This story a part of the True Ghost Stories page on Obiwan's UFO-Free Paranormal Page. Please do not copy or distribute without permission from Obiwan and/or the original author!
From: PPolis@aol.com
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 18:57:04 EST
To: %20obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: Ghost Stories
The Rocking Chair
I have always had a fascination with the paranormal and when I meet someone new, one of my standard questions is, "Have you ever had anything really weird happen to you?" You would be amazed at some of the answers I've gotten to that question.
From 1990-1992, I served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Korea. Missionaries for the church go by the title of "Elder," and one I served with was Elder Hammer. When I asked Elder Hammer my standard question, he shared a story with me that raised the hackles on my neck and so I'm going to share with you.
Elder Hammer was from Idaho and his high school was located on the outskirts of town on a hill out by the highway for better access to the surrounding communities. One Saturday night during the spring, the school was hosting a dance which he attended with three of his friends. The dance turned out to be a bomb, so they loaded up in his friend's four-door flying bomber and headed for greener pastures.
There was a dirt road connecting to the highway that led through the countryside. They pulled on to it and were cruising along when an eerie feeling crept over all of them. Even though it was a warm night, they all began rolling up their windows. A few minutes later the driver of the car decelerated to a crawl as they neared an old wooden bridge that spanned an old creek bed. As the car approached the old bridge, a sense of intense fear gripped the hearts of each of them as they noticed something illuminated in the headlights. It was a rocking chair.
The driver pulled the car up onto the bridge until it sat parallel with the rocking chair, shifted it into neutral, and shut off the engine. They all sat in silence with mouths agape as the rocking chair began rocking and with each rock, let out an audible, "SQUEEEEEK." Elder Hammer identified this moment as the most intensely terrifying moment of his life. The driver must have felt the same way because, without a word, he started the car, slammed it into gear, and sent a rooster tail of rocks spraying behind them as they careened off the bridge and down the dirt road.
The intense fear lasted for ten or fifteen minutes before somebody said, "Somebody must be playing jokes on us!!" Within a few more minutes of rationalization, the horror was forgotten and the decision was made to go back and look for the perpetrators of the hoax.
By the time they made it back to the bridge, the rocking chair was gone. They parked the car on the bridge and split up to try and find car tracks or anyone hiding in the bushes. Elder Hammer was supposed to look under the bridge. He said as he descended into the darkness, the terror gripped his heart again and he raced back to the car, jumped in the back seat, locked all the doors, and waited for the others to return.
When the others finally came back after a fruitless search, they found Elder Hammer in the car by himself and somebody yelled, "It must have been Hammer!! Look at him sitting in the car, playing us for fools." Elder Hammer vehemently denied their accusations, but to this day they still blame him for what happened on the bridge with the rocking chair.
There are many questions out there. If you are looking for answers, you can contact me at: PPolis@aol.com