was no one in my car but me. I saw my lighter lying on the back seat.”
In 1965, May Doria from Oklahoma decided to visit her sister, who lived 60
kilometers from her. “I was driving along the highway, and when I passed by
a school building, I saw a boy. The boy was standing next to a roadside; he was
hitchhiking. He looked like he was eleven years old. I felt sorry for him: he
was standing by the road alone, without a jacket, and it was pretty chilly that
evening. I stopped near him, opened the door of my car, and then offered him a
ride. He sat next to me. We were driving and chatting about stupid things that
strangers usually talk about. He was a good boy; he had very nice way of
talking, and there was no slang in his speech. We were driving to my sisters
town. All of a sudden, he asked me to stop the car and let him out. I looked
around, but there were no houses nearby. I asked him, “Where do you live?”
He pointed out his finger and said, “Over there.” I looked in the
direction that he was pointing, but there were no houses over there either. Then
I turned my head back to him, but he was gone. He disappeared, as if I was
driving alone the whole time! I stopped the car, got out, and started looking
for him, but he was just gone. I was completely shocked.”
Two years later, May learnt from other people that drivers found themselves in
similar situations quiet often in that area. The first time the hitchhiking
ghost-boy appeared was in 1936. An elderly man said to May: “He is a good
ghost. He does not bring harm to anyone. They say that some bastard ran him
over, dragged the body in a drainage pipe, and off he went. The body was found
several days later, but his killer is still free.”
Vendor Abel Rassen, a Puerto-Rican, was driving home to the town of Aresibo on
November 20, 1982. Driving on the part of the road was locally known as Chain,
Abel saw a bald man about 35 years of age. The man was wearing a gray shirt and
brown jeans. He was hitchhiking. Abel did not like him, so he kept on driving
without making a stop.
Some time after, Abel stopped the car in front of a red traffic light. The
engine of his car stopped. Abel tried to get his car to start again, but he was
not lucky. Suddenly, the right door of his car opened and the bald man sat down
on the back seat. “Hi, I am Roberto”, – said the stranger. ”
Please, give me a lift to Alturas de Aguarda. I have not seen my wife in almost
two months.”
Abel said that his wife was waiting for him too in Aresibo, so he could not fulfill
Roberto-s request. Roberto started to talk him into it, and Abel eventually gave
up. He got in the car, and when he turned the key, the engine started easily, to
his great surprise. Roberto started giving little pieces of advice to Abel. He
told him that he should drive carefully and never drink alcohol while driving.
He also asked Abel to pray for him.
Abel was talking to Roberto when he was parking the car near a restaurant. A
restaurant worker saw Abel talking absolutely alone in his car. He came up to
him and asked if he needed some help. Abel said, “No, thanks, I am fine.
But this man wants me to drive him home.” Abel turned his head and he could
not believe his eyes. There was no one in the car. He was shocked. The guy that
came up to Abel-s car called the police. Two police officers took the
flabbergasted Abel to the nearest hospital. A bit later, after he recovered,
Abel told them his story.
Of course, the police officers did not believe him. Nevertheless, they wrote
down the address that Abel’s mysterious passenger told him. They went to Alturas
de Aguarda, to the house where Roberto was supposed to live. A woman opened the
door and said that she was Roberto-s widow. She said that her husband was killed
in a car accident on October 6, 1982. That day, he was wearing a gray shirt and
brown jeans. The accident happened right at the site where Roberto was trying to
stop Abel’s car.
Translated by Dmitry Sudakov