Thanks to Pamela for this fascinating submission!
In May of 2006, I spent time with my sister in Charlotte, North Carolina. She had just moved to NC. I had driven there from my home from Georgia. I left Charlotte to head back to Georgia at 7:30 AM on May 22, 2006.
I followed my sister to the expressway because she was on her way to work at Uptown Charlotte. I continued on toward the expressway I-77 toward I-85 South. I remember driving and seeing landmarks that I’d taken notice of while traveling to North Carolina.
I really don’t remember anything else until I happened upon a fork in the road and saw a sign reading I-26. I was so confused because I had driven 2 hours and was completely unaware that I had traveled in another direction.
I had no memory of traveling for 2 hours, and I couldn’t see where the highway led to on the right. I stayed left and pulled over and called my sister. I was in a panic because I didn’t know what happened. We talk for a few minutes and she told me to see if I could get off and head back the way I came from.
This where it gets weird:
About a mile down the expressway, I got off at the first exit on the right. Off to the right was a gas station. I noticed that the area looked kind of isolated and the road was gravel and in bad shape.
The buildings were old, red brick buildings, the windows were broken, and some had cardboard up to them.
There was no traffic on the roads and no sidewalks; however, when I pulled up to the gas station, there were about six cars there. I decided to go in to see if someone could tell me where I was and how I could find I-85.
Now, when I went inside the gas station, I noticed a few people in there. The cashier was a tall, heavy-set, white man with a full beard and wearing a blue jean overall.
I went up to the cashier to ask him questions, but he ignored me and was talking to other customers. I then tried to speak to some of the customers, but they ignored me too. I became scared because I thought that they ignored me because I was black.
I felt so defeated and lost, and I decided to go back to my car. On my way back to my car, I noticed 2 young white guys possibly in their early twenties. They had white pants and white T-shirts, and they were walking toward a white van.
The young man on my immediate right was walking with his head down, and the other guy on his right looked to be play-kicking and trying to play around with him.
I walked up to the guy on my right to ask him for directions. He appeared confused, as though I were a strange being.
He would briefly look up at me but he mostly kept his head down.
The other guy didn’t seem to see me at all; he didn’t acknowledge me or his friend talking to me.
I was walking right beside the the guy asking him questions and he said that he worked in Augusta, Georgia and had no ideal about I-85. He had a look on his face like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
It was then that I realized that his friend and the people in the station didn’t talk to me because they couldn’t see me!
I got back on I-26 for another mile until I saw a turn-around and headed back toward the way I’d come from. I then started seeing signs that I was on I-77 and signs for Columbia South Carolina.
Eventually, I saw a policeman and debated if I should get his attention. I decided not to because of fear that he wouldn’t see me. So I stayed behind him until I reached the turn for Charlotte.
During my ride back to Charlotte, nothing was familiar to me. I don’t remember having seen any of the signs, exits, or landmarks.
I finally made it back to Charlotte. I’d had no idea what happened to me, and almost 5 hours of my life was gone. I made it back to Georgia at 3:30 PM; it is normally a 4 hour trip!
I don’t know if this is related, but when I got home my face, arms, legs, and chest were broken out so badly that I had to go to the emergency room to get treatment.
I still find myself wondering what exactly happened - where had I been and why everything had looked like the 1950/60’s.
The sun was out and shining bright in Charlotte, but at the gas station exit it had been overcast and gloomy. It had appeared completely deserted except for the people at the gas station. There had been no buildings around the gas station; the only buildings were down on the right from the gas station and those were unoccupied and old with broken windows. There were no street lights, no traffic, no grass and minimal trees - everything had looked dead.
