Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Runner
Last night we went back to the house we're investigating in Benedict Canyon. It was on the drive there that the most impressive thing of the night happened: Jeff and I both saw an apparition! It was very exciting, especially since we weren't even at the house yet, so it was totally unexpected. I was at the wheel, Jeff was riding shotgun. We were on Benedict Canyon road, right by Hillcrest, where a drainage ditch runs along the left side of the street. Since I was driving I didn't want to take my eyes off the road, but I glimpsed what I assumed was a jogger in a black running suit. I saw him very briefly as I had to turn my eyes back to the road, and I wouldn't have given it another thought except that a second or two later Jeff said, "I just saw a guy running on the side of the road!"
The interesting thing here is that Jeff didn't think it was unusual at first, either -- and yet he felt the need to blurt that statement out. As soon as he said it, I said, "I saw it, too." And then we both knew what we'd seen. Or at least, what we'd not seen. Because there was no one there and there really couldn't have been.
As I said, the left side of the road, where we saw the jogger, features a storm drain that runs for a block or so down Benedict Canyon. We parked the car and walked the area to be sure: there was no ground for anybody to run on, because the ditch is too deep. The person we saw would have been running on empty air, though this would not be apparent from the road if you didn't know there was a ditch there.
Since he wasn't driving, Jeff had the opportunity to see the jogger for a longer amount of time and had observed more details. But our descriptions of the jogger mostly agree with one another. I saw a young slim man in a black running suit with a hood. That was it, he just flashed by. Jeff saw a slim young man in a navy blue jogging suit or sweatsuit with the hood up, but he saw his face in profile under the hood. He had dark hair, a youngish face and a "pointy" nose -- he later clarified "pointy" as meaning refined or narrow as opposed to broad or hooked.
He felt sure the suit was dark navy blue, I saw black; it was 7:30 PM, twilight, so maybe that explains the color difference. I didn't see the face because I didn't look long enough, and since I didn't know it wasn't a "real" jogger I didn't try to see a face. In fact, the reason I felt he'd been wearing a hood was because I didn't see any distinct features, just a black blur.
As will happen in these situations, once the mind understands it's been deceived, it recognizes more problems with the picture. We wondered about the hood. Why would you be jogging in warm weather with your hood up? And then Jeff said, "You know, I don't think he was jogging." And I agreed, because the word I had used to decsribe what I'd seen was "darting" -- I'd seen a guy darting away from the road. He'd disappeared so quickly, and when he didn't reappear from behind a tree or the overhanging vines, Jeff had been prompted to blurt out his sighting before he consciously knew what he'd seen.
As I said, we'd driven around the block and got out and looked around on foot, and not only was nobody out jogging, but nobody could have been where the jogger had been! And since we both intuited that he probably wasn't a jogger, what was he and what was he doing? We both agreed that he'd been running, and Jeff got the sense that he was a runner, like a scout or messenger. So I call him the Runner. And even though the hood is disconcerting (one person we told about the incident said it sounded like a burgler) we both agreed, too, that he was completely benign and not a thug or a thief. The hood was like part of a hooded sweatshirt, not an executioner's or grim reaper's hood!
Whoever he was, he made quite an impact. We were all set for an eventful investigation, but as it turned out, that was it for the night. At the house it felt very charged, but there were a lot of distractions and noise, which is not condusive to any investigation. So the Runner and his purpose remain elusive, but it was a pretty incredible experience.
See Addendum published January 2010 as a follow-up to this story
KAW
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I want to add some details that KAW left out for clarity. We were heading North up the Canyon and had not yet arrived at the Storm Drain or Wash and were even with or just ahead of LEONA DRIVE on the East. Just before the Wash on the West side of the road there is a thick copse of impenetrable trees.
ReplyDeleteThe running apparition stood out to both of us for this reason: for a few brief seconds there is an opening in the thicket, it was as if the world opened up and suddenly there was a wide open bright area with nothing but distant hills and sky behind it. The apparition ran across this opening - we unconsciously assumed we were seeing through the trees to the wash behind them or the sidewalk. What struck me, knowing the layout, is that he must have been crossing the wash at some bridge or path at the point where it dives under the street again and flows out of view.
Two things made me blurt out "I just saw a runner." First, as the car got to the point I assumed the bridge or sidewalk crossed the wash - WE HAD NOT ARRIVED AT THE WASH YET. It was still a good 50 feet ahead. Not only was there no path or sidewalk where this man could have been running but -confirmed on later examination as I walked along the road immediately after - the trees and shrubs grow thick there with no way for anyone to pass through them without a machete or a chainsaw.
Secondly, when we did reach the wash a fraction of a second later, the gentle curve of the road to the West and back allows you to see almost the entire length of the wash and sidewalk alongside of it for a 300 to 400 yards. AND THERE WAS NO RUNNER ANYWHERE TO BE SEEN.
There are 2 kinds of paranormal events we encounter. There might be taps, voices, something moves in front of you or you see an apparition. These things are always exciting. But another kind of experience plays on a level deeper and more basic than your conscious or subconscious mind, my way of describing them is it's as if somebody "made and edit in your film." Something that violates your brain's "map of reality." Like watching a good Close-Up Magician - only it's real. In those instances, I think there is an actual physiological reaction as your neurotransmitters suddenly explode and your brain tries to alter it's map and make sense of what you just perceived. We drove past the point where my brain internally calculated the position of the runner should be relative to his size and orientation and it couldn't have been - and then within a second we passed the beginning of the Wash that I had assumed was closer to us - add another second as I search up and down both sides of the wash to see where he really was... There is no runner, my brain hiccups and without even meaning to speak I blurt out "I just saw a runner." Why not, "Did you just see a runner?" or "Hey, I think I saw something..."? Just as you might move your mouth or even voice the words quietly to yourself when you're trying to read in some noisy environment, "Hey, I just saw a runner" was some sort of involuntary paroxysm as my consciousness tried to reinforce my perception to try to prevent some permanent mental spasm.
What made this even more unreal is he didn't merely run "straight across" an area of the wash that didn't exist but in the last few feet of his trajectory he angled more away from us and actually rose a few feet as if he were running up a hill. It's maybe this moment that KAW saw which explains why in her glance she didn't see his face.
CONTINUING:
ReplyDeleteAlways assuming there must be a logical explanation or a flaw in our perception, besides what has already been mentioned, when I walked the length of the wash to try to figure out what we really saw, we turned the car into Hillgrove on the North and when I got out I saw that wash had angled cement sides.
I instantly thought that what I must have seen was some jogger running IN the wash along the higher edged side. Add the curve of the street and he must have been running away from us and up the opposite wall. But as I made my way South along the sidewalk, the wash and the angled cement sides drop away from the street at a steeper angle then the road and sidewalk do. (It's designed to keep runoff flowing and to head underground.) At the point where the runner must have been, even the angled sides are about 5 to 6 feet lower than the sidewalk! We saw this runner from about the middle of his hips up.
To have appeared where he did in the clearing of the trees and brush, even if there were some path hidden in there I couldn't see, it is now very clear that he had to be running on a surface about 4 to 5 feet HIGHER than the sidewalk - in other words, he was running on thin air!
Could he have been running along some track or path on the other side of the wash? There is nothing there but a wall.
The only other explanation - and one a skeptic is sure to raise - is that through some trick of perception he was just some guy running along the sidewalk normally and with the way the road curves, it only APPEARED like he was running in the wash.
Again - his relative size and clarity put him closer to us than to any other part of the wash. But if, for the sake of argument, I grant you: OK he was running up the canyon on the sidewalk - within 3 or 4 seconds we were at the wash in the car with a view up the sidewalk and road for a good 300 yards. There are no bridges or streets cutting across the wash for the entire length of it. Within another 10 seconds we were at Hillgrove where we turned in for me to get out and walk back and for KAW to drive around and look. THERE WAS NO ONE TO BE SEEN AT ANY POINT, DRIVING UP ALONG THE WASH, DRIVING AND WALKING BACK.
WHERE DID THIS GUY GO? There was no one anywhere to be seen! He was there and then he vanished.