Jake brought Angie back to her mom’s house in West Milford, NJ. Angie was still sobbing and choking on her tears as Maureen ushered the two inside.
Maureen held her daughter while she shook in terror.
“What in God’s name happened?” said Maureen.
“We drove down Clinton Road,” said Jake, hands shaking as he held a coffee cup.
“What on Earth for?” said Maureen. “It’s supposed to be haunted!”
“We didn’t take it all that seriously. We wanted to leave a coin in the road for the ghost boy. It’s daylight. This was supposed to be fun!”
“So what did you see?” said Maureen.
“It was awful!” wailed Angie.
“It was unnatural,” said Jake. “Something that can’t exist.”
“Was it, aliens?”
“No, not that.”
“Some crazy monster?”
“No. Something even worse. It was…” Jake choked for a moment.
“Yes?”
“A conservative pro-gun politician shaking hands with a liberal environmentalist!”
__________________________________
Written for What Pegman Saw: https://whatpegmansaw.com/2018/03/03/clinton-road-west-milford-new-jersey/
Author’s Notes:
Near as I can see, West Milford, NJ is pretty close to Clinton Road.
Clinton Road in New Jersey is supposedly haunted and otherwise has had many strange sightings:
“…The ghost boy at the bridge: At one of the bridges over Clinton Brook (Dead Man’s Curve) near the reservoir, if you put a quarter in the middle of the road where the yellow line is, at midnight it will supposedly be promptly returned by the ghost of a boy who drowned while swimming below or had fallen in while sitting on the edge of the bridge. In some tellings an apparition is seen; in others the ghost pushes the teller into the water if they look over the side of the bridge, in order to save them from being run over as he was in life…”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Road_(New_Jersey)
https://www.trytoscare.me/legend/clinton-road-west-milford-2/
EagleAye
LOL. Yes I’m sure a lot of people would consider the very concept totally unreal. Horrifying. 😀
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I’ve met some people who might react that strongly. I avoid them. 😉
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Now that is a classic – wonderful
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Hehe. Thanks so much! 🙂
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Oh the humanity! I was smiling to myself as the story built up, wondering at the nature of the horror/humor that was coming, and was not disappointed! hehehe 🙂
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You know me so well. I’m glad I lived up to expectations. Thanks most kindly, Karen. 🙂
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I assume that the gunsel was shaking the hand of the liberal he had just killed, then?
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That’s what is so scary about it. They had reached…*gasp*…a bipartisan agreement! I’m scanning the horizon now, looking for flying pigs. 😉
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Heehee! Loved your story. Such an unlikely marriage of convenience! I suppose somebody had to do something to prevent the total closure of government.
BTW wouldn’t you be more likely to see an explanation if you looked for pork barrels rather than flying pigs?
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I knew, absolutely, you would have a fun twist at the end. You never disappoint!
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That would be an unreal scene indeed.
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I can think of a bunch of people, on both sides of the fence, who would be appalled. 😉
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Politicians…can’t trust ’em, can’t kill ’em (not legally anyway). In 1999, Malcolm Turnbull, approached the leadership of the Australian Labor Party and asked for endorsement to become part of their team even though he was a member of the Liberal Party. He didn’t like the thought that Australia was not going to become a republic. He had wanted to be leader of the Australian Liberal Party, they wouldn’t wear it. Sad to say, he’s now Australia’s Prime Minister. Personally, I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Oh, by the way, his middle name is Bligh
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Ha! As in Captain Bligh? Oh boy. Why can’t we just grab up all of our politicians and use them to make Soylent Green?
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Good story – so entertaining – classic ‘ghost story’ with a fabulous twist at the end- a modern unimaginable horror !
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Hehe. Glad you enjoyed it. It wouldn’t have been scary at all 50 years ago. Now? It’s unspeakable terror! 😉
Thanks much. 🙂
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Dear Eric,
I was expecting an alien landing. Well, I suppose in some ways you could call it that. To quote the Wicked Witch of the West, “Oh what a world! What a world!” Good one.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I was thinking of alien landing, UFO sightings being one of the weird things in Clinton Road. But in the long run, I thought this idea was even weirder. 😉 Thanks Rochelle!
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And so the world turns in the weirdest ways! Great pertinent twist on the spooky highway, though surely this is too bizarre for anyone to believe 🙂
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I know. Folks might look at this and go, “Naw! That’s only a story. It’s just not believable enough.” 😉
Thanks very much for stopping in. 🙂
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My pleasure 🙂
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Yikes, that is a pretty unnatural thing to see. Nice one 🙂
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Hehe. It goes against Nature. 😉 Thanks much!
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You kill me. I was reading along thinking, what in the hell will he put as the scary part… knowing it would be nothing “realistic” like aliens or ghosts… 😉
Ya done it again!
What a hoot!
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I am so happy to keep you in suspense, and then deliver the goods. You’re right, why would I offer something “realistic.” 😀 You know me so well.
Thanks so much, Dale!
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😁
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Are they sure the politicians were shaking hands and not fighting over the 0.25 campaign donation both of them simultaneously noticed on the road?
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