The Benevolent Warning

Forrest Burgess (0:02)

Astonishing Legends Network The views and opinions expressed by hosts and listeners on the Astonishing Deadletter Office are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Astonishing Legends Productions, the Astonishing Legends Network, or any affiliated entities or guests.

Forrest Burgess (0:40)

Thank you. All isolated or alone. But trust us, you're not. For over a decade, you've been sending your strange stories to Astonishing Legends. And now it's time for our fellow Legenders to hear them too.

Join us weekly in Blanket Forteana as we dig through your intriguing messages to the Astonishing Dead Letter Office.

Forrest Burgess (1:12)

Tonight's episode, The Benevolent Warning.

Forrest Burgess (1:16)

Tonight's Dead Letter takes us to Michigan, West Side, 20 miles north of Grand Rapids on US 131 near a town called Cedar Springs.

Scott Philbrook (1:26)

There's three roads kind of piled up through there. An 1867 rail bed that's now a bike path, the old highway that's now Main Street through town, and the freeway, which opened in 1973 on new ground about a mile west of the other two.

Forrest Burgess (1:40)

So the old road still sitting there, it just carries local traffic now.

Scott Philbrook (1:45)

Yeah, which is kind of relevant to the letter tonight where it all takes place. This is what's happening in a lot of small towns, certainly here in North Carolina. Main Street used to be the main way to get there. That's why it's called Main, but now there's freeways going around all of them, which has also contributed sadly to economic blight on those Main Streets that get bypassed.

Forrest Burgess (2:03)

Yeah, same thing here. The cafes and roadside attractions don't do as well because not as much traffic is going through because they're all on the interstate and they don't pull off usually.

Scott Philbrook (2:12)

They're only on the express train instead of the local.

Forrest Burgess (2:14)

Exactly. Well, for this story tonight, our author is Mark.

Longtime listener, also a supporter on our Patreon, so thank you for that. And this happened to him in 1978 at 2 in the morning when he was driving out to see family he'd never visited before. So, in that day and age, paper map on the seat, directions written out by hand, you remember that, Scott, or a printout.

Scott Philbrook (2:37)

Yes. Believe it or not, folks, everybody used to know how to get around that way, including yours truly. I started out as a runner in Hollywood, delivering tapes with a big, fat book of maps called The Thomas Guide in Los Angeles.

Forrest Burgess (2:50)

I still got one in my car because, guess what? When there's no internet, it still works.

Scott Philbrook (2:55)

It's not going to crash. That's right. The roads will still be what they were, in theory, and those pieces of paper will still tell you how to get around. Anyway, Mark also says, this is the only strange thing that's ever happened to him, which for me is one of my favorite characteristics of some people's encounters.

Forrest Burgess (3:12)

Yeah. Well, we encountered that quite a bit, myself included. There's a lot of minor little things, but nothing like this, which is a real grab you by the shoulders and shake you wake up call of sorts. That's what I also love about these stories where it's like, that's the one thing that happened to you, but it's a pretty significant thing.

It's always interesting to me anyway, when there's just this one thing in a lifetime experience that you can't explain. I guess it makes it stand out more, maybe a little like a flashlight in the dark.

Scott Philbrook (3:43)

Well, let's get to it. US 131, 2 in the morning, 1978 Forrest, read us tonight's dead letter.

Forrest Burgess (3:55)

Dedicated listener and patron here, thought I'd share my little story with you. This happened several years ago, as I was driving to visit my brother and his wife in southwestern Michigan. I'd never been to their place before, and it was the days before GPS, so I was using a paper map and route directions from them to navigate my way to their home. It was about 2 o'clock in the morning on a cold, clear night, and I was on a local interstate. Now I need to tell you at this point that I was wide awake and not under the influence of any type of substance, with the exception of some good old fashioned gas station coffee. The road was going up a hill and starting into a curve to the left, when I noticed in my headlights some people standing in the road in the left lane up ahead. I was traveling at the speed limit and was astonished to see these people at 2 o'clock in the morning. There were four people, and as I got closer, two of them were waving me to the right, and the other two were standing there with their arms in the shape of an X.