Case #6 The Night Crawler

"Back in 2018, I was lucky enough to be chosen as the guest of honor at Wyvacon down in Wytheville Virginia. On my first night down there, I attended a pre-con event called game night. I stuck around until about 10 – 10:30, at which point I decided to head back to the hotel. Leaving the game night, the town itself was quiet. Wytheville feels rural, but it really isn’t. The town itself is well lit at night, with plenty of streetlights. At the same time, it’s rural enough that I had to drive slow because lots of animals were running out into the street as I drove. In the space of a couple blocks, I saw cats, a deer, a raccoon, and I think a fox too (or a small dog). The night itself was clear so, between the streetlights and my truck’s headlights, everything was easily identifiable. That is until I stopped at a red light only to watch something walk in front of my truck that I couldn’t identify. It took a few moments for it to sink in, but as it passed I realized I was looking at a set of legs that seemed to disappear from the knees up. They were white and appeared semi-translucent, almost as if they were made of heavy smoke, so it was hard to tell if they were naked or clothed. All I could tell was that they were two human-like legs walking past me. I watched as it crossed from left to right across the street then disappeared in the grass at the curb. I turned my head to follow thinking “wouldn’t it be funny if I was right next to a graveyard?” and, sure enough, I was right next to a graveyard (Unfortunately, I’m not sure which one. I didn’t make note of the street I was on at the time and apparently Wytheville has a lot of cemeteries). Anyway, at that point, the light turned green. I debated for a moment finding a place to park, but it was a strange town and I didn’t see a shoulder on the road, so I continued on to my hotel. Was a cool encounter, definitely caught me by surprise. Not frightening at all, just weird ... and a pretty unforgettable way to start the convention." -Rick Gualtieri