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"Can you give me a ride, please?" Reader Story Submission
Location: Gallup, New Mexico
This is another great submission from my friend in New Mexico. Enjoy! (Edited for clarification, spelling, and layout.)
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"Can you give me a ride, please?"
I've heard there are some strange things that happen along the old Highway 66 going through New Mexico. This one just happens to be near Gallup, NM. It's something that has happened to a few drivers that have seen an old woman walking along the side of the highway. In every story, she is wearing an old "camp dress" which is something that elder Navajo women wear traditionally. And this is one of those many stories. If you've heard of this one before, you'll notice some similarities that might have been caught in another person's testimonial. About an old lady walking along Highway 66.
Traveling along the highway, going westbound near Fort Wingate, NM. (That's only a few minutes away from Gallup, NM.) Up ahead there was a person walking alongside the road. It was towards the end of January, so it was pretty cold at this time. As I got closer I saw this person was walking slow and hunched over. I thought "Wow, I hope this isn't an elderly person." Slowing down as I had gotten closer, I noticed it was a woman. Wearing an old-style dress and what looked like a bright red bandanna over her head. Long grey hair in a ponytail. Pulling up next to her, I was in shock that she was not wearing any type of jacket or sweater.
I slowed my truck down to a pace to where I was driving alongside her. I had rolled the passenger window down. I kinda leaned towards the open window, "Uh... Excuse me, miss... You need help? Are you OK?" She kept on walking as if she didn't even acknowledge I was even driving next to her. I had spoken in a louder tone to try to get her attention. "Hey miss, I can take you to the next gas station or you want a water or anything? Somebody I can contact for you?" ....... She then turned her face in the opposite direction of me and started walking towards the fence. In my own head, I was getting sorta annoyed. At the same time, I know in this area for miles, it's actually common to see a lot of hitchhikers on the side of the road. Most of them are just trying to catch a ride to the city. That's basically how a lot of the people here get around. Being that there are surrounding reservations in every direction. So I took it as she just wanted to be left alone. I slowly pulled away and went about my way to look for a job I was going to bid on.
I had made it to my meeting with some members of a new community project that's near the Arizona border. They had offered to treat me to lunch. I had to get back to a current project I had going, so I politely declined. It was around 1pm when I had made my way back across the New Mexico border on I-40. I had grabbed something to eat from Gallup when I had gassed up. The thought of running into that woman had just crossed my mind when I realized where I was. I was kind of curious, just maybe she was walking around the city. I took the old 66 highway on the way out of Gallup heading east. I don't know why I had to see if I could find her walking around. Just something wasn't right, and I knew I should go with gut instinct and just drive home. The curiosity got the best of me.
So I made my way back to the same area I had seen her. I was anxiously driving a little faster as I saw another figure up ahead. This figure looked very similar to her shape when I had seen her driving in the opposite direction. So as I was getting closer, I wondered if this time I could see her face. I saw this person was a lady, and elder, and wearing the same clothes. All while I was ignoring the fact that given how many hours I was gone, she should have been far away from the last point I saw her. I again slowed down coming close to her. And again, I preceded to make contact with her. Again after ignoring my attempts, she kept walking. Then it hit me, what if I tried in the language that's spoken here. I had spoken in a loud enough voice... "Yateeh" then she stopped... and slowly turned her head towards me. With her bandanna around her head, I still couldn't see her face. But she had spoken to me in her language. I was doing my best to make out what she was saying. Her voice was very aged, and somehow almost sounded like she was very thirsty. I had offered her water multiple times, but she refused. I let her go on and she kept pointing in the direction she was going. She had reached for my door and I nodded yes. Like inviting her to hop in. She had a little hard time opening my door but as soon as she had got in, I turned around and let her guide me on our way.
Along the way, I kept the radio low. She was talking my ear off and the type to use her hands while telling her story. The thing was I couldn't understand one word. She was speaking in her native language. Which I am guessing was Navajo, or Diné which some prefer to be identified as. When turns came close, she would wave her hand and point which way to turn. Then she would ramble on about more things. Then another turn, and another. Soon after taking these back dirt roads, I could no longer see the highway. I tried my best to memorize each turn. After nearly about 45 min of driving, we were what I would describe as out in the boonies. No trees, small hills, and up ahead what looked like an arroyo. The old woman had then motioned me to slow down. She had gotten quiet. Looking up ahead she was really focused on the arroyo. Finally, she motioned me to stop. After the dust trail had cleared up, she had opened the door. I rushed out and ran around to help her out. She had said "Aheeh heh" which is thank you. She had extended her arm out. I willingly extended mine and let her use it as a brace to help her walk to the edge of the arroyo.
Carefully making our way down. Taking it as slow as possible while she held onto me for balance. We finally got to the bottom. All while listening to her talk in her language, I really wish I knew what she was telling me. Her emotions started to show as we walked closer to where she was pointing. Her eyes began to water and her voice was starting to crack as she spoke more. Up ahead were some old bushes. They looked like they were almost covering a pile of dirt behind them. Like they were hiding something. The old woman then started to walk faster. She let go of my arm and started to cry while walking, almost running towards the bushes. I had started to jog after her just to keep up. And then just like that, I had stumbled on a large river rock sticking out of the sand. I didn't want to lose sight of her. So as soon as I fell, I had pushed myself right back up. And to my surprise, I could see her. I could hear faint crying. Like a fade of voices in radio static from a weak signal. I had yelled "Miss!?" ... "Hello!?" ... "Yateeh!?" ...
I had a grim feeling come over me. I then walked over behind those bushes. I saw no footsteps, no trail of anything. I found no elder woman. Just completely dumbfounded, I didn't know what to think. Something had told me to investigate. I had just then decided to sit on this pile of dirt. As I rested my confused ass on this pile of dirt, I heard what sounded like hollow metal. "What the.... what is this?" I had started to brush away some dirt with my hands. It was really hard to move after getting through the first layer of sand. I started to use my boot to kick away hard dirt. The more I cleared, the shape of the pile of dirt revealed what was underneath. A very old model truck. The top of the cab. I saw an outline of a damn truck buried in the sand of this arroyo...
I had walked back to my truck and got a shovel out ... and clearing more dirt off the truck, I was still looking out for the elder woman. Time to time I would walk to the top of the arroyo and take a quick look around. Of course in the back of my head, I had known that maybe there was more to her than what I could see with my eyes. I could feel something. If only I knew what she was saying, maybe I could make more sense out of it. It was getting dark and something told me that instead of looking for the elder woman, I should just make my way home. The thing was... I couldn't exactly remember what turns to take to get back to the highway. So of course I drove around in circles for an hour. It had gotten dark to where I couldn't see too far ahead of me. After another 45 min or so of trying to find my way out, I finally got onto a road I didn't remember taking. It lead me to a little circle of houses out in the boonies. I was low on gas and just went and took a chance to ask for directions. I pulled up and after knocking on a few doors, someone finally answered. I had a fearful feeling when I heard this man close to my age talking to me in his language. I was fearful because maybe I couldn't explain what I had just went through. Just as I was trying to communicate with him, a younger woman had run to the door. "Dad what are you doing, just let him in." I had a huge feeling of relief come over me as I heard her words coming out in smooth English. She had offered something to drink. I was grateful and chugged down a cup of ice water and a cold Shasta cola. I had told her my situation and she was very understanding. I guess I'm not the only one that had come across this elder woman...
Turns out, this elder woman was a distant relative to some family in the area where these houses are. The young woman that was explaining the history to me was also making me something to eat. "My name is Julie. When my mom comes home from work, my dad and I can take you to the highway. It's not that far from here actually." I kinda laughed with a "WTF moment in my head" as I was eating some fried potatoes and spam, wrapped in a homemade tortilla, I was listening to the story. Turns out that a little over thirty years ago, there was a couple that had gotten lost. It was around this time of winter. The couple was returning home from the city with groceries. When they had turned onto the dirt roads, the snow was too thick to see that far ahead. The old man was stubborn and upset that he couldn't find his way. So what the family thinks is that he thought he just floor it through the snow and climb the hills to make it home in a straight line. And doing so, he had ran right into that arroyo. The woman must have climbed out somehow and made her way to the highway. Asking for help, but not able to speak English. The sad part was that their bodies were found about a month later after the snow had melted...
Julie's mom had come home when she finished the story. They had me follow them to the highway. They were so kind and sent me off with some food and soda. I was very thankful and offered to pay some cash for their amazing hospitality. They refused, of course, and only asked that I do a good deed. They were very thankful that I had offered the elder woman a ride and went as far as driving her around and then walking her to their truck... I was still in the mood of the holidays. So when I was on my way to confirm a start date and haul some equipment to the job site, I went and grabbed some things to offer to this family. Like food and barrels of water. They had no running water where they lived. I was in a good mood and feeling good I was going to return the favor. I wasn't even going to knock on the door, just drop off these items.....
Now, this is where this chapter takes a huge turn. I return to the exact circle of houses... I slammed on my brakes. I had gotten out of my truck... I was in shock... I recognized my same tires tracks, footprints from my work boots... my heart sank as I looked in the direction of this family's house... and I almost fell to my knees. What I saw right in front of me, was a circle of abandoned houses. Every one of them... burned to the ground.
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Y'all, that gives me chills. I love that I was able to share this with all y'all and if you have a personal story you would like me to share, please feel free to send it in! I am always looking for reader story submissions as well as lore and legend suggestions!
Until next time lore lovers, stay spooky💖
~Lily
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