Roadside Assistance, Part 1

My childhood paranormal experiences led me, not surprisingly, to an interest in ghosts and other anomalous things like the Loch Ness Monster, big foot and UFOs. Some of this I came by quite naturally. My dad’s side of the family are intellectually curious and academic, but aren’t so locked into materialism that they aren’t interested in spirituality and the unexplained. My uncle had an interest in the Loch Ness Monster and did some research at the lake in the 1970s (he concluded there is no monster, which makes me sad), and others in my dad’s family used to go big foot “hunting.” They have never found big foot, but I have heard about some interesting experiences of theirs over the years.

As a young kid, I was also interested in spirituality. I remember talking to my dad about reincarnation before 2nd grade. I would lay in bed at night and contemplate the word “forever” (still hurts my brain to imagine this length of time) and what the universe expands into (can it push into nothingness?). I read the first-published books on near-death experiences and on channeling (my first was Seth Speaks, by Jane Roberts). I didn’t know any other kids reading these kinds of books, and knew it would probably seem weird to others.

As a teenager, I attended the Unity church and youth group. I was exposed to a lot of spirituality books. I devoured New Age classics such as Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, and Love Is Letting Go of Fear by Gerald Jampolsky. I still have my copy of M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled. Through a lot of reading, I discovered the more mystical side of paranormal experiences, and learned that people purposefully sought to develop spiritual skills and have paranormal experiences. Imagine – people wanted to experience things that I hoped to avoid!

When I was 17, I had my first positive paranormal experience, a turning point that showed me that maybe everything wasn’t scary in nature. Many religious and spiritual traditions talk about guardian angels and other spiritual protectors. It sounds nice to have someone around to help you out, but it also seemed a bit like believing in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Also, I didn’t feel I had been protected at all from scary things, and thought such beings probably didn’t exist. So, I was a bit unprepared for the experience I had.

I was driving home one evening from a friend’s house. It was dark and foggy and I chose not to drive the short drive home on the freeway, but instead on some back roads that I felt safer on. As I was driving, I heard very clearly in my head a loud voice: “Get off the road! Now!” I ignored it, because it came from inside my head, and I thought it was me talking to myself because I was freaked out about driving in the fog. I heard it again a couple of seconds later, more urgently: “GET OFF THE ROAD!” I still ignored it. The voice persisted a second later: “GET OFF! NOW!” Feeling foolish, I obeyed the voice and pulled onto the shoulder. As I did, another car came out of nowhere, driving on the wrong side of the road and it would have hit me had I not been on the side of the road. I started sobbing and saying out loud, “Thank you! Thank you!” I still felt like somehow the whole event hadn’t really happened. That I had been talking to myself, and that the car hadn’t really driven on my side of the road. It was just so incredible and unreal. But, it did happen, and I continued to sob with relief. I eventually pulled myself together and drove home.

I don’t recall telling anyone about this story once I got home. I didn’t think that anyone would believe me, and I still didn’t know what to make of it. Was this a paranormal event, and an actual angel or being spoke to me? Was this a psychic event, and I had a premonition and was talking to myself? I didn’t know then that this would be the first of many such communications, though it was years before I had any more. And I still don’t know how to classify or explain this event.