Disappearing People

 

Disappearing People and Disappearing Things happen more often than we like to think about, and more often than we probably notice. Our brain only processes things that are important to us. Where to place our foot for the next stair step, a dog approaching, and so on.

People suddenly disappearing has happened to me over the years, usually walking in the city or in neighborhoods. Once when I was in England on an old country road, it happened in the middle of a large mustard field.

I was driving on a class C road, which was sunken about eight feet into the earth as these small roads sometimes are in that part of the country. 

A middle aged woman in a dark dress, bonnet and shoes  was peddling along on her bicycle with grocery bags in her back basket about thirty yards in front of me. Class C roads are too narrow to safely pass on. I was in no hurry, so I followed along behind her. We were going up a slight hill. 

She crested the peak of the hill, went over and out of sight. I crested the hill - and she was gone! I'm driving in the middle of a mustard field with the banks of the field  six to eight feet above me on each side of the road, and she has disappears! I stop and look around and there was nowhere for her to have gone to. She, her groceries, and bicycle vaporized into thin air.

A few months back, I exited a building and was walking down a curving cement walkway on a small hillside to the parking lot across the street. There was a hard right turn about the halfway down the hill, like a mountain trail switchback. The switchback was about about forty feet away from the street.

An older man dressed like a farmer was walking about twelve feet was walking in front of me. He had grey hair, wore a feed store baseball cap, worn jean jacket, tired, baggy jeans, and old brown work boots. I followed him for about for about fifteen seconds with both of us walking at the same speed. I walking slower than normal to keep a distance between us of about fifteen feet or so (COVID).

He walked like he had or maybe still milked cows. You need to be around farmers who own a small farm with milk cows to understand how they walk. They almost walk like Post-Men of old who carried heavy mail bags of mail on one shoulder as they walked the sidewalk of their route. Sort of a bowlegged hobble-walk.

The old farmer turned at the downhill right turn of the sidewalk switchback, and continued walking out of my line of sight. I was still maybe ten steps behind him. The switchback was such, that we never made eye contact and I never saw his face, nor he my face.

I made the turn, and he was gone! The Old Farmer had disappeared into thin air! The closest hiding spot were moving cars over forty feet away on the road. Him hiding is a silly idea, but the only obvious  explanation. Yet, disappeared he was! As I walked on, he was gone and not hiding.

Another time walking across the sidewalk of a town square, two teenage girls were walking towards me and suddenly transformed into gaunt starving werewolves. They walked about four steps and then vanished in mid stride from the sidewalk! One Mom almost ripped her daughter's arm off pulling her back from the apparitions. Other people walking behind them also saw them and saw them disappear. We asked each other for conformation of what we saw, and we all saw the same thing, though no one was sure exactly what those 'things' were.

I rarely notice 'things' that may appear and then disappear. There may be things popping out from nowhere and other things disappearing, but my brain decides they are not important.

Sometimes driving on rural roads, it seems cars appear and vanish in a totally random manner. Imagine  have been driving along with a blue car following you for the last twenty minutes on a rural highway. Suddenly it is not there, even though there was no road for it to turn off on. These things and other events seem to happen and usually we are not even aware of them happening. 

I am sure almost everyone has had these experiences, though we never talk about them. I first experienced this happening as a kid. Back then I thought it was normal. As I grow older I realize if it is normal, it is secret normal.