A Boy And His Dog

Occasionally, a gem of a story can come your way. Recently a plumber had come in to do
some work in my little kitchen. I quickly realised that this man, although a rough drinker
and brawler, was an honest man who, not knowing me from Adam, proceeded to tell me one
of the most amazing paranormal stories I had heard for many years that had recently
happened. It turned out his brother had been driving home late one night across the
fens (the flatlands across Lincolnshire and Norfolk)in Britain’s East Anglia region.
Suddenly, a bend in the road caused him to overturn the car and he slid into a ditch.
The emergency services arrived quickly on the scene and eventually he was cut from the
car and taken to hospital.Now when the policeman came to his hospital bed to take a
statement, he asked the policeman who the scruffy lad with the long coat was who with
his dog. He kept him company until the ambulance came. Refused to let him drift off to
sleep saying he was near the edge and if he went to sleep he would not return. He honestly
felt he owed this lad a big thank-you for perhaps saving his life. The policeman replied
by asking if this lad with the dog had long fair hair and glasses held together
with tape, if the dog was a black Labrador on a string and did the boy have a real
country accent?On learning that it was all the case, he told the plumbers brother in
the hospital bed that the particular bend was a well known local “black spot” for
accidents and he had himself participated at an accident there some five years ago when
they found a crushed car, upside down in the ditch with no occupants. Thinking they had
gone away, the tow truck pulled out the car only to find the occupants. A lad with long
fair hair in a long dark overcoat, accompanied by a black Labrador dog on a string, had
been thrown out and were actually underneath the crushed car all along. This stretch of
road was one of the most dangerous across the fens and after mile upon mile of straight
road to happen upon a sharp bend with an adverse camber, meant many accidents here. The
policeman went on to say that he had lost count of the times people asked him details of
the story which had become part of the urban landscape. Apparently the lad worked on one
of the local small farms that still manage to scratch a tiny living in the area and he is
seen regularly on the bend. A hazy figure with his dog at dusk gesturing to motorists to
slow down. The policeman said he had lost count of the people who had reported being
comforted at the scene whilst awaiting the ambulance by a “lad and his dog”.
With thanks to Trevor the plumber.

Written By: T. Stokes, paranormalist